The Monocle Minute

For the second time in three presidential elections, the Democratic Party is asking itself, from between gritted teeth: How can this be possible? How can you stand an obviously qualified candidate against a boorish blowhard, who not one private corporation in the country would offer an executive position to for fear of HR lawsuits, and lose?

The beaten Democrats have no recourse to such consolations that were available last time. They cannot harrumph that they won the popular vote. They cannot sigh that their candidate was burdened by her surname. They cannot claim that the voters did not really understand who they were electing. It is the kind of calamity that should prompt a major party to undertake a major rethink. The Democrats have an ill-disguised tendency to blame the voters for letting them down on such occasions but that, clearly, will not do.

Idealism is laudable but you can only win by persuading the voters you have, rather than the ones you wish you had. Some Democrats have grasped this. In the state of Washington, congresswoman Marie Gluesenkamp Perez saw off Joe Kent, the Trumpist Republican challenger, and outperformed vice president Kamala Harris in her district by a stretch. Speaking to The New York Times, she said: “The fundamental mistake that people make is condescension. A lot of elected officials get calloused to the ways that they’re disrespecting people.”

Rising above that temptation will not be easy. It is clear that a chunk of the electorate – and not just in the US – is to some extent unmoored from reality, uninterested in facts and unwilling to read much past a headline or a social-media post. But the Democrats should already be anticipating that, eventually, facts do have a way of making themselves known to voters and populist politicians who run on fantasies.

Andrew Mueller is a contributing editor at Monocle and presenter of ‘The Foreign Desk’ on Monocle Radio. For more opinion, analysis and insight, subscribe to Monocle today.

Cop29 begins today in Baku, with climate financing for developing nations at the top of the agenda. While the biggest achievement at Cop28 in Dubai was a commitment to “transition away from fossil fuels”, many nations have begun backsliding. Though Azerbaijan is a major fossil-fuel producer, it will be keen to ensure a more rigorous adherence to the agreements made over the next two weeks.

However, the re-election of Donald Trump has caused major doubts over any agreement’s endurance. This year, poorer nations will be hoping for an increase from the current goal of $100bn (€92,9bn) a year in financial support to $1trn (€929bn), which many say is the minimum required. Despite the US delegation sent by president Biden being willing to negotiate, the pending arrival of an insular, climate change-denying president has led many to feel that Cop29 could be an empty promise. For Cop, developing nations and the world’s climate, a bigger win might be to align China, the Gulf states and Europe more closely in their promise for greater financial support.

While it seemed like the entire world was glued to the outcome of the presidential election in the US, nowhere was it followed with more interest than in Ukraine – and its invasive neighbour, Russia. As congratulations began to pour in from around the globe, Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelensky was one of the first to offer his good wishes. In Moscow, president Putin took a little longer to respond; when he did, it was to express his admiration for Donald Trump and a willingness to talk.

In Ukraine, the mood remained divided. While some believe that the country is on its way to military independence – it tripled its domestic arms production in 2023 and doubled that again in the first eight months of 2024 – others worry about the team surrounding Trump. Flanked by Elon Musk, who has had frequent direct calls with Putin over the past few years, and JD Vance, who made it clear that he doesn’t care what happens to Ukraine “one way or another”, sympathy for the war-torn country is scarce among Trump’s top advisers. Putin and Zelensky will now embark on a charm offensive – perhaps only Trump will be able to decide how this war ends.

Today, Parisians and visitors alike will hear a sound that has been absent from the city for the past five years: the resounding toll of Notre-Dame’s bells. The cathedral’s partial restoration, which was unveiled in time for the Paris 2024 Olympics, is part of president Macron’s ambitious plan to preserve France’s cultural landmarks.

After the 2019 fire that devastated the 850-year-old icon, Macron’s swift commitment to an “even more beautiful” Notre-Dame spurred unprecedented international support and attracted more than €1bn in donations. As the bells once again echo through Paris, they symbolise the enduring spirit of the cultural monument and serve as a reminder of France’s dedication to safeguarding its heritage. The complete reopening is scheduled for 7 December. If only all restoration projects chimed so clearly with the spirit of a nation.

On Beethoven Street in Los Angeles, just off Venice Boulevard, there sits a humble set of bungalows built in the 1940s and designed by architect Gregory Ain.

The distinctive Mar Vista Tract’s 52 houses, which Ain viewed as “social art”, has nurtured a thriving residential community. Monocle meets some of the homeowners to find out what makes Mar Vista Tract so beloved.

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This week on The Stack we speak with Isis-Colombe Combréas, founder of Milk Magazine and Milk Decoration, and also editor in chief of the newly released Harper’s Bazaar Intérieurs. We also talk media and US elections with Dylan Byers, founding partner and senior correspondent at Puck.