Politics Weekly America

Politics Weekly America

Every Friday, Guardian columnist and former Washington correspondent, Jonathan Freedland, invites experts to help analyse the latest in American politics. From politicians to journalists covering the White House and beyond, Jonathan and his guests give listeners behind the scenes access to how the American political machine works. With a global network of over 900 journalists and five dedicated editions covering news in the US, UK, Australia, Europe, and beyond, the Guardian offers comprehensive reporting across every continent.

Episodes

Gaza ceasefire plan: how much credit does Trump deserve?

October 9, 2025 • 28 mins
Donald Trump posted on Truth Social on Wednesday night that Israel and Hamas had agreed the first phase of a new ceasefire deal in Gaza. We’ve been here before, but is it different this time? Has Trump proved the doubters wrong? Jonathan Freedland speaks to Julian Borger about the prospect for peace in the Middle East and the US president’s role in getting to this point
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When did the US supreme court become so ‘lawless’?

October 3, 2025 • 27 mins
The US supreme court starts a new term on Monday, and the nine justices are preparing to take on cases that could prove crucial to the future of American society and democracy. Jonathan Freedland speaks to Prof Leah Litman about what exactly motivates the nine judges who are supposedly tasked with upholding the US constitution? When did the highest court in the land become so apparently partisan? Is there any coming back from this?
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US government shutdown: now what?

October 1, 2025 • 21 mins
After weeks of threats from both sides and negotiations that went nowhere, the US is once again experiencing a government shutdown. This week, Jonathan Freedland speaks to Marianna Sotomayor, a congressional reporter at the Washington Post, to look at who should take the blame, who suffers, and who will blink first
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Why is the Trump administration obsessed with autism?

September 26, 2025 • 28 mins
The US health secretary, Robert F Kennedy Jr, has long been consumed by the neurological condition autism – what causes it, and whether there’s a treatment. This week, Donald Trump took on the cause, making claims about acetaminophen, also known as Tylenol and paracetamol, that were dismissed outright by medical experts around the world. Jonathan Freedland speaks to Carter Sherman, the reproductive health and justice reporter at Gu...
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What does Donald Trump think free speech means?

September 19, 2025 • 28 mins
This week, the US president has announced he is suing the New York Times for $15bn, and gloated that the late-night TV show Jimmy Kimmel Live! had been suspended. JD Vance has also promised to crack down on ‘far left’ groups.

Jonathan Freedland speaks to the president of The Nation magazine, Bhaskar Sunkara, about the future of the constitutional right to free speech for Americans who disagree with Trump
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Where does the US go after the Charlie Kirk shooting?

September 11, 2025 • 32 mins
On Wednesday night, Charlie Kirk, an influential rightwing activist and Donald Trump ally, was shot dead at a university campus in Utah. The US president immediately blamed the ‘radical left’ but failed to mention rising violence against Democrats. This week, Jonathan Freedland speaks to the Guardian’s Washington DC bureau chief, David Smith, about the increase in political violence in the country
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Is Trump trying to rig the midterm elections?

September 5, 2025 • 28 mins
Donald Trump wants to change the way Americans vote, promising to introduce measures such as mandatory voter ID and a ban on mail-in voting. But what is his motivation? And what might the consequences be? This week Jonathan Freedland speaks to the Guardian US politics and democracy reporter George Chidi about whether the president could be trying to tip the scales in next year’s midterms Send your questions and thoughts to politics...
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Can the Democrats win by trolling Trump?

August 29, 2025 • 29 mins
A fight over a redrawing of the congressional map in Texas united Democrats across the country. This week, we hear from the state representative Nicole Collier about why she slept on the House floor for two nights, and Jonathan Freedland speaks to the KQED reporter Marisa Lagos about why the governor of California, Gavin Newsom, sees an opportunity in fighting dirty
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The ‘Nerd Reich’: how tech billionaires infiltrated the White House

August 22, 2025 • 34 mins
This week, Jonathan Freedland speaks to the journalist Gil Duran about his upcoming book The Nerd Reich: Silicon Valley Fascism and the War on Global Democracy
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Is Trump abandoning his ‘America First’ policy for Ukraine?

