Freddy Gray

Freddy Gray

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

Trump’s 2026 wish? More executions

From our US edition

Ever since he began flirting with politics, Donald J. Trump has been a death-penalty enthusiast. In response to 1989’s infamous Central Park jogger rape, Trump spent $85,000 taking out full-page advertisements in the New York press calling for the suspects to be killed. ‘BRING BACK THE DEATH PENALTY,’ it said. ‘I want to hate these murderers and I always will,’ said the then 42-year-old real-estate mogul. ‘I am not looking to psychoanalyze or understand them. I am looking to punish them.’ Trump has never changed his position on ‘the Central Park Five’, even though in popular culture they are now known as ‘the Exonerated Five’ and often held up as innocent examples of racial bias in law enforcement.

Year in Review 2025 – Live

32 min listen

From scandals and cabinet chaos to Trumpian antics and the ‘special’ relationship that some say is anything but, The Spectator presents The Year in Review – a look back at the funniest and most tragic political moments of 2025. Join The Spectator’s editor Michael Gove, deputy editor Freddy Gray, political editor Tim Shipman, deputy political editor James Heale and parliamentary sketch-writer Madeline Grant, along with special guests, who’ll all share their favourite moments from the past 12 months.

From Porn Britannia to Political Chaos: The Spectator’s Year in Review

31 min listen

The Spectator’s senior editorial team – Michael Gove, Freddy Gray, Lara Prendergast and William Moore – sit down to reflect on 2025. From Trump’s inauguration to the calamitous year for Labour, a new Pope and a new Archbishop of Canterbury, and the ongoing wars in Gaza and Ukraine, the year has not been short of things to write about. The team take us through their favourite political and cultural topics highlighted in the magazine this year, from the Assisted Dying debate, the ongoing feud over Your Party and Reform’s plan for power, to Scuzz Nation, Broke Britain – and Porn Britannia. Produced by Patrick Gibbons.

Why is the West ignoring Jimmy Lai?

15 min listen

Father Robert Sirico joins Freddy Gray to discuss the imprisonment of Jimmy Lai – the British passport holder and Hong Kong media tycoon facing life in jail for opposing the Chinese Communist Party. Sirico reflects on Lai’s rise from poverty, his Catholic faith, the collapse of freedoms in Hong Kong, and why the West has failed to mount a serious campaign for his release.

So now even Mitt Romney wants to tax the rich

From our US edition

"On the tax front," says Mitt Romney, "it’s time for rich people like me to pay more."It’s always slightly annoying for regular Americans when squillionaires announce that people like them ought to be contributing more to the Treasury. (Nobody’s stopping you from writing a big cheque, Mitt!)But Romney’s intervention in today’s New York Times is noteworthy. It is the clearest sign yet that the pre-Trump Republican party, the party of Bain Capital, hyper-capitalism and asset-stripping, is adapting to a new political reality. And it’s now willing to go after the assets of the billionaires.Romney’s logic is hard to refute. Social security and entitlements are bankrupting America.

Mitt Romney

Trump’s golden ticket

From our US edition

Give me your super rich, your global citizens yearning to be free! The Trump administration has finally unveiled its "Trump Gold Card Scheme," a new immigration wheeze through which the very well-heeled can buy US citizenship for a million dollars. "Unlock life in America," declares the homepage, like some portal for a self-help racket, in front of a motivational picture of some rocky mountains. "America’s opportunities accelerated," it says further down, above an image of the Trump Gold Card, which features the American bald eagle, the 47th President, and his famous signature. "Your opportunity begins here." There’s an opportunity cost, of course: $15,000 just to submit the form – and $1 million more if your application is successful.

Does Trump’s National Security Strategy make sense?

30 min listen

Former senior adviser to US defence secretary Pete Hegseth Dan Caldwell joins Americano to dissect the Trump administration’s sweeping new National Security Strategy — from pulling back in Europe and refocusing on the Western Hemisphere, to managing tensions with China and the fallout from recent strikes on Iran. What's behind the new reforms?

Will anyone miss the Boomers?

