Podcast

Americano

American politics is ever more divisive and The Spectator‘s Americano podcast delivers in-depth discussions with the best American pundits to keep you in the loop. Presented by Freddy Gray.

American politics is ever more divisive and The Spectator‘s Americano podcast delivers in-depth discussions with the best American pundits to keep you in the loop. Presented by Freddy Gray.

Americano

Is New Hampshire a Potemkin primary?

For this special Americano podcast, Freddy Gray is in New Hampshire with the Spectator US team, Matt McDonald and Zach Christenson covering the chilly primaries. Are both Ron De Santis and Nikki Haley’s defeat a foregone conclusion?

Play 18 mins

Americano

Is the Republican race over?

Freddy Gray speaks to Republican strategist Luke Thompson about Trump’s landslide Iowa win; how much Trump’s legal proceedings will interfere with his campaign and who could be his deputy. The Spectator is hiring! We are looking for a new producer to join our broadcast team working across our suite of podcasts – including this one

Play 32 mins

Americano

Is 2024 the ‘regime referendum’?

Freddy Gray speaks to Daniel McCarthy, editor of the conservative review Modern Age, about all things Donald Trump. Do his ongoing trials help or hinder his campaign? Do the Democrats want him to be the Republican candidate or not? And is there a bureaucratic ‘permanent power’ that Trump would overthrow if he succeeds? The Spectator

Play 36 mins

Americano

Do Trump’s Republican rivals have any hope?

Freddy Gray is joined by pollster James Johnson, co-founder of JL Partners. They speak about the upcoming Iowa caucuses, the New Hampshire primary, and whether Trump’s opponents have any chance of beating him. They also discuss the impact of Trump’s trials, and JL Partners’ viral word cloud which both Biden and Trump have been attempting

Play 23 mins

Americano

Is America heading towards Civil War?

Freddy Gray speaks to classicist, military historian and author Victor Davis Hanson.  In an end of year review, they talk about antisemitism in the US today, the battle between right and left since 2016, and a potential future Trump presidency. 

Play 52 mins

Americano

Is an impeachment inquiry good for Biden?

The House of Representatives has voted to open an impeachment inquiry into Joe Biden, after three Republican-led committees alleged bribery and corruption during his time as vice-president. Could it actually be good news for Biden? Freddy speaks to Jacob Heilbrunn.

Play 25 mins

Americano

Does the legacy of Prohibition still haunt America?

Freddy Gray speaks to journalist and author Niko Vorobyov who wrote Dopeworld: Undercover in the secret war on drugs. 90 years after Prohibition ended, what are some of the biggest misperception about that era? And what has been the legacy of repealing the 18th amendment?

Play 21 mins

Americano

Is Cop a busted flush?

World leaders are in Dubai this weekend to discuss climate change, but are these Cop summits pointless? Joe Biden isn’t attending this year’s get together, allegedly because he’s focusing on the war between Israel and Hamas. Meanwhile, there have been reports that the Emiratis are using the convening power of the summit to sign new

Play 25 mins

Americano

Have we seen the last of Mitt Romney?

Freddy Gray talks to McKay Coppins, author of the New York Times bestselling book ‘Romney: A Reckoning’. Romney has announced he will not seek reelection in 2024. What next for the ‘never-Trumper’, could he support the creation of a new centrist party? And how does he feel about the significant losses in his career?

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Americano

Is it time to take Nikki Haley seriously?

Freddy Gray is joined by Patrick Ruffini, pollster and author of Party of the People: Inside the Multiracial Populist Coalition Remaking the GOP to discuss who could be a serious competitor to Trump.

Play 42 mins

Americano

Biden’s Middle East approach – and is he in trouble at home?

Freddy Gray is reunited with Charles Lipson and Jacob Heilbrunn to debate the impact of Biden’s Middle East policy, and his shaky reputation at home. Is he a Cold War liberal, out of touch with the modern Democratic Party?

Play 24 mins

Americano

Is net zero leading to economic ruination?

Freddy Gray speaks to Robert Bryce who is an author and expert on energy, power and politics. On the podcast, Robert talks about the economic implications of Europe’s net zero targets; why we should push for nuclear energy; and shares the human stories behind electrification. 

Play 36 mins

Americano

Who is the new House Speaker?

Amber Athey and Daniel McCarthy editor of Modern Age Journal and columnist at The Spectator join the Americano podcast to breakdown the long House speaker battle which has finally culminated in Trumpist Mike Johnson getting selected.  

Play 29 mins

Americano

How is Joe Biden handling the Israel-Palestine crisis?

This week Freddy speaks to Dennis Ross, former Middle East coordinator under President Clinton and current Professor of the Practice of Diplomacy at Georgetown University. They discuss Biden’s visit to Israel this week, how his policy towards the Middle East borrows from Trump and Obama, and how we can discern between the public posturing and

Play 27 mins

Americano

How are Democrats reacting to the war in Israel?

