Ralph Nader in 2008. The activist says now is the time for the Democrats to focus on the 2026 midterm elections, where the Republicans will have more seats to defend. Jessica Hill for The National
Ralph Nader in 2008. The activist says now is the time for the Democrats to focus on the 2026 midterm elections, where the Republicans will have more seats to defend. Jessica Hill for The National
Ralph Nader in 2008. The activist says now is the time for the Democrats to focus on the 2026 midterm elections, where the Republicans will have more seats to defend. Jessica Hill for The National
Ralph Nader in 2008. The activist says now is the time for the Democrats to focus on the 2026 midterm elections, where the Republicans will have more seats to defend. Jessica Hill for The National

Ralph Nader criticises Democratic Party after Donald Trump's victory


Cody Combs
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Latest updates: Follow our full coverage on the US election

US politician and consumer advocate Ralph Nader has said that Donald Trump's return to the White House is the result of major problems with the Democratic Party that have been festering for years.

“This is a collapse of the Democratic Party,” the 90-year-old of Lebanese descent, who ran several times for the American presidency, told progressive radio show Democracy Now.

“They were several million votes below what they expected and of course that made the difference, but the problem is much more serious than that,” he said, reciting a litany of what he described as bad decisions that brought the Democratic Party to this point.

“It all started when the Democrats abandoned half the country in the red [Republican] states. That's devastating. Then they started getting corporate cash in 1979, dialling for the same commercial values which blurred the difference from the New Deal Democrats to the corporate Democrats. Then they contracted out the election to these corporate conflicted consulting firms."

Ralph Nader's push for car safety standards from the 1960s to the 1980s made him a household name and hero to many in the progressive movement, but those sentiments have largely been forgotten over the past few decades. AP
Ralph Nader's push for car safety standards from the 1960s to the 1980s made him a household name and hero to many in the progressive movement, but those sentiments have largely been forgotten over the past few decades. AP

Mr Nader was considered a major ally of Democrats from the mid-1960s to the 1980s with his push for car safety standards, consumer rights and environmental causes. He was at one point one of the most recognisable names in public service throughout the US.

In the late 1980s and throughout the 90s, however, amid a changed world, Mr Nader's brand of politics and issue advocacy fell out of the mainstream, and he became particularly critical of the Clinton administration for what he perceived as a shift to the right and an abandonment of liberal values.

In 2000, he ran for president as the Green Party nominee amid criticism from Democrats who worried he would split votes from Al Gore. When Mr Gore lost Florida and ultimately, the election, many blamed Mr Nader, and he became persona non grata in Democrat circles.

“They spent tonnes of money attacking the Green Party,” he said, referring to Democrat efforts to challenge the presence of Green Party presidential candidates trying to appear on ballots in various states.

Democratic senator Sherrod Brown, who lost his seat in Ohio to Republican Bernie Moreno, was also the target of Mr Nader's blistering criticism.

“Sherrod Brown pulled in his horns and lost,” he said of the politician who was considered one of the more liberal members of the US Senate.

Mr Nader then went on to compare Mr Brown's defeat to independent Senator Bernie Sanders' re-election in Vermont, which he attributed to a long-term progressive strategy of campaigning against concentrated corporate power and pushing for universal healthcare and living wages.

Although he didn't mention Mr Nader, Senator Sanders also recently took Democrats to task several hours after Mr Trump defeated Vice President Kamala Harris.

“It should come as no great surprise that a Democratic Party which has abandoned working class people would find that the working class has abandoned them,” he said.

“While the Democratic leadership defends the status quo, the American people are angry and want change. And they’re right.”

In the days and weeks ahead, the liberal and conservative wings within the Democratic party are likely to trade blame, as they try to figure out how they lost to Mr Trump and ceded control of the Senate.

Judging from Mr Nader's comments and long-time history of critiques, it's clear he believes that the centre and moderate wings are the problem, yet he said now is the time for the Democrats to focus on the 2026 midterm elections, where the Republicans will have more seats to defend.

“They have to have a massive focus on Congress, which is the main constitutionally authorised lever to hold the executive branch accountable,” he said.

In the immediate aftermath of Ms Harris's defeat, the postmortem has focused on the Democratic Party's loss of working-class support, coupled with declining support from Latino voters.

Some have suggested that Democrats have taken those groups for granted in recent years, while others have said the overall economic uncertainty has caused those particular demographics to look elsewhere for solutions.

Regardless of the shift's cause, the end result is that, with this seismic 2024 electoral defeat, President-elect Trump will have almost unchecked power and the wind at his back, with experts pointing to his ability to rally the Republican grass roots.

“There was talk about a red wave that would happen in the 2022 mid-terms but it didn't happen,” said Timothy Kneeland, a political science and history professor at Nazareth College. “But the red-wave factors we expected 2022 came full force in 2024.”

While Mr Nader isn't mincing words about his feelings towards the Democratic leadership, he also shared his opinion on Mr Trump's return to the White House, and those who will work at his request.

