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July 23, 2025 31 mins

We’ve now witnessed six months of Donald Trump’s second term in the White House. In that time he's dominated the world's media and international headlines, but how much has he actually achieved so far? And what could he improve on?

Today, Sarah and Justin are conducting a mid-year appraisal of the president with someone who knows him well - Marc Short, chief of staff to vice president Mike Pence during Trump’s first term.

HOSTS: • Justin Webb, Radio 4 presenter • Sarah Smith, North America Editor

GET IN TOUCH: • Join our online community: https://discord.gg/qSrxqNcmRB • Send us a message or voice note via WhatsApp to +44 330 123 9480 • Email Americast@bbc.co.uk • Or use #Americast

This episode was made by Tim Walklate, George Dabby, Alix Pickles and Grace Reeve. The social producer was Grace Braddock. The technical producer was Hannah Montgomery. The series producer is Purvee Pattni. The senior news editor is Sam Bonham.

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Americast is part of the BBC News Podcasts family of podcasts. The team that makes Americast also makes lots of other podcasts, including Newscast and Ukrainecast. If you enjoy Americast (and if you're reading this then you hopefully do), then we think that you will enjoy some of our other pods too. See links below.

Newscast: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/series/p05299nl Ukrainecast: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/brand/p0bqztzm Radical: BBC Sounds - Radical with Amol Rajan - Available Episodes

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