12 Jan 2021
America’s fantasy hero
Donald Trump’s “reality” does not have to be real, it’s enough to persistently claim and act as though it is.
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28 Dec 2020
Interpreting the 2020 US presidential election
In a year of horrible uncertainty, the political future of a superpower was a big question mark. -
18 Dec 2020
Washington’s warped Asia policy debate
Whoever Joe Biden puts into key positions, best they make quick studies on regional dynamics. -
2 Dec 2020
The surprise of Biden
Written off before he improbably rose to the top, Joe Biden may have the right stuff to lead America through a crisis. -
30 Nov 2020
Donald Trump vs the democratic tradition
By refusing to concede an election he has lost, the American president further undermines faith in the system. -
20 Nov 2020
Back to the future: Will Biden’s Asia policy come full circle?
Hopes might be high for a new US administration. But polls show views on regional challenges have changed markedly, too. -
18 Nov 2020
The Democrats’ voter problem
Scraping through what should have been an easy win highlights systemic issues. -
11 Nov 2020
America’s divisions are real, and not going away
Yes, Joe Biden won the election. But Donald Trump got 71 million votes, this time running on his record. -
11 Nov 2020
Biden’s comfortable style of diplomacy will be welcome for Japan
Fear within Tokyo circles that the US will become “too soft” on China missed the nuance a new administration will adopt. -
10 Nov 2020
What does a Biden administration herald for New Zealand?
More congenial relations, certainly, but a competitive diplomatic marketplace in Washington should temper expectations. -
9 Nov 2020
Joe Biden: Big questions and great expectations
Will the world be receptive to a US attempt to reassert global leadership after the crassness of Trump’s America First? -
9 Nov 2020
Can Trumpism live without Trump?
Might a more competent Republican leader turn this movement into a far more powerful force? Or will the bloc splinter? -
8 Nov 2020
Can Joe Biden set the stage for a renewal of American leadership?
Much depends how he adjudicates a growing intra-centrist debate within the Democratic Party on the state of the world. -
5 Nov 2020
A Trump legacy?
Trump or Biden, it’s clear there are far bigger foreign policy contests still to be settled. -
3 Nov 2020
Blurring fact and fiction in the US election
Much of the chaos expected in the coming days and weeks can be tied to the commander in chief’s rhetoric. -
30 Oct 2020
America in 2020: The view from here
A selection of commentary and analysis from Lowy Institute voices on the state of affairs in and beyond the USA. -
30 Oct 2020
Why Kim Jong-un will soon miss Donald Trump
No more squabbles over big buttons, for one thing. -
29 Oct 2020
Inciter in chief
Trump’s pandering to white supremacists and right-wing militias brings a very real risk of violence on election day. -
29 Oct 2020
US election: A Democratic trifecta is within sight
Donald Trump’s mismanagement of crisis has swayed voters toward the Democrats. What if they pull off a sweep? -
28 Oct 2020
How South Koreans view the prospect of a Trump re-election
An unpopular President hasn’t dented support for the American alliance. -
23 Oct 2020
The tyranny of the present: American politics catches up with the past
Fusing politics with entertainment, conspiracy theories, hyper-partisanship. Sound familiar? We’ve been here before. -
21 Oct 2020
Donald Trump. Crisis? What Crisis?
We should be careful of the pre-Trump “world order” nostalgia and not forget the disasters of his predecessors. -
14 Oct 2020
Reckoning with a post-Trump America
Donald Trump may soon be out of the White House, but it will take longer to understand what he was doing there. -
5 Oct 2020
Trump gets sick and the media dives into the deep end
The reporting of Trump’s health has quickly fallen into the same polarised pattern of so much of his presidency. -
2 Oct 2020
US presidential debate: Prologue to chaos
The bizarre shout fest between Donald Trump and Joe Biden was ugly. It’s going to get worse. -
28 Sep 2020
A reality show for the US presidential race
This first debate between Donald Trump and Joe Biden promises a collision of two Americas, but little is likely to move. -
23 Sep 2020
A reckless president emboldened
What would four more years of Donald Trump’s leadership look like? Bob Woodward’s new book gives some clues. -
20 Sep 2020
America’s breaking point?
The fear is that Trump appoints a judge to decide his electoral fate and then calls on the military to enforce it. -
9 Sep 2020
America: Demographic shift to democratic redemption
Larger forces at play in the US make this an election more akin to the experience in 2012 than that of 2016. -
7 Sep 2020
Pandemic democracy
Voting is based on trust between citizens and their government. In an age of social distancing, such faith is tested. -
3 Sep 2020
A Biden presidency and the US–South Korea alliance
Can Joe Biden, if elected, heal the rift between the two countries, or will he make it worse?