One man stands between Joe Biden and the US presidency – Mark Zuckerberg

Donald Trump knows that Facebook can help him win in November, and Zuckerberg has too much to lose by censoring him

Watching the violent chaos night after night in the US, I keep thinking of what Benjamin Franklin said to the woman who asked him, as he emerged from the constitutional convention in 1787: Well, Doctor, what have we got, a republic or a monarchy?" To which he famously replied: A republic, if you can keep it." What's happening on the streets there at the moment suggests that they could be coming close to losing it.

When Trump was elected, I was assured by my American friends that the republic's democratic institutions, conventions and constitution were strong enough to rein in the narcissistic despot. Sure, it might be a rollercoaster ride, they conceded, but the republic would pull through. Well, if my transatlantic email is anything to go by, some of that cheery confidence seems to have evaporated.