Freddy Gray

Freddy Gray

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

The Afghan withdrawal may not hurt Joe Biden

From our UK edition

When was the only time America’s left-liberal media gave President Trump any real credit? The answer is 7 April 2017, after he threw a few fairly pointless missiles at Assad’s forces in Syria. ‘I think Donald Trump became the President of the United States last night,’ gushed Fareed Zakaria of CNN. The New York Times said Trump had shown ‘heart’. Brian Williams, an anchor on MSNBC, went so far as to quote Leonard Cohen: ‘I am guided by the beauty of our weapons.’ In recent days, the same outlets have for the first time started airing heated criticisms of President Biden over his decision to pull America’s troops out of Afghanistan and his stubborn insistence that he’s right to do so even as the Taliban regain control.

Who is to blame for America’s failure in Afghanistan?

From our UK edition

25 min listen

With Kabul now taken back by the Taliban and the Americans in full retreat after two decades of war, what will the USA learn from this catastrophe, if anything? Freddy Gray talks to author of After the Apocalypse: America’s Role in a World Transformed, Andrew Bacevich about the goals not met, allies abandoned and lives lost.

Wrong then, wrong now — Joe Biden’s maddeningly inconsistent foreign policy

‘After al-Qaeda and the Taliban fall...when we "drain the swamp", as the President says, the medium-term goal is to roll up all al-Qaeda cells around the world. Then, with the help of other nations and possibly the ultimate sanction of the United Nations our hope is that we will see a relatively stable government in Afghanistan, one that does not harbor terrorists, is acceptable to the major players in the region, represents the ethnic make up of the country and provides the foundation for future reconstruction of that country.’ So said Sen. Joe Biden, chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, on October 22, 2001, as America invaded Afghanistan. ‘The likelihood there’s going to be the Taliban overrunning everything and owning the whole country is highly unlikely.

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The cost of net zero

From our UK edition

35 min listen

In this week’s podcast: First up, to deny the man-made climate crisis we now find ourselves in would be an act of wilful delusion. But what is the right way for the UK to try and minimise this looming disaster? In our cover story this week Ross Clark looks at the financial viability of the government’s central proposal: getting to net zero. Lara Prendergast talks to him along with James Kirkup, chair of the Social Market Foundation, who writes in this week’s magazine saying that the cost for net zero is more than worth it. (00:48)‘Ten years ago, electric cars were a work of science fiction, now the best-selling car in the UK in June was the Tesla.

Why did Andrew Cuomo resign?

From our UK edition

24 min listen

Andrew Cuomo has resigned as governor of New York after an inquiry found he sexually assaulted multiple women. Why was the Governor so loved by Democrats, should he really have resigned over the state's care homes scandal, and might we soon see him as a CNN contributor? Freddy Gray speaks to Spectator World contributor Grace Curley.

Will Michael Wolff ever have to write a fourth Trump book?

From our UK edition

30 min listen

Freddy's guest on this week's episode is the famed journalist Michael Wolff, author of three books on Donald Trump - the bestseller Fire and Fury, its very popular follow up Siege and the latest, Landslide. The final in the trilogy tells the story of the last days of the Trump presidency, including the 2020 election – one that the former president still claims he won.On the episode, Michael recounts election night and the moment Fox called Arizona, why he has little sympathy for the voters who still believe the election was 'stolen', and what it was like to catch up with Trump at Mar-a-Lago.

Who is Ron Klain and is he running America?

From our UK edition

21 min listen

President Biden's chief of staff, Ron Klain, is set to have a large bash for his 60th with a whopping guest list of the rich and powerful, a list he has been compiling since the Clinton administration. But who is the real Ron? A man helping an elderly president or king of the Washington Swamp?Freddy Gray in conversation with Matthew Continetti, senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute and founding editor of the Washington Free Beacon.

Is the War on Terror finally over?

From our UK edition

13 min listen

American troops have all but left Afghanistan, months ahead of their 11 September deadline. The country looks ready to fall into a full-scale civil war, with the Taleban overrunning government forces and seeing off local pockets of resistance. Will Biden keep America out, and will he walk away from Iraq too? Freddy Gray speaks to Dominic Green.

