Freddy Gray is deputy editor of The Spectator
23 min listen
Donald Trump has been sworn in as the 47th President of the United States. All the former leaders of the free world were there to watch Trump take the oath – again – but how was this inauguration different to the last? And what signs were there of how Trump intends to govern? Guest hosting
Biblical weather outside the rally for the sixtieth presidential inaugural in the Capitol One Arena in downtown Washington yesterday: hail plonked down onto streets of slush. The poor huddled Magas lined up for hours and hours, through labyrinthine perimeter fencing, just to see their leader. Inside, the atmosphere was electric and jubilant. ‘We won, we
Washington, DC On your marks, get set, executive orders. Donald Trump will be sworn back into office on Monday, from inside the Capitol Rotunda, as Ronald Reagan was in 1985. Cold weather is the official reason for moving the ceremony from outside to in, and it seems true – the 78-year-old president-elect may wish to
43 min listen
This week: President Trump’s plan to Make America Greater In the cover piece for the magazine, our deputy editor and host of the Americano podcast, Freddy Gray, delves into Trump’s plans. He speaks to insiders, including Steve Bannon, about the President’s ambitions for empire-building. Could he really take over Canada, Greenland and the Panama Canal?
‘The mission of the United States is one of benevolent assimilation,’ said William McKinley, America’s 25th commander-in-chief, who happens to be one of Donald Trump’s favourite presidents. Trump, who barely dodged a bullet in 2024, shares a number of traits with McKinley, who was assassinated in 1901: Scottish blood, ferocious work ethic, an affinity with
28 min listen
The LA wildfires have been mostly extinguished, but there is growing concern that more fires could be imminent as strong winds are expected this week. Many believe that the destruction has shone a light on the broader mismanagement of California, run by the Democrat Gavin Newsom – who has proposed billions in new funding for
42 min listen
Americano is nominated in the Political Podcast Awards 2025. Vote for it to win the People’s Choice category here. Freddy Gray is joined by Gideon Rachman of the Financial Times to discuss what Donald Trump’s revisionist America could mean for the world order. Trump is a sworn enemy of what he calls ‘globalism’, which raises questions
Goodbye EU, hello AU? It’s been evident for a few months now that Donald Trump’s second administration will be more geostrategically ambitious than his first. Yesterday, in another extraordinary press conference in Mar-a-Lago, we got a glimpse of what Trump and his advisers are thinking for the planet in 2025 and beyond. Trump reiterated his
Another day, another UK volley from the one-man media universe that is Elon Musk. At 07.51 this morning, Musk posted a yes/no poll on his X feed: ‘America should liberate the people of Britain from their tyrannical government.’ At the time of writing, 70 per cent of 170,000 X users replied in the affirmative. Musk
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Douglas Murray, Spectator columnist, joins Americano host and Spectator deputy editor Freddy Gray. This week, Home Office Minister Jess Phillips rejected Oldham Council’s request for a government-led inquiry into the horrific scandal of grooming gangs in dozens of UK cities. Her decision has led to real backlash – with X owner Elon Musk calling for
Donald Trump is an unconventional politician and he responds to terror attacks unconventionally. When bad things happen, he often goes on the offensive. ‘Our Country is a disaster, a laughing stock all over the World!’ he posted on his Truth Social media account last night, after 15 people were killed in the New Year’s Day
22 min listen
The former US President died has died age 100 surrounded by his family in Plains. Known as the longest-lived US President in history, The Spectator’s political correspondent James Heale and Freddy Gray discuss Jimmy Carter’s legacy both in and out of office, how he compares to Joe Biden as one-term Presidents, and the way Jimmy Carter’s Christianity
It’s hard to think of a political oration that has backfired as famously as Jimmy Carter’s ‘crisis of confidence’ speech, delivered from the White House on 15 July, 1979. The fact that it is still today called the ‘malaise’ speech, despite the fact he never used the word, speaks to the scale of its failure.
50 min listen
2024 has been another year of extraordinary events in American politics. From Trump’s attempted assassination, the general election, the death of peanut the squirrel, Biden’s resignation and international wars shaping foreign policy. To discuss this year, and what impact it could have on 2025, Freddy Gray is joined by the historian Victor Davis Hanson of
Have the plutocrats of the internet age finally realised that all Donald Trump wanted was their love? This week, Jeff Bezos had dinner at Mar-a-Lago. The Amazon founder has said he’s ‘actually very optimistic’ about all the regulation slashing that Trump plans to introduce in his second term, and he’s contributed a million dollars to
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The Bank of England has voted to hold interest rates at 4.75%. The Spectator’s economics editor Kate Andrews joins Katy Balls and Freddy Gray to discuss the decision and what this means for the economy. Also on the podcast they discuss how a potential donation from Elon Musk to Reform UK has rattled politicians across
The meeting between Nigel Farage, the property developer Nick Candy and Elon Musk has prompted an all-too-predictable fit among media commentators. Are we proud, democracy-loving Britons just going to stand by and watch as American billionaires and the radical right buy out our politics? Are we going to let hedge-funders and the real-estate tycoons gut
26 min listen
Springfield Ohio became a talking point in this year’s Presidential election after Donald Trump referred to Haitian migrants ‘eating the cats and dogs’. Steven Edginton, GB News US Correspondent has been to Springfield Ohio to speak to some of the migrants there, investigate some reports that migrants are fleeing America in fear of a Trump
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Freddy Gray is joined by an Americano favourite, Jacob Heilbrunn to reflect on 2024 in American politics. They discuss why Trump appears to be the de facto President, whether a good Democratic candidate could have beaten Trump and what the future cabinet could bring in 2025.
43 min listen
Over the weekend, the rebels from the Syrian opposition claimed Damascus and president Assad had fled to Russia. Keir Starmer has welcomed the collapse of Bashar al-Assad’s barbaric regime in Syria and called for civilians to be protected after rebel forces took control of Damascus. Freddy Gray speaks to Michael Weiss, an editor at The
