America

Kate Andrews Kate Andrews

Will Trump follow through on his tariff threat on Canada and Mexico?

No one can really act surprised if Donald Trump pushes ahead with substantial tariffs on Canada and Mexico tomorrow. ‘Tariff’ is the President’s favourite word, as he said many times on the campaign trail in the lead up to last November’s US election. The only words that could compete for the top slot were ‘love’ and ‘religion’. So, the countdown to 1 February – when a staggering 25 per cent border tax is slapped on the countries north and south of America’s border – isn’t, in theory, some dreaded doomsday for Trump. If anything, it’s more like the countdown to Christmas. Is this really the end game for the President? But

Steerpike Steerpike

Trump: Diversity hires to blame for Washington crash

While the investigation into the Washington air crash has only just started, already President Trump has hinted at what he considers is to blame. His conclusion? Diversity hires. The horrific crash took place on Wednesday evening when an American Airlines flight carrying 64 people collided with a Black Hawk helicopter over the Potomac river, a short distance from Ronald Reagan national airport. There were no survivors – and both aircraft remain in the river as the recovery operation continues. Speaking to reporters in the White House press room, Trump insisted: ‘We do not know what led to this crash, but we have some very strong opinions and ideas.’ Not skipping

Freddy Gray Freddy Gray

Are the Democrats paralysed?

35 min listen

The first phase of Trump’s presidency has been a whirlwind of news. The President signed a succession of executive orders, which overwhelmed and confused the Democratic Party with the amount of ‘energy in the executive’. But there are signs of life, particularly in opposition to Trump’s attempts to freeze federal grants and loans. What’s going on? Are the Democrats finding their feet? To discuss, Freddy is joined by Damon Linker, senior lecturer in political science at the University of Pennsylvania and the author of the Notes from the Middle Ground substack.

Wednesday

Jonathan Spyer

Trump has exposed the hypocrisy of Gaza’s allies

US President Donald Trump has reiterated his call for Egypt and Jordan to accept residents of Gaza into their territory, as part of arrangements to end the current war with Israel. Further explaining his idea on Monday, the President said that he would ‘like to get [Gazans] living in an area where they can live without disruption and revolution and violence so much’.  It’s difficult to see anything coming of this idea. Both Egypt and Jordan have already, predictably, rejected it absolutely. Hamas, which is currently re-establishing itself as the de facto ruler of the Gaza Strip, would obviously act to prevent any attempt to implement it.   The politics of

James Hanson

Hollywood luvvies have become Donald Trump’s useful idiots

In events that were foreseeable to anyone outside America’s cultural elite, the actress and popstar Selena Gomez is facing an online backlash to her now-deleted Instagram post decrying Donald Trump’s immigration policy. The offending video featured a sobbing Selena, who has Mexican heritage, wailing into her phone camera that ‘all my people are being attacked’ and that ‘I wish I could do something but I can’t’. It was a performance of such histrionic hamminess it’s little wonder Miss Gomez missed out on an Oscar nod for Emilia Perez. The reaction has been swift and unforgiving. Many were quick to point out that, contrary to Gomez’s assumptions, Trump’s plan to deport unlawful

Monday

Freddy Gray Freddy Gray

How is round one of Trump’s deportations plan going?

33 min listen

Colombia has agreed to accept military aircraft carrying deported migrants from the US – avoiding a trade war between the two countries. Donald Trump had threatened sanctions on Colombia to punish it for initially refusing military flights following a rapid immigration crackdown. What are the challenges of deportation flights, and what’s Trump’s vision for Latin America? Freddy Gray is joined by Todd Bensman, Fellow at the Center for Immigration Studies, and author of ‘Overrun’. 

Louis-Vincent Gave

Has DeepSeek popped the AI bubble?

The arrest of Huawei’s chief financial officer Meng Wanzhou in Canada in 2018, and the ensuing United States ban on high-end semiconductor exports to China, transformed Donald Trump’s “trade war” into a “tech war”. At the time, the US clearly felt it had a comparative advantage in technology, and that if it had to fight a battle against China, then picking tech as the battlefield made good sense. In September 2021, US commerce secretary Gina Raimondo, declared that: “If we really want to slow down China’s rate of innovation, we need to work with Europe”. As a result, Europe was roped into a cold war most European businesses – not

Cindy Yu Cindy Yu

Is Donald Trump warming to Keir Starmer?

