Us politics

The US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has said today will be the most intense day yet of American strikes on Iran. Over the weekend, Donald Trump claimed the war could soon be over – and suggested the US has already effectively won. He also took aim at Keir Starmer, accusing Britain of joining wars America has ‘already won’. Deputy and US editor Freddy Gray joins the podcast to explain what’s really happening in Washington and why he believes the ‘special relationship’ may be over – and not coming back. Economics editor Michael Simmons also joins to discuss the fallout. As oil prices surge and markets react, Reform UK is seizing on renewed pressure over the cost of living. What does the crisis mean for Rachel Reeves – and how serious could the economic consequences become?

Freddy is joined by historian and former diplomat, Charlie Gammell. They discuss the situation in Iran, whether the US is heading for a decisive confrontation, and examine the regional consequences: proxy warfare, Gulf energy security, Pakistan’s delicate position, and migration pressures on Europe.

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.

Father Robert Sirico joins Freddy Gray to discuss the imprisonment of Jimmy Lai – the British passport holder and Hong Kong media tycoon facing life in jail for opposing the Chinese Communist Party. Sirico reflects on Lai’s rise from poverty, his Catholic faith, the collapse of freedoms in Hong Kong, and why the West has failed to mount a serious campaign for his release.

US historian and classicist Victor Davis Hanson joins Americano for a wide-ranging assessment of Donald Trump’s first year back in office, from the economy and immigration to Ukraine and the future of the West.

Christopher Caldwell joins Freddy Gray to discuss why the 'Boomer generation' – those born between 1946 and 1964 – became one of the most hated generations in recent history. Chris argues that the Boomers uniquely benefited from the resources of other generations, and were able to enjoy the benefits of leftist politics alongside the political and economic freedoms associated with the right; the apex of their power perhaps being the Clinton/Bush era. To what extent are the Boomers responsible for the decline of America? And what merits are there in judging society through age? Plus, do the digital-millennial generation – those born at the late 1980s and early 1990s – mark the next era of cultural configuration? Produced by Patrick Gibbons and James Lewis.

Why are Americans so interested in Britain's decline? While visiting London, Tucker Carlson has said that the country has ‘shrunken’ and its culture ‘destroyed’, particularly because of mass immigration. Freddy Gray is joined by Tim Stanley and Ed West to discuss whether Britain has become ‘ground zero in the decline of western civilisation’ and if the US has always viewed the UK this way.

Katherine Dee is the new technology correspondent for The Spectator World. She joins Freddy to discuss the phenomenon of necromancy, the practice of communicating with the dead, and how AI is fuelling it. How is technology blurring the lines between the living and the dead?

Lawyer Alan Dershowitz joins Freddy Gray to react to the 20,000 newly released Epstein emails — and why he believes far more remains hidden. He discusses Trump’s appearance in the documents, the contradictions in Virginia Giuffre’s testimony, the FBI’s real “client list”, and why judges are still sealing major depositions.

To watch the debate in full, go to https://spectator.com/article/americano-live-is-america-great-again/ American commentator Ann Coulter and British columnist Peter Hitchens join host Freddy Gray live in London to debate whether America is great again—and what the Trump era means for both sides of the Atlantic. From immigration and national identity to executive power and the rule of law, they clash over whether Trump has delivered real change or simply accelerated a dangerous new politics.

New York has elected Zohran Mamdani — and Heather Mac Donald, fellow at the Manhattan Institute and Spectator writer, warns the city is heading for trouble. She tells Freddy Gray why she thinks Mayor-elect Mamdani’s agenda on crime, housing and education could undo decades of progress, and why this moment feels like “a student activist government taking over a real city”.

Max Tegmark is an author and professor doing AI and physics research at MIT. He joins Freddy to discuss the moral and spiritual dangers of artificial intelligence, the rise of Silicon Valley’s ‘tech overlords’, and why he believes technology must remain a tool – not a master.

Donald Trump has arrived in Britain with promises of billions in tech investment. But is this AI boom real growth — or just another bubble? Oren Cass, chief economist at American Compass and editor of The New Conservatives, joins Freddy Gray to discuss whether the Trump administration has been taken over by big tech. Click here to get your tickets for Americano Live.

Tyler Robinson, a 22-year-old from south-west Utah, has been detained over the shooting of Kirk, a conservative activist and close ally of Donald Trump. Author and anthropologist Max Horder joins Freddy Gray to discuss the cocktail of online hate and tribal divisions that's fuelling America's new era of political violence.

On this episode, Nick Gillespie, Reason's editor at large, joins Freddy to discuss whether Trump 2.0 is really as authoritarian as people say. Is he closer to a gangster than a dictator? They also discuss tariffs, the weaponisation of the Justice Department, and the state of free speech in the UK.

Freddy Gray is joined by writer and internet ethnographer Katherine Dee. She's written about the Minneapolis school shooting and Robin Westman for Spectator World. Two children were killed and 17 others injured by a killer with a bizarre online footprint: a mix of memes, nihilism, politics and gore references. Katharine argues 'these shooters are radicalised, but in no particular direction. Their identities fragment. There is a deep fear of being forgotten.