The Monocle Minute

It shouldn’t be close. It shouldn’t be anywhere near close. One of the candidates for the presidency of the US is a convicted felon, adjudged rapist, failed putschist, career conman and blustering oaf who has had to campaign against several former top officials and his own chief of staff, all of whom have averred that he is no more fit to hold the office to which he seeks restoration than a Barbary macaque is qualified to conduct an orchestra. Your correspondent has spoken, on and off the record, to perhaps half a dozen people who were in the Oval Office at various points during Trump’s first term. All have confirmed that it was exactly what you’d expect – or words to that effect.

If Donald Trump is returned to Earth’s most powerful office today, it instantly becomes the world’s most pressing difficulty. Trump has made little secret of his contempt for the US’s European allies, even as they find themselves directly menaced by Russia. It is desperately difficult to imagine him lifting a finger – even uttering a word – in support of Taiwan in the event of threat from China. Advocates of a two-state peace between Israel and Palestine, who believe that the administration in which vice-president Kamala Harris serves has been somewhat hapless and/or indifferent, have not seen anything yet.

But if Trump loses – again – he, and what he has emboldened, remains the US’s problem. Even if today goes as badly for Trump as it realistically might, no fewer than 70 million citizens of the mightiest, wealthiest civilisation ever gathered beneath one flag will cast a vote for a palpably deranged criminal whose politics offer little beyond hatred, resentment, paranoia and self-pity. And even if Trump has led his obdurate cult up the mountain for the last time, a colossal task of deprogramming awaits.

Andrew Mueller is a contributing editor at Monocle and presenter of‘The Foreign Desk’on Monocle Radio. Join our panel of reporters on‘The Monocle Daily’, live today from Washington at 13.00 EST (that’s 18.00 in London) for the latest news and developments. And, for post-result analysis, tune in to‘The Briefing’, live from Washington on Wednesday from 07.00 EST (midday London time).

Some 20,000 delegates are in Cairo this week for five days of debate at the 12th United Nations World Urban Forum. The theme of the biennial event hosted by UN Habitat, the global body’s cities agency, is “It All Starts at Home: Local Actions for Sustainable Cities and Communities” – a poignant focus given the disruptions to domestic life across the region, from the civil war in Sudan to the conflict between Israel, Hamas and Hezbollah.

“The experiences of multiple Middle East and North African cities in post-conflict recovery provide valuable insights into practical strategies for rebuilding and fostering resilience,” Nadine Bitar Chahine, a Dubai-based urban-development consultant, tells The Monocle Minute. Whether co-ordinating humanitarian relief in Rafah, erecting emergency housing in Beirut or absorbing an influx of internally displaced persons in Tel Aviv, city leaders are on the front lines of responding to crises. Beyond armed conflict, delegates will engage with urbanism in the host city through visits to a landmark exhibition on public space at the Grand Egyptian Museum, a downtown design workshop led by Gehl architects and the under-construction New Administrative Capital.

For more on the theme of ‘home’ from UN Habitat’s executive director, Anacláudia Rossbach, pick up the November issue of Monocle magazine.

A major protest against Serbia’s government will take place in Belgrade today after days of demonstrations across the country following the deaths of 14 people at Novi Sad Railway Station. Last Friday a canopy collapsed at the front of the recently renovated facility in the country’s second city. Opposition parties blame government corruption for the incident. They also want Ana Brnabic, speaker of the nation’s parliament, to resign after she claimed that the opposition would have preferred the death toll to be higher. Those connected with the station’s reconstruction claim that funds intended for building work “might have been siphoned off”.

According to geological engineer Zoran Djajic, who supervised the reconstruction of the station until March 2023, authorities ignored his concerns about the building’s safety. Djajic says that he also provided photos showing that workers had “stuffed in crumpled cement bags to reduce the amount of concrete used”. Novi Sad Station is a key part of the government’s high-speed Belgrade-to-Budapest railway project. The initial stretch from Serbia’s capital to Novi Sad opened to much fanfare two years ago. The latest part of the track, which runs as far as Subotica, close to Hungary’s border, is due to open later this year.

Brazil’s biggest daily newspaper, Folha de São Paulo, is not resting on its laurels. This year the paper increased its output by 20 per cent and went through a complete redesign, moving from a broadsheet to a Berliner format. Folha’s editor in chief, Sérgio Dávila, visited Midori House to talk to us about the project and the paper’s coverage of the US elections.

What were the main changes to the paper?
We have a tradition of breaking the rules in Brazilian media. Every five years or so, we like to revamp the paper – but without losing its essence. This time we decided to go for a major graphic redesign. When I saw the Berliner format, it was a revelation. The new format gives us 20 per cent more content than the old version and 40 per cent more than our main competitor.

The weekly cultural guide, ‘Guia da Folha’, has also returned. Tell us more about this.
Whenever we polled our readers, they asked us to reinstate the guide. Since the opportunity was there, we decided to bring it back to life. It’s personal for me because I am also a user of the guide. Historically, it was dedicated to the annual film festival in São Paulo. It made me happy to see people queuing for films at this year’s edition of the event while perusing the guide.

How is ‘Folha’ covering the US election?
I used to be Folha’s Washington correspondent, so the US election is close to my heart. It’s a very important event for the rest of the world, including Brazil. Whatever the outcome, it will affect us. We sent one of our best reporters, editor at large Patricia Campos Mello, to cover the election, and placed correspondents and senior columnists in Washington and New York.

There has been a lot of discussion among US newspapers about not endorsing candidates. What’s your take on this?
This isn’t something that we do in Brazil. Folha never endorses candidates and I think that it works for us.

To listen to our full interview with Sérgio Dávila, tune in to this week’s episode of ‘The Stack’ on Monocle Radio.

We sit down with Tim Robey, author of the new book Box Office Poison: Hollywood’s Story in a Century of Flops. This alternative history of cinema recounts the industry’s biggest bombs, including how they came to be made and what they tell us about both the Hollywood machine and the public who eschewed them.