Freddy Gray

Freddy Gray

Freddy Gray is deputy editor of The Spectator and the editor of the US edition. He hosts Americano on YouTube.

Wednesday

Freddy Gray

The lesson of the midterms? Trump’s crudeness works

From our UK edition

President Donald J. Trump thinks only in terms of winning and losing. On Tuesday, he won and he lost, which might muddle his pride. But any pain Trump feels at losing the House of Representatives will be as nothing to the satisfaction he will feel at having gained seats in the Senate. The Republicans have lost 26 House seats, and several governorships. But the 2018 midterm elections were not the Dem- ocratic ‘blue wave’ that prognosticators spent all last year anticipating. It was not a ‘shellacking’ — the word Barack Obama famously used in 2010 when his party lost 63 seats in the House and six Senate seats. In 1994, Bill Clinton lost 54 and eight. Both men won a second term two years later. America has not rejected Trumpism, then.

Thursday

Freddy Gray

The pipe bombs could actually help Trump in the midterms

Seven days before the Brexit referendum, the Labour MP Jo Cox was out campaigning for Britain to remain in the European Union, when she was shot, stabbed and murdered by a far-right maniac shouting ‘Britain First’. People were shocked, and shock instantly turned to rage. This is what happens, they said, when you fan the flames of right-wing extremism. Pundits pointed at a provocative UKIP poster that showed a queue of migrants from the developing world and said, in Trumpian capitals, BREAKING POINT. That was a clear incitement to violence, they said. The whole political/media class thought that was that. The staff at Vote Leave (the official, pro-Brexit campaign, who hadn’t put out that poster) were despondent.

pipe bombs chuck schumer nancy pelosi
Freddy Gray

American nightmare

From our UK edition

 Washington, DC As if American politics were not scary enough, the prospect of President Hillary Rodham Clinton has once again reared its frightful head. The woman is a proven horror, politically speaking. One senior Democrat strategist calls her the ‘kiss of death’. She loses elections she ought to win because people don’t like her. Just over a week away from the midterm elections, Democrat candidates in various states are said to be relieved that she isn’t conducting one of her vanity tours of the country. She has even fallen foul of the #MeToo movement, after she dared to say her husband, Bill, had not abused his power over Monica Lewinsky. Still, like death, Hillary never goes away.

Friday

Freddy Gray

Telling the truth about Jamal Khashoggi is not a smear campaign

The Washington Post is upset. That’s understandable: one of its contributors seems to have been tortured and killed. Many of the senior staff were close to Jamal Khashoggi, and are perhaps grieving. But the trouble with journalists being upset is that they tend to turn themselves or their grief into the story. This exacerbates an already massive problem in Washington, where journalism is elevated into such a high civic duty it becomes almost religion. Well-known journalists here start to behave like bishops, incanting the accepted pieties and occasionally acting like a mafia to ensure nobody hurts the free speech church by speaking freely. That’s exactly what is happening with the Khashoggi story.

jamal khashoggi washington post

Tuesday

Freddy Gray

Trump’s luck and the Democratic death wish

Do you remember what the political landscape looked like before L’affaire Kavanaugh? If you don’t, that’s not surprising. A week in politics is long; a month in Trumpworld is an eternity. Let us rewind, then, to that dim-lit Sunday, September 16, when the Washington Post first ran the Christine Blasey Ford story. Trump was in trouble. His approval rating was 40 per cent. The Dems were surging in the polls; and talk was all about a midterm blue wave crashing over the administration. The rumbling of a trade war with China was giving fright. The Mueller, Cohen, Manafort scandals were bumping along, each adding to the common sense that, even if no smoking Russian gun, Trump’s circle is significantly dodgier than a President’s should be.

protester justice democratic death wish

Sunday

Freddy Gray

Ye he Kan! Why Kanye West’s SNL stunt showed real courage

Kanye West is an egomaniac. Who isn’t these days? He’s also very brave. It takes courage to wear a Trump hat to sing on Saturday Night Live. Kanye — or ‘Ye’, as he wants to be called — said he was ‘bullied’ backstage by people telling him he should take it off, and you can imagine that is true enough. The Saturday Night Live audience booed Kanye on stage, but he remained undaunted. ‘We need a dialogue not a diatribe,’ he said, not unreasonably. The SNL brigades clearly did not agree. Their idea of dialogue is just anti-Trump diatribe. Good for West; he makes the world more interesting. And for him to stand by what he thinks as the rich, elite world he belong to harangues him takes guts.

