America Explained

*** Check out the America Explained Substack newsletter for a few written posts a month on the big issues in U.S. politics and foreign policy and no extra spam: https://amerex.substack.com/ *** So far this year, there has been at least one mass shooting per day in the United States. And while you might think that this would lead to calls for tighter gun regulation, the Supreme Court just decided t...

*** Check out the America Explained Substack newsletter for a few written posts a month on the big issues in U.S. politics and foreign policy and no extra spam: https://amerex.substack.com/ *** In response to the Big Lie - that last November's election was stolen from them - Republicans are moving to pass voter suppression legislation across dozens of American states, most prominently in Georgia....

*** Check out the America Explained Substack newsletter for a few written posts a month on the big issues in U.S. politics and foreign policy and no extra spam: https://amerex.substack.com/ *** This last week, Joe Biden announced the biggest foreign policy move of his administration so far - a plan to withdraw U.S. forces from Afghanistan this year. In this episode we talk about the arguments for...

*** Check out the America Explained Substack newsletter for a few written posts a month on the big issues in U.S. politics and foreign policy and no extra spam: https://amerex.substack.com/ *** All over the world, democracy is in retreat and authoritarianism is on the march. The Biden administration has put the advancement of democracy around the world at the center of its foreign policy agenda. B...

*** Check out the America Explained Substack newsletter for a few written posts a month on the big issues in U.S. politics and foreign policy and no extra spam: https://amerex.substack.com/ *** Arrivals of migrants and refugees at the southern border are surging - this year could see over two million border-crossers, the highest level in 20 years. The Biden administration inherited a deeply broken...

*** Check out the America Explained Substack newsletter for a few written posts a month on the big issues in U.S. politics and foreign policy and no extra spam: https://amerex.substack.com/ *** The coronavirus pandemic, climate change, and animal cruelty in industrial agriculture - all are contributing to a growing awareness that something is amiss in our relationship with animals. Meat alternativ...

*** Check out the America Explained Substack newsletter for a few written posts a month on the big issues in U.S. politics and foreign policy and no extra spam: https://amerex.substack.com/ *** It often seemed over the last four years that with so much media attention focused on Donald Trump's daily outrages, there was little oxygen left for more normal types of political scandal. But the coronavi...

*** Check out the America Explained Substack newsletter for a few written posts a month on the big issues in U.S. politics and foreign policy and no extra spam: https://amerex.substack.com/ *** Americans have always liked to believe that their country is special - or, as the phrase goes, exceptional. And as a consequence of believing that their country is exceptional, many Americans have also...

*** Check out the America Explained Substack newsletter for a few written posts a month on the big issues in U.S. politics and foreign policy and no extra spam: https://amerex.substack.com/ *** Insurrections be damned, Joe Biden is now the president of the United States. In this episode we take a look at the three big policy issues he is moving on early - immigration, the environment, and the econ...

*** Check out the America Explained Substack newsletter for a few written posts a month on the big issues in U.S. politics and foreign policy and no extra spam: https://amerex.substack.com/ *** In this episode I spoke to Gregory Brew, deputy editor of the Texas National Security Review and a historian of U.S.-Iranian relations, about U.S. relations with Iran. We talked about the deeper history of...

*** Check out the America Explained Substack newsletter for a few written posts a month on the big issues in U.S. politics and foreign policy and no extra spam: https://amerex.substack.com/ *** Democrats have taken control of the Senate by winning two seats in Georgia! Tune in to hear how they pulled it off against the conventional wisdom of pundits, and what it means for Joe Biden's agenda.

*** Check out the America Explained Substack newsletter for a few written posts a month on the big issues in U.S. politics and foreign policy and no extra spam: https://amerex.substack.com/ *** Ever since it became obvious that Joe Biden won the election, Donald Trump and the Republicans have been trying to overturn the will of the people and secure another term for their own party. Their efforts...

*** Check out the America Explained Substack newsletter for a few written posts a month on the big issues in U.S. politics and foreign policy and no extra spam: https://amerex.substack.com/ *** The British relationship with America has long been known, at least in Britain, as "the special relationship". But the election of Joe Biden has the British political class, particularly those most committe...

Now that a few weeks have passed, we have enough information about what happened in the 2020 election to try to decode what it means for the current state of American politics - as well as what it might mean for the future. And frankly, thinking about these questions is a much more productive use of time than following Donald Trump's increasingly pathetic and desperate attempts to reject the resul...

*** Check out the America Explained Substack newsletter for a few written posts a month on the big issues in U.S. politics and foreign policy and no extra spam: https://amerex.substack.com/ *** Mainstream outlets won't call it yet, but Joe Biden will be the next president of the United States. It was a crazy ride, and in this episode we talk you through some of the consequences and implications. H...

*** Check out the America Explained Substack newsletter for a few written posts a month on the big issues in U.S. politics and foreign policy and no extra spam: https://amerex.substack.com/ *** It's election day! You've probably heard a lot of confusing things about the election tonight, including that we're not likely to know the results for days and weeks. But as this short bonus episode explain...

If you look at the polls right now, then it looks like Joe Biden is heading for a landslide in the American presidential election. He's leading handily not only in the national polls, but also in the key swing states that will decide the election. And many of the factors which made it possible for Trump to pull out a narrow win in 2016 - including a large number of voters who were still undecided...

*** Check out the America Explained Substack newsletter for a few written posts a month on the big issues in U.S. politics and foreign policy and no extra spam: https://amerex.substack.com/ *** The U.S.-China relationship is probably the most important bilateral relationship in the world. Yet in recent years it has been coming under pressure. There's been a trade war, a war of words over...

*** Check out the America Explained Substack newsletter for a few written posts a month on the big issues in U.S. politics and foreign policy and no extra spam: https://amerex.substack.com/ *** We all know all about the Midwest - right? Or do we just think we do? Every four years the media focuses intently on this region, which can swing the election one way or the other. But often they just recyc...

*** Check out the America Explained Substack newsletter for a few written posts a month on the big issues in U.S. politics and foreign policy and no extra spam: https://amerex.substack.com/ *** We need to talk about race. Race has been central to all of American history, but for the country's white majority it has not always been obviously so. Americans have told themselves many stories about thei...