31 min listen

Christopher Caldwell joins Freddy Gray to discuss why the 'Boomer generation' – those born between 1946 and 1964 – became one of the most hated generations in recent history. Chris argues that the Boomers uniquely benefited from the resources of other generations, and were able to enjoy the benefits of leftist politics alongside the political and economic freedoms associated with the right; the apex of their power perhaps being the Clinton/Bush era. To what extent are the Boomers responsible for the decline of America? And what merits are there in judging society through age? Plus, do the digital-millennial generation – those born at the late 1980s and early 1990s – mark the next era of cultural configuration? Produced by Patrick Gibbons and James Lewis.

Why did Jeffrey Epstein hate me?

45 min listen

Freddy Gray is joined once again by the University of Chicago’s Professor John Mearsheimer to discuss why Trump’s 28-point Ukraine peace plan won’t work, how the war will ultimately be decided on the battlefield, and what happened when Jeffrey Epstein and Alan Dershowitz ran a smear campaign against him over his essay on the Israel lobby.

Why is the US obsessed with Britain’s decline?

30 min listen

Why are Americans so interested in Britain's decline? While visiting London, Tucker Carlson has said that the country has ‘shrunken’ and its culture ‘destroyed’, particularly because of mass immigration. Freddy Gray is joined by Tim Stanley and Ed West to discuss whether Britain has become ‘ground zero in the decline of western civilisation’ and if the US has always viewed the UK this way.

Rubio Vance

Are J.D. Vance and Marco Rubio heading for a clash?

From our US edition

Thanksgiving weekend ends on Sunday, and still there’s no peace in Ukraine. Donald Trump’s latest attempt to end the war – his 28-point plan – began to fall apart from the moment it mysteriously leaked to various international news outfits last week. As that story landed, Reuters broke some other news: Keith Kellogg, Trump’s special envoy to Ukraine, would stand down in January. Kellogg, who represents the more ardently pro-Ukrainian faction of the administration, had clashed repeatedly with Trump’s peace envoy Steve Witkoff, who has been engaging in friendly dialogue with Moscow for most of the year. His departure seemed linked to the fact that Dan Driscoll, the Secretary of the US Army and an ally of J.D.

Why is it left to Trump to highlight the persecution of Christians in Nigeria?

20 min listen

Fr Benedict Kiely, founder of nasarean.org, and Freddy Gray join Damian Thompson to discuss the persecution of Christians which has reached new and terrifying levels. Since this podcast was recorded last Friday, we have had the further news that over 300 children and staff were abducted from a Christian school – while around 50 of the children have since managed to escape, the rest remain missing and a local Bishop has criticised the Nigeria government for its failure to act. Over 185,000 Christians are estimated to have been killed in Nigeria in the past 15 years – so why has it taken the efforts of President Trump to push this horrific topic up the agenda? Produced by Patrick Gibbons.

What’s going on with Marjorie Taylor Greene?

22 min listen

Freddy Gray speaks to the Washington correspondent for Vanity Fair Aidan McLaughlin about his interview with Marjorie Taylor Greene. The Congresswoman, who was formerly a MAGA loyalist, announced her resignation having fallen out with President Donald Trump. Freddy and Aidan discuss the fallout, her unpredictable views on current issues & why the media loves a political convert.

What’s Trump really doing in Venezuela?

17 min listen

Amid his war on 'narco-terrorists', Donald Trump is believed to have given the CIA approval to begin covert operations in Venezuela. Freddy Gray is joined by Daniel McCarthy to discuss why Trump is considering regime change, if it would be successful, and whether victories abroad provide a distraction from political challenges at home.

Will Mamdani and Trump turn the volume up?

From our US edition

Donald Trump is famous for being willing to meet anyone – Russia’s Putin, North Korea’s Kim Jong-un, Syria’s al-Jolani – and even New York’s Zohran Mamdani.  The mayor-elect of the city of Trump’s birth will travel to Washington today for an audience with the Commander in Chief, and America’s journalists are furiously tapping away in anticipation of a big “showdown.” The two men have spent months insulting each other. Trump calls Mamdani a “communist” (which the New York Times factchecks as false, naturally, because Zohran identifies as a “democratic socialist”) and has suggested, to much liberal apoplexy, that he “may not be here legally.

Are we in an age of necromancy?

19 min listen

Katherine Dee is the new technology correspondent for The Spectator World. She joins Freddy to discuss the phenomenon of necromancy, the practice of communicating with the dead, and how AI is fuelling it. How is technology blurring the lines between the living and the dead?