16 min listen

Starmer and Trump have finally spoken, with a 45 minute phone call taking place between the two leaders. The pair reportedly discussed the ceasefire in Gaza, and trade and the economy, with Starmer attempting to find common ground by talking up his plans for deregulation. Cindy Yu speaks to Katy Balls and Kate Andrews about their relationship. Do these early signs suggest it will be wholly positive, or are there thornier issues to come?  Also on the podcast, Rachel Reeves is set to deliver a speech this week outlining her plans for growth – just how important is this week for her? Produced by Patrick Gibbons and Cindy Yu.

Nigel Jones

Starmer has much to learn from Trump’s Colombia migrant victory

During Sir Keir Starmer’s first phone call with Donald Trump since the President’s inauguration, the two leaders discussed the ceasefire in Gaza and the economy. We don’t know if Starmer and Trump touched on the topic of illegal migration during their conversation late last night, but, if not, Starmer missed a trick. He has much to learn from Trump about how to handle this thorny subject. Whether Sir Keir will learn any lessons from Trump’s short way of dealing with illegal migration is doubtful Late last week, as a first taste of the President’s pledge to send ‘millions’ of illicit migrants back to their countries of origin, two U.S. military aircraft

Katy Balls Katy Balls

Is Donald Trump warming to Keir Starmer?

Does Keir Starmer finally have cause for optimism over Donald Trump? It did not go unnoticed that the only Labour figure to bag an invite to the President’s inauguration last week was Maurice Glasman, the architect of Blue Labour. On returning from Washington DC, the Labour peer told PoliticsHome that the team around Trump is ‘very, very sceptical about the Labour government’. So aides will be breathing a sigh of relief that, on Sunday night, Starmer finally spoke with Trump. The Labour leader was the first President’s first call to a major European leader (though Italy’s Giorgia Meloni of course attended the inauguration). Those comments show that Trump is not

Friday

Damian Thompson Damian Thompson

Could Trump 2.0. herald a new era of religious liberty in America?

36 min listen

Andrea Picciotti-Bayer, director of the US-based Conscience Project and a friend of Holy Smoke, joins Damian to talk about what the incoming second Trump administration could mean for religious freedoms in America. Andrea argues that the Biden administration waged an unprecedented assault on such freedoms during his term. What could happen over the next four years on issues like gender, abortion, adoption and religious discrimination? And what are the nuances between federal and state laws? (2:06) Also on the podcast, Damian speaks to The Spectator’s Will Moore, Lara Prendergast and Freddy Gray about the nomination of Cardinal Robert McElroy to be the new Archbishop of Washington. Far from being a routine

Freddy Gray Freddy Gray

Freddy Gray, Tanya Gold, Rose George, Toby Young and Rory Sutherland

28 min listen

On this week’s Spectator Out Loud: Freddy Gray reads his letter from Washington D.C., and reveals what Liz Truss, Eric Zemmour and Steve Bannon made of Trump’s inauguration (1:22); Tanya Gold writes about the sad truth behind the gypsies facing eviction in Cornwall (7:15); Rose George reviews The Forgotten Sense: The New Science of Smell, by Jonas Olofsson, and explains the surprising link between odour disgust and political attitudes (13:07); Toby Young provides his favourite anecdotes about President Trump, having crossed paths with him in New York City in the 1990s (18:39); and, Rory Sutherland proposes a unique way to solve Britain’s building crisis: ‘Areas of Outstanding Natural Ugliness’ (23:40).  Produced

Niko Vorobyov

What’s the real reason Trump pardoned Ross Ulbrich?

US president Donald Trump has pardoned Ross Ulbricht, the cybercriminal mastermind who founded Silk Road and pioneered the drug trade’s move into cyberspace. Ulbricht was serving life without parole after he was found guilty in 2015 of conspiracy to commit drug trafficking, money laundering and computer hacking. On Wednesday, after over a decade in the dungeons, Ross finally came home. After over a decade in the dungeons, Ross has finally came home “Free Ross” had become a rallying cry for the libertarians and cryptocurrency enthusiasts whose vote Trump had been courting. But his pardon exposes some glaring contradictions in American politics. Ross launched the Silk Road, named after the ancient trade route

Thursday

Matthew Lynn

Industry tragedy, Trump vs the Pope & the depressing reality of sex parties

42 min listen

This week: the death of British industry In the cover piece for the magazine, Matthew Lynn argues that Britain is in danger of entering a ‘zero-industrial society’. The country that gave the world the Industrial Revolution has presided over a steep decline in British manufacturing. He argues there are serious consequences: foreign ownership, poorer societies, a lack of innovation, and even national security concerns. Why has this happened? Who is to blame? And could Labour turn it around? Matthew joined the podcast, alongside the head of the Trades Union Congress (TUC), Paul Nowak. (1:05) Next: the Pope takes on President Trump The Pope has nominated Cardinal Robert McElroy to be

