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

Trump’s trial has nothing to do with Stormy Daniels

From our UK edition

Why did Stormy Daniels testify in court yesterday about her allegedly sexual encounter with Donald Trump? Anybody who has followed the Donald Trump story in recent years will have already heard most of Stormy’s account of her interactions with him. Daniels has a sense of humour. Like many others, she enjoys mocking Trump in public. And in our licentious yet strangely puritanical times, details such as the porn star spanking the 45th president with a rolled-up copy of Forbes magazine are just too much to resist.  The truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth? Nobody seems to care much The truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth? Nobody seems to care much. Veracity and justice are not what this trial is about.

Saturday

Freddy Gray

Is Donald Trump really going to be a dictator?

From our UK edition

23 min listen

Freddy speaks to Norman Ornstein, political scientist and emeritus scholar at the American Enterprise Institute. They discuss the possibility of Donald Trump becoming a dictator, his ongoing court cases, and if there's a double standard in the treatment of Trump vs Biden.

Friday

Freddy Gray

Is the West heading towards annihilation?

From our UK edition

55 min listen

Freddy speaks to Victor Davis Hanson, classicist, military historian and political commentator. They discuss his new book The End of Everything, and ask whether the west should be taking note of history in order to avoid annihilation, and where the US is heading.

Thursday

Freddy Gray

Why Trumpists think the real conspiracy is RFK Jr

From our UK edition

A riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma. Winston Churchill’s description of Soviet Russia in 1939 could also apply to the independent candidacy of Robert F. Kennedy Jr in the presidential election of 2024. What we can say with certainty about RFK Jr is that, in a year when the American electorate is deeply unhappy about having to choose once again between Donald Trump and Joe Biden, he has the opportunity to win over an enormous number of disgruntled voters. At first glance RFK appears to outflank Trump along the wackier fringes of US politics He’s currently polling at up to 15 per cent. That makes him the biggest threat to the Republican-Democratic hold over presidential politics since Ross Perot, who in 1992 won some 19 per cent and came second in two states.

Sunday

Freddy Gray

Coleman Hughes on neo-racism, US election, and The View

From our UK edition

47 min listen

Freddy Gray speaks to writer, podcaster and musician Coleman Hughes. His latest book The End of Race Politics, The: Arguments for a Colorblind America promotes Martin Luther King's teachings for a colourblind society. On the podcast they discuss Coleman's recent appearance on The View; whether Coleman thinks Trump is racist and how the Israel-Gaza war exposed the failings of US universities.

Thursday

Freddy Gray

Does America own Britain?

From our UK edition

45 min listen

Freddy speaks to Angus Hanton, entrepreneur and author of Vassal State: How America Runs Britain, and William Clouston, leader of the Social Democratic Party. They discuss the ‘Special Relationship’ between the US and the UK, and ask whether it might be detrimental to British business.

Saturday

Thursday

Freddy Gray

Is the criticism of Biden’s Middle East policy fair?

From our UK edition

29 min listen

Freddy speaks to the diplomat and author Dennis B Ross, who worked under presidents George H W Bush and Bill Clinton. He was a special advisor on the Persian Gulf. They discuss the escalation of tensions in the Middle East and the flack that Joe Biden has come under for his response. Can the US still claim to be able to shape events in the Middle East? And what comes next?

Freddy Gray

The Democrats have a Joe Biden problem

From our UK edition

The Democrats dare to hope that this week will be a study in contrasts. On their side stands President Joe Biden, the veteran statesman, using all his diplomatic experience to stop a third world war breaking out in the Middle East. On the other, in the dock in Manhattan, sits Donald Trump, facing 34 criminal counts in a case relating to porn stars, adultery and hush money. As Biden urges Israel to ‘think carefully’ as it considers how to respond to Iran’s attack last weekend, Trump is, as ever, ranting away about himself. This speaks to Biden’s 2024 re-election pitch: it’s democracy (him) vs chaos (you know who).

Monday

Freddy Gray

You can’t blame Trump for dozing off

From our UK edition

Is it Dozy Don now? Social media is already pulsating over reports that Donald Trump appears to have fallen asleep on the first day of his criminal trial. ‘His head keeps dropping down and his mouth goes slack’, says the New York Times’s Maggie Haberman. Oh boy. ‘72 hours until all hell breaks loose!’ declared Mr Trump in a fundraising email sent out on Friday. ‘Rabid Democrats are poised to make millions while I'm stuck defending myself in court.’ But it turns out that hell is fairly soporific. You can’t blame poor old Trump. How is any 77-year-old man expected to sit through such a boring trial, even if it concerns him, and not nod off? We haven’t even got to the juror selection process, and already it’s been several hours.

