Barack Obama has said the US is in the middle of a “tug of war” between two visions of the future, criticising progressives for becoming “smug” and “complacent” while populists pushed a conservative vision.
The former US president said on one side was the progressive view in which change comes through democracy, while the other, driven by populists including Trump, see a return to an older, more conservative worldview.
He told an audience in London on Wednesday: “My successor has not been particularly shy about it. That desire is to go back to a very particular way of thinking about America, where ‘we, the people’, is just some people, not all people. And where there are some pretty clear hierarchies in terms of status and who ranks where.”
Obama was also critical of progressives who he said became “complacent” and “smug” in the 90s and 00s, “posturing that we believe in all these values because they were never tested. Now they’re being tested”.
Obama says Trump linking paracetamol to autism is ‘violence against the truth’
Obama said Donald Trump’s claims linking paracetamol to autism in infants is “violence against the truth” that could harm pregnant women if they were too scared to take pain relief.
Obama, who was being interviewed by David Olusoga at the O2 Arena, told the audience that Trump’s claims about paracetamol – branded as Tylenol in the US – had been “continuously disproved” and posed a danger to public health.
Three immigration detainees shot as Trump jumps to blame Democrats
One detainee has been killed and two others injured in a shooting at a US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) field office in Dallas, officials said.
Authorities have also confirmed that the shooter – named in reports as 29-year-old Joshua Jahn – died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
Trump wrote on social media that he had been briefed on the shooting, calling it “despicable” and that the shell casings contained anti-Ice messaging. He immediately cast blame for the shooting on “radical left Democrats”, instructing them, in capital letters, to “stop this rhetoric against Ice”. There was no indication the shooter had any connection to any organizations, including antifa.
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Escalatorgate: Trump alleges ‘triple sabotage’ after technical mishaps at UN
Trump alleged “triple sabotage” at the United Nations, after the US president was plagued by a series of unfortunate events surrounding his address to the global body. According to Trump, his smooth arrival at the summit in New York on Tuesday was disrupted when the escalator ferrying him and the first lady to the General Assembly Hall “stopped on a dime”. Then, his teleprompter went “stone cold dark”.
Stéphane Dujarric, the UN spokesperson, said an investigation indicated that a videographer from the US delegation who had run ahead of the first couple to document their arrival may have “inadvertently triggered the safety function” on the escalator
Trump energy secretary to return billions set aside for green projects
The US energy secretary, Chris Wright, on Wednesday announced that his department will return to the treasury billions of dollars set aside for green projects, while dodging questions about affordability and grid reliability and claiming international climate policy had not lowered emissions.
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Rolex faces questions over Trump US Open invitation amid tariffs pain
Rolex is facing scrutiny over its “concerning” decision to host Donald Trump in the Swiss watchmaker’s corporate box at the US Open final earlier this month – weeks after the White House imposed steep tariffs on Switzerland.
World leaders and UN push climate agenda forward despite Trump’s attacks
World leaders have unveiled new targets to cut planet-heating pollution at the United Nations, in a bid to spur fresh impetus to the beleaguered climate effort a day after Donald Trump called the crisis “the greatest con job ever perpetrated upon the world”.
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What else happened today:
Catching up? Here’s what happened on 23 September 2025.
