Following the NFL Super Bowl on Sunday night, the 77-year-old posted on his social media platform, Truth Social, taking credit for the pop star’s enormous success over the years.

In his post, Trump refers to the Music Modernisation Act that was passed under his watch as US president, legislation that helped artists earn royalties and licensing fees easier on music streaming services.

“I signed and was responsible for the Music Modernization Act for Taylor Swift and all other Musical Artists,” Trump wrote.

“Joe Biden didn’t do anything for Taylor, and never will.”

Swift hasn’t officially endorsed a presidential candidate yet for this year’s election, however she did publicly announce her support for President Joe Biden in 2020.

“There’s no way she could endorse Crooked Joe Biden, the worst and most corrupt President in the History of our Country, and be disloyal to the man who made her so much money,” Trump continued in his post.

“Besides that, I like her boyfriend, Travis, even though he may be a Liberal, and probably can’t stand me!”

Previously, Swift was known for keeping her politics to herself and very rarely demonstrated any political leaning in her art and in her presence in the public eye.

However, in the 2018 midterm election, Swift endorsed Democrat Senator Phil Bredesen and urged her fans to vote the same.

Her 2020 Netflix documentary Miss Americana includes footage of moments before she made the endorsement in a post on Instagram. While Swift’s father was concerned about security risks and potentially damaging headlines outing her opposition to Trump, she said it was something she felt she needed to do, regretting not speaking out sooner.

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Swift was particularly opposed to Republican Senator Marsha Blackburn – who ran against Democrat Senator Bredesen and ultimately won – based on her extreme right-wing views against women and the LGBTQIA+ community.

“She votes against fair pay for women. She votes against reauthorisation of the violence against women act, which is just basically protecting us from domestic abuse and stalking,” Swift said in the footage on Miss Americana.

“She thinks that if you’re a gay couple or even if you look like a gay couple you should be allowed to be kicked out of a restaurant.

“I can’t see another commercial [with] her disguising these policies behind the words ‘Tennessee Christian values. Those aren’t Tennessee Christian values’. I live in Tennessee. I am Christian. That’s not what we stand for.”

Conspiracy theories

Trump’s comments on Taylor Swift comes off the back of far-right pundits accusing the pop star of being a “Pentagon asset” who will “rig” the upcoming presidential election in November in favour of the Democrat party.

Some referred to Swift as an “election interference psyop” who will turn Swifities into Democrat voters. Others have accused Swift of being a puppet for the NFL and Democrats, referencing her relationship with Kansas City Chiefs player Travis Kelce, saying she will also rig the Super Bowl match.

While Swift has not addressed the accusations, President Joe Biden has not shied away from them, and instead, his social media team has taken the mickey out of it.

Just like we drew it up. pic.twitter.com/9NBvc5nVZE

— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) February 12, 2024

In an unanticipated move, Biden also created a TikTok account on Sunday night – presumably to appeal to younger voters – that already has nearly 100,000 followers.

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On Tuesday, the European Parliament and officials announced that the bloc had reached an agreement on the law that aims to protect women in the 27-nation European Union from gender-based violence. 

The legislation will also criminalise cyberstalking, cyberharassment and cyber incitement to hatred or violence across the European Union.

The agreement comes almost two years after The European Commission, the EU’s executive arm, first proposed the law to mark International Women’s Day 2022. 

EU lawmaker Frances Fitzgerald told reporters in Strasbourg after the announcement that the agreement sends “a clear message across the union that we take violence against women seriously.”

Posting images from her meetings in the northeastern city of France, the former Irish senator wrote on Instagram: “It takes a great team, hours of hard work and determination to get any deal over the line.”

“Thank you to all those who played their part in securing agreement on a new landmark Directive to combat Violence Against Women and Domestic Violence. This is a good day for the women and men of Europe.”

Swedish socialist MEP and fellow EU lawmaker, Evin Incir said the agreement is “a directive that the women and girls all across the European Union have asked for for over 30 years.”

Fitzgerald and Incir have been the key players in leading the process to introduce EU-wide laws to tackle violence against women. Last October, Fitzgerald expressed her dismay at the lack of urgency from governments to tackle gendered violence across Europe.

“The seriousness of the crime is still internationally not being matched by the intensity of the approaches needed, and this is a symptom of that,” she said at the time. 

