Read about the latest political news, views and analysis
22 min listen
Freddy Gray speaks to investigative journalist and policy fellow at American Experiment Bill Glahn about the situation in Minneapolis. They discuss how Minnesota – a state once occupied by Scandinavian peace loving people – became the heart of political eruptions; the multibillion dollar fraud of state social benefits which led to the immigration crackdown and the effect of the cripplingly cold weather in calming the chaos.
There has always been a touch of the actor about Emmanuel Macron, and the President of France was at his theatrical best at Davos on Tuesday. Sporting a pair of aviator sunglasses to conceal a broken blood vessel in his eye, Macron played the part of a man unjustly treated. Not just him, but all of Europe. “We do prefer respect to bullies,” concluded Macron in his address to the World Economic Forum. “We do prefer science to plotism, and we do prefer rule of law to brutality. You are welcome in Europe and you are more than welcome to France.” Macron didn’t mention Donald Trump by name but the
“Independent” (fired) journalist Don Lemon is making himself the news after he did some activist reporting as part of a mob that stormed a Minnesota church, whose pastor is a local ICE official, on Sunday. But if you’re going to cross Christians in America these days, then you’re going to cross Nicki Minaj. “HOW DARE YOU?” Minaj emphatically posterized Lemon on X. “I WANT THAT THUG IN JAIL!!!!! HE WOULD NEVER DO THAT TO ANY OTHER RELIGION. LOCK HIM UP!!!!!” She accompanied this with a photo of a Chucky doll. In response, Lemon called her “homophobic,” and said, “I’m not surprised Nicki Minaj does not understand journalism and is weighing
A Tesla would whisk you to the airport. The planes would be self-flying. And robots would serve the over-priced sandwiches, while, inevitably, every seat is hooked up to a live X feed. A full-scale takeover of Ryanair, Europe’s largest airline, by Elon Musk may still be some way off, but with the billionaire polling his followers on X on whether he should make a bid for the budget airline, it is no longer impossible. Ryanair’s long-suffering passengers should welcome the prospect of a Musk takeover – because, while the airline revolutionized low-cost travel, Ryanair is stuck in a rut. The spat between Elon Musk, and Ryanair’s pugnacious CEO Michael O’Leary
In 1969, Charles de Gaulle told his friend André Malraux that America’s “desire – and one day it will satisfy it – is to desert Europe. You will see.” It has taken nearly six decades, but de Gaulle’s prophecy now looks uncomfortably close to fulfillment. After years of diplomatic effort to manage, placate and charm successive American presidents – and Donald Trump in particular – European leaders are coming to a grim realization: the United States is, at best, indifferent to their interests and sensibilities and, at worst, openly hostile to them. Some, such as Italy’s Giorgia Meloni, still believe Trump can be cajoled, that the transatlantic relationship can somehow
“Better late than never.” That’s how Reform party leader Nigel Farage has described Donald Trump’s sudden and dramatic repudiation of the United Kingdom’s Chagos handover. “This should be enough to sink just about the worst deal in history.” Early this morning, Trump used his Truth Social account to lay into “our ‘brilliant’ NATO ally, the United Kingdom, over Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s decision to “give away the Island of Diego Garcia, the site of a vital military base, and to do so FOR NO REASON WHATSOEVER.” But what’s striking about Trump’s sudden focus on the future of Diego Garcia is that he’s decided to do it now – amid the
Hugo Chávez’s eyes are everywhere across parts of Caracas, Venezuela’s capital. In stark black and white, his gaze is stamped onto government buildings, public housing blocks and murals. But if the late socialist president could truly see what has become of the movement he founded, he would likely be dismayed. Most Venezuelans have abandoned chavismo. His protégé Nicolás Maduro – who had led the government since 2013 – has been captured by the US, while many Venezuelans cheered his exit. What remains is a thin but loyal chavista base – and a leadership operating firmly in survival mode. Trump needs some continuity within the chavista elite to avoid a chaotic
37 min listen
Freddy is joined by Jacob Heilbrunn, editor of the National Interest, and David Whitehouse, science journalist and former BBC science editor, to discuss Donald Trump’s threat to annex Greenland and the potential rupture in transatlantic relations. They also discuss Greenland’s strategic importance for missile defense, the “Golden Dome,” Arctic shipping routes and space-based surveillance; and how Russia and China’s expanding presence in the Arctic, in space and in critical minerals is reshaping global security.
