Freddy Gray

Freddy Gray

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

Will America ban TikTok?

From our UK edition

20 min listen

Freddy Gray speaks to Matt McDonald, Spectator World's managing editor about the campaign to ban TikTok; who from the Republican party supports the bill and what influence the Israel lobby has.

Power, politics and the grid

From our UK edition

27 min listen

Freddy Gray speaks to author Robert Bryce whose recent docuseries Power Politics & The Grid explores the growing vulnerabilities of America's electric grid. On the podcast they talk about Trump vs Biden energy policy; why Europe needs America's energy and what environmentalism could look like in 2024.

Trump II: Back with a Vengeance

From our UK edition

47 min listen

On the podcast: what would Trump’s second term look like?  Vengeance is a lifelong theme of Donald Trump’s, writes Freddy Gray in this week’s cover story – and this year’s presidential election could provide his most delectable payback of all. Meanwhile, Kate Andrews writes that Nikki Haley’s campaign is over – and with it went the hopes of the Never Trump movement. Where did it all go wrong? They both join the podcast to discuss what to expect from Trump’s second coming. (03:11) Then: Will and Gus take us through some of their favourite pieces from the magazine, including Michael Hann’s Pop review and Cosmo Landesman’s City Life column. (16:38) Next: Flora Watkins writes in The Spectator about on private schools.

Trump II: Back with a Vengeance

From our UK edition

In his under-recognised 2007 book Think Big and Kick Ass: In Business and Life, Donald Trump dedicated a chapter to ‘Revenge’. He wrote: ‘My motto is: always get even. When somebody screws you, screw them back in spades.’ Vengeance is a lifelong theme in the Donald J. Trump story, narrated as it is by Donald J. Trump. In 1992, he told the interviewer Charlie Rose: ‘I love getting even with people.’ He’s fond of quoting Alfred Hitchcock: ‘Revenge is sweet and not fattening.’ In January this year, after his primary victory in New Hampshire, he reiterated: ‘I don’t get too angry – I get even.’ Trump knows that the presidential election of 2024 could be the most delectable payback of all.

Will Trump’s election be ‘too big to rig’?

From our UK edition

For this Super Tuesday discussion, Sarah Elliot – head of the Special Relationship Unit at the Legatum Institute joins Freddy Gray to chat about the predicted Trump-Biden victory; what Nikki Haley will do next and who could be Donald Trump's vice president.

Will Tech decide the US election?

From our UK edition

25 min listen

Freddy talks to political technologist Eric Wilson about the role technology and media will play in the 2024 US election. They cover the differences in strategy between the Democrats and the Republicans, why television is still the best medium for reaching voters, and the role of social media influencers.  Produced by Natasha Feroze.

Nikki Haley isn’t running to win

From our UK edition

Commentators find it tedious to keep pointing out that Donald Trump has won yet another primary by yet another huge margin. He just defeated Nikki Haley by more than 40 points in Michigan, for instance, and many journalists seem to be focusing on his struggle to win over key ‘voter blocs’. She will inevitably cave to reality after Super Tuesday next week A lot of this talk is pure wind. Yes, Haley performed well in suburbs around Detroit and Michigan among voter groups that Trump will have to do better with in order to win in a general election against Joe Biden. But Michigan, like South Carolina and New Hampshire, is an open primary, in which all registered voters can vote for the Republican candidate, and a higher level of Trump resistance is therefore inevitable.

A Donald Trump debate

From our UK edition

28 min listen

In this special episode of Americano, The Spectator's editor Fraser Nelson explores Trump's candidacy with political commentator Deroy Murdock, and The Spectator's economics editor Kate Andrews.  They debate the influence of his rhetoric on American politics. How important is language? Will his achievements as President be enough to secure his re-election? Does personality Trump policy?

Are pollsters underestimating Joe Biden?

From our UK edition

31 min listen

Freddy Gray speaks to James Kanagasooriam who is the chief research officer at Focal Data about the state of the polls. They discuss why vaccines have become a polarising topic for this election; why bookmakers might be underestimating Joe Biden and the importance of the cost of living.

Nikki Haley’s candidacy is Never Trumpism’s last stand

From our UK edition

'I'm a woman of my word,’ said Nikki Haley after another humiliating defeat last night. ‘I'm not giving up this fight when a majority of Americans disapprove of both Donald Trump and Joe Biden.’  But what, really, is the point? South Carolina is Haley’s home state and she lost by more than 20 percentage points. She lost New Hampshire by 11 points, she came third in Iowa, and, much to Trump’s delight, she lost to ‘none of these candidates’ in Nevada.  Without Trump, Republican voters distrust and detest their party. They haven’t for some time The Republican nomination snoozefest – it’s not a race – will now move to Super Tuesday, on 4 March, and Haley will almost certainly lose in all 15 states she’s contesting there.