“A city the size of Marseilles, Amsterdam or Zagreb disappears every 10 years as 858,000 women are murdered globally. So I can’t help but think it is part of misogyny, and it’s part of a patriarchal society that we live in, that we’ve had such a job getting (crimes against women) to the top of the agenda.”

Earlier this morning, the Vice-President for Values and Transparency at the European Commission, Vera Jourova, wrote on X, “For the first time ever, we criminalise widespread forms of cyberviolence, such as non-consensual sharing of intimate images.” 

“Way too many #women still suffer domestic violence or violence online in the EU.” 

She also posted a video, saying “Today is a very important day because just a few minutes ago we finalised the trilogue on the violence against women directive.”

“Why we needed a legally binding rules against violence against women. Because simply, as I sometimes say, Europe is a good address for women, but not for all.”

“Many women are suffering from violence and we need to stop this horrible practise and the perpetrators have to be punished and the society also have to take a stronger stance against the violence.”

“So that’s why this directive, which is historically the first one which covers and which seeks to combat violence against women, should cause the big difference we have for the first time addressing addressed cyber violence, we have addressed also the non consensual distribution of in images, all these horrible things which see lately, together with the technological development. So now we have the directive, we will have to finalise the process and after some time when the directive will be implemented into the national laws, we will, I hope, see the difference.”

“The European women and girls need and deserve much stronger and better protection.”

Under the agreement made this week, the commission will report every five years on any potential changes to the rule that need to be made. 

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Defining ‘rape’ disagreement 

EU member states and lawmakers have not included a common definition of rape in the law, as countries remain divided on how to define the crime. 

In a statement, the parliament said member states will seek to improve awareness that non-consensual sex is considered a criminal offence. 

Countries including Belgium, Greece, Italy, Spain and Sweden sought to include a definition of rape in the law, but faced knock back from countries including France, Germany and Hungary — who argued that the EU was not equip to do so and that rape lacks the cross-border dimension for it to be assessed as a crime with common penalties in the bloc.

This argument was strongly refuted by the parliament and the commission who challenged that rape could fall within the definition of “sexual exploitation of women” for which a joint set of penalties already exists. 

“We could not get consent-based definition of rape into this directive. So that is a very big disappointment,” Fitzgerald said on Tuesday.

Last month, various international rights organisations criticised the countries who refused to define rape in the law. 

“It is utterly unacceptable that some member states are stubbornly unresponsive to the need to combat rape across the EU,” an open letter from eleven organisations including Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and Center for Reproductive Rights expressed. 

“Consent-based definitions have proven to guarantee greater protection and access to justice for women and other victims of rape, including increased reporting and prosecution rates.” 

“We urge governments to act in accordance with their international and regional human rights obligations, particularly under the Istanbul Convention, and agree on the most robust Directive possible to prevent, prosecute and redress violence against women.”

Last October, Fitzgerald said the hesitation towards introducing an EU-wide consent-based definition of rape was “not acceptable”.

“There isn’t enough political motivation at the moment from some member states to include rape,” Fitzgerald said at the time. 

“You can get somebody moved from Ireland to Germany for murder, but when it comes to rape, they’re saying ‘No, let the member states deal with that’. They don’t say ‘it’s because we don’t like the definition’.”

“They don’t say ‘it’s because what are you talking about with consent?’ which is the belief of certain member states, they really find it hard to get their heads around the idea of consent.”

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The law, which will apply across Great Britain, would ensure equal pay claims on the basis of ethnicity and disability are handled the same as those made by women, who currently have more stringent protections on pay than other groups. The 2010 Equality Act mandates that women and men are entitled to equal pay for equal work.

On Monday, Jacqueline Mckenzie, a lawyer who contributed to the taskforce set up by Labour to develop the new Race Equality Act, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that the party’s plans were “a bold step”.

“What we’re not sure about, because we haven’t seen the act, is whether or not it will actually include enforcement penalties and mandatory reporting,” she said. “Because if it doesn’t do that it’s not actually going to make any difference.”

Under Labour’s plans for the Act, the law would be gradually introduced to give employers time to adjust to remunerating all their staff appropriately. Back pay will only be offered to workers from when the law officially comes into play. 

The proposals will take up the “dual discrimination” that some workers face, allowing them to bring a single claim if they believe they have experienced a combination of discriminations — for example, both sexism and racism, or ableism. 

