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The Stark Divide in War Cost EstimatesUnited States Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has clashed with American lawmakers over the cost of war on Iran in his first appearance on Capitol Hill since the conflict – now into its third month – broke out. The Pentagon told a hearing of the House Armed Services Committee that the US had spent $25bn on its war on Iran, largely on munitions and equipment maintenance. But Democratic leaders and several economists believe that number to be a significant underestimate, with actual costs potentially reaching between $630bn and $1 trillion.The Pentagon's Limited Financial DisclosureThe Pentagon's acting comptroller, Jay Hurst, who testified alongside Hegseth and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Dan Caine, presented the estimated figure of $25bn to the committee. "We will formulate a supplemental [on additional funding], through the White House, that will come to Congress once we have a full assessment of the cost of the conflict," Hurst said, promising to provide a cost breakdown later.The estimated figure only reflects "the costs of the war," Hurst explained, factoring in "munitions expended in that total and other operational costs." This figure is significantly smaller than the $200bn initially requested by the Trump administration for the war and the $11.3bn reported for just the first six days of fighting in March.The Economic Ripple Effects Beyond Direct Military SpendingAs the US continues with its blockade of Iranian ports and Tehran controls the Strait of Hormuz, gas prices in the US have hit a new high at $4.23 a gallon – the highest since 2022, when Russia invaded Ukraine. The Brent crude benchmark has been trading above $120, leading to a 40 percent rise in gas prices compared to pre-war levels.Representative Ro Khanna claimed the war would cost about $631bn – or some $5,000 per household – to the US economy due to increased gas and food prices. "Your $25bn number is totally off," Khanna told Hegseth, highlighting the administration's failure to account for broader economic impacts.The rising cost of living has also affected Trump's approval rating, hitting a record low in his second term with only 22 percent of Americans approving of his handling of cost of living, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll.Hidden Costs of War: Infrastructure and Long-term ImplicationsThe US claimed earlier that it struck more than 13,000 targets over the first 39 days of fighting with Iran. For context, the US fired more Patriot missiles in the first four days of the Iran war than it supplied to Ukraine over the past four years, with each missile costing $4m.However, the economics and impact of the war extend far beyond the worth of bombs and missiles. One major expense is reconstructing and repairing damaged assets. After the US-Israeli strikes assassinated former Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, Iranian strikes caused damage to US military camps in Kuwait, alongside other military bases in the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, and Bahrain.Earlier this month, NBC News quoted six US officials noting that Iran damaged US military bases and equipment in the Middle East far worse than publicly acknowledged. The damages alone could lead to billions of dollars in repairs, with one report estimating that repairs to the US Navy Fifth Fleet headquarters in Bahrain could cost $200m alone.Historical Precedents and Future ProjectionsHarvard economist Linda Bilmes had estimated in February 2006 that the Iraq war would cost the US $3 trillion, when the George Bush administration was telling the public that fighting would cost $50bn. Twenty years later, Bilmes ended up with among the most accurate predictions, as the Iraq war's total cost is now estimated at $2 trillion."Wars always cost more than expected. Throughout history, those who get into wars tend to be optimistic about the cost and about the length of time it will take," Bilmes noted. "It is hard to measure the exact cost. But based on what we know now, it [the current Iran war] is costing about $2bn a day in short-term, upfront costs, which is the tip of the iceberg."Beyond immediate expenses, Bilmes highlighted long-term costs including veterans' care and restocking weapons inventory. "I am certain we will reach one trillion dollars for the Iran war," she concluded. Meanwhile, the Trump administration has asked for a $1.5 trillion defense budget for next year – a 42 percent increase, or the largest expansion in military spending since World War II.

