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Welcome back to World Brief, where we’re looking at Donald Trump winning the U.S. presidential election, anti-government protests in Israel, and the dissolution of Germany’s ruling coalition.
Trump 2.0
America has decided: Donald Trump will be the next president of the United States. His win against Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris reflects a rightward shift across the country as voters prioritized economic and immigration concerns—Trump’s signature issues.
Welcome back to World Brief, where we’re looking at Donald Trump winning the U.S. presidential election, anti-government protests in Israel, and the dissolution of Germany’s ruling coalition.
Trump 2.0
America has decided: Donald Trump will be the next president of the United States. His win against Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris reflects a rightward shift across the country as voters prioritized economic and immigration concerns—Trump’s signature issues.
“It’s time to put the divisions of the past four years behind us,” Trump said in his victory speech late Tuesday. “We will make America safe, strong, prosperous, powerful, and free again.”
According to The Associated Press, Trump secured at least 277 Electoral College votes by early Wednesday morning, putting him over the 270 needed to declare victory. More than 72 million ballots were cast in his favor, marking the first time that a Republican presidential candidate has won the popular vote in 20 years, and his campaign is projected to have swept all seven swing states: Arizona, Georgia, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, and Wisconsin.
The GOP also flipped the Senate, securing majority control with 52 seats. Control of the House of Representatives is still up in the air. “America has given us an unprecedented and powerful mandate,” Trump said on Tuesday.
Foreign leaders were quick to congratulate Trump. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hailed Trump as an ally who would “unconditionally” support Israel. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky appealed to Trump’s tough persona, writing in a post on X, “I appreciate President Trump’s commitment to the ‘peace through strength’ approach in global affairs.” NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte praised Trump for his “strong U.S. leadership throughout his first term in office—a term that turned the tide on European defence spending, improved transatlantic burden sharing, and strengthened Alliance capabilities.” Rutte also emphasized the need for the alliance to work together to counter China, Russia, North Korea, and Iran.
The United States’ adversaries were less ebullient. China’s ambassador to the United States said Beijing looks forward to creating a “stable, sound and sustainable” relationship with Washington, but Chinese President Xi Jinping has not yet made a public statement. (Xi has reportedly spoken to Trump to congratulate him.)
Moscow expressed caution toward Trump’s statements on the Russia-Ukraine war, with Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov noting that the United States remains “an unfriendly country.” Trump said on the campaign trail that if elected, he would end the war even before he takes office on Jan. 20; however, Peskov seemed to reject such a possibility, stating: “Will this happen, and if so, how … we will see after [the U.S. president’s inauguration in] January.” Peskov said he was not aware of any plans by Russian President Vladimir Putin to congratulate Trump.
Trump maintains an “America First” agenda. To address economic woes, he has vowed tougher tariffs on Chinese and Mexican goods, the latter of which he hopes to use as leverage to force Mexico to do more to help curb undocumented migration across the U.S. southern border.
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What We’re Following
Political backlash. Protests erupted across Israel late Tuesday over Netanyahu’s surprise decision to fire Defense Minister Yoav Gallant amid the country’s ongoing regional conflicts. Opposition lawmakers were quick to condemn the dismissal of someone they saw as one of the only moderate voices among Netanyahu’s allies.
“There is no one left in the government,” opposition leader Yair Lapid said. “The prime minister cannot be trusted, the cabinet cannot be trusted, the last person who could be trusted in this crazy government was fired yesterday.” Foreign Minister Israel Katz has taken over Gallant’s post.
Gallant said his removal was due to disagreements over how to end the war in Gaza, with Netanyahu seeking “total victory” against Hamas and Gallant believing that a hostage deal was possible if Israel made “painful concessions.” The two officials also regularly butted heads over the continued exemption of ultra-Orthodox Jews from serving in the Israeli military, which Gallant opposed, and Gallant’s demand for a state commission of inquiry on the failures that led to Hamas’s attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. Protesters have since called for Netanyahu’s resignation, claiming that he has purposefully torpedoed cease-fire talks to maintain his grip on power.
Fractured coalition. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz fired Finance Minister Christian Lindner on Wednesday, a government spokesperson told Süddeutsche Zeitung, effectively scrapping the country’s three-party “traffic light” coalition. The decision will likely force Scholz to face a no-confidence vote on Jan. 15, 2025. If he loses—as analysts predict he will—Germany would hold rare snap elections early next year.
Berlin’s coalition headache is due to its budget proposal—or lack thereof. The Social Democratic Party, Free Democratic Party, and Greens had until next Thursday to determine the country’s 2025 budget. But the party leaders remained at odds over the details, with Lindner’s neoliberal Free Democratic Party on Tuesday proposing public spending cuts, lower taxes, and a postponement of Berlin’s carbon neutral target by five years—all of which go against the other two parties’ platforms.
Election unrest. Thousands of people took to the streets in Mozambique on Wednesday to protest Frelimo candidate Daniel Chapo declaring himself the outright winner of the country’s presidential election. Last month, Chapo won 70 percent of the vote, extending the ruling Mozambique Liberation Front’s five-decade stint in power and becoming the nation’s first leader born after its independence in 1975.
However, election monitors have reported several instances of voting irregularities, and the nation’s Constitutional Council has ordered the electoral authority to clarify the discrepancies by Friday. The council has not yet verified the official results.
Anti-government protests have called for a recount. At least 20 people have been killed and hundreds more wounded and arrested since the demonstrations began, according to Amnesty International. South Africa temporarily closed its main border with Mozambique on Wednesday, citing political violence there.
Odds and Ends
North Korean soldiers stationed in Russia may be a bit preoccupied with issues outside of the war effort—namely, unfettered access to the internet. According to a Financial Times reporter, North Korean troops have been busy accessing pornography while away from Pyongyang’s hefty media restrictions. “As entertaining as that sounds, I can’t confirm any North Korean internet habits or virtual ‘extracurriculars’ in Russia,” U.S. Defense Department spokesperson Army Lt. Col. Charlie Dietz said.