Labour also announced it plans to appoint a Windrush commissioner if it wins the general election to surveil the compensation scheme, and that business groups and unions will be consulted before the law is enshrined. 

Shadow women and equalities secretary, Anneliese Dodds released a statement, saying “It has never been more important to deliver race equality.”

“Inequality has soared under the Tories and too many black, Asian and ethnic minority families are working harder and harder for less and less,” she wrote.

“This is holding back their families and holding back the economy. We are proud of our achievements in government, from the landmark Equality Act [in 2010] to strengthening protections against discrimination. The next Labour government will go further to ensure no matter where you live in the UK, and whatever your background, you can thrive.”

However, Dr Begum believes the proposals are not flawless.

“[The Act] fall short of addressing the formidable scale of inequalities that shape the experiences and opportunities of people of colour,” she said. 

“Committing to address structural racial inequality needs to understand that racism doesn’t simply arise when the system fails – but that racism is actually sewn into the very fabric of the system itself.”

“Labour must use the race equality act as a platform to commit to an ambitious, cross-governmental approach supported with sustained investment addressing the unacceptable – and in some cases worsening – disparities in health, housing, wealth and policing, faced by so many communities of colour.”

Minister for Equalities Kemi Badenoch is even more sceptical, calling the proposals “a bonanza for dodgy, activist lawyers”.

“[The Act would] set people against each other and see millions wasted on pointless red tape,” she wrote on X. “It is obviously already illegal to pay someone less because of their race.” 

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It’s a historic milestone in a state established a century ago that ensures the dominance of pro-UK unionists. 

“That such a day would ever come would have been unimaginable to my parents and grandparents’ generation,” said O’Neill, 47, in her speech, addressing the Chamber for the first time as First Minister. 

“This is an historic day which represents a new dawn,” she said. “I will serve everyone equally and be a first minister for all.”

“I am sorry for all the lives lost during the conflict without exception,” she added. 

O’Neill now shares a joint office with her counterpart, the newly appointed Deputy First Minister, the DUP’s Emma Little-Pengelly, who also acknowledged that “for many today, it is a historic moment”. 

On Saturday, Northern Ireland’s devolved government was restored two years to the day since it collapsed. 

The DUP had boycotted the devolved government for two years over post-Brexit checks on goods going between Northern Ireland and Great Britain. Power-sharing rules state that the devolved government can only operate with both unionists and nationalists involved in decision-making.

The Sinn Féin party’s leader, Mary Lou McDonald made the remark earlier this week that O’Neill’s appointment put the possibility of a united Ireland “within touching distance”.

O’Neill, however, steered clear of this subject in her opening speech, saying instead: “This place we call home, this place we love, North of Ireland or Northern Ireland, where you can be British, Irish, both or none, is a changing point.”

“To all of you who are British and unionist: your national identity, culture and traditions are important to me.

“I will be both inclusive and respectful to you,” she pledged.

“Our allegiances are equally legitimate. Let’s walk this two-way street and meet one another halfway. I will be doing so with both an open hand and with heart.”

With strong family ties to the region’s troubled past, O’Neill comes from a republican family in Clonoe, Co Tyrone. Her father was an IRA prisoner during the conflict involving republican paramilitaries fighting to reunite Ireland, loyalist paramilitaries battling to remain in the UK and British security forces.

As the former political wing of the Irish Republican Army (IRA), Sinn Féin was historically shunned by both sides of the political establishment. 

Representative of the “changing times”, it’s now the most popular party in the Irish republic. Despite Sinn Féin’s victory at the 2022 election, however, a series of opinion polls have since found the people of Northern Ireland would still vote decisively against a united Ireland if there was a referendum. 

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She is set to join the likes of high-profile global advocates who’ve been honoured with this award in the past, including Malala Yousafzai,  Ruth Bader Ginsberg, Nelson Mandela and former German chancellor Angela Merkel. The only other Australian to receive the award is former Foreign Affairs Minister Gareth Evans.

The Four Freedoms Awards are presented each year to men and women committed to the four principles proclaimed by US president Franklin D. Roosevelt in a historic 1941 speech: freedom of speech, freedom of worship, freedom of want and freedom from fear. 

Forrest’s work eradicating modern slavery will be honoured with the ‘freedom from fear’ award.

The eldest child of billionaire mining magnate Andrew Forrest and Nicola Forrest, she co-founded the international human rights group, Walk Free, in 2011 under the family’s philanthropic venture, the Minderoo Foundation. 