European politicians had little rest this weekend after Donald Trump’s announcement on Saturday that he would be imposing punitive tariffs on the eight countries that had sent troops to Greenland last week. From February 1, 10 percent tariffs will be slapped on goods entering the United States from Britain, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, France, Germany, the Netherlands and Finland. They had, Trump said, “journeyed to Greenland for purposes unknown” and he accused them of playing a “very dangerous game.” Denmark has stated that Greenland is not for sale; Trump is unlikely to back down By sending troops to Greenland on Thursday, those eight countries had only done what Trump implied he
On February 24, Donald Trump will deliver the first State of the Union speech of his second term as president. That impending date goes a long way toward explaining Trump’s avidity for annexing Greenland – sooner rather than later – as the centerpiece of his program for restoring an American golden age of imperial power. Nothing would please Trump more than to be able to declare mission accomplished when he addresses Congress in February. Far from backing away from the issue, Trump, who will travel to Davos next week, is doubling down. He seems convinced that he can cow European leaders into submission, but the more he badgers them, the
During his visit to Washington, DC, on Wednesday, the Danish foreign minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen said that he had a “frank but also constructive” discussion with Vice President J.D. Vance. He added, however, that the Kingdom of Denmark and the US remained in “fundamental disagreement” about the future security of Greenland. Well, in typically explosive style, Donald Trump has just emphasized how deep that disagreement is. On Truth Social, he has announced, starting on February 1, 10 percent tariffs on all goods sent to the United States from Denmark, Norway, Sweden, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Finland and the United Kingdom. These charges, he went on, will increase to 25 percent
The US capture of Nicholas Maduro sent a shockwave of fear through the regime in Havana. Heeding the words of Marco Rubio – “If I lived in Havana and I was in the government, I’d be concerned at least a little bit” – the communist government put the military on high alert. “The regime carried out military mobilizations,” Camila Acosta, a Cuban journalist detained multiple times for her reporting on the regime, told The Spectator. “They are conducting military exercises at their units, keeping the troops confined to their barracks.” But while the regime looks fearfully to the skies for US commandos, ordinary Cubans look to the skies for salvation
Marine Le Pen returned to a court in Paris on Tuesday as her appeal began against her five-year ban from political life. The leader of the National Rally was disqualified in March last year after she was found guilty of misusing €4 million ($4.6 million) of funds from the European Union. She claims she is the victim of a political witch-hunt, a view supported by President Donald Trump and Vice President J.D Vance. The appeal will last a month and the verdict is expected in June. If Le Pen is successful she will be able to run in the presidential election in April 2027. If she fails, however, it will
More like Kyrsten Sinner? In September, a North Carolina woman, Heather Ammel, filed a suit in county court alleging that former Arizona senator and current crypto lobbyist Kyrsten Sinema had an affair with her husband Matthew while he served on her Senate security detail. That suit has since moved to federal court, so now the whole world knows what Cockburn had long suspected: Kyrsten Sinema was too fun for Congress. For years, Cockburn heard rumors that Sinema dallied about with her security detail during the end of her Senate term. But the Ammel lawsuit codifies it. “She had concerns [Sinema] was having sexual relations with other security members,” the complaint says. But that’s not the half of it. Sinema and Matthew
When Donald Trump sets his sights on something, it’s hard to prevent him getting what he wants. That hasn’t, however, stopped Greenland and Denmark from trying. The Danish army has announced that, from today, it is boosting its presence on Greenland. It will be backed up by a cohort of European troops, arriving over the coming days as part of an effort to prove to the US that Copenhagen can secure the island’s defenses. Earlier today, France confirmed that 15 troops had arrived on the island. In the coming hours they will be joined by 13 soldiers from Germany, two from Norway, one from Britain, one from the Netherlands and an undisclosed
The manicured grounds of Harvard University are tranquil. Ditto the expensive quads of Yale, Princeton, Columbia and Stanford. All across the fruited plain, the self-denominated paragons of virtue who just yesterday sported “Free Palestine” buttons and joined in “No Kings” rallies are greeting today’s greatest enormity – the slaughter of tens of thousands of Iranian citizens by their insane Islamicist government – with the repetition of that hit by Simon and Garfunkel: “The Sounds of Silence.” Or, as the headline of a story in National Review put it: “Iranian Civilians Are Being Massacred to the Sound of Progressive Silence.” Accurate numbers are hard to come by since the murderous Islamic regime in Iran has shut down
In a time of political turmoil, the world cried out for a hero, and it may have found one in the person of TJ Sabula, a 40-year-old Ford assembly line worker, who, when Donald Trump visited his plant yesterday, shouted “pedophile protector,” at the President. Trump responded by saying “fuck you,” and “you’re fired,” and flipping Sabula the bird. That was it, we assumed, Sabula’s job was done. You don’t cross the big boss. But though Ford did suspend Sabula without pay, he’s not done yet. Sabula happens to belong to the United Auto Workers, and a UAW representative issued this statement today: “The autoworker at the Dearborn Truck Plant
24 min listen
Spectator contributor and author Charlie Gammell and Freddy discuss what is really happening as protests play out on the streets of Iran. They discuss imams turning on the Shah, whether Trump could actually be seeking talks rather than war, what the Middle East wants from a fractured Iran, and what issues could arise from replacing the regime with Reza Pahlavi.
The cartoonist was long ahead of the curve
It’s been a less than stellar year for trans activists. Shortly after taking office last January, President Trump signed an executive order withholding federal funds from any school that permits biological men and boys from playing on women’s sports teams. Then in June the US Supreme Court upheld a Tennessee law banning the use of puberty blockers and hormones for the treatment of young patients suffering from so-called gender dysphoria and seeking to change their gender identity. And on Tuesday the Supreme Court heard arguments in two cases brought by transgender athletes seeking to overturn laws in Idaho and West Virginia barring biological boys and men from playing on female
