23 min listen
On this week's podcast, Freddy Gray explains how Trump could still pull his greatest trick yet (00:45) Emma Byrne considers whether she will be bankrupted by the next housing scandal (12:30) Lara Prendergast argues that wearing floral masks isn't worth the hassle.
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.
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.
‘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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
From our US edition
If you’ve kept half an eye on the ‘who will it be?’ story that is the Democratic party’s vice-presidential nomination, you’ll have heard commentators suggesting that Biden will pick a ‘do no harm’ candidate.In other words, Biden should play it safe: given his lead in the polls, he can only slip up, so boring is better than original; boring is better than exciting; uninspiring beats edgy. Do no harm — it’s become journalistic shorthand for boring.The trouble is, there is no such thing as a harmless Veep pick. A candidate who has obviously been picked because of his or, in this case, her inability to excite will damage Biden’s campaign. She will fall flat.Just look at what happened four years ago. Hillary Clinton chose Sen.
17 min listen
The polls are tightening, meanwhile Joe Biden is on the back foot over another gaffe about African American voters. Is the Democratic challenger blowing the election? Editor of the National Interest Jacob Heilbrunn joins Freddy Gray, editor of Spectator USA.
From our US edition
A consensus has formed about this presidential election: it is Joe Biden’s to lose. As long as his vice-presidential nomination doesn’t backfire, or he does not spectacularly bungle the debates, the soon-to-be-confirmed Democratic nominee will be in the White House by the end of January. Just look at the polls.Well, do look at the polls, and you’ll notice that Biden is losing ground. He’s still ahead, and comfortably, but the race narrowed in July, just as the media started to discuss a Biden presidency as if it were a fait accompli. Trump’s job approval rating is rising slightly, too, from 41 percent on June 29 to almost 44 percent today, according to the RealClearPolitics tracker.
26 min listen
On the episode this week, Freddy Gray, editor of the Spectator's US edition, reads his cover piece on the real Joe Biden. We also hear from Douglas Murray on the trial of Amber Heard and Johnny Depp - and about allegations that can't be proved or disproved. At the end, Katy Balls relays the government's anxiety over a second wave.
34 min listen
Joe Biden is leading Donald Trump in the polls, so what is at the root of his appeal? (00:50) The government is anxious about a second wave - can it avoid repeating its mistakes? (11:15) And Rachel Johnson on her generation of high flyers and early retirees (23:30).With editor of the Spectator's US edition, Freddy Gray; our economics correspondent Kate Andrews; deputy political editor Katy Balls; former Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt; journalist Rachel Johnson; and comedian Dominic Frisby.Presented by Cindy Yu.Produced by Cindy Yu, Max Jeffery, and Sam Russell.
It is usually a bad idea for a presidential candidate to leave himself open to the accusation that he is soft on law and order. Yet last weekend Joseph Robinette Biden Jr did exactly that. He attacked the ‘egregious tactics’ of the federal officers trying to control the apparently never-ending riots in Portland, Oregon. Sensing an open goal, President Trump’s campaign promptly accused Biden of ‘siding with the criminals’. In any normal election year, such an exchange would be a major flashpoint. In the Covid-19-riddled anarchy cauldron that is America in 2020, nobody much cares. Joe Biden can say pretty much anything, or nothing at all, and his lead in the polls just grows and grows.
19 min listen
Freddy Gray talks to the journalist and author Nancy Rommelmann about the ongoing protests in Portland, Oregon as Trump begins to send in federal forces.
69 min listen
Freddy Gray interviews Thomas Frank in Spectator USA's second online event. Frank argues that populism isn't frightening, but rather an account of enlightenment and liberation; it is the story of American democracy itself, of its ever-widening promise of a decent life for all.To catch Freddy's next event, subscribe to Spectator USA now.
32 min listen
With Daniel McCarthy, contributor to Spectator USA and editor of Modern Age. On the podcast, he talks to Freddy Gray about how Sessions was defeated by the new cyborg that is the Republican party — half-Trump, half-GOP machine of old, and what this means for Trump's re-election prospects.
25 min listen
Douglas Murray writes in the Spectator this week that Trump's speech at Mount Rushmore defended all the right bits of American history. He joins the podcast with Freddy this week to talk cancel culture and how Trump is taking on the left in the right way.
20 min listen
This week, Ghislaine Maxwell was arrested in New Hampshire on charges of sex trafficking and perjury as part of the FBI's ongoing investigation into the disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein. Freddy Gray discusses Maxwell's surprise arrest and her relationship with Epstein with Alana Goodman, senior investigative reporter at the Washington Free Beacon and co-author of A Convenient Death: The Mysterious Demise of Jeffrey Epstein. Get 50 per cent off of a Spectator USA subscription here with offer code 'NOTNYT'.
From our US edition
Even the most ardent Trumpist must admit that it has been a bad few months for the President. The COVID-19 crisis robbed Donald Trump of his strongest argument for re-election, the economy, and made his administration seem ineffectual. He was wrongfooted by the riots after George Floyd’s death. The country has been in chaos under his watch. He has looked weak, even disorientated. His polling slid.Yet Trump, ever the reality entertainer, loves a comeback story — and last night he launched his. Under the heads of Mount Rushmore, on a blue-white-and-red dais, the President marked Independence Day with a fiercely patriotic and defiant speech. It was an address that tackled, head on, the crisis that has rocked America in recent weeks.