Freddy Gray

Freddy Gray

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

Friday

Freddy Gray

What really happened to Karoline Leavitt?

Freddy Gray is joined by Jacob Heilbrunn, editor of The National Interest and a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council, for a tour around the houses of Trumpworld. Karoline Leavitt has resigned as White House press secretary, officially to spend more time with her young family, and Washington is busy deciding whether to believe it. Freddy and Jacob discuss who might replace her and what the exit says about the mood inside the West Wing; why Trump's approval rating has sunk to a level last seen under Nixon in 1974; whether the wars in Ukraine and Iran are edging the world towards something larger; and why Jacob thinks a presidency that broke every rule about who can reach the White House may end up clearing the path for AOC.

What really happened to Karoline Leavitt?
Freddy Gray

AOC, the radical for normies

According to the prediction betting markets, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is now favorite to be the Democratic nominee in 2028. Given that the Democrats are strongly expected to win back the presidency, that suggests the 36-year-old congresswoman from the Bronx has an extremely good chance of being America’s first female Commander-in-Chief. Indeed, she’s now also neck-and-neck with Marco Rubio in the "Presidential Election Winner" market, on 13 percent. Vice President J.D. Vance, it should be added, remains the clear leader on 23 percent. But AOC’s popularity is surging as the Democrats prepare for their big comeback moment as the midterm elections approach.

Wednesday

Freddy Gray

Is America ready for the new realities of war? | with Steve Hsu

25 min listen

Freddy Gray speaks to physicist and Spectator contributor Steve Hsu about the uncomfortable realities of modern warfare. Why are cheap missiles and drones so difficult and expensive to intercept? Freddy asks Steve about just how depleted America’s missile stocks are, and if the West can rebuild its defence industry quickly enough. They also discuss China’s dominance of critical supply chains, the vulnerability of energy infrastructure and shipping, the strategic threat posed to Taiwan, Japan and South Korea, and why missile defence may be losing its long-standing race against missile technology. Learn how to earn yield on gold, paid in gold, at Monetary-Metals.

America's hidden missile vulnerability | with Steve Hsu
Francesca Hong
Freddy Gray

Francesca Hong’s defeat won’t stop the DSA

So, at time of writing, it looks as if voters don’t want to cancel Thanksgiving – on balance, at least. Come November, however, few Democrats will be expressing gratitude for their party’s vote-tabulation systems. Francesca Hong, it seems, will not be America’s first avowedly socialist state governor. She appears to have just lost an extremely tight primary to David Crowley, a Milwaukee County executive, in the gubernatorial primary in Wisconsin. Her failure does not mean that Democratic voters are returning to the establishment’s preferred path The long-view – and already ubiquitous – reaction to this news is to mark it down as a major blow for the Democratic Socialists of America and their bid to take over the Democratic establishment.

Saturday

Friday

Freddy Gray

Is Scott Bessent America’s most important diplomat?

The most important American in the world right now might not be Donald Trump. It could be Scott Bessent, the Treasury Secretary, who is exercising America’s financial muscle in highly interesting ways across the world. This week the US joined the Japanese government in an intervention to prop up the yen – the first time America and its ally have done so since 1998, at the height of the Asian financial crisis. Financial analysts have been critical of the move, especially Bessent’s promise to do "whatever it takes" to support Japan’s currency and his willingness to lift the $60 billion cap on the emergency facility. The fear is that, at a time when Federal Reserve chairman Kevin Warsh remains eager to tighten the balance sheet, Bessent is taking on more debt.

Monday

Freddy Gray

My debt to Rod Liddle

Rod Liddle got me into journalism. We always had The Spectator lying around the house when I was young. I soon learned to turn to him first, as most good readers of the magazine do.  My father and I would often read his columns aloud to each other and laugh ourselves into fits. That was Rod’s sublime talent: he made people LOL, long before the internet did.  My first job was at the Catholic Herald, and my then-boss Damian Thompson advised me to improve my writing by copying out the articles of my favorite columnist. I chose Rod, obviously, though of course I could never dream of imitating his style or imaginative wit. I particularly enjoyed his fascination with "the nematode worm which stabs itself to death with its own penis.

rod liddle

Friday

Freddy Gray

How will Team Burnham deal with Team Trump?

