Freddy Gray

Freddy Gray

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

Gabbard 2028, anyone?

“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

Tulsi Gabbard

Immigration is foreign policy now

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

immigration

Why Trump captured Maduro

Donald Trump likes to start the new year with a bang – or better yet a series of loud bangs. On January 3, 2020, his first administration ordered the drone strike that killed Qasem Soleimani, the head of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Quds Force. Exactly six years later, his second administration has carried out a

Trump’s 2026 wish? More executions

Ever since he began flirting with politics, Donald J. Trump has been a death-penalty enthusiast. In response to 1989’s infamous Central Park jogger rape, Trump spent $85,000 taking out full-page advertisements in the New York press calling for the suspects to be killed. ‘BRING BACK THE DEATH PENALTY,’ it said. ‘I want to hate these

So now even Mitt Romney wants to tax the rich

“On the tax front,” says Mitt Romney, “it’s time for rich people like me to pay more.” It’s always slightly annoying for regular Americans when squillionaires announce that people like them ought to be contributing more to the Treasury. (Nobody’s stopping you from writing a big cheque, Mitt!) But Romney’s intervention in today’s New York Times is

Mitt Romney

Why does the American right take itself so seriously?

The American right has a problem: it can’t stop talking about itself. Commentators, academics and journalists of what used to be called a ‘conservative’ persuasion all tend to think that their ideas are tremendously interesting. And, in the way a difficult child becomes argumentative when he or she isn’t getting attention, they fight. They fear

Can anyone stop J.D. Vance becoming president?

From our UK edition

As Donald J. Trump flew to the Holy Land on Sunday to declare peace, his Vice-President took to the airwaves to address the rumbling civil conflict on the home front. J.D. Vance did not rule out invoking the 1807 Insurrection Act in order to quell the violent protests against Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials in

The Nobel snub won’t bother Trump

From our UK edition

Of course, Donald Trump has not won the Nobel Peace Prize. The Scandinavian grandees on the committee wouldn’t dream of honouring him. It was silly to think that they would. The award has gone instead to María Corina Machado, the Venezuelan opposition figure, so well done to her. Still, it speaks to the fundamental vanity

Charlie Kirk and America’s fifth great awakening

From our UK edition

Political Islam is a powerful global force. Wahhabism, the Muslim Brotherhood and Shia theocracy are different yet successful strands of the same impulse to govern according to the will of Allah. Political Christianity, by contrast, has in recent decades, even centuries, taken a back seat when it comes to public affairs. With some exceptions, Christians have

Mandelson’s Epstein problem is not going away

From our UK edition

When King Charles hosts Donald Trump for the state banquet at Windsor Castle next week, the dignitaries should know better than to mention Jeffrey Epstein. Inevitably, however, Epstein’s ghost will hang over proceedings, the paedo-Banquo at the feast. In the coming days, the details of Mandelson’s bond with Epstein may end up overshadowing all talk

Was the Minneapolis shooting an anti-Catholic hate crime?

From our UK edition

‘Don’t just say this is about thoughts and prayers right now,’ said Minneapolis mayor Jacob Frey, standing near the scene of yesterday’s Catholic school shooting in his city. ‘These kids were literally praying.’ I think he was trying to say, ‘This is no time for empty platitudes’ – or something similar. The words sounded horribly