35 min listen
The midterms in November are shaping up to be one of the most expensive elections yet. Freddy Gray and Ryan Girdusky, author of the National Populist Substack, discuss how inflation, crime and immigration are shaping voter patterns, whether the Trump coalition remains as strong as he claims, and what impact Trump's recent focus on international affairs will have with his voter base.
23 min listen
Freddy Gray is joined by historian Andrew Lownie, to react to the latest release of Epstein emails - and how they are bringing down a global network of elites. They discuss whether Epstein was a Soviet spy, the renewed pressure on Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, and if politicians will hide behind 'national security' to prevent the release of more files.
The news broke this morning that Donald Trump has, after considerable deliberation, settled on Kevin Warsh as his nominee to replace Jerome Powell as chairman of the Federal Reserve. "I have known Kevin for a long period of time," said Trump, on Truth Social. "There’s no doubt that he will go down as one of the GREAT Fed Chairmen, maybe the best." "On top of everything else," added the Commander-in-Chief, "he is 'central casting' and he will never let you down." The use of the phrase "central casting" shows Trump’s reality TV brain at work. The President likes people in major government positions who look the part on screen. Inevitably, senior Democrats are attacking Warsh’s nomination as Trump’s "latest attempt to seize control of the Fed.
14 min listen
Freddy Gray speaks to the documentary maker Fernando Sulichin who was behind the making of Melania soon to be released on Amazon Prime. They discuss the First Lady, how the ten days leading up to the inauguration unravelled, her relationship with Donald Trump and whether she was sidelined by the fashion industry.
From our UK edition
43 min listen
Who really runs Britain: the government, foreign courts or international lawyers? This question is at the heart of Michael Gove’s cover piece for the Spectator this week, analysing the role of those at the centre of Labour’s foreign policy. Attorney general Lord Hermer, national security adviser Jonathan Powell and internationally renowned barrister Philippe Sands may seek to uphold international law but is this approach outdated as we enter an era of hard power? For Gove, they are the three ‘guilty men’ who are undermining Britain’s national interest at the expense of a liberal international law that never really existed.
19 min listen
Freddy Gray is joined by Spectator World online editor Ben Clerkin to discuss the situation in Minnesota, where for a second time an ICE officer shot dead a protestor. Freddy and Ben discuss how Trump’s team are divided on the issue, why this time Trump has not been quick to defend the ICE officers and the significance of the freezing cold weather in keeping protestors at bay.
Trump Derangement Syndrome has become horribly over-diagnosed. Now, anyone who expresses doubts about his wondrous abilities – or just fails to repeat the White House’s preferred talking points – risks being branded a "TDS" sufferer. It’s boring. Still, there remains a large faction of elite journalists, social-media influencers and political actors who loathe Donald Trump with a pathological intensity and who feel their mission in life must be to undermine him by whatever means necessary. They have spent the last decade condemning Trump and his supporters as conspiracy loons even as they leap from one dark theory to the next – Trump is a Russian asset! A closet Nazi! An Al Capone-style mobster! A serial rapist and possibly even a pedophile!
From our UK edition
45 min listen
Another week, another foreign policy crisis – this time over Greenland. America's European allies watched as Trump increased the tension over the Arctic territory, only to announce he 'won't use force' in a set-piece speech in Davos. For the Spectator's cover this week, Paul Wood examines the strategic role of the Arctic, both against Russia and China and from nuclear energy to the space race. With a deal supposedly done between Denmark and the US, is there method in Trump's madness? For this week’s Edition, host William Moore is joined by deputy editor Freddy Gray, online commissioning editor Lara Brown and broadcaster Miriam Cates.
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.
"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.
From our UK edition
‘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 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.
37 min listen
Freddy Gray 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 defence, 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.
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 emphasised how deep that disagreement is. On Truth Social, he has announced that, starting on February 1, his administration will impose 10 per cent tariffs on all goods sent to the United States from Denmark, Norway, Sweden, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Finland, and the United Kingdom.
From our UK edition
25 min listen
Freddy Gray is joined by John Carney, who leads finance and economics news for Breitbart, to discuss what Donald Trump will say at the World Economic Forum. Will the president 'stick it to Davos man' about tariffs and the world's trade reliance on China? They also discuss how Trump's quest to resolve the cost of living crisis has led him to find common ground with unlikely figures: Zohran Mamdani and Elizabeth Warren.
24 min listen
Spectator contributor and author Charlie Gammell and Freddy Gray 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 United States needs to stay out of Venezuela," said Tulsi Gabbard. "Let the Venezuelan people determine their future. We don’t want other countries to choose our leaders – so we have to stop trying to choose theirs."That was in 2019, when Gabbard was still a rebellious anti-war Democrat. Nobody then could have predicted that, six years on, she would be Donald Trump’s Director of National Intelligence (DNI). But in 2024, Gabbard jumped aboard the Trump Train and became a key player, alongside Robert F. Kennedy Jr., in the big realignment of that year. Yet now, she finds herself isolated. Her dovish foreign policy views make her a bad fit for an administration committed to the "Donroe Doctrine" – and, asserting itself through violence in Latin America.
From our UK edition
43 min listen
Can Farage plot a route to Number 10, asks Tim Shipman in our cover article this week. He might be flanked by heavyweights – such as his head of policy Zia Yusuf and Conservative Party defector Danny Kruger MP – but he will need a lot more people to pull off his biggest upset for British politics yet. Where will they come from? And what’s the balance he needs to strike between being radical enough to win power but also without alienating significant chunks of the electorate? Plus, as former UK ambassador to the US Peter Mandelson breaks his silence – in this week's Spectator – to argue that Europe needs to adapt to a new reality, Freddy Gray ponders what Trump’s ‘Donroe Doctrine’ is actually all about. Immigration? Drugs? Oil? Or just plain chaos?
23 min listen
Donald Trump’s stunning attack on Venezuela has the world wondering what his next move might be. What does it mean for Iran, Russia, and the future of the global order? Freddy Gray is joined by Owen Matthews and Paul Wood to discuss the rest of this podcast.
Invade the world, invite the world. That pithy phrase was invented in the 2000s by Steve Sailer, the right-wing writer, to mock the then bipartisan consensus which supported George W. Bush’s war on terror abroad while pushing open borders at home. Or, as Sailer also put it: "Bomb them over there and indulge them over here." Back then, such analysis was generally dismissed as the preserve of white supremacist cranks. Now, it’s fair to say that Sailerite thinking animates the spirit of the second Donald Trump administration. Disrupt the world, deport the world. That’s the order of the day. Since America’s stunning attack on Venezuela last weekend, almost everybody has had a stab at revealing Trump’s real intentions – including, naturally, Trump and his talking heads.
43 min listen
Freddy Gray is joined by Robert Bryce, energy expert and author of Robert Bryce’s Substack, to discuss what America’s strike on Venezuela has to do with energy and oil. They examine the strategic importance of heavy crude, the role of China and Russia in the Western Hemisphere, and why electricity grids – not democracy – may be the real battlefield.