Politics Weekly America

On Tuesday, we learned that the US civil rights leader Jesse Jackson had died at the age of 84. Tributes flooded in from political figures across the aisle for the Baptist minister who twice ran for the Democratic presidential nomination. This week, the Guardian’s Jenna Amatulli speaks to George Chidi about how Jackson transformed the Democratic party and empowered minority communities at the ball...

When Donald Trump returned to the White House last year, he vowed to kill off ‘woke’ in America. From the Kennedy Center to the Smithsonian museums and the Stonewall national monument, the Trump administration has imposed its values on American culture and history. Jonathan Freedland and the Guardian’s Washington bureau chief, David Smith, discuss the consequences for millions of Americans of Trum...

After months of negotiations, threats and refusals, Bill and Hillary Clinton have finally agreed to testify in front of Congress as part of a Republican-led investigation into the convicted child sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Jonathan Freedland speaks to the Politico Magazine columnist and former federal prosecutor Ankush Khardori about why Donald Trump thinks it is a ‘shame’ the Clintons have bee...

After weeks of federal insurgency, Minnesota fought back, and it seems Donald Trump has lost faith in the people running his ICE operation in the state. So where does this leave Trump’s ‘ICE patriots’? How do Republicans unite over immigration policies that kill Americans? And where does it leave the far-right agitators in Trump’s cabinet? Jonathan Freedland speaks to George Conway, a founding mem...

At the beginning of Donald Trump’s trip to Davos, the US president’s plans for Greenland were vague, and a worry to European leaders. By the end of the day, military force was off the table and threats of tariffs dropped. This is just one example of what it has been like to follow Trump 2.0 in the last year. This week, Jonathan Freedland speaks to Ashley Parker of the Atlantic about why she thinks...

Last week, Department of Justice opened a criminal investigation into the chair of the Federal Reserve – and longtime foe of Donald Trump – Jerome Powell. In an extraordinary move, world central bank governors and bank bosses in America pushed back against the Trump administration. This week, Jonathan Freedland speaks to the economist Heather Boushey about why a fight with Wall Street might be one...

If it’s not threats of military action against Colombia and Cuba, or talk of taking Greenland from Denmark, it’s seizing oil tankers in European and Caribbean waters. All of it has world leaders scrambling to figure out how to handle Donald Trump’s revived form of US imperialism. Jonathan Freedland speaks to the Pulitzer-winning author Anne Applebaum about what to expect from a world changing by t...

Early on Saturday morning, Donald Trump announced that US forces had captured the Venezuelan president, Nicolás Maduro, and his wife, Cilia Flores. Hours later, they were indicted on drug and weapons offences in New York. Later on Saturday, he suggested that the US was “going to run” the country for the time being Jonathan Freedland speaks to the Guardian’s Latin America correspondent, Tom Phillip...

Jonathan Freedland and the Politics Weekly America team are taking a break this week, so we’re replaying a special series made during the summer, all about the Trump family and whether the president is planning to pass on the political baton once he has to leave office. In the final episode of our special Politics Weekly America series, Eric Cortellessa , Rosie Gray and Dan Adler look ahead to the...

Jonathan Freedland and the Politics Weekly America team are taking a break this week, so we’re replaying a special series made during the summer, all about the Trump family and whether the president is planning to pass on the political baton once he has to leave office. In the second episode of our special Politics Weekly America series, the reporters Ashley Parker , Rosie Gray and Eric Cortelless...

Jonathan Freedland and the Politics Weekly America team are taking a break this week, so we’re replaying a special series made during the summer, all about the Trump family and whether the president is planning to pass on the political baton once he has to leave office. In the first episode, the author Gwenda Blair and the reporters Rosie Gray and Ashley Parker introduce us to the family members w...

Jonathan Freedland and the Politics Weekly America team are taking a break this week, but will be back with a new episode in the new year

The White House has consistently denied that Donald Trump has ever engaged in conflicts of interest while president. But experts have been tallying up examples of decisions made over the last 12 months which, they say, amount to corruption coming from the highest office. Jonathan Freedland is joined by the anthropologist Prof Janine Wedel, as they wade through the most egregious allegations of cor...