Each year, Walk Free produces the Global Slavery Index, which is the world’s most comprehensive dataset on modern slavery. 

The Index estimates that 50 million people were living in modern slavery on any given day in 2021, an increase of 10 million people since 2016. 

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In an essay for Marie Claire in 2023, Forrest shared that since founding Walk Free she’s “recognised the innate vulnerability women and girls face with modern slavery and other forms of extreme exploitation”, but has also come to realise their true power to “reimagine and build long-term change”. 

Forrest has campaigned against this human rights abuse for over a decade, developing policy based on extensive field research. This advocacy has informed new laws across the globe.

Recently, she joined former UK prime minister Theresa May’s Global Commission on Modern Slavery and Human Trafficking, alongside UN Under-Secretary General Adama Dieng. They will work towards putting modern slavery on the global political agenda, especially in G20 countries where 50 per cent of all people in modern slavery live, according to Walk Free’s Index.

Upon hearing the Roosevelt freedom award announcement, Forrest said on Wednesday she is “deeply humbled” to be nominated and considers it “an honour” as there’s “a rich history of human rights and international law behind it”. 

The other award announced on Wednesday was the Freedom of Speech medal, which will go to Netherlands-based investigative journalism group Bellingcat for its work separating fake news from fact in international conflicts.

The awards ceremony will take place in the Netherlands on April 11.

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Since the 34-year old singer began her high-profile relationship with Kansas City Chiefs player Travis Kelce in September last year, conspiracy theories spouted by prominent MAGA figures have circulated online. They started off rather innocently — the misinformation accused the pair of entering a ‘fake’ relationship to boost their public profile (like Taylor needs that?).

Earlier this week, the accusations turned insidious and political, with a handful of influential right-wing personalities calling Swift an “election interference psyop” set on manipulating November’s presidential election. 

Swift has attended over 13-games to cheer on her boyfriend’s team and each time, a parade of cameras and commentaries descend on her every reaction. As their relationship played out publicly, some conspiracy theorists couldn’t help but slump into misogynistic trappings. 

On Monday, Jack Posobiec, a Trump supported who has been found to have “collaborated with white supremacists, neo-fascists and antisemites for years”, accused Swift of being “used”, though he failed to clarify whom she was being used by. 

“I think – and I’ve said this, I’ve taken a lot of crap for this online – I think they’re using Taylor Swift right now,” he said in a video posted on Truth Social. 

“They’re gearing up for an operation to use Taylor Swift in the election against everything: against Trump, for Biden, they’re gonna get her and all you know they call them the Swifties they’re going to turn those into voters, you watch.”

Former actor-turned controversial rightwing figure Roseanne Barr appeared alongside Posobiec in the video, saying, “I think that’s what they’re doing too, she’s definitely somebody who’s consented to speak the way the establishment wants to be spoken of.” 

“She has a lot of young girls…I think that’s gonna be the way they’re going to try to get on top of the next election.” 

The 71-year old former Nanny star and 2012 presidential nominee of the Peace and Freedom Party is a Trump supporter, appearing at a rally in Florida in November, calling the Former President the “Magador-in-Chief.”

Former Republican presidential candidate and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy responded to Posobiec’s post, writing on X: “I wonder who’s going to win the Super Bowl next month. And I wonder if there’s a major presidential endorsement coming from an artificially culturally propped-up couple this fall. Just some wild speculation over here, let’s see how it ages over the next 8 months.”

Ramaswamy has spread harmful misinformation about a number of issues in the past, including his claim that the January 6 insurrection was “an inside job” and that the 2020 election was stolen by “big tech.” 

Self-described Islamophobe and conservative Laura Loomer said “The Democrats’ Taylor Swift election interference psyop is happening in the open.”

“It’s not a coincidence that current and former Biden admin officials are propping up Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce. They are going to use Taylor Swift as the poster child for their pro-abortion GOTV Campaign.”

Meanwhile, comedians have come out to ridicule these rightwing theories. On Tuesday night, Jimmy Kimmel opened his show with a monologue calling the theorists “a couple of nuts.”

