Stateside with Kai and Carter

Last week, the US supreme court ruled that Idaho and West Virginia can continue enforcing their bans on transgender athletes playing on girls’ and women's teams in schools. It’s the latest development in the political and legal attack on trans people —and especially trans youth— that has surged in recent years. On the heels of that decision, Kai Wright talks with Guardian reporter Sam Levin, who has been cov...

After the assassination of Charlie Kirk, the Trump administration vowed to prosecute "antifa" activists for domestic terrorism. Now, it's made good on that threat. A group of activists who joined an anti-ICE protest that went dangerously awry have been sentenced to decades in prison, and the case could have enormous consequences for the future of the First Amendment and American protests. Carter Sherman speaks with Guardian reporte...

Over the past two decades, Taylor Swift has changed the music industry, and how we think about girlhood. From songs like Fifteen about first love and heartbreak to introspective tracks like Mirrorball from Folklore, Swift has chronicled the emotional lives of young women in a way few artists have. Her music says that the experiences of girlhood deserve to be immortalized. But as fans celebrate her upcoming marriage and the 20th ann...

As the US prepares to celebrate 250 years since its founding, Kai Wright sits down with Eddie Glaude Jr, a Princeton University professor, to talk about the conflicts at the heart of the American project. Glaude argues that Black Americans have played a vital role in establishing the country, but their presence is a constant reminder that the American fantasy – the story of a white republic – doesn’t exist. He and...

With negotiations to end the war in Iran now underway, experts widely agree that the Iranian government has the upper hand. But if the regime emerges from the war stronger than before, what does it mean for the people of Iran? Carter Sherman speaks with Shirin Jaafari, a journalist for the World who focuses on the Middle East, about her reporting on Iranians living through war, a devastated economy and a government that executes pe...

A far-right, white supremacist ideology known as “remigration” aims to make life so punishing for immigrants that they leave the US. It’s also the policy of the Trump administration. There’s an "office of remigration" in the state department and the Department of Homeland Security has posted on X in support of it, saying: “The stakes have never been higher and the goal has never been more clear: Remigr...

After winning Game 1 of the NBA finals, the New York Knicks are one step closer to winning a championship that has eluded them for 53 years. New Yorkers are feeling elated, but the Knicks are going to have to get through 7ft4in Victor Wembanyama of the San Antonio Spurs, who just might be the next face of the league. Kai Wright speaks with the Guardian’s Andrew Lawrence about who exactly these teams are, and why despite all t...

This week the bipartisan furor over Donald Trump’s $1.8bn slush fund escalated to the point that the administration balked, saying they are no longer moving forward with it. But Robert Reich, a Guardian columnist and former US secretary of labor, says the fund, and specifically, the additional detail of the settlement giving Trump and his family immunity from future IRS audits, are the essence of corruption – and if Dem...

Soon after Twitch streamer Hasan Piker started campaigning with Democratic candidates this spring, an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal was published with the headline “Democrats are too cozy with Hasan Piker". That triggered a fever pitch of more op-eds and interviews asking Piker to respond to past statements he’s made on Israel's war in Gaza, 9/11, and more. But the controversy surrounding him hasn’t slowed his ...