It isn’t always easy to keep up with what’s happening in the US. “Shorter America” is a series where Dr Emma Shortis loops you in on what’s going on in America and shares news and analysis that you can trust.
Fri 10 Jul 2026 09.19 AEST
Photo: The White House/Flickr
Well, I’m back in chilly Melbourne after an excellent week in Berlin and Brussels. I had the luxury of mostly not talking about Trump for that whole time – at least for the people we met, the reality of what Trump is doing is clear and now not particularly worth remarking on, as Europe moves and changes (albeit in that slow, European way) in response. But – surprise! – Trump kept on being Trump for that whole time. Here’s what I missed, and what I’m catching up on.
This week:
On China
My trip, sponsored by Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung, a German think tank connected to the German Social Democratic Party, took us to meet European colleagues to compare and discuss foreign, security and economic policy settings, particularly regarding China. Our hosts published a summary of the trip and its aims here.
Just as we returned, China tested a submarine missile in the Pacific. The reaction to that was just about as calm and measured as you would expect. I thought James Dwyer’s analysis in The Conversation was good – a sober assessment of what it means and how much the response tells us.
Much was made of the fact that the test happened while PM Anthony Albanese was in the Pacific. Here’s my colleague Allan Behm in The Point on that trip, and how the Australian government should “worry less about the fact that China is basically a one-trick pony that offsets coercion with cash.”
What has this got to do with the United States? Well, a great deal. Not least because events like these are used to justify further deepening of our alliance with America, in spite of what Trump is doing. And because the missile tested was nuclear-capable. Here’s some interesting analysis by Carnegie on nukes and the future of American power.
SCOTUS Season
The other big news while I was away was that the Supreme Court handed down a bunch of decisions. In mainstream coverage, they were mostly framed as a mixed bag for the Trump administration: some wins, some losses. But it’s not that straightforward.
This summary from Jay Willis at the Balls & Strikes Substack puts it really clearly: “Each of these cases presents a version of the same basic question: how willing the Court is to allow Trump to use the law to harm people (especially nonwhite people) he does not like or want. Reading the cases together, the answer is “very.””
For more specific analysis of the “devastating anti-trans ruling”, the best resource is Erin in the Morning. And for more on birthright citizenship, here’s Adam Serwer in The Atlantic.
Book reviews
A Shorter America favourite, Jamelle Bouie, likes to call Vice President JD Vance a “contemptible, miserable little pig man”. If you enjoy that as much as I do, I think you’ll also enjoy Jessica Witman’s review of Vance’s book, Communion. The book, Witman argues, is “the work of an inveterate opportunist, one who appears torn between the urge to camouflage his careerism—Vance’s true religion—and an equally strong desire to be admired for how well and how profitably he plays the game.”
And speaking of book reviews, Emmett Rensin’s essay on a new book on the 1960s left-wing “terror” group the Weather Underground in the LA Review of Books is just extraordinary. To pick out just one brilliant line among many, “Sometimes you must stand athwart history, yelling Are you fucking serious?”
And finally, a PSA: Naomi Klein has a Substack.
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Defence Industry Minister Pat Conroy has defended the AUKUS nuclear-submarine deal against critics in the Labor movement, arguing it continues to enjoy overwhelming support within the party.
The second half of 2025 was not Prime Minister Albanese’s best year in the Pacific. With considerable fanfare, Albanese visited Port Vila and Port Moresby expecting to sign security agreements that would impose tight strictures on China’s ability to establish military bases in either Vanuatu or Papua New Guinea.