The Postpartum Health Window: A New Prevention StrategyNew mothers who experienced hypertension during pregnancy could significantly reduce their long-term risk of heart attack, stroke, and premature death by implementing daily home blood pressure monitoring, according to a pivotal study from the University of Oxford.Methodology: The Oxford Intervention TrialThe research, published in the journal Hypertension, involved 220 women who had developed hypertension during pregnancy. The study compared two approaches to postpartum care:Standard Care: 108 women received routine care with infrequent blood pressure checks and medication adjustments.Home Monitoring: 112 women used home monitors to check their blood pressure daily. Readings were shared via an app, allowing doctors to adjust medication day-to-day for optimal control.Quantifying the Benefit: Arterial Health and Risk ReductionThe data reveals a tangible physiological improvement in the home monitoring group. Six to nine months after birth, women who managed their blood pressure at home had significantly less stiff arteries compared to those in the standard care group. This reduction in arterial stiffness is clinically significant because it directly correlates with better blood flow and reduced clot formation.Researchers estimate that this specific intervention could reduce the future risk of heart attack or stroke by 10%. Furthermore, the study highlights a broader statistical reality: Harvard researchers found that high blood pressure in pregnancy is linked to a 42% rise in the risk of premature death.Why the Postpartum Period is Critical for Long-Term Cardiovascular HealthProfessor Paul Leeson, who led the study, emphasized that the weeks following birth represent a "powerful and often overlooked opportunity" to protect women's future health. High blood pressure in pregnancy, whether gestational or pre-eclampsia, affects 5-10% of pregnant women and can damage organs immediately.Beyond immediate threats, the condition creates a lasting legacy. Women with a history of hypertensive pregnancy are three times more likely to develop high blood pressure later in life and twice as likely to develop heart disease.The Path Forward: NHS Integration and Future ResearchThe findings are paving the way for a shift in postpartum care standards. Trials are currently underway to determine the most effective methods for rolling out blood pressure monitoring to women after hypertensive pregnancies, with specialist NHS clinics being a primary option.Dr. Sonya Babu-Narayan, clinical director at the British Heart Foundation, noted that this research underscores the importance of the renewed women's health strategy, ensuring that heart health advice is integrated into care at key life stages, from pregnancy through menopause.

The Erasure of a Scholar's LegacyWhen Donald Trump returned to office in January last year, one of his first acts was to sign an executive order intended to cut federal funding for any school teaching what the administration defined as "critical race theory." A raft of other orders mandated the termination of DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion) personnel, offices and training across the federal government. Federal agencies began flagging hundreds of words to avoid or eliminate, including "intersectional" and "intersectionality." All of which has amounted to 40 years of Kimberlé Crenshaw's work being literally and deliberately erased.The Architect of IntersectionalityFor decades, the 66-year-old legal scholar has been naming things that powerful people would prefer remain unnamed. In 1989, she coined the term intersectionality to describe the way race and gender overlap to shape lived experience, often in ways the law fails to recognize. Around the same time, she was one of a group of African American scholars who created the framework that came to be known as "critical race theory," which sought to examine how racism is embedded in legal systems rather than simply enacted through individual prejudice. Now, Crenshaw's ideas are being contested like never before.The Political Weaponization of Academic Concepts"Unfortunately, I did see this coming," she tells me over a video call from the California offices of the African American Policy Forum, the thinktank she co-founded. We are calling to discuss Crenshaw's new memoir, Backtalker, but the conversation soon shifts. "The fact that they are targeting this … it is because they understand the power of these ideas, the power of this history." Behind her, posters reading "History repeats when we forget" and "The freedom to learn is the freedom to live" hang alongside shelves of critical race theory texts and Black history books the likes of which have, in some states, become politically radioactive.The Cultural War Over "Woke" IdeologyWhat makes the intensity of this backlash striking is how recently Crenshaw's work entered mainstream public consciousness. Until a few years ago, ideas such as intersectionality and critical race theory remained largely within the domain of legal scholarship, academic debate and activist vernacular. It wasn't until 2020, when a loose coalition of conservative activists, media figures and politicians began elevating them as political flashpoints, that they were thrust into the centre of the culture wars. In the ensuing five years, this snowballed into all-out war against "woke," with critical race theory as its ultimate bogeyman. It became a byword for liberal overreach, a catch-all for everything that was wrong with the US in the eyes of the conservative right.The Fascist Narrative and American Democracy"Trump jumped on a bandwagon started by a few rightwing propagandists, claiming that intersectionality and critical race theory were anti-white, anti-male and