“They want to destroy the civil service, bring it back to the spoils system, we’re in for huge turmoil,” he said, expressing concern for the Justice Department, Federal Trade Commission and the environmental protection agency, among others.

UAE squad

Esha Oza (captain), Al Maseera Jahangir, Emily Thomas, Heena Hotchandani, Indhuja Nandakumar, Katie Thompson, Lavanya Keny, Mehak Thakur, Michelle Botha, Rinitha Rajith, Samaira Dharnidharka, Siya Gokhale, Sashikala Silva, Suraksha Kotte, Theertha Satish (wicketkeeper) Udeni Kuruppuarachchige, Vaishnave Mahesh.

UAE tour of Zimbabwe

All matches in Bulawayo
Friday, Sept 26 – First ODI
Sunday, Sept 28 – Second ODI
Tuesday, Sept 30 – Third ODI
Thursday, Oct 2 – Fourth ODI
Sunday, Oct 5 – First T20I
Monday, Oct 6 – Second T20I

F1 The Movie

Starring: Brad Pitt, Damson Idris, Kerry Condon, Javier Bardem

Director: Joseph Kosinski

Rating: 4/5

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Springtime in a Broken Mirror,
Mario Benedetti, Penguin Modern Classics

 

Desert Warrior

Starring: Anthony Mackie, Aiysha Hart, Ben Kingsley

Director: Rupert Wyatt

Rating: 3/5

Abu Dhabi traffic facts

Drivers in Abu Dhabi spend 10 per cent longer in congested conditions than they would on a free-flowing road

The highest volume of traffic on the roads is found between 7am and 8am on a Sunday.

Travelling before 7am on a Sunday could save up to four hours per year on a 30-minute commute.

The day was the least congestion in Abu Dhabi in 2019 was Tuesday, August 13.

The highest levels of traffic were found on Sunday, November 10.

Drivers in Abu Dhabi lost 41 hours spent in traffic jams in rush hour during 2019

 

RACE CARD

6.30pm Maiden (TB) Dh82.500 (Dirt) 1,400m

7.05pm Handicap (TB) Dh87,500 (D) 1,400m

7.40pm Handicap (TB) Dh92,500 (Turf) 2,410m

8.15pm Handicap (TB) Dh105,000 (D) 1,900m

8.50pm UAE 2000 Guineas Trial (TB) Conditions Dh183,650 (D) 1,600m

9.25pm Dubai Trophy (TB) Conditions Dh183,650 (T) 1,200m

10pm Handicap (TB) Dh102,500 (T) 1,400m

UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Company%20profile
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ECompany%20name%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Fasset%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EStarted%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E2019%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFounders%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Mohammad%20Raafi%20Hossain%2C%20Daniel%20Ahmed%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EBased%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Dubai%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ESector%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EFinTech%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInitial%20investment%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20%242.45%20million%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ECurrent%20number%20of%20staff%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%2086%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInvestment%20stage%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Pre-series%20B%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInvestors%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Investcorp%2C%20Liberty%20City%20Ventures%2C%20Fatima%20Gobi%20Ventures%2C%20Primal%20Capital%2C%20Wealthwell%20Ventures%2C%20FHS%20Capital%2C%20VN2%20Capital%2C%20local%20family%20offices%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
ILT20%20UAE%20stars
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Multitasking pays off for money goals

Tackling money goals one at a time cost financial literacy expert Barbara O'Neill at least $1 million.

That's how much Ms O'Neill, a distinguished professor at Rutgers University in the US, figures she lost by starting saving for retirement only after she had created an emergency fund, bought a car with cash and purchased a home.

"I tell students that eventually, 30 years later, I hit the million-dollar mark, but I could've had $2 million," Ms O'Neill says.

Too often, financial experts say, people want to attack their money goals one at a time: "As soon as I pay off my credit card debt, then I'll start saving for a home," or, "As soon as I pay off my student loan debt, then I'll start saving for retirement"."

People do not realise how costly the words "as soon as" can be. Paying off debt is a worthy goal, but it should not come at the expense of other goals, particularly saving for retirement. The sooner money is contributed, the longer it can benefit from compounded returns. Compounded returns are when your investment gains earn their own gains, which can dramatically increase your balances over time.

"By putting off saving for the future, you are really inhibiting yourself from benefiting from that wonderful magic," says Kimberly Zimmerman Rand , an accredited financial counsellor and principal at Dragonfly Financial Solutions in Boston. "If you can start saving today ... you are going to have a lot more five years from now than if you decide to pay off debt for three years and start saving in year four."