kanye west snl

Saturday

Freddy Gray

The coddling of American journalism

Yesterday I had an interesting conversation with John R. MacArthur, the publisher of Harper’s. We spoke about Ian Buruma’s departure as editor of New York Review of Books. Rick is a friend, I should say. I should also say that I believe he is a hero of free expression — and an increasingly lonely voice speaking up for authentic dissent in America. You can hear our podcast here. https://audioboom.com/posts/7016868-trial-by-twitter-is-ian-buruma-the-victim-of-a-new-mccarthyism Buruma, in case you haven’t heard, lost his job after he decided to publish an article by Jian Ghomeshi in the forthcoming edition of New York Review of Books.

john r. macarthur journalism snowflakes

Thursday

Freddy Gray

Serena Williams isn’t the victim of sexism – she’s just a sore loser

From our UK edition

Serena Williams’s epic tantrum in last night’s US Open final wasn’t a noble stand against racism or sexism. It wasn’t about her being black, or a woman, or a mother — although of course it very quickly became about that, as tweeters and sports hacks climbed over each other to defend the Queen of Women’s tennis because she is a famous mega brand and her brand is about being black, a woman, and a mother. But in our hearts we all know what really happened. Williams behaved like a bad loser then pretended to be a victim of societal injustice to justify her bratty performance. It was a pathetic and depressing spectacle.

Sunday

Freddy Gray

Serena Williams isn’t the victim of sexism – she’s just a sore loser

From our UK edition

Serena Williams’s epic tantrum in last night’s US Open final wasn’t a noble stand against racism or sexism. It wasn’t about her being black, or a woman, or a mother — although of course it very quickly became about that, as tweeters and sports hacks climbed over each other to defend the Queen of Women’s tennis because she is a famous mega brand and her brand is about being black, a woman, and a mother. But in our hearts we all know what really happened. Williams behaved like a bad loser then pretended to be a victim of societal injustice to justify her bratty performance. It was a pathetic and depressing spectacle.

Monday

Freddy Gray

Trump’s bullying of Jeff Sessions is the least attractive part of his presidency

Like a lot of very rich and powerful men, Trump likes to have someone in the dog house. He needs a person in his orbit to take the flak; all would be well, he wants to believe, were it not for this one human irritant in his midst. For over a year, the bad doggie in Trump’s kennel has been Attorney General Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III. The Mueller inquiry causing headaches? Blame Jeff. Midterm polls not looking good? Blame Jeff. The great Trumpian revolution not going to plan? Blame you know who... https://twitter.com/realdonaldtrump/status/1036681588573130752?s=21 Trump knows that what he calls the ‘witch hunt’ — the Mueller inquiry — could still destroy his presidency, even if he and his administration are, as he insists, innocent.

jeff sessions

Tuesday

Freddy Gray

In 2016, Paul Krugman said the markets would ‘never recover’ from Trump’s victory. Ha!

Donald Trump’s Twitter bragging about the soaring stock market can be tiresome. Come on — it’s not all about you, Mr President. It is worth bearing in mind, however, that, as Dominic suggests, under President Hillary Clinton, the world would probably not have enjoyed such a boom. And as the Nasdaq breaks 8000 for the first time, it’s also worth rewinding the clock to when Trump won the presidential election. Let’s look at what Paul Krugman predicted, in November 2016. I quote at length: ‘If the question is when markets will recover, a first-pass answer is never.

paul krugman

Sunday

Freddy Gray

WATCH AGAIN: John McCain’s brilliant concession speech in 2008

From our UK edition

I didn’t much like John McCain’s politics. He never saw a military intervention he didn’t like. He was bi-partisan in all the wrong ways. He was a hothead, well-suited to hawkish Republican Washington, but not to 21st-century America. His admirers elevated his heroics as a war veteran to distract from his failings as a statesman. But McCain, who has just died after a long battle with brain cancer, had honour and grace. He stood against torture despite his instinctive ruthlessness in foreign policy. He could also be insightful and funny. Perhaps his greatest moment, for me, was his concession speech after losing to Barack Obama in 2008. His audience booed when he said Obama’s name, but he pleaded with them not to.

Wednesday

Freddy Gray

The sordid reality of the Trump presidency

From our UK edition

‘How ya like me now?’ tweeted Stormy Daniels last night — and, whatever else you might think about a porn star using her alleged extra-marital affair with a president to get rich, it’s hard to deny that her question has a point. She hasn’t been vindicated, exactly, but it’s no longer possible for even Donald Trump’s admirers to dismiss her story as the baseless claims of a fame hungry whore. Yesterday, Michael Cohen, Trump’s former lawyer, pleaded guilty to buying the silence of two women through illegal payments that violated campaign finance laws.

Monday

Freddy Gray

Will Trump’s CAPITAL LETTERS keep the world safe?