August 19, 2025 • 18 mins
Donald Trump has been all smiles with both Vladimir Putin and Volodymyr Zelenskyy over the last few days, but in trying to be ‘peacemaker-in-chief, is the president abandoning his ‘America First’ policy? Rachel Leingang and Andrew Roth discuss
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Is Donald Trump too weak to be a strongman?

August 14, 2025 • 23 mins
With a summit in Alaska and national guard troops in DC, Jonathan Freedland speaks to Susan Glasser of the New Yorker about the week that may dent the US president’s ‘strongman’ image
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Trump, Sydney Sweeney and the ‘war on woke’

August 8, 2025 • 28 mins
Donald Trump needed his Maga base to focus on something other than the Jeffrey Epstein files. Enter Sydney Sweeney and the uproar over a jeans advert. This week, Jonathan Freedland speaks to politics reporter Amanda Marcotte about ‘cancel culture’ being a useful tool in a political crisis
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Is Trump building a political dynasty? – episode 3

August 4, 2025 • 31 mins
In the final episode of our special Politics Weekly America series, Eric Cortellessa, Rosie Gray and Dan Adler look ahead to the future of the Trump family’s political ambitions. Could one of Donald Trump’s children take up the political mantle? Or might the president wish to keep politics all to himself?
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How much longer can the Fed defy Trump?

August 1, 2025 • 28 mins
Despite growing pressure to lower interest rates to appease the president, the Federal Reserve voted to leave them unchanged. This week Jonathan Freedland speaks to Heather Boushey, former chief economist to Joe Biden, about the latest tussle between the White House and the Federal Reserve
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Is Trump building a political dynasty? – episode two

July 28, 2025 • 32 mins
In the second episode of our special Politics Weekly America series, the reporters Ashley Parker, Rosie Gray and Eric Cortellessa explain why some of Trump’s family decided to step back from political life, and who stepped up to get him back to the White House
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Murdoch v Trump: will the media tycoon be the president’s downfall?

July 25, 2025 • 30 mins
Donald Trump has filed another lawsuit against a media company. This time though, he’s up against the billionaire media tycoon Rupert Murdoch. Jonathan Freedland speaks to the author of Murdoch’s World: The Last of the Old Media Empires, David Folkenflik, about the potential fallout for the president
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Is Trump building a political dynasty? – episode one

July 21, 2025 • 33 mins
In this first episode of our special Politics Weekly America series, author Gwenda Blair, and reporters Rosie Gray and Ashley Parker introduce us to the family members who helped Donald Trump succeed on his road to the White House and his time in office
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Trump goes to war with Maga over Epstein files

July 17, 2025 • 32 mins
Donald Trump really wants people to stop talking about Jeffrey Epstein, but his Maga base, including some prominent commentators such as Laura Loomer, want his administration to ‘release the files’. Jonathan Freedland speaks to Ali Breland of the Atlantic about the tricky situation the US president finds himself in
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Why is the media paying millions to Trump?

July 11, 2025 • 26 mins
Paramount Global, the parent company of CBS News, settled a lawsuit filed against it by Donald Trump for $16m last week. It came after Disney and Meta settled lawsuits with the president in similar ways. Jonathan Freedland speaks to the Guardian US columnist Margaret Sullivan about why these companies are caving to Trump’s demands, and whether critics are right to be worried about what this means for the future of a free press
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The winners and losers of Trump’s ‘big, beautiful bill’

July 3, 2025 • 30 mins
Jonathan Freedland is joined by Eleanor Mueller of Semafor to look at the potential fallout from Donald Trump’s tax and spending bill – financially and politically
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