Reading out a number of tweets, including one from Ramaswamy, Kimmel quibbed: 

“So let me get this straight: The same people who think Joe Biden has dementia and has Kamala Harris feed him butterscotch tapioca every night, also believe that he has somehow planned and executed a diabolically brilliant scheme to fix the NFL playoffs so the biggest pop star in the world can pop up on the jumbotron during the Super Bowl in between a Kia and a Tostitos commercial to hypnotize her 11-year-old fans into voting for Joe Biden?” he said on Jimmy Kimmel Live.

“I mean, it makes sense… These people think football is fake and wrestling is real.”

Swift has not yet issued an endorsement in the upcoming presidential race, though she is reported to be on Joe Biden aides’ “wish lists of potential surrogates”. 

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This frightening information comes from a new peer-reviewed study published on Wednesday in the medical journal JAMA.  

The study estimates that the rapes resulting in the staggering number of pregnancies occurred between July 1, 2022 and January 2024, in states where abortion has been almost completely banned. 

Out of the nearly 65,000 pregnancies, its estimated more than 5,500 occurred in states with rape exceptions and nearly 59,000 are estimated for states without exceptions.

Researchers found that more than 26,000 rape-caused pregnancies likely took place in Texas alone. 

In the states with rape exceptions for abortions – Idaho, Indiana, Mississippi, West Virginia and North Dakota – survivors are required to report crimes to police in order to access abortion services. Research from 2022 has shown only 21 per cent of victim-survivors do so. 

“Thousands of girls and women in states that banned abortion experienced rape-related pregnancy, but few (if any) obtained in-state abortions legally, suggesting that rape exceptions fail to provide reasonable access to abortion for survivors,” researchers concluded.

“Survivors of rape who become pregnant in states with abortion bans may seek a self-managed abortion or try to travel (often hundreds of miles) to a state where abortion is legal, leaving many without a practical alternative to carrying the pregnancy to term.”

The Supreme Court’s 2022 Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization ruling ended the constitutional right to abortion across America that the landmark Roe v. Wade 1973 ruling guaranteed. 

“Highly stigmatized life events are hard to measure. And many survivors of sexual violence do not want to disclose that they went through this incredibly stigmatizing traumatic life event,” said Samuel Dickman, chief medical officer at Planned Parenthood of Montana, who led the latest study. 

“We will never know the true number of survivors of rape and sexual assault in the U.S.”

Data collection 

Researchers calculated the findings by combining data from multiple sources, including national data from a U.S Ceners for Disease Control and Prevention survey on intimate partner sexual violence from 2016 to 2017. 

The researchers also used a Bureau of Justice Statistics survey on criminal victimization to help determine the number of completed vaginal rapes among girls and women of reproductive age (defined as 15 to 45 years old). State-level rape estimates came from FBI crime reports as state-level data wasn’t available.

Considering that stigma and fear prevents many people from reporting rapes and sexual assaults, the authors noted that the numbers could be lower than reality.

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The change is one of the promises made by President Emmanuel Macron last year and is the first step in a legislative process that will still require a vote in the Senate in order to be passed. 

On Tuesday night, the French National Assembly voted overwhelmingly in favour of amending Article 34 of France’s constitution to include that “the law determines the conditions by which is exercised the freedom of women to have recourse to an abortion, which is guaranteed.”

“Tonight, the National Assembly and the government did not miss their rendez-vous with women’s history,” Justice Minister Eric Dupond-Moretti said.

Macron’s government is aiming to get the constitutional amendment passed by both chambers of parliament before getting it approved by all legislators in three-fifths majority of a joint session of parliament. 

In October, the French president said that his government would aim to make abortion rights constitutional by the end of the year. “In 2024, the right of women to choose abortion will become irreversible,” he wrote on his socials. 

A 2022 opinion poll from France showed that 89 per cent of respondents wanted abortion rights to be legislated under the constitution.

Earlier this month, an anti-abortion “March for Life” rally took place in Paris, with numbers soaring to 15,000, according to the organisers. 

Abortion in France was decriminalised over half a century ago, however there remains nothing in the constitution that guarantees abortion rights. If the latest constitutional amendments is passed, France will have a vastly superior approach to women’s reproductive rights compared to its surrounding countries: in Poland, pregnancies can only be legally aborted in cases of rape, incest or a threat to the mother’s health or life. Even in cases of severe fetal deformities, the Polish constitutional court ruled that women are not allowed to access abortion. 

In 2022, Hungry’s far-right government tightened abortion access, requiring women to “listen to the foetal heartbeat” before they can access the procedure. 