anti-American," she says. "Fox News amplified this, and within weeks, these ideas were mentioned more than they had been in the previous four decades."Crenshaw, true to form, is not shy about naming what she considers to be the problem. "One of the keys of fascism is control of the nation's narrative," she says. "That, alongside creating a group of people that are legitimate targets of exclusion – an us and them – allows for the autocrat to be seen as the embodiment of the essential nation. And in the United States, we come prefabricated for that dimension of fascism to set into our politics."Why is it that so many white Americans are willing to continue to vote for a president that is demolishing democracy, so long as he's willing to affirm them effectively as true Americans?" she continues. "Because of the idea that those over there are different from us. They don't really belong. That is the way fascism works."From Childhood Inequality to Intellectual FrameworkIt is clearly in Crenshaw's DNA to confront injustice, as is evidenced in Backtalker, which chronicles her journey from witnessing inequality as a child to challenging entrenched power structures in law, academia and politics. "Being a backtalker is like being lactose intolerant," she writes. "There is BS that I cannot digest. To accept anything close to second-class status as the price of belonging sickens me."Born in Ohio in 1959, on the verge of the civil rights movement, Crenshaw grew up at a time of expanding yet restricted possibilities. She watched that tension unfolding in real time, in the speeches of Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr on television, and in discussions around the kitchen table, where her parents, dedicated anti-racist activists, treated politics as a daily practice. "As a Black child, I had early inklings that differences would matter in my life, even if I couldn't name them," she says.The Making of an Intersectional ConsciousnessOne such inkling came when her family moved to the predominantly white suburb of Canton, Ohio. "When we arrived, there were children playing everywhere," she remembers. "I was excited." But almost overnight, the children vanished. Neighbours treated the new family as intruders and shouted slurs when they walked by; an estate agent knocked on their door urging a quick sale.Perhaps the most formative incident came when she was five years old, and was the only girl in her all-white class who was not given the opportunity to play the princess, Thorn Rosa, in a school performance. "Thorn Rosa marks the stirring of my nascent awareness that my colour and my girlness were linked," she writes."You push that doubt down until something happens that forces it open," she tells me. "You realize that how others see you will shape your experiences. And that realization is traumatic."The Trauma of Loss and the Birth of ActivismWhat mattered, she says, was that those moments were not dismissed. "I credit my parents for taking them seriously," she says. "They refused to minimize what I experienced, even as a young child. That affirmation was freeing, it told me my feelings were grounded in reality and gave me permission to understand them."It was tragedy that would, in many ways, become the making of the young Crenshaw. She was eight years old when Martin Luther King Jr was assassinated in 1968 – a before-and-after moment in her life. The following day, young Black activists in Canton directed schoolchildren to the local church for a hastily organized memorial service. Crowded into pews, everyone was silent when the activists asked if anyone had anything to say about Dr. King. No one moved. It was Crenshaw who broke the silence, exhorting the crowd not to let his death be the end of the freedom struggle. "We pick up where he left off," she recalls saying. "We continue to walk in his footsteps. They can't kill his dream for us – not if we won't let them."Further devastation followed. A year later, her father, an apparently healthy 34-year-old, died suddenly, leaving the family reeling. Not long after, her older brother Mantel was shot and killed while at university. The circumstances were never fully explained, and justice never came. She writes of that period with unflinching candor: "Happiness was dead." These losses left an indelible mark, sharpening her awareness of the unevenness of justice in a world already structured by racial and social inequities.The Complexity of Solidarity and the Limits of "We"Crenshaw arrived at Cornell University in 1978, to a campus shaped by the afterlives of civil rights struggle and Black student organizing. It was there that she entered into a relationship with a fellow student that became physically abusive. In one incident, he beat her and tried to throw her from the window of her 10th-floor dorm room."We were eye-to-eye when he threw the first punch," she writes in Backtalker. "Pressed out of denial, I woke to the fact that he was going to beat the daylights out of me."What followed unsettled her understanding of community more profoundly than the violence itself. Rather than rallying around her, many of her peers – fellow Black students and friends – closed ranks around him. To involve authorities, they told her, would be to expose a Black man to a system already predisposed against him. The implication was that her suffering as a woman should be subordinated to a broader racial solidarity."The way that sexual violence against Black women has long been justified – framing us as unlikely ever to say no to any sexual encounter – you can know this historically, but then when you experience it interpersonally, you have to grapple with the fact that more people in your own community will come to the defense of your abuser than you," she says. "It really presses the question