Podcast

Americano

American politics is ever more divisive and The Spectator’s Americano podcast delivers in-depth discussions with the best American pundits to keep you in the loop. Presented by Freddy Gray.

American politics is ever more divisive and The Spectator’s Americano podcast delivers in-depth discussions with the best American pundits to keep you in the loop. Presented by Freddy Gray.

Americano

Who is the new House Speaker?

Amber Athey and Daniel McCarthy editor of Modern Age Journal and columnist at The Spectator join the Americano podcast to breakdown the long House speaker battle which has finally culminated in Trumpist Mike Johnson getting selected.  

Play 29 mins

Americano

How is Joe Biden handling the Israel-Palestine crisis?

This week Freddy speaks to Dennis Ross, former Middle East coordinator under President Clinton and current Professor of the Practice of Diplomacy at Georgetown University. They discuss Biden’s visit to Israel this week, how his policy towards the Middle East borrows from Trump and Obama, and how we can discern between the public posturing and

Play 27 mins

Americano

How are Democrats reacting to the war in Israel?

This week Freddy speaks to Andrew Cockburn, Washington editor of Harper’s Magazine, about America’s response to the developments in the Middle East. On the podcast they discuss the ‘squad’ (a section of Democrats who have been making pro-Palestinian noises), how America and Israel’s surveillance system allowed the attack to happen, and the importance of the

Play 31 mins

Americano

What’s going on in the Republican party?

Freddy speaks to Roger Kimball, editor of the New Criterion and columnist for The Spectator’s US edition. After Kevin McCarthy was ousted as speaker of the House this week, they discuss why the Republican party is such a mess. 

Play 23 mins

Americano

Who is winning America’s class war?

This week Freddy is joined in The Spectator offices by regular contributor and fellow of urban studies at Chapman University, Joel Kotkin. They discuss Biden and Trump’s respective attempts to burnish their credentials with the unions this week, how the cultural agenda is alienating voters, and whether technology could prevent the coming of neo-feudalism.

Play 38 mins

Americano

Have relations thawed between US and Iran?

Freddy Gray is joined by Charlie Gammell, a historian and former diplomat who was on the Iran desk at the foreign office. On the podcast they discuss this week’s Iran-US deal where six prisoners have been released on either side and $6 billion sent back to Iran. There has been political backlash with the Republicans

Play

Americano

Are the Republicans wrong to impeach Biden?

Freddy Gray speaks to author and lawyer Alan Dershowitz who wrote Get Trump: The Threat to Civil Liberties, Due Process, and Our Constitutional Rule of Law. On the podcast Freddy speaks to Alan about the Republican’s formal impeachment inquiry against President Joe Biden, claiming they have unearthed a ‘culture of corruption’ surrounding the president. 

Play 7 mins

Americano

Could Hunter Biden be a big problem for the Democrats?

This week Freddy Gray speaks to politics lecturer and writer Damon Linker about the ongoing investigations into Hunter Biden. With Trump facing his own criminal charges, will stories about potential Biden corruption muddy the waters for voters?

Play 36 mins

Americano

What does Vivek Ramaswamy stand for?

This week Freddy speaks to Jacob Heilbrunn, editor of the National Interest, about Vivek Ramaswamy. What does he stand for? Could he be the ideal candidate for Trump’s vice president? 

Play 22 mins

Americano

Is Donald Trump untouchable?

Kate Andrews speaks to Freddy Gray and CEO of Truth Social, Devin Nunes in the week that Donald Trump refused to attend the Republican Fox News debates. Instead, the Presidential candidate who is leading in the polls was interviewed by Tucker Carlson on X, formerly known as Twitter. 

Play 20 mins

Americano

Why are Democrats winning on abortion?

Freddy Gray speaks to Inez Stepman, a Lincoln Fellow at the Claremont Institute who was last on Americano to discuss the overturning of Roe vs Wade last year. As seen in the November midterms, could this be a winning issue for the Democrats who are gearing up for the general election?

Play 39 mins

Americano

Why does everyone hate the US women’s soccer team?

Freddy Gray sits down with The Spectator’s Washington editor, Amber Athey to discuss the US women’s soccer team defeat in the World Cup and why some are fed up with their politics. 

Play 17 mins

Americano

UFOs – is the truth out there?

The US government is apparently hiding a programme to capture and reverse-engineer UFOs. At a congressional hearing last week, David Grusch, a former intelligence official who worked with a Pentagon team looking into UFOs, said ‘non-human’ objects had been recovered by the government. Are they finding aliens, or Chinese and Russian drones? What’s behind the

Play 18 mins

Americano

Why has Trump been indicted…again?

Freddy Gray sits down with Jacob Heilbrunn to discuss Donald Trump’s latest indictment over January 6th. The former President faces 78 charges which, if found guilty, could mean he will spend several years in prison. 