Freddy Gray is joined by Ben Judah, a former Labour Special Advisor to discuss the new government's outlook on foreign affairs. Freddy and Ben examine how Andy Burnham's appointment of Ed Miliband as Foreign Secretary will shape the way Britain builds on its special relationship with the United States and the Trump Whitehouse. They also discuss the implications of Miliband's past positions on net zero and fresh drilling for oil and gas, and how that might come to affect his personal relationship with Marco Rubio and Donald Trump. Learn how to earn yield on gold, paid in gold, at Monetary-Metals.

How will Team Burnham deal with Team Trump?
Freddy Gray

Will Trump’s ‘massive attack’ be on Yemen?

It is my solemn duty to report that, as ever in Trumpworld, the news zone has flooded and we are paddling through a reality-bending time loop. Last night, the government reapplied tariffs on more than 80 countries, on this occasion using dubious concerns about "forced labour" to justify the charges on Britain, the EU, Australia and elsewhere. Tonight, the President will attend the rearranged White House Correspondents’ Dinner, three months after the last one was canceled following another assassination attempt. The dinner will be held at the Waldorf Astoria, DC, which used to be the Trump International Hotel. The guest list and security will be tighter this time, and Donald should have a chance to make some good jokes.

Burnham’s chaotic takeover – ‘it’s easier to understand North Korea!'
Freddy Gray

Burnham’s chaotic takeover | with Peter Hitchens & Camilla Tominey

From our UK edition

37 min listen

This week: has Andy Burnham really brought change to Downing Street – or merely repackaged Labour’s old guard? Has Ed Miliband been sidelined by being sent to the Foreign Office, a ‘non-job’ in which he can do little harm? The panel also asks whether Burnham is prepared to make the difficult decisions required of a prime minister – and why the Conservatives have been so reluctant to demand a general election. Also: is America’s socialist left taking over the Democratic party? Candidates backed by the Democratic Socialists of America are gaining ground, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez may be underestimated as a future presidential nominee and parts of the radical left are beginning to embrace gun ownership.

Thursday

Freddy Gray

Is the radical left taking over the Democratic Party?

Freddy Gray is joined by David Weigel to discuss the Democratic primary battle taking place in Michigan between Abdul El-Sayed and Haley Stevens. Freddy and David examine how the contest has become a proxy for the wider battle over the Democratic Party's future, pitting the Obama-era moderates against the ascendant progressive left. They discuss how Israel has emerged as one of the campaign's defining fault lines, how the issue of affordability has been used for different political ends, and what the result could mean for the party as it looks ahead to the 2028 presidential election.

Is the radical left taking over the Democratic Party?

Wednesday

Freddy Gray

The radical left-wing takeover of the Democrats is nearly complete

Tuesday 4 August could prove to be a turning point in American political history. If Democratic primary voters in Michigan choose Haley Stevens, a moderate, as their Senate nominee, the party establishment should stagger on, perhaps up to and beyond the presidential election of 2028. It’s more likely, however, that the Democrats will elect Dr Abdul El-Sayed, a pro-Palestine radical who supports Medicare for All and the abolition of Immigration and Customs Enforcement. El-Sayed’s victory would confirm that the hard left is the coming force in national politics, and suggest that the long-anticipated socialist takeover of the oldest party in the US – the party of Andrew Jackson, Harry Truman and Bill Clinton – is finally under way.

Friday

Freddy Gray

Does the Donroe Doctrine support Argentina on the Falklands?

So FIFA is going to take action against the Argentinian players for unfurling their "Las Malvinas son Argentinas" banner after beating England in Wednesday’s World Cup semi-final. The act was a clear violation of the Federation’s rules about politicizing the game. Typically, however, any fines or suspensions will come into force after the final is out of the way on Sunday – meaning the punishments will be all but pointless. Cue more wild conspiracy theories about FIFA’s closeness to Argentina, the Nazis and the Masons, and goodness knows what else. Sane people probably realize that it’s not worth getting too het up about what a bunch of overpaid, talented but dishonorable sports stars think about the Falkland Islands, which have belonged to Britain for two centuries.