of 'what is solidarity supposed to look like?' she continues. "What does it mean to defend the 'we', when that 'we' often excludes me?"The Birth of Intersectionality in Legal TheoryCrenshaw returns to that question – of the instability of "we"– again and again. From arriving at Harvard Law School and being called the N-word on her first day, to being directed to enter the university's exclusive Fly Club through the back door because she was a woman – the Black male friends she was with, rather than challenge the slight, urged her not to make a scene. What she would later call "asymmetrical solidarities" revealed themselves in practice: loyalty expected but not returned. "I cannot bring myself to ride or die for a politics that won't ride or die for me," she writes of the incident.In legal terms, the problem came into focus when Crenshaw came across a 1976 case in which an African American woman was denied the ability to bring a discrimination claim against her employer on the grounds that the law could recognize race or gender, but not both at once. Her experience – specifically of being discriminated against as a Black woman – fell through the cracks and the case was thrown out of court. In 1989, Crenshaw identified this form of compound discrimination and gave it a name: intersectionality. Around the same time, she was part of a group of scholars developing what would become critical race theory, a broader attempt to understand how racism is a structural part of the legal system.The Promise and Limits of Political RepresentationIt is a lesson that would resurface, years later, in a very different arena. When Barack Obama was elected president in 2008, the language of "we" returned with renewed force – this time, as a promise. For many, Obama's election felt like a rupture with the past. But for Crenshaw, it quickly raised a familiar question."I didn't think it would happen in my lifetime," she says, of that initial hope after Obama's victory. "It felt like a miracle. My mother and I celebrated together on the phone – I was dancing on a table at Stanford and she was doing the same in her retirement facility. For her especially, it was a dream come true."But symbolism, Crenshaw suggests, has limits, particularly when it is used as a substitute for structural change. She found his reticence to address racial injustice head-on frustrating. Very quickly, the terms of Obama's political viability became clear."He had been framed as post-racial, beyond these issues," she says. "And that framing became a constraint on what he could say and how directly he could address racial injustice."Even when Obama did address racial inequality more explicitly in his second term – most notably after the killing of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin in 2012 – the focus, she felt, remained narrow, failing to address the systemic nature of the problem.The Future of Racial Justice in AmericaAs Crenshaw reflects on her life's work and the current political climate, she remains committed to the struggle for racial justice, even as her ideas face unprecedented opposition. "If speaking out means being at odds with people I love, well, so be it," she writes. "I still love them. I hope they still love me."Looking ahead, Crenshaw sees both challenges and opportunities in the fight for racial justice. The backlash against critical race theory and intersectionality, she argues, is a sign of the power these ideas hold to transform American society. "There's a long history in this country of using the threat of violence to keep people under heel," she observes. "But the resistance has always been there too, and it's getting stronger."As America continues to grapple with its racial legacy, Crenshaw's work – and the concept of intersectionality she pioneered – offers a framework for understanding the complex ways race, gender, and other identities intersect to shape experiences of discrimination and privilege. Whether this framework will survive the current political assault remains to be seen, but Crenshaw's decades of scholarship and activism have already left an indelible mark on American discourse and law.

The Breakthrough prize, often referred to as the 'Oscar of science', has been awarded to a team of scientists for their groundbreaking work in gene therapy. Jean Bennett, a molecular biologist, and Albert Maguire, an ophthalmologist, who met while dissecting a brain at Harvard Medical School, have been recognized for their 25-year-long project that led to the development of Luxturna, the first approved gene therapy for blindness.The therapy has transformed the lives of people born with Leber congenital amaurosis (LCA), a genetic disorder that typically causes total blindness by early adulthood. The treatment, which smuggles a working version of the gene into retinal cells, has shown profound improvements in patients, with one patient describing seeing their child's face for the first time.The $3m prize is shared with physician Katherine High, who worked with Bennett and Maguire on the project. The couple's work is a testament to their dedication and perseverance, with Bennett noting that she was 'overwhelmed' by the news and describing it as one of the most 'miraculous eureka moments' she could imagine.Bennett also expressed concerns about the US administration's attacks on science, warning that it could 'cause damage for generations to come' and lead to a brain drain that the country would struggle to recover from.The Breakthrough prizes, founded by Silicon Valley entrepreneurs, recognize outstanding achievements in life sciences, mathematics, and physics. Other prizes awarded included work on a gene therapy for sickle cell anaemia and beta thalassaemia, and the discovery of genetic drivers of frontotemporal dementia and ALS.