George Osborne

Give David Beckham a knighthood

Donald Trump descends on Davos as if he were in Apocalypse Now. Four years ago I saw his cavalcade of helicopter gunships fly over the town. With the noise echoing off the mountain valley sides, he drowned out all the other conversations. This week his inauguration speech in the Congress Rotunda – watched in huddles around screens at Davos – had a similar effect. Withdrawing from the Paris climate talks and the World Health Organisation, the President was napalming the global international order which is celebrated here. And yet, apart from Bill Clinton in his final year in office, no American president has come to the World Economic Forum –

Wednesday

Charles Lipson

Donald Trump is a president in a hurry

“The First Hundred Days” was the iconic phrase for Franklin Roosevelt’s rapid-fire acts as the new president. Donald Trump intends to top that with “The First Hundred Hours.” Three months is far too slow for the new president. He made that clear by signing some 200 executive orders on his first day back in office. The media has focused on the substance of those orders, and understandably so. But their substantive content, on the border, birthright citizenship, DEI (Diversity, equity, and inclusion) and more, is only half the story. The other half is the swift, decisive process. Trump had those orders prepared during the weeks between his election in early

Stephen Daisley Stephen Daisley

Nine reasons why Trump means business this time

Since Franklin D. Roosevelt, every new US administration has been judged on its first hundred days, but it is in the first 24 hours, with a flurry of executive orders and memorandums, that a president sets the tone for the coming four years. The first 24 hours hint at nine themes that will define Donald Trump’s second administration. Trump is determined to settle scores Theme one: Trump II will see ‘America First’ placed at the heart of White House policy even more so than during Trump I. Among the memorandums issued from the Oval Office after noon on Monday was one outlining an ‘America First trade policy’, a revival of

Tuesday

Joanna Williams

Donald Trump, feminist icon?

Cast your mind back eight years. The day after Donald Trump’s first inauguration, hundreds of thousands of women marched on Washington in opposition to the incoming president. Adorned in pink ‘pussy’ hats, they were joined by protesters in London, Sydney, Zurich and at least 30 other American cities. As I argued at the time, beyond expressing general distaste for the incoming administration the precise aims of this movement were never particularly clear. But it was feminism and therefore good. In his inaugural address, Trump did more for women’s rights than all the cutesy hat-knitters put together Yet in his second inaugural address last night, Trump did more for women’s rights

Brendan O’Neill Brendan O’Neill

No, Elon Musk didn’t make a fascist salute

We’re not even 24 hours into the second Donald Trump term and already there’s a ‘New Nazis’ panic. Only this time it’s not The Donald who’s being branded Hitler 2.0. It’s his billionaire pal and state-slashing tsar, Elon Musk. The Guardian says Musk did ‘back-to-back fascist salutes’. At yesterday’s wacky inauguration, a giddy Musk gave a speech during which he saluted the crowd. I’ll be honest – it was a weird salute. He slapped his right hand against his chest and then threw his right arm upwards, diagonally and with vigour. He did it twice. His facial expression was an odd blend of love and anger. Within seconds, X –

Lionel Shriver Lionel Shriver

‘I’m a Democrat who will give him a chance’ – Lionel Shriver on Trump’s inauguration

23 min listen

Donald Trump has been sworn in as the 47th President of the United States. All the former leaders of the free world were there to watch Trump take the oath – again – but how was this inauguration different to the last? And what signs were there of how Trump intends to govern? Guest hosting for Americano, The Spectator’s Kate Andrews speaks to Freddy Gray, who is on the ground in D.C., and Lionel Shriver about Trump’s speech lamenting the Biden administration, Biden’s last minute pardoning of his family, and why some Democrats could be willing to give Trump a chance this time round.  Produced by Patrick Gibbons and Natasha Feroze.

Monday

Simon Cook Simon Cook

Which president granted the most pardons? 

Joe Biden has bowed out of the White House with a slew of presidential pardons. Today they have been awarded to Anthony Fauci, General Mark Milley, a bunch of family members and an assortment of investigators from the 6 January riots – but Biden also controversially pardoned his son Hunter a month ago, despite promising not to. The presidential pardon has been a part of the constitution since the start – something that the Founding Fathers thought worth keeping from the British monarchy. Historically it’s been quite sparingly used. Most presidents pardoned no more than a few hundred through the first hundred years of the US – with the exception