Play 19 mins

Americano

America’s sub-literate generation

Only 72% of Americans can read to 6th grade level. Freddy is joined by Peter Wood to talk about how this has happened, and why it is getting worse. What political and cultural factors have diminished the importance of reading and writing in education, and with students already using AI, where does America go from

Play 30 mins

Americano

What went wrong for Ron DeSantis?

Freddy is joined this week by Roger Kimball, editor of the New Criterion to talk about the diminishing power of Ron DeSantis. It wasn’t so long ago he looked like a serious challenger that could beat Donald Trump to the Republican nomination. Where did it all go wrong?

Play 30 mins

Americano

Is Britain a bad example for American conservatives?

On his current visit to the UK, Spectator World columnist and Modern Age editor Daniel McCarthy sat down with Freddy to discuss what lessons American Republicans should learn from the doldrums into which the Tory party has steered itself. Produced by Natasha Feroze and Saby Kulkarni.

Play 33 mins

Americano

Joe Biden is not OK

Freddy Gray speaks to Spectator columnist, Douglas Murray who wrote in the magazine this week about Joe Biden’s endless gaffes and the incompetence which Douglas argues has spilled into the rest of the party. Produced by Natasha Feroze. 

Play 25 mins

Americano

Will Hunter bring down Joe Biden?

This week Freddy is joined by Jacob Heilbrunn, editor of the National Interest, and Charles Lipson, professor of political science at the University of Chicago. They discuss Charles’s recent piece in The Spectator’s US edition where he argues that the walls are closing in on old Joe, in relation to the Hunter Biden story. Is the President’s involvement

Play 39 mins

Americano

Is it the end of Silicon Valley?

Freddy Gray speaks to Joel Kotkin who is the author of The Coming of Neo-Feudalism: A Warning to the Global Middle Class. On the podcast, they discuss the collapse of Silicon Valley. With mass layoffs in the tech sector and a post-pandemic real estate downturn, Kotkin argues the Valley is entering a period of long-term decline

Play 39 mins

Americano

Will nuclear power heal the climate?

This week, Freddy is joined by a great American filmmaker, Oliver Stone, and a great Argentinian filmmaker, Fernando Sulichin. Their new documentary Nuclear Now proposes nuclear energy as the solution to the climate crisis. On the podcast, they address global concerns about adding nuclear to the energy mix, compare the nuclear policy of Presidents Biden and Trump

Play 52 mins

Americano

What happened to Kim Darroch?

Freddy Gray is joined by Steve Edginton, video comment editor at the Telegraph and host of the Off Script podcast to discuss curious case of Sir Kim Darroch. A former civil servant has accused the government of an attempt to cover up “crimes” by the former British ambassador to the US, who he claims leaked intelligence to

Play 34 mins

Americano

What did Succession get right about the Murdoch empire?

Andrew Neil, The Spectator‘s chairman and super fan of the HBO show, Succession, joins this episode to talk to Freddy about where the show overlapped with the real life media empire of Rupert Murdoch, who has his own problems of succession to think about. This conversation was originally filmed as an episode of ‘The View from 22’

Play 24 mins

Americano

What is America doing in Ukraine? Part II

Freddy Gray speaks to two American academics, Benjamin Schwarz and Christopher Layne, to discuss America’s role in the war between Russia and Ukraine.

Play 68 mins

Americano

What is America’s Grand Strategy?

Freddy Gray speaks to Michael Anton, professor at Hillsdale College and former member of the National Security Council under George W Bush and Donald Trump. On the podcast Freddy and Michael discuss his speech at the National Conservatism conference about Winston Churchill’s Grand Strategy in an American context. 

Play 42 mins

Americano

What do Donald Trump’s children want?

Freddy Gray is joined by filmmaker, Alex Holder who had access to Trump’s inner circle when making the documentary Unprecedented. On the podcast, they discuss Trump’s supporter base, his relationship with his children and why Ivanka is the favourite. 

Play 39 mins

Americano

Archive: who on earth is George Santos…

Following the arrest of George Santos on criminal charges, we’ve revisited a podcast with Shawm McCreesh, a features writer at New York Magazine who spent time with Republican Congressman, George Santos.

Play 21 mins

Americano

What’s happening to digital media?

Freddy Gray speaks to journalist Ben Smith, whose new book Traffic is an origins story for digital media. On the podcast they discuss how a new genre of journalism was birthed from a desire to cause trouble online, whether woke culture spawned from digital media and if we are nearing the end for the social internet.

Play 30 mins

Americano

Is Joe Biden a good Catholic?

Freddy Gray speaks to Ed Condon who is the editor of The Pillar. On the podcast they talk about Biden’s Catholicism; how it plays out in his politics and whether it will be a big part of his presidential campaign. 

Play 33 mins

Americano

Why did Murdoch take so long to settle?

Freddy Gray speaks to Michael Wolff, author of books on Trump and Rupert Murdoch. On the podcast, they talk about the Dominion vs Fox trial settlement. Why did Fox let this case go on for so long?

Play 22 mins