New research indicates that individuals carrying the red‑hair allele have been evolutionary winners in Europe for more than 10,000 years. The study, led by Harvard scientists, examined DNA from nearly 16,000 ancient remains and over 6,000 living Europeans, providing robust proof that human biology continues to evolve long after farming began. Researchers identified 479 genetic variants that show clear signs of positive selection. Among these are genes linked to red hair and fair skin, as well as variants that affect susceptibility to coeliac disease, diabetes risk, baldness and rheumatoid arthritis. The authors suggest that the advantage of red hair may stem from its association with lighter skin, which enhances vitamin D synthesis in low‑sunlight environments—a crucial benefit for early European farmers. Prior to this work, only about 21 traits had been documented as having risen through natural selection, such as lactase persistence. The scarcity of earlier examples had led some to argue that directional selection was rare after modern humans left Africa. By leveraging an unprecedented volume of ancient genomic data and advanced computational methods, the team demonstrated that selection pressures intensified during the transition from hunter‑gatherer societies to agricultural ones, reshaping hundreds of genes across West Eurasia. "With these new techniques and the sheer scale of ancient DNA, we can now observe how selection sculpted our biology in near real‑time," said Dr. Ali Akbari, the study’s first author. Beyond vitamin D, the rise of certain disease‑related alleles poses intriguing puzzles. A mutation that heightens the risk of coeliac disease emerged around 4,000 years ago and has steadily increased, implying that carriers may have enjoyed other survival advantages despite the autoimmune threat. Similarly, the immune‑regulating gene TYK2, which markedly raises tuberculosis susceptibility, grew in frequency between 9,000 and 3,000 years ago before declining, hinting at a complex balance between pathogen defense and disease risk. The analysis also uncovered negative selection against genetic profiles that promote a high body‑fat percentage, supporting the classic “thrifty genes” hypothesis: traits advantageous for storing energy during scarce hunter‑gatherer periods became detrimental once agriculture ensured a steadier food supply. "This work lets us assign both place and time to the forces that have shaped us," noted Prof. David Reich, senior author and Harvard Medical School geneticist. While the findings are confined to West Eurasian populations, they raise broader questions about whether similar evolutionary dynamics occurred elsewhere. The full study appears in Nature.

Scientists have confirmed that March 2026 was the hottest March on record in the United States, underscoring the urgency of the climate crisis. Yet, a weekend gathering in a hotel basement near the White House, organized by the climate‑denying Heartland Institute, celebrated a very different narrative.The audience—predominantly middle‑aged men in suits—cheered the claim that the world is finally “waking up” to the idea that there is no climate crisis. Heartland Institute president James Taylor described the atmosphere as “wonderful” and declared that “the truth is winning out.”The event’s headline speaker was Lee Zeldin, the EPA administrator—a figure also rumored to be under consideration for the role of attorney general. Zeldin framed the conference as a day of “vindication,” accusing a “cabal of elites” of using climate science to push a political agenda.Booths and banners, sponsored by groups such as the CO2 Coalition, displayed slogans like “CO2 is a lifesaver” and “There is no climate crisis.” Pamphlets touted fossil fuels as the “greenest energy source” and dismissed net‑zero targets as unfounded.While some attendees denied the existence of global warming outright, others conceded that temperatures were rising but insisted it was not a human‑caused emergency. Taylor later clarified that “humans have played a role in climate change, but that is not the same as a ‘climate crisis.’”Harvard historian Naomi Oreskes noted that think tanks like Heartland portray themselves as underdogs, even though they receive substantial backing from powerful interests. The institute has historically been funded by major oil companies—including Shell and ExxonMobil—and by the Mercers, a prominent Republican donor family.When asked about current funding sources, Taylor dismissed the inquiry as “curious and disappointing,” insisting that the organization is supported by individuals who value “freedom and affordable energy.” He added that the institute has not received oil money for nearly two decades, though he would “gladly accept” it again.Under the Trump administration, groups such as the Heartland Institute, the CO2 Coalition, and the Committee for a Constructive Tomorrow (CFACT) have secured unprecedented policy influence. Their agenda includes the repeal of the EPA’s “endangerment finding,” a legal basis for most U.S. climate regulations. During Zeldin’s introduction, CFACT president Craig Rucker announced the rollback to a cheering crowd.CFACT’s lobbying helped cancel a California offshore‑wind project, while the CO2 Coalition’s founder helped establish a White House committee that questioned climate science during Trump’s first term. Most recently, the coalition succeeded in placing an ophthalmologist with no air‑pollution expertise on a key EPA advisory panel.Despite the deniers’ confidence, polling consistently shows that a **vast majority of Americans**—including 42 % of young Republicans—acknowledge climate change and view it as a pressing issue. Taylor countered by citing a 2019 survey indicating limited willingness to pay higher electricity bills for climate action, but the broader data suggest strong public concern.Younger activists disrupted a youth‑focused panel, arguing that the conference’s “geriatric white‑male” audience was out of touch with the climate realities that will affect their generation. One protester shouted, “There’s no such thing as fossil‑fuel‑caused climate change!” before being removed.The clash highlighted a growing divide: while right‑wing think tanks are consolidating power within the federal government, public opinion and scientific consensus continue to affirm the reality and urgency of global warming.

