America Explained is a podcast about American politics, foreign policy & culture for an international audience. Every fortnight it brings you the voices and perspectives shaping America - and its impact on the world - today. Hosted by historian and column
*** *** Receive 15% off the America Explained newsletter *** ***Andy and Catherine talk through the latest polls, and about how much to trust polling in general. Andy also shares his number one nightmare scenario for Harris losing on election day.CreditsHost - Andy GawthorpeCo-host - Catherine Wood
*** *** Receive 15% off the America Explained newsletter *** ***Andy is joined by Elena Guido from the Leiden Asia Centre to discuss all things North Korea. We talked about North Korea's growing alignment with Russia and China, what trends have been affecting the country domestically, and whether - as some former U.S. officials have claimed - war on the peninsula is imminent.CreditsHost - Andy GawthorpeCo-host - Catherine Wood
*** *** Receive 15% off the America Explained newsletter *** ***Andy and Martijn talk about what the foreign policy of a Harris administration might look like, touching on Ukraine, Israel, China and more. Plus, what's the foreign policy connection of ther recent Trump assassination attempt?CreditsHost - Andy GawthorpeCo-host - Catherine Wood
*** *** Receive 15% off the America Explained newsletter *** ***Andy and Catherine discuss the latest from the DNC, how Tim Walz is being received, and the protests over U.S. policy towards Gaza. They also talk about the history of party conventions and how modern conventions differ from those of the past.CreditsHost - Andy GawthorpeCo-host - Catherine Wood
*** *** Receive 15% off the America Explained newsletter *** ***Andy and Martijn discuss last month's NATO summit. Although the event ended up getting overshadowed by concerns about Biden's health and age, it was an important event in its own right - and a good moment to take stock of the challenges currently facing the alliance. We talked about NATO's new secretary general Mark Rutte, the state of the war in Ukraine, and the threat Trump poses to the alliance.CreditsHost - Andy GawthorpeCo-host - Martijn van Ette
*** *** Receive 15% off the America Explained newsletter *** ***Andy and Catherine discuss the head-spinning events of the past few weeks, focusing on why Joe Biden decided to drop out and what Kamala Harris needs to do next to win.CreditsHost - Andy GawthorpeCo-host - Catherine Wood
*** *** Receive 15% off the America Explained newsletter *** ***Nowadays we're used to the idea that America will stick by Israel almost no matter what. But American policymakers didn't always view Israel as an ally or a strategic asset for the United States. On the anniversary of the partition of Palestine by the United Nations - an event which set the stage for the modern Middle East - Andy discusses America's attitude towards the creation of the state of Israel in the 1940s.CreditsHost - Andy Gawthorpe
*** *** Receive 15% off the America Explained newsletter *** ***What's the relationship between U.S.-China competition, and the global struggle against climate change? Andy explores how the former is making the latter harder.CreditsHost - Andy Gawthorpe
*** *** Receive 15% off the America Explained newsletter *** ***In the first of a series, Andy gives explainers on U.S. swing states. Up first is Arizona, whose identity and politics are very different to the Midwestern states which people usually have in mind when they think about the most hotly-contested states. It's also a place where the big issues driving this election - immigration, election denialism, and abortion are unusually turbo-charged.CreditsHost - Andy Gawthorpe
*** *** Receive 15% off the America Explained newsletter *** ***Andy and Catherine talk about Trump's trial in New York, and whether there's any real chance of him going to jail before the November election.CreditsHost - Andy GawthorpeCo-host - Catherine Wood
*** 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 the relationship, what drove policy during the Trump administration, and the role that oil plays in the broader U.S. stance in the Middle East.CreditsHost - Andy Gawthorpe
*** *** Receive 15% off the America Explained newsletter *** ***Andy and Catherine go over some lesser-known and surprising recent Supreme Court decisions covering democracy, animal rights, and Native affairs. CreditsHost - Andy GawthorpeCo-host - Catherine Wood
*** *** Receive 15% off the America Explained newsletter *** ***Nowadays we're used to the idea that antagonism exists between the West and China, but we don't often pause to consider that this antagonism long predates China's rising economic and military power. Our guest today, Professor Jeffrey Crean from Tyler Junior College in Texas, is someone who has considered this - and he's written a great book, The Fear of Chinese Power, which examines over 150 years of Western fears of China.CreditsHost - Andy GawthorpeCo-host - Martijn van Ette
*** *** Receive 15% off the America Explained newsletter *** ***In this special 100th episode of America Explained, Andy zooms out to look at what happened in the four years since the podcast launched to bring us back to this moment - one in which Donald Trump could once again become president of the United States.CreditsHost - Andy Gawthorpe
*** *** Receive 15% off the America Explained newsletter *** ***In this episode, Andy is joined by Martijn to talk about the hold-up in getting aid for Ukraine through the House of Representatives. How is it that Speaker Mike Johnson can single-handedly hold up this aid? And will Ukraine eventually get it?CreditsHost - Andy GawthorpeCo-host - Martijn van Ette
*** *** Receive 15% off the America Explained newsletter *** ***In this special episode, Andy is interviewed by Phil Dobbie and Roger Herring of The Why Curve podcast about how Europe should prepare for a second Trump presidency. We talked about trade, alliances and democracy, as well as how Trump's re-election might lead to an undignified scramble to get on his good side.CreditsHost - Andy Gawthorpe
*** *** Receive 15% off the America Explained newsletter *** ***The border is the big news in America right now. The Biden administration has embraced a hard-right approach to border security - but Republicans in Congress won't pass it because they want the president to look bad. Meanwhile, Texas Governor Greg Abbott is taking the law into his own hands - using arguments that date back to the civil war.CreditsHost - Andy Gawthorpe
*** *** Receive 15% off the America Explained newsletter *** ***Donald Trump has won early primary contests in Iowa and New Hampshire. But the results have highlighted some warning signs for his campaign. Plus, Ron DeSantis is gone. Why was anyone enthusiastic about him in the first place? Andy discusses.CreditsHost - Andy Gawthorpe
*** Receive 15% off the America Explained newsletter ***Since our last episode it was the Fourth of July, the holiday that many politicians and commentators like to mark by talking nonsense about the Founding Fathers. In this episode Andy explores all of the ways in which popular debate often gets the Founders wrong, and explains how the founding generation was riven by all kinds of disagreements and doubts about the America they were creating. Check out America: A History, a new podcast from the University of East Anglia.CreditsHost - Andy Gawthorpe
*** *** Receive 15% off the America Explained newsletter *** ***In the early days of the conflict in Gaza, the Biden administration called its approach to Israel "hugging them close". But now more and more disagreements are emerging between between the two countries, and hugs don't seem to be working anymore. What does this mean for the rest of the conflict and the broader future of the Israeli-Palestinian struggle?CreditsHost - Andy Gawthorpe
*** *** Receive 15% off the America Explained newsletter *** ***Nowadays we're used to the idea that America will stick by Israel almost no matter what. But American policymakers didn't always view Israel as an ally or a strategic asset for the United States. On the anniversary of the partition of Palestine by the United Nations - an event which set the stage for the modern Middle East - Andy discusses America's attitude towards the creation of the state of Israel in the 1940s.CreditsHost - Andy Gawthorpe
*** *** Receive 15% off the America Explained newsletter *** ***It's roughly one year until the 2024 presidential election. There have been a host of conflicting signals about what the outcome might be recently - from some terrible polls for Biden to some good state and local election results for Democrats. Andy unpacks what it all means and what the big challenges are for Biden.CreditsHost - Andy Gawthorpe
*** Check out the America Explained newsletter for regular posts on the big issues in U.S. politics and foreign policy and no extra spam: https://amerex.substack.com/ ***The latest idea floating around in Republican Party circles is that America should invade Mexico to combat drug cartels. Andy explains why they're saying this and how the history of America's previous interventions in Mexico shows that it's a really bad idea.CreditsHost - Andy Gawthorpe
*** *** Receive 15% off the America Explained newsletter *** ***Hamas and Israel are headed for war, and the entire region might get sucked in - along with the United States. In this episode Andy explores how the U.S. is responding to the conflict and how it is affecting American politics and cultureCreditsHost - Andy Gawthorpe
*** *** Receive 15% off the America Explained newsletter *** ***Speaker of the House of Representatives Kevin McCarthy just became the first speaker in American history to be voted out of his office. Far from a hapless victim, McCarthy played a key role in radicalizing his own party and making it impossible for anyone to impose order on it. That means his successors are likely to have just as hard a time as he did, as Andy discusses in this episode.CreditsHost - Andy Gawthorpe
*** 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/ ***Andy and Catherine explore the roots of today's anti-LGBT panic in the postwar 'Lavendar scare', talk about why conservatives today have chosen to demonize gay and trans people, and look at some of the concrete policies being implemented in Florida, Texas and elsewhere.CreditsHost - Andy GawthorpeCo-host - Catherine Wood
*** *** Receive 15% off the America Explained newsletter *** ***This month is the anniversary of when Lewis and Clark returned from their famous expedition across the North American continent. In popular culture the story is often portrayed as one of brave adventurers overcoming great odds. But what was actually the purpose of their mission? In this episode Andy talks about how Lewis and Clark's expedition is better understood as a reconnaissance mission before a war than a trek of peaceful discovery.Email show suggestions.CreditsHost - Andy Gawthorpe
*** *** Receive 15% off the America Explained newsletter *** ***Trump has been indicted again! Andy talks about why the Georgia indictment is so much more dangerous for Trump than the others, and in the second half of the episode analyzes the current state of the GOP primary.Follow Andy on Twitter for more.CreditsHost - Andy Gawthorpe
*** Check out the free America Explained newsletter