In Italy, a group of anti-abortion organisations have sought to enshrine a similar rule, collecting over 106,000 signatures in December in an attempt to force women to listen to the ‘foetal heartbeat’ before undergoing the procedure.

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“I’d like to give the money to something Donald Trump hates,” Carroll, 80, told ABC News.  “If it will cause him pain for me to give money to certain things, that’s my intent.”

Dozens of women have accused the former US president of rape, sexual assault and sexual harassment dating back to the 1970s. He has denied these accusations.

In May last year, Carroll won $5 million in damages from a civil case against Trump. 

The former Elle advice columnist alleged that Trump raped her in a dressing room at the Bergdorf Goodman department store in Manhattan in 1995 or 1996 and then defamed her on his truth social platform in October 2022 by denying it happened and calling her a liar. 

Another $83 million in damages were awarded to Carroll on Friday after a jury took less than three hours to return a verdict that Trump should pay her the amount in damages to compensate for two defamatory statements he made against her in 2019. 

Speaking to the Times, Carroll said the win for her was a win for women everywhere, but especially in a post-Roe America. 

“This win, more than any other thing, when we needed it the most– after we lost the rights over our own bodies in many states– we put out our flag in the ground on this one. Women won this one. I think it bodes well for the future.”

Carroll has emphasised she wants to “do something good” with the money, noting it’s an “inspiring” amount of money.

During the two-week trial, Trump attended in-person, after his absence at last year’s trial. 

Describing what it was like to face him in court, Carroll has told reporters that she had fears leading up to it until looking at him sitting feet away and realising he was “nothing”.

“When you’ve actually faced the man, he’s just a man with no clothes on,” she told the Times, referencing the story of ‘the emperor with no clothes’. 

“It’s the people around him that are giving him the power,” she said.

At the end of proceedings, during closing statements from Carroll’s lawyer Roberta Kaplan, Trump muttered defamatory statements in earshot of the jury and walked out of the courtroom.

Kaplan said his behaviour only validated that Trump is “a bully who can’t follow the rules”.

Following the verdict and $83 million reward, Carroll said she saw the jurors and “it made me burst into tears because they met my eyes for the first time”. 

While it could be a while before Carroll sees the money, Kaplan says she’s confident they’ll be able to collect it.

“One way or the other, he owns a lot of real estate. It can be sold. We will collect the judgement,” Kaplan said.

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Haley is far from the first to question Trump’s mental fitness, but at a rally in Keene, New Hampshire on Saturday she brought up the bizarre incident to voters, saying: “I’m not saying anything derogatory, but when you’re dealing with the pressures of a presidency, we can’t have someone else that we question whether they’re mentally fit to do this.”

The day before, at Trump’s rally, the former president seemed to repeatedly and incorrectly say that Haley was in charge of Capital security on Jan. 6, 2021, the day when a mob of Trump supporters stormed the building in an effort to stop the presidential certification of Democrat Joe Biden following Trump’s 2020 election loss. 

It was actually Pelosi who was in charge of security at the time, with Haley not even being in office. 

Trump’s claim that Pelosi turned down security that his administration offered her has also been debunked. A special House committee empaneled to probe the attack found no evidence to support his claim.

“Nikki Haley, you know they, do you know they destroyed all of the information, all of the evidence, everything, deleted and destroyed all of it. All of it because of lots of things like Nikki Haley is in charge of security,” Trump told supporters at the Concord rally. “We offered her 10,000 people, soldiers, National Guard, whatever they want. They turned it down. They don’t want to talk about that. These are very dishonest people.”

Responding to Trump’s public gaffe on X (formerly Twitter), his senior campaign advisor Chris LaCivita tried to play it off writing, “Nancy ….Nikki ….its a distinction without a difference.”

How old is too old?

Since launching her campaign 11 months ago, Haley, 52, has called for mental competency tests for politicians over 75, and has suggested it’s time for a “new generational leader”. 

Trump, who is 77 himself, is known for frequently throwing digs at the age of Democratic President Joe Biden, 81, saying he’s mentally unfit for office.

In September, however, Trump also mixed up Biden with former President Barack Obama, saying “with Obama, we won an election that everyone said couldn’t be won.”

At his rally on Saturday night in Manchester, Trump said that he took a cognitive test and “aced it.”