IT’S WAR! IN CAPITAL LETTERS! At least, on Twitter it is — just as recovering social media addicts dared to hope that things might be settling for the summer. Donald Trump last night threatened Iran with ‘CONSEQUENCES THE LIKES OF WHICH FEW THROUGHOUT HISTORY HAVE EVER SUFFERED.’ This was in response to President Hassan Rouhani's warning of a 'mother of all wars.' Whatever happened to Teddy Roosevelt’s ‘speak softly and carry a big stick’ approach to US diplomacy? With Trump, it seems to be ‘TWEET VIOLENTLY ABOUT THE SIZE OF YOUR STICK.’ Of course, it’s ‘fire and fury’ all over again.

Wednesday

Freddy Gray

Steve Bannon: ‘We have to end the Cold War with Russia’

Yesterday, in central London, I spent an interesting hour with Stephen K. Bannon, discussing the fall out from President Trump’s Helsinki summit. We recorded a podcast which you can listen to here: https://audioboom.com/posts/6936042-steve-bannon-why-china-is-a-bigger-threat-than-russia I asked Bannon whether he felt the media were right to be working themselves into such a lather over Trump’s apparent siding with Russia over American intelligence services over the 2016 election – this was before the Commander-in-Chief’s peculiar ‘double negative’ volte-face in the afternoon. In reply, Bannon reiterated the now fairly standard – nonetheless fair – point that the media conflates Russian meddling with Russian collusion.

Friday

Freddy Gray

The Trump-May press conference was a comic masterpiece

Donald Trump never fails to amuse. He is very, very funny. You can say that he should be no laughing matter – he’s the most powerful man in the world, his words and actions are deadly serious, and you’d probably be right. But then, I mean, just look at him -- listen to him. He reduces world politics to an amazing farce, and it’s impossible not to slightly love him for it. What sane person could possibly watch today’s press conference with Theresa May and not crack up? It was a comic masterpiece. Take, for instance, when he described the relationship between Britain and France as ‘in terms of grade, the highest level of special. So we start of with special …. I would say the highest level of special. Am I allowed to go higher than that?

Freddy Gray

Admit it, Trump is right about Sadiq Khan

I’m sorry to say this, but Donald Trump really doesn’t think much about Britain at all. He may have some sentimental attachment to Scotland, because of his mother, but we’re not nearly as precious to him as we like to think. He may be blowing British minds today with his explosive Sun interview, but he’ll just shrug it off, go play golf, then meet Putin. But what Trump does have is an unthinking genius for sniffing out weakness, and he’s unthinkingly sniffed it out in Sadiq Khan. “I think allowing millions and millions of people to come into Europe is very, very sad. I look at cities in Europe, and I can be specific if you’d like. You have a mayor who has done a terrible job in London. He has done a terrible job.

Freddy Gray

Donald Trump is a news god – but his memory is patchy

One of the myths about Donald Trump is that he’s wildly unpredictable. In media terms, he’s an absolute banker: everywhere he goes, every time he opens his mouth or picks up his smartphone, he gives the press what we want. Take his glorious interview with the Sun this morning. It was timed to perfection. The great news value is not that we are surprised by what Trump thinks — we probably all could have guessed that Trump wouldn’t love a soft Brexit; that he would say you need Brexit to be as hard and sordid as possible — but that Trump just says it. He says what every reporter wants him to say, in a way. And boy did he deliver for the Sun’s Tom Newton Dunn.

Thursday

Freddy Gray

Donald Trump does Brexit

From our UK edition

PART I President Donald Trump is less than impressed with Theresa May's Brexit plan, it seems. ‘I’m not sure that’s what they voted for,' he says. But how would he do Brexit? Boris Johnson said recently ‘Imagine Trump doing Brexit — what would he do. There’d be all sorts of breakdowns, all sorts of chaos. Everyone would think that he’d gone mad. But you might actually get somewhere.’ Well, let’s imagine ... June 24, 2016 5 a.m. The votes are in and Britain has elected to leave the European Union. Prime Minister Trump leaves Downing Street and calls a special press conference at his golf course, Turnberry, in Scotland. 7.15 a.m. The Prime Minister arrives by helicopter and puts on a Make Turnberry Great Again baseball cap.

Wednesday

Freddy Gray

Donald Trump goes to war with Nato

From our UK edition

Don’t say you weren’t warned. Ahead of the Nato summit in Brussels today, Donald Trump had spent the last two days tweeting about the iniquity of Nato and the trade deficits between the EU and his country. He had singled out Germany for not contributing enough to Nato’s defence budget, and three times mentioned a $151bn trade deficit figure with Europe. Sure enough, at this morning’s opening breakfast, he came out all rhetorical guns blazing, and then posted a clip of himself with all rhetorical guns blazing on Twitter. https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1016956445307400193?