for regular posts on American politics and foreign policy ***Donald Trump faces his third serious criminal indictment this year. Andy breaks down Special Counsel Jack Smith's legal strategy and the problems it might face.Follow Andy on Twitter for more.CreditsHost - Andy Gawthorpe
*** Check out the free America Explained newsletter for regular posts on American politics and foreign policy ***When we think of America, one of the first images that comes to mind are often a neat row of suburban houses, or long highways stretching into the distance. But how did those pictures come about, and what about the people who got left out - the people who couldn't afford one of those suburban houses, or whose life would be much easier if they could travel by rail? In this episode Andy and Catherine discuss the ways that America's built environment has been shaped by race and why undoing its toxic legacies is so difficult.Follow Andy on Twitter for more.CreditsHost - Andy GawthorpeCo-host - Catherine Wood
*** Receive 15% off the America Explained newsletter ***Since our last episode it was the Fourth of July, the holiday that many politicians and commentators like to mark by talking nonsense about the Founding Fathers. In this episode Andy explores all of the ways in which popular debate often gets the Founders wrong, and explains how the founding generation was riven by all kinds of disagreements and doubts about the America they were creating. Check out America: A History, a new podcast from the University of East Anglia.CreditsHost - Andy Gawthorpe
*** Receive 15% off the America Explained newsletter using the following link: https://amerex.substack.com/subscribe?coupon=d5d87848 ***For a few hours last Saturday, as mutinous Russian soldiers marched towards Moscow, it seemed like we were on the brink of entering a radically changed world. In the end the crisis passed, but only by ushering in a new era of flux and instability in Russian politics. What opportunities and risks does this pose to America? Andy unpacks it in this episode.CreditsHost - Andy Gawthorpe
*** Receive 15% off the America Explained newsletter using the following link: https://amerex.substack.com/subscribe?coupon=d5d87848 ***Trump has been indicted - again! But the trial might never take place before next year's election, and after that Trump could pardon himself. Andy unpacks why what Trump is alleged to have won is so bad but why he may very well not face justice.CreditsHost - Andy GawthorpeCo-host - Catherine Wood
*** 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 most successful politicians are often the most successful storytellers. Barack Obama, Winston Churchill, Ronald Reagan - they all excelled at telling spinning narratives with which their supporters could identify. But what if one side of the political battle is much more adept at telling stories than the other? That's the argument of David Ricci, an emeritus professor at Hebrew University in Jerusalem, who joined me for this episode. In his book Politics Without Stories: The Liberal Predicament, Professor Ricci argued that conservative stories are more effective than liberal stories, giving the left a structural disadvantage in American politics. Tune in to find out why.Follow Andy on Twitter for more.CreditsHost - Andy Gawthorpe
*** Check out the America Explained newsletter for regular posts on the big issues in U.S. politics and foreign policy and no extra spam: https://amerex.substack.com/ ***It always seems to be election season in America, and one reason is the system of primary elections, in which each party picks its candidate before the general election. But why do primaries exist, and are they a good idea? In this episode Andy explores the history of primaries and what impact they have on American politics today.Is there a particular question you want answered about America? Drop me a line below and I'll address it in a future episode.Andy's Twitter profile.CreditsAndy Gawthorpe - host
*** Check out the America Explained newsletter for regular posts on the big issues in U.S. politics and foreign policy and no extra spam: https://amerex.substack.com/ ***For a long time, Ron DeSantis has been discussed as the only person who could beat Trump to the Republican presidential nomination. Now his star is falling and the possibility of him posing a serious challenge to Trump seems to be diminishing. How did he blow it?CreditsHost - Andy GawthorpeCo-host - Catherine Wood
*** Check out the America Explained newsletter for regular posts on the big issues in U.S. politics and foreign policy and no extra spam: https://amerex.substack.com/ ***The latest idea floating around in Republican Party circles is that America should invade Mexico to combat drug cartels. Andy explains why they're saying this and how the history of America's previous interventions in Mexico shows that it's a really bad idea.CreditsHost - Andy Gawthorpe
*** 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/ ***Andy and Catherine explore the roots of today's anti-LGBT panic in the postwar 'Lavendar scare', talk about why conservatives today have chosen to demonize gay and trans people, and look at some of the concrete policies being implemented in Florida, Texas and elsewhere.CreditsHost - Andy GawthorpeCo-host - Catherine Wood
*** 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/ ***Donald Trump has been indicted and will surrender himself to authorities next Tuesday. Who has the worst takes about the news, and what are the implications for American politics? Andy and Catherine discuss.CreditsHost - Andy GawthorpeCo-host - Catherine Wood
*** 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 committed to