“I’ll let you know when I go bad. I really think I’ll be able to tell you,” he added. “I feel my mind is stronger now than it was 25 years ago. Is that possible?”

Ahead of the 2024 US election, age is shaping up to be an important factor as two white men over 75-years-old look to be front-runners for both major parties. 

An August poll from The Associated Press– NORC Center for Public Affairs Research found that 77 per cent of US adults, including 69 per cent of Democrats view Biden as too old for presidential office. The Same poll that over half (51 per cent) of adults, including 28 per cent of Republicans view Trump as too old.

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While Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley has said that she is “very pro-life,” she has also said that abortion is a “personal choice.” Her wording on different thorny political issues such as abortion has left some voters confused about where she actually stands.

This has led some political observers, such as Politico journalist Michael Kruse, to say that Haley has “made a career of taking both sides,” citing her positions on issues such as identity politics, Donald Trump and abortion.

In the weeks leading up to the Iowa caucuses, an Iowa voter praised Haley for pursing a “political middle,” noting this allowed the former South Carolina governor to “compromise” and work “both sides.” Conversely, some conservative commentators have also suggested that Haley’s approach is “inauthentic.”

Haley placed third in the Iowa caucuses on Jan. 15, 2024, drawing support from 19% of voters there.

Polls on Jan. 16, 2024, showed Trump’s lead over Haley in the New Hampshire primary, set for Jan. 23, narrowing.

We are communication and English scholars who study the role of language and persuasion in politics. We are particularly interested in the ways that speakers and writers adapt their messages and language in different situations and among various voters. We call this concept rhetorical adaptivity.

Our research shows that women presidential candidates, more than the men they run against, often speak differently to different audiences in pursuit of moderation and common ground. They also tend to shift their strategies and messages in response to criticism. And they often pay a price for it.

Rhetoric and presidential campaigns

Politicians changing their words and messages to appeal to different audiences is the subject of a book we co-authored in 2023, “Hillary Clinton’s Career in Speeches: The Promises and Perils of Women’s Rhetorical Adaptivity.”

This project examined how Clinton, her presidential opponents in 2008 and 2016, and the Democratic women who ran for president in 2020 campaigned differently. We found that women more commonly adjusted their language and reshaped their positions to appeal to more voters and to manage the controversies they faced.

In 2016, for example, Hillary Clinton tried to find more of a middle ground on abortion by referring to the “fetus” as an “unborn person” and talking about restrictions on “late-term abortions” – even as she defended a “pro-choice” position.

Both Clinton and Haley opponents have questioned their authenticity, citing the politicians’ shifting language and positions. Such challenges aimed to undermine their candidacies by suggesting they lacked the character to be president.

Haley’s rhetorical maneuvers

Haley’s critics also cite her shifting positions, including on issues such as abortion, Palestinians in Gaza and Donald Trump to argue she lacks a political core.

Former Vice President Mike Pence, for example, was quick to condemn Haley’s “compromising stance” on abortion during the August 2023 Republican debate.

Haley’s opponents have also challenged her changing positions on the Israel-Hamas war. As the former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Haley supported Israel and disparaged the U.N.’s Palestinian refugee agency for “using American money to feed Palestinian hatred of the Jewish state.”

Yet, in the early days of the Israel-Hamas war in October 2023, Haley showed more sympathy for the Palestinians.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis ridiculed Haley’s compassion as being “politically correct.” Haley reaffirmed her pro-Israel priorities in response during a speech in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, in mid-October 2023. Haley said she supported Israel and called for the elimination of Hamas. Concern for the Palestinians slipped down the ladder of her priorities.

As a U.N. ambassador, meanwhile, Haley was unwavering in her support for Trump. In her 2019 book, “With All Due Respect,” Haley concluded: “In every instance I dealt with Trump, he was truthful, he listened and he was great to work with.”

Since then, Haley has carved a middle ground approach to Trump. She has argued, “We need him in the Republican Party. I don’t want us to go back to the days before Trump.”

Yet, in other contexts, she disparages Trump for sowing “chaos, vendettas and drama.”

Trump called her out on this discrepancy in the fall of 2023. “She criticizes me one minute, and 15 minutes later, she un-criticizes me.”

Haley’s character woes

Other critics frame Haley’s positions as “flip-flopping.” They don’t interpret what she is doing as moderating her positions or using the language of compromise to build consensus.

