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

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

Americano

Was Biden’s visit to Belfast gaffe-free?

President Joe Biden landed in Belfast this week to mark the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement. For the podcast, Washington editor, Amber Athey is joined by Lew Lukens, former deputy chief of mission at the US Embassy in London to talk about the significance of this state visit for Biden who now embarks

Play 12 mins

Americano

Is progressivism winning in America?

Galen Druke, host of the FiveThirtyEight podcast, joins Freddy Gray on this episode to talk about what to take away from Chicago’s election this week, how well the Biden team is handling the progressive wing of the Democratic party, and whether the Democrats would prefer to face up against Ron or Don as the Republican

Play 36 mins

Americano

Alan Dershowitz: Will Donald Trump get a fair trial?

Donald Trump was in court where he pleaded not guilty to 34 counts of falsifying records. To discuss, Freddy Gray is joined by Alan Dershowitz, the American lawyer, and Charles Lipson, professor emeritus of political science at the University of Chicago.

Play 24 mins

Americano

Will Trump’s indictment help or hurt his 2024 campaign?

Freddy Gray speaks to Jacob Heilbrunn about Trump’s indictment and whether this could galvanize voters or hurt his presidential campaign.

Play 29 mins

Americano

What is the regime and why does it need to change?

Freddy Gray speaks to Patrick J. Deneen, who is a professor of political science at the University of Notre Dame. He is the author of Why Liberalism Failed and has just released a new book Regime Change. 

Play

Americano

Roger Stone on pardoning, Trump’s arrest and Ron DeSantis

Freddy Gray speaks to the Republican strategist and advisor Roger Stone about Trump’s possible arrest; his views on Ron De Santis and the end of honest journalism. 

Play

Americano

Is capitalism melting down?

Freddy Gray is joined by Joe Weisenthal, co-host of the Odd Lots podcast at Bloomberg. On the podcast, Joe talks about the recent collapse of Silicon Valley Bank and the moral hazard of state intervention. How gloomy should people be?

Play 36 mins

Americano

What happened on January 6th?

Freddy Gray speaks to Roger Kimball, editor of the New Criterion and regular contributor to The Spectator to discuss new footage which has emerged from January 6th.

Play 36 mins

Americano

Who on earth is George Santos…

Freddy Gray speaks to Shawn McCreesh, a features writer at New York Magazine who recently spent time with Republican Congressman, George Santos in a bar. 

Play 21 mins

Americano

Who are America’s dissident right?

Freddy Gray speaks to James Pogue, writer at Harper’s and Vanity Fair who has written about the dissident right in America: Inside the dissident fringe, where the new right meets the far left and everyone is bracing for an apocalypse.

Play 32 mins