Is vaccine encouragement becoming vaccine coercion?

From our UK edition

27 min listen

From jabs for joints, to peer pressure in schools, to free lap dances, it seems the powers that be are getting more and more aggressive in their mission of getting everyone jabbed as quickly as possible. To discuss this unprecedented vaccination campaign Freddy Gray talks to author of A State of Fear: How the UK government weaponised fear during the Covid-19 pandemic, Laura Dodsworth.

The president of platitudes

President Joe Biden turned up almost three hours late to his Nato press conference tonight. He offered no apology, because, well, why should he? He then gave a short speech. It was adequate enough, albeit predictable and rigid — read as it was almost entirely from a teleprompter. It wouldn’t be Biden if he didn't open with a gaffe, though. He managed to stumble early by saying ‘we’re still averaging in the last seven days the loss of 300 deaths per day.’ In answer to a press question about Putin, he said ‘I’ll be happy to discuss with you when it’s over, not before, about what the discussion will entail’. That didn’t make much sense. He successfully quoted Benjamin Disraeli and said ‘the proof will be in the pudding’ without jumbling the words.

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Boris, Biden and the orange elephant in the room

From our UK edition

Donald who? As Boris Johnson meets Joe Biden in Cornwall this week, the Prime Minister will hope that the President doesn’t dwell on his efforts to woo the last occupant of the Oval Office. Boris’s dalliance with Donald Trump is a bit like his affair with Jennifer Arcuri — an embarrassing fling with a rotund, brash American conspiracy theorist, something he’d rather the world forgot. He’s moved on and so should we.

Will we ever know where Covid came from?

From our UK edition

34 min listen

What was once dismissed by the mainstream media as a right wing conspiracy theory, seems to have made its transition into credible possibility. It now seems very plausible that Covid came from a Chinese lab. But will we ever know for sure? And even if we did, what would we do about it? Freddy Gray talks to historian and journalist Thomas Frank, who recommends we all read this.

Out now: the June edition of The Spectator World

Sex sells, we’ve been told, and so — grubby hacks that we are — we have dedicated the June edition of The Spectator World to the subject. But this ain’t your average smut. On our cover, the brilliant Mary Harrington looks at how America’s young elites are turning against free love. Zoe Strimpel discusses her recent experiences on dating apps and wonders why young men seem to have lost interest in sex. Cosmo Landesman asks if women who claim to love pornography are faking it; Bridget Phetasy wonders why men’s magazines such as Playboy aren’t for men any more and Dominic Green takes a Freudian look at America’s race to the bottom. Beyond all the sex, the June edition features a variety of other subjects to arouse your curiosity.

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TikTok intifada: what’s the role of new media in old conflicts?

From our UK edition

34 min listen

In this week’s podcast, we talk to James Ball, author of this week’s cover story on the ‘TikTok Intifada’ about the themes he uncovers in his analysis of the impact of social media on the conflict in the Middle East. The conversation with James continues with our next guest, Professor Gabriel Weinmann of Haifa University in Israel, the author of an in-depth report on the rise of incendiary, unregulated material on TikTok. As Arab and Israeli youngsters create and consume violent footage on the app, is it time that it was reined in - or is it a lost cause? (00:55)'This is a platform that targets young audiences.

Can Democrats criticise Israel?

From our UK edition

12 min listen

Apart from former nominee-candidate Andrew Yang, the Democratic Party has remained relatively quiet about the latest escalations in Israel and Gaza. Why won't the Party comment? Freddy Gray talks to Dominic Green.

Why is Liz Cheney still a Republican?

From our UK edition

19 min listen

They saved her once, but it seems that the Congressional Republicans patience with Representative Liz Cheney has run out. The founder of the GOP said 'a house divided cannot stand', but maybe it's not a divided as the media makes it out. Freddy Gray speaks to Grace Curley, host of The Grace Curley Show.