How badly will Nikki Haley lose in South Carolina?

From our UK edition

Will Nikki Haley defy expectations and only lose by 20 points today? That seems to be closest thing to a point of contention as South Carolina heads to the polls for today’s dodo of a Republican primary.  The polls have shown Trump’s enormous lead shrinking in recent days from well over 30 points to around 25. Some well-informed reporters think that Trump’s lead has diminished because of his rude outburst about Haley’s spouse.  ‘Where’s her husband?’ Trump mused in February, in his off-the-top-of-his-head way. ‘Oh, he’s away. What happened to her husband? What happened to her husband? Where is he? He’s gone.' Making jokes about people’s marriages is one thing; insulting a serving member of the military is another.

Americano: human rights vs democracy

From our UK edition

20 min listen

Freddy speaks to journalist and author of The Age of Entitlement: America Since the Sixties, Chris Caldwell, about the human rights movement. Can America’s influence be considered imperial? Is how we think of human rights outdated? And, what does the Black Lives Matter movement and the 2011 intervention in Libya tell us about the state of human rights today?

Should Julian Assange be extradited to America?

From our UK edition

27 min listen

Freddy speaks to philosopher Slavoj Zizek ahead of what we understand will be Julian Assange's final court appeal against extradition back to the US. The WikiLeaks founder has been wanted by the US authorities after he leaked tens of thousands of highly sensitive documents. On the podcast they discuss the parallels between Assange and Navalny, whether the West is beginning to behave more like the Soviet Union than we ever have, and if WikiLeaks was behind the election of Donald Trump.

If Donald Trump is re-elected, thank Letitia James

From our UK edition

‘Donald Trump may have authored the Art of the Deal,’ said the New York Attorney General Letitia James, doing her best resolute voice. ‘But he perfected the art of the steal.’ There speaks the voice of American justice: biased, politicised, odiously trite. ‘Today, we proved that no one is above the law,’ said James, which is what every Trump prosecutor has said, over and over, for years now. ‘No matter how rich, powerful, or politically connected you are, everyone must play by the same rules.’ Despite all the strong words and massive fines, Trump’s candidacy is growing in strength That’s garbage and everybody knows it. The rules don’t apply to everyone.

What do Republicans think of Lord Cameron?

From our UK edition

30 min listen

Freddy Gray speaks to Americano regular Jacob Heilbrunn about Lord Cameron's recent visit to DC, where he persuaded Congress to pass a bill sending aid to Ukraine. Jacob and Freddy also discuss why Jacob thinks Biden's mental capacity is over exaggerated, and what Nato could look like under Trump, and the latest on his charges.

What happened to the Democratic Party?

From our UK edition

38 min listen

Freddy Gray speaks to author Joshua Green who wrote The Rebels: Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and the Struggle for a New American Politics. On the podcast they discuss the three rebels in the book; how they influenced Joe Biden in office; and whether the Democratic Party has given up ‘finance-centered’ liberalism.

New Hampshire

Searching for the energy at the New Hampshire primary

Manchester, New Hampshire “OK, who here is not a voter in New Hampshire?” asked Marianne Williamson as she took the microphone. Almost everyone in the small, quarter-full auditorium at Manchester Community College raised a hand. “Well, that’s depressing,” said Marianne. Williamson carries herself with a certain grandiosity. She has that quasi-aristocratic bearing that comes from decades of being attractive, famous, well-off and radical. In 2024, she’s casting herself as the presidential candidate for despairing Bernie Sanders supporters. As she did in 2020, she presents her agenda as the spiritual alternative to politics as normal. “Not every rich person in America is a greedy bastard,” she says. “Not every poor person is a noble and pure soul.

How bad is the border crisis?

From our UK edition

33 min listen

Freddy is joined by Todd Bensman, fellow at the Centre for Immigration Studies and author of Overrun: how Joe Biden unleashed the greatest border crisis in US history. They discuss how to solve what is perhaps the issue of our time, why meaningful reform doesn't seem to happen on immigration, and the extent of Biden's physical and mental frailty after a week of public gaffes.

Boris Johnson accused of sabotaging Ukraine peace talks

From our UK edition

10 min listen

Tucker Carlson released his highly anticipated interview with Russia's leader Vladimir Putin last night. The two-hour long discussion was dominated by Putin who gave history lessons, blamed the Nord Stream 2 explosion on the CIA, and accused Boris Johnson of sabotaging the peace talks 18 months ago. Natasha Feroze speaks to James Heale and Freddy Gray about the highlights of the interview, and whether Boris Johnson's role in the talks was as influential as Putin suggests.