Freddy Gray

Freddy Gray

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

Monday

Freddy Gray

What have we actually learnt from Trump’s tax revelations?

Is anyone really surprised that Donald Trump’s tax affairs are opaque? Or that he is not as rich as he claims? Is it really all that horrifying that he has for years claimed business losses in order to offset his significant income tax liability? Does it appal us that the Trump family used a Delaware-based consulting group to pay themselves? Of course not. Despite clearly exhaustive efforts, the Times investigative team has failed to uncover any illegality The New York Times’s big Trump tax files splash yesterday is therefore something of a damp squib. It is well-timed — an election is fast-approaching and the story might give Biden a good attack line in the big TV debate on Tuesday night.

Friday

Freddy Gray

Was America really ‘stolen’?

15 min listen

Historian Jeff Fynn-Paul joins Freddy on this episode to discuss whether or not America was really 'stolen' from the Native Americans. Fynn-Paul writes about the issue in this week's Spectator.

Thursday

Freddy Gray

Closing time: the coming Tory brawl over Covid rules

39 min listen

Another Conservative civil war threatens to bubble over, so will the government start taking its backbenchers seriously? (00:55) Plus, the contentious fight over the next Supreme Court nominee (15:25) and what is it like to be in Madagascar during the pandemic? (29:05)With Political Editor James Forsyth; Chair of the 1922 Committee of Tory backbenchers Sir Graham Brady; Professor Charles Lipson from the University of Chicago; USA Editor Freddy Gray; and writer Jo Deacon.Presented by Cindy Yu.Produced by Cindy Yu and Max Jeffery.

Wednesday

Freddy Gray

Does Biden really attract young voters?

26 min listen

A new poll from Harvard suggests that Joe Biden could win the votes of 60 per cent of under-30s in November's election. But does the Democratic candidate really energise young people, or are they simply repelled by Donald Trump? Freddy Gray speaks to Marcus Roberts, director of international projects at YouGov, about the numbers dictating the race.

Friday

Freddy Gray

‘Principled realism’: the ideology behind Pompeo’s policy

24 min listen

Mike Pompeo has guided Donald Trump's foreign policy, and has been hailed with bringing the president's ideology to life. In the latest US edition of the Spectator, Dominic Green interviews the secretary of state. Freddy Gray speaks to Dominic about Pompeo's Middle East strategy, and the philosophy that guides his decisions.

Tuesday

Freddy Gray

Is Trump right about mail-in voting?

17 min listen

President Trump is continuing to rail again mail-in voting, alleging that millions of unsolicited ballots could be heading into American postboxes. Is there anything corrupt about the postal voting system, and does it hurt or help the democratic process? Freddy Gray speaks to Marcus Roberts, director of international projects at polling company YouGov.

Friday

Freddy Gray

Is Biden better for Brexit Britain?

9 min listen

While Congress Speaker Nancy Pelosi this week gave an ultimatum to the British government over the latter's plans to breach international law, it's clear that London frequently finds Trump a difficult partner. So at the end of the day - is Biden better for negotiating a trade deal? Freddy Gray talks to the Spectator's Economics Correspondent, Kate Andrews.

Tuesday

Freddy Gray

Is Trump’s campaign running out of cash?

You can tell something about a campaign by the desperation-levels of its fundraising emails. In recent weeks, Team Trump’s digital team has started to resemble a company on the verge of bankruptcy. My inbox is full of emails purporting to be from various members of the Trump family, telling ME in CAPITAL LETTERS how important it is that STEP UP and PAY THEM. Yesterday, for instance, Kimberly Guilfoyle tried to guilt-trip me by saying that she had been ‘recently reviewing the donor files of the President’s long-time supporters and I noticed that yours was EMPTY.’ Hours earlier, I was informed that a ‘PERSONALIZED’ Trump Platinum Card was waiting for me, and it was my LAST CHANCE to take it.

Sunday

Freddy Gray

Is Donald Trump really anti-abortion?

From our US edition

At the Republican National Convention last month, Donald Trump was repeatedly described as the ‘most pro-life President ever’. According to some rather sensational leaked official notes in Sunday’s Daily Telegraph, however, Trump has said he regards abortion as ‘such a tough issue’. Addressing the then British prime minister Theresa May, who is childless, Trump said in January 2017: ‘Imagine some animal with tattoos raping your daughter, and then she gets pregnant.’ Aside from the staggering crassness of this remark to a woman who is on the record about her inability to have children, it also suggests that Trump is not as pro-life as many in his party would have voters believe.

trump abortion

Tuesday

Freddy Gray

What’s gone wrong in America?

44 min listen

Joe Biden yesterday issued his strongest condemnation of the riots and looting that are raging across American cities. 'None of this is protesting', he said. Regardless, Bridget Phetasy, a Spectator US contributor and host of Dumpster Fire on YouTube, says she won't vote in November's election because America will continue to burn under either candidate. What went wrong? Bridget joins Freddy Gray, editor of Spectator US.

Monday

Freddy Gray

What happened in Kenosha?

