Politics Weekly America

In a public advisory, written back in the summer, Dr Vivek Murthy warned of a growing ‘epidemic of loneliness and isolation’, which he believes is not just destined to affect the physical and mental health of individuals but could end up being detrimental to democracy itself. ‘The nation’s doctor’ speaks to Jonathan Freedland about why some bad faith actors are choosing to manipulate this problem...

On Tuesday night Kevin McCarthy became the first speaker of the US House of Representatives to be removed from his job. Eight House Republicans joined every Democrat in the chamber to wrest the speaker’s gavel from McCarthy’s hand. For now, McCarthy’s fellow Republican Patrick McHenry of North Carolina is the acting speaker, but the House will most likely vote next week on who will take over perma...

Wednesday was debate night for almost all the Republican candidates for the White House, but once again, the man who chose not to turn up was stealing the headlines for yet another legal issue that went against him. Ron DeSantis, Mike Pence, Nikki Haley and the others had ample opportunity to bring up the fact that a judge in New York ruled that Donald Trump had committed fraud for years while bui...

Both Volodymyr Zelenskiy, the Ukrainian president, and Joe Biden, the US president, reiterated their calls for unity against Russia this week at the UN general assembly in New York. In Washington DC, however, Republicans and Democrats in the House hold very different views on the war – how to help, who to help, and which allies they should team up with to try and bring an end to it all. Jonathan F...

Despite an apparent lack of evidence that Joe Biden profited from the business dealings of his son, Hunter Biden, the speaker of the House of Representatives, Kevin McCarthy, announced on Tuesday that he was launching a formal impeachment inquiry into the president. Many suspect he was pushed to make the move to appease some far-right members of the Republican party, who have threatened to tank hi...

Afghanistan, Ukraine, abortion rights – what was Joe Biden thinking during some of the toughest points of his presidency so far? Who did he rely on for advice? How did his morals play a role? Does he regret anything? This week, Jonathan Freedland speaks to Franklin Foer of the Atlantic about his new book, The Last Politician: Inside Joe Biden’s White House and the Struggle for America’s Future

He’s an entrepreneur, a former libertarian, a lover of rap, and has been labelled ‘Trump 2.0’ by some. He’s also campaigning to be the Republican nominee for the 2024 presidential election. So why is he polling well despite angering many? Jonathan Freedland speaks to Charlie Sykes of The Bulwark about Ramaswamy’s credentials, his campaign style and his chances of winning

Republican presidential candidates took to the stage this week to try to convince voters they should be the one to take on Joe Biden in 2024. There was one notable exception – but Donald Trump was still inescapable for his opponents. Joan E Greve speaks to the former GOP communications director Tara Setmayer about everyone’s performance on the night, and whether these debates even matter when the...

Until five months ago, no former US president had ever faced criminal charges. As of Monday evening, Donald Trump is facing 91 felony counts. The 97-page indictment handed down by a Fulton county grand jury in Georgia includes 41 criminal counts, 13 of them against Trump. This case may represent the biggest legal peril for Trump to date and it could see him behind bars, no matter who wins the pres...

When and why did so-called food deserts first emerge? How has the fast food industry become so powerful? And despite the growing rate of obesity in the US, why are politicians not stepping in to improve nutrition? This week, Jonathan Freedland speaks to Dr Eduardo J Gómez of Lehigh University, on how his new book Junk Food Politics taught him about the power of lobbyists

On 26 August, Rev Al Sharpton, Martin Luther King III, and other civil rights activists will commemorate the 1963 march on Washington, which was organised to advocate for civil and economic rights for African Americans. This week, Jonathan Freedland sits down with Sharpton to discuss why he believes Martin Luther King Jr’s ‘I have a dream’ speech has been abused by some on the right, why he is sti...

Moviegoers flocked to cinemas last weekend for the highly anticipated release of two of the year’s biggest movies – Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer and Greta Gerwig’s Barbie. But conservatives have slated Barbie for being, among other things, too ‘woke’, anti-men and even … Chinese propaganda. Is the outrage real or is it just another example of politics employing a culture war to rally the base?...

