As we approach November’s US presidential election, the stakes have never been higher. At least, that’s true for MSNBC host Rachel Maddow, who has expressed concern that a Donald Trump victory will result in her being interned in a prison camp. During an interview with CNN, she said: “I’m worried about the country broadly if we put someone in power who is openly avowing that he plans to build camps to hold millions of people,” adding that “he’s not joking when he says this stuff, and we’ve seen what happens when people take power proclaiming that kind of agenda.”

Rachel Maddow ‘worried’ Trump will send her to ‘camps’ if he’s elected president https://t.co/1eIIB32V1m pic.twitter.com/ylSmvQFLTU

— New York Post (@nypost) June 11, 2024

Maddow isn’t the only prominent figure who could get locked up when Trump violently seizes power. Democratic Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has this week revealed her own worry that she might also be heading for the cells. “It sounds nuts, but I wouldn’t be surprised if this guy threw me in jail,” she told New York magazine. “He did his whole first campaign around lock her [Hillary Clinton] up’. This is his motto.” Fair enough — Trump has always been known for his sincerity.

Since becoming Labour leader, and as he strides closer to power, Sir Keir Starmer has made it his mission to expunge the party’s Corbynite influence. The culmination of this process came late last month, when Starmer expelled his predecessor from Labour, leaving Corbyn free to stand as an independent candidate in Islington North. Now, the Leader of the Opposition is rubbing salt in the wound, today accusing the Conservatives of launching an un-costed, “Jeremy Corbyn-style manifesto”.

To win the leadership Starmer said that the ‘Corbyn-style manifesto’ should be treated as the ‘foundational document’ https://t.co/21Vo30qihm pic.twitter.com/AUUkmerLxi

— j (@jrc1921) June 11, 2024

But what’s that? Online commentators have been quick to remind Starmer that he was once much more enthusiastic about Jeremy Corbyn-style manifestos — or, to be precise, Jeremy Corbyn manifestos. Footage has resurfaced of Starmer, while campaigning to become party leader in 2020, labelling the 2017 plan for power as “the foundational document” which inspired “radicalism and hope” for supporters. Of course, he served in Corbyn’s shadow cabinet between 2015-20, during which time he endorsed the 2017 and 2019 Labour manifestos. What a relief: it’s not just Sunak who’s capable of unforced campaign-trail gaffes…

Move over Donald, there’s a new prisoner in town. Okay, neither man has been officially sentenced, but Hunter Biden’s guilty verdict today for gun possession means that the President’s son could face up to 25 years in jail.

Inevitably, the 4D chess tacticians have offered their takes on who the verdict really benefits. According to the FT’s Edward Luce, the conviction is “politically useful” to Democrats because it makes it “much harder for Trump to argue the system is rigged against him”.

Hunter Biden guilty.

Yawn.

The true crimes of the Biden Crime Family remain untouched.

This is a fake trial trying to make the Justice system appear “balanced.”

Don’t fall for it.

— Charlie Kirk (@charliekirk11) June 11, 2024

Meanwhile on the Right — despite baying for a guilty verdict for months now — the news of Hunter’s conviction hasn’t been enough to sate some conservatives. Turning Point USA’s Charlie Kirk tweeted that it was a “fake trial trying to make the Justice system appear ‘balanced’”. In addition, the “true crimes of the Biden family remain untouched.” This is turning into an episode of Succession…