14 min listen

Seventeen-year-old Kyle Rittenhouse has been charged with five felonies after allegedly shooting three people in Kenosha, Wisconsin, last Tuesday. Freddy Gray speaks to Shelby Talcott, a media reporter from the Daily Caller who saw the immediate aftermath of the incident, about what happened and how it might impact November's election.

Saturday

Freddy Gray

Has the Republican convention changed the race?

28 min listen

The Republican National Convention came to an end on Thursday with President Trump's White House lawn speech. Has the three-day event shown a route to victory for the incumbent in November's election? Freddy Gray, editor of the Spectator's US edition, speaks to Charles Lipson, Spectator US contributor and professor emeritus of political science at the University of Chicago.

Friday

Freddy Gray

Trump goes for Biden’s jugular in convention speech

President Donald J. Trump just gave an impressive and unprecedented State of the Union address from the lawn of the White House…oh wait, it was his 2020 Republication nomination speech. It just felt like a quasi-imperial event. The address was long, too long for an acceptance speech — coming in at 6,000 words, it took more than an hour. Trump just always has to dwell on all his achievements. ‘I say very modestly that I have done more for the African-American community than any president since Abraham Lincoln, our first Republican president,’ he said. That really is his idea of modesty. The President hasn’t changed much after three and a half years in office.

Thursday

Freddy Gray

The Trump Show: he could just win again

35 min listen

With protests in American cities continuing and the Democrat and Republican conventions drawing to a close - are there signs that Donald Trump could win again? (00:45) Plus, could planning reforms be the next Tory battle? (13:05) And finally, can daily commutes really be enjoyable? (25:45)With editor of the Spectator's US edition Freddy Gray; the Spectator's economics correspondent Kate Andrews; the Spectator's political editor James Forsyth; economist and author Liam Halligan; the Spectator's features editor; and author Sara Yirrell.Presented by Cindy Yu. Produced by Cindy Yu and Max Jeffery.

Freddy Gray

The Trump show: he could just win again

‘Keep America Great’ is President Donald Trump’s 2020 re-election slogan and it sounds off. The phrase doesn’t have the same ring as Make America Great Again, the mantra that Trump pinched from Reagan and repeated to victory in 2016. As an acronym, KAG is uglier than MAGA. The words particularly jar when America’s cities are burning, homicide rates are spiking, almost 180,000 Americans have died of or with Covid, and the country is reeling from the largest economic shock of all time. You call that great? Then again, 2020 is an even crazier year than 2016, and the maddest news is that Donald Trump might be about to defy the odds again and win.

Monday

Freddy Gray

The mob are turning into Trump’s useful idiots

From our US edition

Protesters have been setting fire to yet another American city today to tell us that black lives matter. This latest eruption is in response to a disturbing video that shows a black man being shot repeatedly in the back by police as he reaches into his car in Kenosha, Wisconsin. The man in question is called Jacob Blake. He is reported to be in a serious condition, but still alive in hospital this morning. An investigation into the shooting is taking place, but the mob smashing up Kenosha doesn’t care about that — it cares about rage and destruction. We see the now familiar liturgy of so-called protest: cars on fire; windows shattered; shops looted and tagged with ‘BLM’ and ‘ACAB’ (All Cops Are Bastards) graffiti.

kenosha black lives

Thursday

Freddy Gray

Wholesome, intimate and suspiciously vague: The Michelle Obama Podcast reviewed

Back in March, I made a long-odds bet that Michelle Obama would be the Democratic party’s vice-presidential nominee. I knew that in her memoir, Becoming, she had said that she wasn’t interested in high office. But political candidates always claim they aren’t running — until suddenly they are. Joe Biden, the presumptive Democratic nominee, had already said he’d take Michelle as his VP ‘in a heartbeat’, which struck me as funny since, if Biden’s heart stopped beating, his VP would become commander-in-chief. Since Biden had been Michelle husband’s running mate, the idea of a 2020 Biden-Obama ticket had a fairytale symmetry that would thrill the public.

Thursday

Freddy Gray

Kamala chameleon: the many faces of Biden’s running mate

Kamala Harris, the new Democratic vice-presidential nominee, certainly looks the part. Barack Obama once called her ‘the best-looking attorney general in the country’, though he later decided that was a sexist remark and apologised. She’s half-black, half-Indian and she has a charismatic Californian smile. If a director were casting for someone to play America’s first minority woman vice-president, he’d probably plump for an actress who looked like Harris. She dresses like the Hollywood idea of a political woman — power-suits and pearls. She’s got what wonks call the ‘optics’ down pat. It’s easy to forget but only last year Harris was considered a favourite to win her party’s presidential nomination.

Wednesday

Freddy Gray

Is Kamala Harris a good VP pick?

18 min listen

Yesterday evening, Joe Biden announced Kamala Harris as his running mate. While the Californian senator is seen by many as a safe pick, she notably came to blows with Biden in the Democratic primaries for his history of working with segregationists. Is this a good move by the Biden campaign? Freddy Gray speaks to Matt McDonald, managing editor of the Spectator USA.