Donald Trump tried to erase image of high civilisation that Obama represented

Donald Trump's presidency is ending with an unprecedented spree of federal executions. Ian Buruma examines the reasons behind it.

Surrounded by Army cadets, President Donald Trump 

Why would a US president in the last weeks of his administration want to start executing federal prisoners at a furious pace, even as he pardons four American mercenaries who murdered 14 Iraqi civilians in cold blood? 

The federal government has killed ten men already this year – more judicial killings than in all of America’s states combined.