The documentary Kinaesthesia delves into the dreamlike qualities of early cinema, showcasing a treasure trove of visions from the 1910s and 1920s. Director Gerald Fox draws on the theories of late Harvard film studies professor Vlada Petrić, who posited that early cinema pioneers employed techniques to activate the brain similar to those experienced during dreams.Luis Buñuel's Un Chien Andalou, co-written with Salvador Dalí and inspired by their dreams, is a seminal work featured in the documentary. Its surreal images, including a razor slicing through an eyeball and rotting donkeys strapped to grand pianos, continue to shock and disturb nearly a century later.The film is a greatest hits collection of experimental early cinema, featuring works by FW Murnau, Fritz Lang, Sergei Eisenstein, and Oleksandr Dovzhenko. Notably, it includes Teinosuke Kinugasa's A Page of Madness, a 1926 film set in a psychiatric hospital that was long believed lost but later found in a sake barrel.The documentary also highlights the contributions of avant-garde filmmaker Maya Deren, with a dedicated section showcasing her brilliance. While the narration by Fox can be somewhat hammy and the dramatic sections featuring Goran Kostic as Professor Petrić add little value, the film remains required viewing for anyone interested in the history of cinema.Kinaesthesia is set to release in UK and Irish cinemas from April 17, 2026.

A comprehensive study from Denmark has concluded that taking acetaminophen, commonly known as Tylenol, during pregnancy has no effect on later autism diagnoses in children. The research, which utilized Denmark's robust national healthcare system to track more than 1.5 million children born between 1997 and 2022, including 31,098 children who were exposed to Tylenol in utero, found no significant link between Tylenol use and autism. The study's findings contradict claims made by the Trump administration, which had suggested that Tylenol use during pregnancy was a major cause of autism in children. This led to a notable 16% drop in Tylenol orders for pregnant women in emergency rooms following the announcement. However, the new study provides reassurance that Tylenol is safe to use during pregnancy for pain relief and fever reduction. According to the study, autism was diagnosed in 1.8% of children who were exposed to Tylenol and 3% of those who weren’t. A similar 2024 study in Sweden found a marginal link that disappeared after considering siblings, suggesting that autism is strongly genetic. Health officials had previously announced a label change for acetaminophen, warning of a potential link to autism, which has now been called into question. Experts, such as Jeremy Faust, an emergency physician at Mass General Brigham and a health services researcher at Harvard Medical School, have noted that the words of health officials can significantly affect behavior, as evidenced by the drop in Tylenol orders. However, Faust also emphasized that Tylenol remains one of the safest options for pain control and fever reduction during pregnancy.

The recent showdown between the US and Iran has ended with Iran emerging victorious and Trump being forced to pause his war efforts. This outcome is a clear example of how to defeat Trump. According to Robert Reich, a former US secretary of labor, the strategy that connects all the successful countermeasures against Trump is simple: refuse to cave to his demands, despite his superior military or economic power. Instead, use a kind of jiujitsu to turn Trump's power against him. Examples of successful countermeasures include: Iran using cheap drones and missiles to close the strait of Hormuz and drive up oil prices, putting pressure on Trump. China leveraging its control of rare earth metals to gain leverage in trade negotiations. Russia using its vast deposits of oil and natural gas to gain leverage over US allies. Canada and Mexico winning tariff showdowns with Trump by leveraging their economic importance to the US. Greenland curbing Trump's ambitions through public opinion. Inside the US, similar strategies have been used by: The people of Minneapolis, who organized non-violent resistance to protect immigrants. Harvard University, which leveraged its influence with federal courts to stop Trump's interference. Comedian Jimmy Kimmel, who turned a crisis into a ratings victory. Writer E Jean Carroll, who secured over $88m in damages from Trump in two civil cases. Law firms like Perkins Coie, Jenner & Block, Susman Godfrey, and WilmerHale, which refused to follow Trump's executive orders. On the other hand, countries and organizations that have caved to Trump have only strengthened his leverage over them. For example, Europe seems incapacitated, fearing Trump will leave Nato, while media networks like ABC continue to lose viewers. The bottom line is that there is now a clear blueprint for how to defeat Trump: reject his demands and use your own asymmetric power to turn his power against him.