Politics Weekly America

In the end, Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency, or Doge, sort of just … fizzled out. So did Musk save the taxpayer any money? What happened the people who lost their jobs in the mass bureaucratic culling? What services were affected? Will Americans ever trust their government again? Jonathan Freedland speaks to author Sasha Abramsky about his new book, <a href="https://orbooks.com/catalog/american-carnage/" rel="nofollow">American Carnage: How Trump, Musk, and DOGE Butchered the US Government</a>, and about what lasting legacy of Doge will be

Donald Trump says the US has won its war with Iran. Iranian officials responded to this by mocking him. This week, Jonathan Freedland speaks to Susan Glasser of the New Yorker about analysis suggesting Trump is losing his touch when it comes to sealing the deal, winning elections or just having the energy to run the White House

This is episode one of <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/series/blackbox" rel="nofollow">Off Duty</a>, a new Guardian Investigates podcast series by Melissa Segura. On the evening of 29 December 2011, the police officer Clifton Lewis was moonlighting as a security guard at a Chicago minimart when two men walked in. They shot Lewis several times, then took off with his gun and police star. A week later, police had their suspects: four men affiliated with a gang called the Spanish Cobras. For hours, under intense police questioning, they all denied doing it. But that did not seem to matter. You can find the rest of the series on <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/off-duty-the-guardian-investigates/id1731314182" rel="nofollow">Apple</a>, <a href="https://open.spotify.com/show/57nEonC68q5vgEi6a1k398" rel="nofollow">Spotify</a>, or wherever you listen to your podcasts

Donald Trump has told his Nato allies: ‘We don’t need you.’ He also threatened to ‘massively blow up’ the world’s largest gasfield, despite Americans already having to deal with higher prices. This week, Jonathan Freedland speaks to Kamala Harris’s former national security adviser, Philip Gordon, about what this all means for the Iran war and Trump’s ‘America First’ policy

Since coming back into office, Donald Trump has sent troops to Venezuela, Iran and US cities. He has threatened to deploy them to Greenland in order to get what he wants. But what do the people who serve think of their commander-in-chief? If they wanted to, could they disobey his orders? <br> <br> This week, Jonathan Freedland speaks to Janessa Goldbeck, a former Marine and the chief executive of <a href="https://vvfnd.org/about/" rel="nofollow">Vet Voice Foundation</a>

If you’ve been listening to the Trump administration this week, you would be forgiven for being confused about who started the war, why America got involved and what the end game is. <br> <br> This week, the foreign policy expert Ali Vaez tells Rachel Leingang what it was like to take part in war game exercises for the Pentagon and how they compare with what he has seen play out this week. Then the Guardian’s Andrew Roth talks us through the inner chaos in the Trump administration and Congress over Trump’s decision to go to war with Iran

The US and Israel launched a joint military operation against Iran on Saturday, killing Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Why did Trump decide (again) to attack Iran during negotiations on a nuclear deal with the Islamic Republic? How does he sell a new war in the Middle East, with potential US casualties, to people at home? What happens next for Iran? In this special collaboration with <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/news/series/todayinfocus" rel="nofollow">Today in Focus</a>, Annie Kelly speaks to the Guardian’s diplomatic editor, Patrick Wintour.

The governor of California, Gavin Newsom, is widely regarded as one of the Democratic party’s leading contenders for the 2028 presidential election. He has also published a new book, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WsmrDFOMJV4" rel="nofollow">Young Man in a Hurry</a>, reflecting on his childhood and his path to the governor’s mansion. This week, Jonathan Freedland speaks to Newsom about why he believes the Democrats suffered such heavy losses in 2024, why the party needs to be less judgmental, and whether he intends to run for president in 2028

Donald Trump made history again on Tuesday evening, delivering the longest State of the Union address on record. But while the president declared the ‘golden age of America’, many Democrats boycotted the event, telling the country Republicans are ‘making your life harder’. The Guardian’s Jenna Amatulli talks to Rolling Stone’s Nikki McCann Ramírez about Trump’s claims, the Democrats’ rebuttal, and how the speech will land with a divided nation

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 ballot box, and what Jackson might have thought about the party today as it takes on Donald Trump

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 Trump reimagining history and culture in his image

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 been forced to testify

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 member of the Lincoln Project, who is running for Congress, about what happens next

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 Americans are suffering from a new politically induced condition and why the midterms in November might be the perfect remedy

Last week, Department of Justice opened a criminal investigation into the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/business/2026/jan/13/jerome-powell-fed-chair-trump" rel="nofollow">chair of the Federal Reserve</a> – and longtime foe of Donald Trump – Jerome Powell. In an extraordinary move, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/business/2026/jan/13/central-banks-us-fed-powell-trump-bank-of-england-ecb" rel="nofollow">world central bank governors</a> and <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/business/2026/jan/14/trump-hits-back-at-jp-morgan-ceo-defence-of-federal-reserve-jamie-dimon" rel="nofollow">bank bosses in America</a> pushed back against the Trump administration. This week, Jonathan Freedland speaks to the economist <a href="https://kleinmanenergy.upenn.edu/people/heather-boushey/" rel="nofollow">Heather Boushey</a> about why a fight with Wall Street might be <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/business/2026/jan/13/trump-economy-cost-of-living" rel="nofollow">one the president regrets</a>

If it’s not threats of military action against <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/jan/05/trump-colombia-invasion-petro" rel="nofollow">Colombia</a> and Cuba, or talk of taking <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/jan/07/what-are-trumps-real-options-for-gaining-control-of-greenland" rel="nofollow">Greenland</a> from Denmark, it’s seizing <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/jan/07/marinera-seized-tanker-atlantic-us-uk-russia" rel="nofollow">oil tankers</a> 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 the hour at the hands of the US president

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 Phillips, about whether or not Trump is likely to end his military campaign in the region – or if this is just the beginning

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, <a href="https://time.com/author/eric-cortellessa/" rel="nofollow">Eric Cortellessa</a>, <a href="https://unherd.com/author/rosie-gray/" rel="nofollow">Rosie Gray</a> and <a href="https://www.vanityfair.com/contributor/dan-adler?srsltid=AfmBOors6wjTRHJdLnX2akcQcGH_oFdYn10kj6tYpphXwmvruv_vUplx" rel="nofollow">Dan Adler</a> 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?

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 <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/author/ashley-parker/" rel="nofollow">Ashley Parker</a>, <a href="https://unherd.com/author/rosie-gray/" rel="nofollow">Rosie Gray</a> and <a href="https://time.com/author/eric-cortellessa/" rel="nofollow">Eric Cortellessa</a> 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

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 <a href="https://journalism.columbia.edu/directory/gwenda-linda-blair" rel="nofollow">Gwenda Blair</a> and the reporters <a href="https://unherd.com/author/rosie-gray/" rel="nofollow">Rosie Gray</a> and <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/author/ashley-parker/" rel="nofollow">Ashley Parker</a> introduce us to the family members who helped Donald Trump succeed on his road to the White House and in his time in office

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 corruption from Trump’s first year in office

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 <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/series/blackbox" rel="nofollow">Listen to the full series from The Guardian Investigates podcast</a>

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 <a href="https://www.liberalcurrents.com/sovereignty-for-me-none-for-thee/" rel="nofollow">Joseph Stieb</a> about the Trump administration’s national security strategy

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