Time magazine ran a headline in February 2023 that read: “A Brief History of Nikki Haley’s Biggest Flip Flops on Trump.” In March 2023, The New York Times featured an opinion piece titled, “The Serene Hypocrisy of Nikki Haley.”

Challenging the authenticity of presidential candidates is commonplace, but it is especially piercing when the challenge is directed against women candidates. In presidential politics, research shows that women are conditioned to be uniters, consensus-builders and mitigators of any negativity they face.

Yet, efforts to do this and still “be all things to all people” often result in women candidates falling into gaffe traps.

Haley’s initial refusal to associate “slavery” with the Civil War in December 2023 reinforced a southern trope that some Republicans of color called a “tactical blunder.”

Women’s election challenges

More leadership experts are recognizing the benefits of political candidates integrating multiple perspectives into their thinking and speech. The Pew Research Center found in 2018 that in politics as well as business, women are perceived to be more “compassionate” and “empathic” and are more likely to work out “compromises” than men.

Yet, in presidential campaigns, and especially primaries, compromise, adaptivity and problem-solving are exchanged for hubris, rigidity and ideological purity. Playing to the political middle is treated as politically evasive and opportunistic.

Eventually, women playing to the middle become more gaffe-prone as the campaign unfolds. Women, more than the men they run against, are granted minimal room by opponents and pundits for unforced errors before they are quickly dismissed as “unelectable.”

Shawn J. Parry-Giles, Professor of Communication, University of Maryland and David Kaufer, Professor Emeritus of English, Carnegie Mellon University

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

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Following a nearly five-year engagement, the wedding had been a long time coming as the couple had originally planned to marry in 2022 but postponed it due to the country’s Covid restrictions at the time.  

“13.01.24 Worth the wait. ”, Ardern wrote on Instagram, next to a stunning wedding photo of herself and Gayford at Craggy Range vineyard. 

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Ardern wore a fitted ivory sleeveless, cowl-neck halter gown with a high neckline and low back by New Zealand fashion designer, Juliette Hogan – who is reportedly a close friend of Ardern. Her shoes were from Mount Maunganui designer Chaos and Harmony, the New Zealand Herald reports. 

The couple’s daughter, Neve, walked down the aisle with her father, wearing a dress made from Ardern’s mother’s wedding dress. 

Details of the event were kept private, but it’s believed only family and close friends, as well as a handful of Ardern’s former political colleagues were invited. Among them were Ardern’s successor and former prime minister Chris Hipkins. 

During her emotional remarks to reports when she resigned as prime minister in January 2023, she had said, “To Clarke, let’s finally get married”. 

Ardern’s resignation shocked many as she stepped down after five-and-a-half years as prime minister, citing burnout by saying she did not have “enough in the tank”. 

“It’s about knowing when you’ve got what it takes and what is needed to lead, but also have the courage to know when you don’t,” she said.

During her time as PM, her leadership style earned international recognition for navigating the country through a number of crises, including the Covid-pandemic, a horrific mass shooting in Christchurch and the White Island volcano eruption.

One year since departing politics

After stepping down from Prime Minister, a job she called ‘the greatest role of my life’, Ardern has been continuing her advocacy work and enjoying more family time. 

In April 2023, she was appointed a trustee of the Prince of Wales’ environment award, the Earthshot Prize, which was created by Prince William to fund projects that aim to save the planet.

Ardern said since Earthshot’s creation she had believed in the prize’s “power to encourage and spread not only the innovation we desperately need, but also optimism”.

Since resigning as PM, she’s also temporarily joined Harvard University after being appointed to dual fellowships at the Harvard Kennedy School. And she’s taken an unpaid role in combating online extremism. 

In June 2023, Ardern was made a Dame Grand Companion for her leadership through a mass shooting and pandemic. This title is one of NZ’s highest honours. 

That same month, Ardern also announced she’d be writing a book on being ‘your own kind of leader’. There’s much anticipation for the book as she’s promised to expand on her unique style of leadership. 

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Since departing parliament, Ardern has kept a low profile on political matters but has shared a bit of her life on social media, noting her precious time spent with family. 

In an adorable birthday post on Instagram last July, she wrote: “Can’t remember the last time I had a birthday that was quite as normal as this one. Tea and toast in bed, work, and dinner with my loves. Feeling very lucky today…and just a little older. ”

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