Brief scores:

Southampton 2

Armstrong 13', Soares 20'

Manchester United 2

Lukaku 33', Herrera 39'

Leading all-time NBA scorers

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar 38,387
Karl Malone 36,928
Kobe Bryant 33,643
Michael Jordan 32,292
LeBron James 31,425
Wilt Chamberlain 31,419

England XI for second Test

Rory Burns, Keaton Jennings, Ben Stokes, Joe Root (c), Jos Buttler, Moeen Ali, Ben Foakes (wk), Sam Curran, Adil Rashid, Jack Leach, James Anderson

PROFILE BOX

Company name: Overwrite.ai

Founder: Ayman Alashkar

Started: Established in 2020

Based: Dubai International Financial Centre, Dubai

Sector: PropTech

Initial investment: Self-funded by founder

Funding stage: Seed funding, in talks with angel investors

UK’s AI plan
  • AI ambassadors such as MIT economist Simon Johnson, Monzo cofounder Tom Blomfield and Google DeepMind’s Raia Hadsell
  • £10bn AI growth zone in South Wales to create 5,000 jobs
  • £100m of government support for startups building AI hardware products
  • £250m to train new AI models
Conflict, drought, famine

Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.

Band Aid

Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.

Mobile phone packages comparison
McLaren GT specs

Engine: 4-litre twin-turbo V8

Transmission: seven-speed

Power: 620bhp

Torque: 630Nm

Price: Dh875,000

On sale: now

Seemar’s top six for the Dubai World Cup Carnival:

1. Reynaldothewizard
2. North America
3. Raven’s Corner
4. Hawkesbury
5. New Maharajah
6. Secret Ambition

While you're here
Sly%20Cooper%20and%20the%20Thievius%20Raccoonus
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Virtual banks explained

What is a virtual bank?

The Hong Kong Monetary Authority defines it as a bank that delivers services through the internet or other electronic channels instead of physical branches. That means not only facilitating payments but accepting deposits and making loans, just like traditional ones. Other terms used interchangeably include digital or digital-only banks or neobanks. By contrast, so-called digital wallets or e-wallets such as Apple Pay, PayPal or Google Pay usually serve as intermediaries between a consumer’s traditional account or credit card and a merchant, usually via a smartphone or computer.

What’s the draw in Asia?

Hundreds of millions of people under-served by traditional institutions, for one thing. In China, India and elsewhere, digital wallets such as Alipay, WeChat Pay and Paytm have already become ubiquitous, offering millions of people an easy way to store and spend their money via mobile phone. Indonesia, Vietnam and the Philippines are also among the world’s biggest under-banked countries; together they have almost half a billion people.

Is Hong Kong short of banks?

No, but the city is among the most cash-reliant major economies, leaving room for newcomers to disrupt the entrenched industry. Ant Financial, an Alibaba Group Holding affiliate that runs Alipay and MYBank, and Tencent Holdings, the company behind WeBank and WeChat Pay, are among the owners of the eight ventures licensed to create virtual banks in Hong Kong, with operations expected to start as early as the end of the year. 

AIR
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Trump v Khan

2016: Feud begins after Khan criticised Trump’s proposed Muslim travel ban to US

2017: Trump criticises Khan’s ‘no reason to be alarmed’ response to London Bridge terror attacks

2019: Trump calls Khan a “stone cold loser” before first state visit

2019: Trump tweets about “Khan’s Londonistan”, calling him “a national disgrace”

2022:  Khan’s office attributes rise in Islamophobic abuse against the major to hostility stoked during Trump’s presidency

July 2025 During a golfing trip to Scotland, Trump calls Khan “a nasty person”

Sept 2025 Trump blames Khan for London’s “stabbings and the dirt and the filth”.

Dec 2025 Trump suggests migrants got Khan elected, calls him a “horrible, vicious, disgusting mayor”

MATCH INFO

Euro 2020 qualifier

Croatia v Hungary, Thursday, 10.45pm, UAE

TV: Match on BeIN Sports

Bio

Born in Dibba, Sharjah in 1972.
He is the eldest among 11 brothers and sisters.
He was educated in Sharjah schools and is a graduate of UAE University in Al Ain.
He has written poetry for 30 years and has had work published in local newspapers.
He likes all kinds of adventure movies that relate to his work.
His dream is a safe and preserved environment for all humankind. 
His favourite book is The Quran, and 'Maze of Innovation and Creativity', written by his brother.

Sole survivors
  • Cecelia Crocker was on board Northwest Airlines Flight 255 in 1987 when it crashed in Detroit, killing 154 people, including her parents and brother. The plane had hit a light pole on take off
  • George Lamson Jr, from Minnesota, was on a Galaxy Airlines flight that crashed in Reno in 1985, killing 68 people. His entire seat was launched out of the plane
  • Bahia Bakari, then 12, survived when a Yemenia Airways flight crashed near the Comoros in 2009, killing 152. She was found clinging to wreckage after floating in the ocean for 13 hours.
  • Jim Polehinke was the co-pilot and sole survivor of a 2006 Comair flight that crashed in Lexington, Kentucky, killing 49.
WHAT IS A BLACK HOLE?

1. Black holes are objects whose gravity is so strong not even light can escape their pull

2. They can be created when massive stars collapse under their own weight

3. Large black holes can also be formed when smaller ones collide and merge

4. The biggest black holes lurk at the centre of many galaxies, including our own

5. Astronomers believe that when the universe was very young, black holes affected how galaxies formed

Updated: November 08, 2024, 7:36 PM