Friday

Freddy Gray

Will abortion decide the 2024 election?

From our UK edition

34 min listen

This week, the Arizona Supreme Court reinstated a law from 1864 that bans nearly all abortions in the state. But where do Trump and Biden stand on abortion, and will it be a deciding factor in the 2024 election?  Freddy's joined by Inez Stepman, Fellow at the Claremont Institute, and Daniel McCarthy, Editor of Modern Age Journal.  Produced by Megan McElroy.

Wednesday

Freddy Gray

Why did Mike Johnson snub David Cameron?

From our UK edition

24 min listen

Today Freddy is joined by Sarah Elliott, senior advisor for the US-UK special relationship unit at the Legatum Institute. They discuss Lord Cameron's visit to America this week and the news that speaker of the House of Representatives Mike Johnson snubbed a meeting with the foreign secretary. Is the special relationship still special?

Tuesday

Freddy Gray

Will David Cameron win over Republicans?

From our UK edition

12 min listen

David Cameron is stateside meeting Republicans and Democrats as the Foreign Secretary tries to muster up support for the US to send aid to Ukraine. Before that he stopped by Mar-a-Lago to meet Donald Trump – the two haven't seen eye-to-eye in the past. Will the Republicans warm to Cameron? Katy Balls speaks to Freddy Gray and Lucy Fisher, Whitehall correspondent at the Financial Times.

Saturday

Freddy Gray

What’s Biden’s strategy in the Middle East?

From our UK edition

24 min listen

Suspected Israeli air strikes were launched on targets in Syria this week and Israel's war in Gaza has entered its seventh month. Americano regular Jacob Heilbrunn joins Freddy to discuss what an escalating situation in the Middle East could mean for Joe Biden. What's the Democrats' strategy? And how could this impact the 2024 election? Produced by Natasha Feroze and Patrick Gibbons.

Tuesday

Freddy Gray

Have pollsters been overstating Trump’s lead?

From our UK edition

17 min listen

Freddy speaks to pollster Cliff Young about Biden's recent gains.  Is Florida becoming more of a swing state again? Does Robert F. Kennedy Jr. take more votes away from Biden or Trump? And how much pressure do pollsters feel to get things right?

Friday

Freddy Gray

What’s happening in the Darien Gap?

From our UK edition

40 min listen

Freddy is joined by evolutionary biologist and host of The DarkHorse Podcast Bret Weinstein. They discuss the Darien Gap, an area of Panama which has become a focal point for America's migrant crisis. Bret has spent some time investigating the area, what's going on?

Tuesday

Freddy Gray

Trump’s legal troubles are paving his way to the White House

From our UK edition

The Trump 2024 campaign’s fundraising email operations went into overdrive last weekend. ‘Dems threaten to seize Trump Tower,’ screamed one call to donate on Saturday. ‘Maniacs want to seize Trump Tower,’ read another. ‘If they seize Trump Tower…’ said a third. ‘Keep your filthy hands off Trump Tower,’ added yet another.  The tone flitted from alarm to defiance. By Sunday, the message was: ‘Trump Tower will never be captured’ and ‘You’ll never get Trump Tower.’ And on Monday, after Trump was ordered to pay a mere $175 million (£138 million) bond in his civil fraud suit instead of the initial half billion, the campaign turned triumphant. ‘Trump Tower remains mine’ read an email from ‘Donald Trump – Emergency’.

Monday

Freddy Gray

Why do Trump’s enemies always overreach?

From our UK edition

37 min listen

Freddy Gray speaks to editor-at-large of the Wall Street Journal Gerry Baker about why the media's wrong reporting of Trump's 'bloodshed' comments have played to his advantage; why America has lost trust in its institutions; and whether voters think the economy was better off under Trump.

Sunday

Freddy Gray

Is America in decline?

From our UK edition

28 min listen

Freddy Gray speaks to political science researcher Richard Hanania about his (relative) optimism regarding the future of America, and how Sydney Sweeney might have 'ended wokeness'.

Saturday

Freddy Gray

What is Labour’s economic plan?

From our UK edition

30 min listen

In her Mais lecture in the City of London this week, Rachel Reeves set out her plan for Britain’s economy: securonomics. What does securonomics mean? Can it deliver wealth? Will it work in a high-immigration economy? Freddy Gray speaks to Kate Andrews and the author and journalist Paul Mason.