This week Freddy speaks to Andrew Cockburn, Washington editor of Harper’s Magazine, about America’s response to the developments in the Middle East. On the podcast they discuss the ‘squad’ (a section of Democrats who have been making pro-Palestinian noises), how America and Israel’s surveillance system allowed the attack to happen, and the importance of the

Play 31 mins

Americano

What’s going on in the Republican party?

Freddy speaks to Roger Kimball, editor of the New Criterion and columnist for The Spectator’s US edition. After Kevin McCarthy was ousted as speaker of the House this week, they discuss why the Republican party is such a mess. 

Play 23 mins

Americano

Who is winning America’s class war?

This week Freddy is joined in The Spectator offices by regular contributor and fellow of urban studies at Chapman University, Joel Kotkin. They discuss Biden and Trump’s respective attempts to burnish their credentials with the unions this week, how the cultural agenda is alienating voters, and whether technology could prevent the coming of neo-feudalism.

Play 38 mins

Americano

Have relations thawed between US and Iran?

Freddy Gray is joined by Charlie Gammell, a historian and former diplomat who was on the Iran desk at the foreign office. On the podcast they discuss this week’s Iran-US deal where six prisoners have been released on either side and $6 billion sent back to Iran. There has been political backlash with the Republicans

Play

Americano

Are the Republicans wrong to impeach Biden?

Freddy Gray speaks to author and lawyer Alan Dershowitz who wrote Get Trump: The Threat to Civil Liberties, Due Process, and Our Constitutional Rule of Law. On the podcast Freddy speaks to Alan about the Republican’s formal impeachment inquiry against President Joe Biden, claiming they have unearthed a ‘culture of corruption’ surrounding the president. 

Play 7 mins

Americano

Could Hunter Biden be a big problem for the Democrats?

This week Freddy Gray speaks to politics lecturer and writer Damon Linker about the ongoing investigations into Hunter Biden. With Trump facing his own criminal charges, will stories about potential Biden corruption muddy the waters for voters?

Play 36 mins

Americano

What does Vivek Ramaswamy stand for?

This week Freddy speaks to Jacob Heilbrunn, editor of the National Interest, about Vivek Ramaswamy. What does he stand for? Could he be the ideal candidate for Trump’s vice president? 

Play 22 mins

Americano

Is Donald Trump untouchable?

Kate Andrews speaks to Freddy Gray and CEO of Truth Social, Devin Nunes in the week that Donald Trump refused to attend the Republican Fox News debates. Instead, the Presidential candidate who is leading in the polls was interviewed by Tucker Carlson on X, formerly known as Twitter. 

Play 20 mins

Americano

Why are Democrats winning on abortion?

Freddy Gray speaks to Inez Stepman, a Lincoln Fellow at the Claremont Institute who was last on Americano to discuss the overturning of Roe vs Wade last year. As seen in the November midterms, could this be a winning issue for the Democrats who are gearing up for the general election?

Play 39 mins

Americano

Why does everyone hate the US women’s soccer team?

Freddy Gray sits down with The Spectator’s Washington editor, Amber Athey to discuss the US women’s soccer team defeat in the World Cup and why some are fed up with their politics. 

Play 17 mins

Americano

UFOs – is the truth out there?

The US government is apparently hiding a programme to capture and reverse-engineer UFOs. At a congressional hearing last week, David Grusch, a former intelligence official who worked with a Pentagon team looking into UFOs, said ‘non-human’ objects had been recovered by the government. Are they finding aliens, or Chinese and Russian drones? What’s behind the

Play 18 mins

Americano

Why has Trump been indicted…again?

Freddy Gray sits down with Jacob Heilbrunn to discuss Donald Trump’s latest indictment over January 6th. The former President faces 78 charges which, if found guilty, could mean he will spend several years in prison. 

Play 19 mins

Americano

America’s sub-literate generation

Only 72% of Americans can read to 6th grade level. Freddy is joined by Peter Wood to talk about how this has happened, and why it is getting worse. What political and cultural factors have diminished the importance of reading and writing in education, and with students already using AI, where does America go from

Play 30 mins

Americano

What went wrong for Ron DeSantis?

Freddy is joined this week by Roger Kimball, editor of the New Criterion to talk about the diminishing power of Ron DeSantis. It wasn’t so long ago he looked like a serious challenger that could beat Donald Trump to the Republican nomination. Where did it all go wrong?

Play 30 mins

Americano

Is Britain a bad example for American conservatives?

On his current visit to the UK, Spectator World columnist and Modern Age editor Daniel McCarthy sat down with Freddy to discuss what lessons American Republicans should learn from the doldrums into which the Tory party has steered itself. Produced by Natasha Feroze and Saby Kulkarni.

Play 33 mins

Americano

Joe Biden is not OK

Freddy Gray speaks to Spectator columnist, Douglas Murray who wrote in the magazine this week about Joe Biden’s endless gaffes and the incompetence which Douglas argues has spilled into the rest of the party. Produced by Natasha Feroze. 

Play 25 mins