On Tuesday, Donald Trump said he had received a letter suggesting he was about to be indicted by special counsel Jack Smith in connection with the criminal investigation into the Capitol riot on 6 January 2021. It would be his third criminal indictment. Jonathan Freedland asks Larry Sabato, director of the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia, if the pile of indictments could grow too...

Last month we learned that President Biden’s son, Hunter Biden, will plead guilty to two counts of misdemeanour tax crimes and accept a deal with prosecutors related to a separate illegal firearm possession charge. Republicans and rightwing media outlets jumped at the chance to discuss the case, but liberals have been much quieter on the issue. Jonathan Freedland speaks to the Guardian US columnis...

As the dust settled on last week’s judgments from the conservative-led bench, progressives voiced their anger at what they see as a lack of determination from the Biden administration to counteract the supreme court and its most extreme decisions. This week, Jonathan Freedland speaks to the Guardian US columnist Moira Donegan about what progressives want Joe Biden to do now

As this year’s summer session draws to a close, Jonathan Freedland speaks to Michael Waldman, whose new book The Supermajority: How the Supreme Court Divided America explains why the court’s decision to put an end to affirmative action in colleges, and recent scandals surrounding conservative justices and their billionaire friends suggest the highest US court could use some ethics training

In April this year, Robert F Kennedy Jr, nephew of former President Kennedy, announced his own bid for the presidency running as a Democrat. Recently, supporters of Joe Biden couldn’t ignore RFK Jr’s headline-grabbing appearances on two controversial podcasts - and the news that among Democrats he has an approval rating of 20%. This week, Jonathan Freedland speaks with author and presenter Mehdi H...

On Tuesday, Donald Trump pleaded not guilty to all 37 counts related to his alleged mishandling of classified documents, becoming the first former US president to face federal criminal charges. This week, Jonathan Freedland speaks to a former Department of Justice prosecutor, Ankush Khardori, about the potential for further political violence in the run-up to the 2024 presidential election as Trum...

Mike Pence, Chris Christie and Doug Burgum all entered the already large pool of candidates for the Republican presidential nomination this week. Jonathan Freedland speaks to Charlie Sykes of the Bulwark about the new entrants to the Republican presidential contest - and how a new Trump indictment could affect the race.

On Wednesday night the House debated legislation to increase the US debt limit until January 2025, before passing the bill by a vote of 314 to 117, in a rare showing of bipartisan action. It then narrowly passed the Senate late on Thursday night, heading straight to Biden’s desk to sign just days before the 5 June deadline. This week, Jonathan Freedland speaks to the congressional reporter for the...

Senator Tim Scott of South Carolina formally launched his presidential campaign on Monday, throwing his hat into the Republican ring. Scott leans heavily into his Christian identity and has vowed to sign legislation if he becomes president that would endear himself to conservatives, but his chances of success appear slim. Yet he’s decided to present a more optimistic view of the US in his campaign...

This week, Ron DeSantis signed into law a bill that would exempt him from Florida’s ‘resign-to-run’ law, so he won’t have to give up his office in order to run for president. He also continued his attack on teachers, signing into law a ban on the state’s public colleges and universities from spending money on diversity, equity and inclusion programs. Jonathan Freedland speaks to Democratic state s...

On Tuesday, a jury in New York found that the former president Donald Trump sexually abused magazine writer E Jean Carroll in the 1990s and then defamed her by branding her a liar. On Wednesday, Trump made the same baseless claims about Carroll that led to him losing the case – this time, live on CNN to millions of viewers. This week, Jonathan Freedland talks to Guardian US columnist Margaret Sull...

At the end of March, Russian authorities arrested Evan Gershkovich, a reporter for the Wall Street Journal, on espionage charges. He is still in a Moscow prison more than a month later, and at the weekend President Biden promised he was ‘working like hell’ to bring Gershkovich, and others detained in Russia, home. This week Jonathan Freedland speaks to Polina Ivanova, a reporter for the Financial...

Joe Biden finally launched his much anticipated re-election bid for 2024 this week. For the next year, news networks will cover extensively his campaign, and those of candidates running against him, but there will be an interesting shift in who exactly will be leading that coverage. In surprise news anchor exits, Tucker Carlson was fired from Fox News and Don Lemon from CNN, and there are rumours...