Will the man who tried to overturn the results of the presidential election in 2020 decide that he wants to run again? If so, can he be stopped? They are the questions hanging over America, and thus the West. Our cover sets out to answer them. The thumping defeat of Liz Cheney in her Wyoming primary this week fits a pattern. Most of the candidates endorsed by Donald Trump have won their primaries. Even the losers sought his endorsement. Of the ten House Republicans who voted to impeach the president for his unconscionable conduct on January 6th 2021, eight are either retiring or have been retired by primary voters. The party’s nominees for key positions in some states’ administration of elections support his dangerous claim that the vote in 2020 was stolen. Mr Trump’s legal troubles could blow up, but for the moment they are more likely to spur him on than deter him: out of politics, he is just a private citizen facing some potential prosecutions. A lot could change by the time of the first Republican primary but, right now, Mr Trump looks firmly in control of his party.

Liz Cheney lost her battle to stay in Congress as Wyoming’s representative in the House, when Republicans in the state voted heavily against her in a party primary. Ms Cheney is one of the few outspoken Republican critics of Donald Trump, warning of the damage to democracy from his lies about a “stolen” election. Mr Trump made it his mission to kick Ms Cheney out after she supported his impeachment in 2021. The winner of the primary, Harriet Hageman, is a former Never Trumper who now thinks he is the best president of her lifetime.

Britain’s annual inflation rate, as measured by the consumer-price index, jumped to 10.1% in July, the first time the country has hit double-digit inflation since 1982. Higher energy costs were the main factor behind rising prices, but transport and food also added to the squeeze on household bills. Calls to freeze the price cap on domestic energy are growing louder. An average household is expected to see its annual bill double to over £4,300 ($5,200) by January. On account of the cost-of-living crunch, real wages fell by 3% between April and June, the most since records began in 2001.