Thursday

Freddy Gray

The Trump monotony

One of Donald Trump’s greatest strengths is his ability to repeat himself endlessly. It takes some doing. At 9 p.m. tonight, he says, he’ll give the world a big primetime showstopper announcement. It’s expected that he will reveal something about foreign influence or operations in "the stolen election" of 2020.  Escalate, threaten, befuddle, try to find an off-ramp on more agreeable terms, and if necessary bore the enemy into submission We don’t know exactly what, but we can be sure Trump will reiterate that he actually won three presidential elections, not two, and that he’ll use this stunt to push The Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act (SAVE) Act. That’s currently his pet obsession. And Trump just keeps going until he gets what he wants.

Tuesday

Freddy Gray

What did Lindsey Graham want?

30 min listen

On Sunday, Senator Lindsey Graham died suddenly having just returned from a trip to Ukraine. It is believed he suffered from a sudden heart problem. Spectator contributor Daniel McCarthy reflects on Graham's political career which was heavily involved in foreign policy, his relationship with Trump and sense of humour, plus how Lindsey Graham represented the people of South Carolina, especially the army base which heavily influenced the area. Learn how to earn yield on gold, paid in gold, at Monetary-Metals.

What did Lindsey Graham want?

Friday

Freddy Gray

America is still gripped by the gerontocracy

What do senior Republican Senator Mitch McConnell and Iran’s new Supreme Leader have in common? Not a lot, except that both men are currently being hidden from public view – and nobody seems to know for sure if either Mitch or Mojtaba Khamenei is alive or dead. Iran is a brutal theocratic regime where the truth tends to be suppressed. America is meant to be a free and democratic society. Yet the 84-year-old Senator for Kentucky has been in hospital since June 14 and rumors are spreading that he is brain-dead, on life-support, or possibly worse, and the party leadership appears to be covering up the facts about his health.

Free speech in peril & the Farage-Lowe feud – how America views Britain's right-wing circus
Freddy Gray

How America views Britain’s right-wing circus

Both Nigel Farage and Rupert Lowe have been in the America, telling the political elite all about Britain's demise. Freddy Gray is joined by The Times Washington editor Katy Balls to discuss how the right-wing insurgence in British politics translates to an American, the difference between how the online right, versus a typical Republican may see Farage vs Lowe, and how significant Trump has been to British politics.

Wednesday

Freddy Gray

Why is the Iran war back on?

As the NATO summit in Ankara draws to a close today, it wouldn't be a Donald Trump summit without a few shocks. The ceasefire between the US and Iran has collapsed, and Trump has branded the Iranians "scum". But what does this mean for NATO and the rest of the world? Freddy Gray and Owen Matthews discuss what the end of the US-Iran ceasefire means for Trump's presidency, why the agreement broke down so quickly, and what NATO's reluctance to provide military support to the US could mean for the wider conflict. Freddy Gray is joined by The Spectator's Owen Matthews, an expert on Russia, Ukraine and Turkey, to analyse the latest developments.

Why is the Iran war back on?

Tuesday

Freddy Gray

Will the ‘anti-Trump playbook’ work in Britain?

Commentators were so busy fulminating against Trump’s FIFA shenanigans yesterday they mostly missed his intervention in the big story now roiling British politics. "They’re Running the 2024 Anti-Trump Playbook on Nigel Farage," the President posted on Truth Social, linking to an article on the National Pulse, an American media site founded by Farage’s old mucker Raheem Kassam. The point, now being repeated by Reform’s talking heads on TV, is clear. "They" – the SW1 elite – are trying to stop Nigel Farage, just as the Washington establishment mounted a ridiculously elaborate lawfare campaign to try to stop Donald Trump.

Saturday

Freddy Gray

Anthony Scaramucci on Trump, Corruption & America at 250

From our UK edition

35 min listen

As Americans mark the 250th anniversary of the 1776 Declaration of Independence, Anthony Scaramucci joins the Spectator to provide his assessment of the health of the nation. As we approach the halfway point of the second Trump presidency, what's his impact been on America's reputation? Will the Democrats' attempts to emulate Trump help or hinder them? And why are American conservatives so obsessed with Britain – or rather, Britain's supposed decline? Declaring Trump 'an ageing queen' under whom 'the spirit of hypocrisy lives on' in America, the former White House communications director joins Freddy Gray and Tim Shipman for this special Coffee House Shots / Americano crossover to mark the 4th of July. Produced by Patrick Gibbons and Natasha Feroze.

Anthony Scaramucci on Trump, Corruption & America at 250