The Free Birth Society was selling pregnant women a simple message. They could exit the medical system and take back their power. By free birthing. But Nicole Garrison believes FBS ideology nearly cost her her life. This is episode one of a year-long investigation by Guardian journalists Sirin Kale and Lucy Osborne Listen to the full series from The Guardian Investigates podcast

This week, Donald Trump described Europe as ‘weak’ and ‘decaying’ and warned of ‘civilisational collapse’ on the continent due to immigration. His administration also published its blueprint for national security, which suggests that democracy might not be as important to the Trump White House as it has been for previous administrations. Jonathan Freedland speaks to the US military scholar Joseph...

Donald Trump has in recent months turned his attention to ousting Venezuela’s leader, Nicolás Maduro. But the US president and his secretary of war, Pete Hegseth, are under scrutiny over military strikes on suspected drug boats from Venezuela in the Caribbean Sea. This week, Jonathan Freedland speaks to the Guardian’s Tom Phillips about why people are accusing Trump of war crimes

A law has come into effect in Texas that will allow individuals in the state to sue abortion pill providers in other states. Proponents say it is a way to enforce abortion restrictions in Texas. Opponents worry about the methods complainants might use to find their evidence. In this special episode, the Guardian US reproductive health and justice reporter Carter Sherman speaks to people who are us...

Erika Kirk – the widow of Charlie Kirk, the rightwing activist killed in Utah in September – has indicated she would be willing to support JD Vance in a 2028 presidential bid. Katie Miller, the wife of White House deputy chief of staff for policy Stephen Miller, invites senior Republicans on to her podcast for discussions with conservative women. And the Trump administration is developing baby-boo...

In an incredible U-turn, Donald Trump this week signed a bill directing the justice department to release more files from the investigation into the convicted child sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. It comes amid a huge bust-up with his former firebrand loyalist Marjorie Taylor Greene, who has led the calls for him to release the documents. Is this the start of a Maga breakdown? And where will this in...

Just when Donald Trump thought he could celebrate the end of the longest government shutdown in US history, the Democrats had a trick up their sleeve. They released another batch of emails , some from the disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein, who wrote that ‘of course he knew about the girls’, referring to Trump. This week, Jonathan Freedland speaks to the Guardian’s George Chidi about why the Epst...

The US government shutdown became the longest in history this week, crossing the 36-day mark. Food stamp benefits have been delayed for millions of Americans, and 10% fewer flights are going to take off from major airports across the country because government employees aren’t turning up to work since their pay was stopped. Rachel Leingang and David Smith discuss why the president has decided to f...

This time last year, no one had really heard of him. Now, Zohran Mamdani is the first Muslim, millennial and person of south Asian heritage to run America’s largest city. Jonathan Freedland speaks to Ed Pilkington about Mamdani’s historic win, his challenge to the president, and what the Democrats should take away from a successful night at the ballot box

Less than an hour before Donald Trump met the Chinese president, Xi Jinping, to discuss a deal that could end the trade war between the two superpowers, the US president posted on Truth Social that he had directed the Pentagon to match Russia and China in nuclear weapons testing. Jonathan Freedland speaks to Jonathan Czin , the former director for China at the National Security Council, about why...

Millions of people across the US attended No Kings protests against Donald Trump last weekend. The president publicly denied he wanted to be a king, but he posted an AI-generated video of himself dressed as one, flying a fighter jet and dumping excrement on protesters. Jonathan Freedland speaks to the political scientist Barbara Walter about the tactics the Trump administration is using against pr...

Donald Trump has his hands in multiple pies around the world. Not satisfied with the Middle East, the president is attempting to end the war in Ukraine, influence elections in Argentina and manage conflict with Venezuela. This week, Jonathan Freedland speaks to the Guardian’s Andrew Roth about what happened to the ‘America first’ president. Having made himself the king of America, does Trump want...