Brexit, nervous. After four years of frequent praise and encouragement - if not much actual concrete assistance - from Donald Trump, they worry that Biden will prove much less sympathetic to Brexit and Britain in general.In this episode, we look beyond the personal relationship between leaders to the fundamental shared interests which have defined Anglo-American ties since World War II. British leaders shouldn't worry so much about whether Biden's Irish heritage makes him anti-British, but much more about the ways in which Brexit is permanently reducing London's usefulness to Washington. But as we explore in this episode, the myths they have told themselves about the relationship often make an honest reckoning impossible.CreditsHost - Andy Gawthorpe
*** Check out the free America Explained newsletter for a few posts a month on American politics and foreign policy ***In the last few months, Biden has launched an aggressive effort to cripple the Chinese semiconductor industry, a Chinese spy balloon has floated across America, and Beijing has allegedly been preparing to provide arms to Russia to help with the conflict in Ukraine. Andy and Catherine talk about how Biden is tougher on China than Trump, the significance of the semiconductor ban, and possible futures for the relationship.Follow Andy on Twitter for more.CreditsHost - Andy GawthorpeCo-host - Catherine Wood
*** Check out the free America Explained newsletter for occasional written posts on the big issues in U.S. politics and foreign policy and no extra spam ***How might artificial intelligence change the nature of warfare, and what political and ethical dilemmas does it pose in civilian society? Nowadays popular culture is full of speculation about these questions, but popular films and TV series often run far ahead of reality, while at the same time downplaying the dangers which exist in the real world. In this episode I interviewed Dr. Kenneth Payne, author of a great - and highly-acclaimed - new book on war and artificial intelligence about these questions, and more.Follow Andy on Twitter for more.Kenneth's new book.CreditsHost - Andy Gawthorpe
*** Check out the free America Explained newsletter for a few posts a month on American politics and foreign policy ***When we think of America, one of the first images that comes to mind are often a neat row of suburban houses, or long highways stretching into the distance. But how did those pictures come about, and what about the people who got left out - the people who couldn't afford one of those suburban houses, or whose life would be much easier if they could travel by rail? In this episode Andy and Catherine discuss the ways that America's built environment has been shaped by race and why undoing its toxic legacies is so difficult.Follow Andy on Twitter for more.CreditsHost - Andy GawthorpeCo-host - Catherine Wood
*** Check out the free America Explained newsletter for a few posts a month on American politics and foreign policy ***Politics started early this year, with tumult in the House of Representatives and President Biden getting a classified document scandal of his own. Andy and Catherine dissect the issues and offer some predictions for how it all might unfold in 2023.Follow Andy on Twitter for more.CreditsHost - Andy GawthorpeCo-host - Catherine Wood
*** Check out the free America Explained newsletter for a few posts a month on American politics and foreign policy ***There is a humanitarian crisis at the southern border, and Republicans in Congress will be working hard to make it a political crisis for the Biden administration in the coming year. But the dirty secret of Biden's immigration policy is that it continued the use of a very repressive tool first used by Trump - so-called "Title 42" immediate expulsions. This episode traces the debate over the issue and how the situation at the border got so bad.Correction: In the episode, Andy discussed a new "humanitarian parole" program created by the administration and stated there are only 30,000 places on it. That should have been "30,000 places a month".Follow Andy on Twitter for more.CreditsHost - Andy GawthorpeResearcher, editorial assistant - Catherine Wood
*** Check out the free America Explained newsletter for a few posts a month on American politics and foreign policy ***Merry Christmas from America Explained. Send your episode ideas for the new year: producer@america-explained.com. Follow Andy on Twitter for more.CreditsHost - Andy GawthorpeResearcher, editorial assistant - Catherine Wood
*** Check out the free America Explained newsletter for a few posts a month on American politics and foreign policy ***The war in Ukraine has shaken up global energy markets and created fears of a seriously bad winter in Europe if temperatures go to low. But although it looks like disaster will be averted this time around, there's still no real plan for next year. This episode dives into some of the long-term geopolitical and climate implications created by the war's impact on energy markets.Follow Andy on Twitter for more.CreditsHost - Andy GawthorpeResearcher, editorial assistant - Catherine Wood
*** Check out the free America Explained newsletter for occasional written posts on the big issues in U.S. politics and foreign policy and no extra spam ***Intersectionality and critical race theory have become big issues in American politics in recent years. But watching that "debate" - if we can even call it that - has not been a great way to get informed about what these topics mean and what their history is. In this episode I clear it up with Shanah Khan, coordinator of Intersecting Madrid and a researcher into U.S. intersectionality issues.Shanah's organization, Intersect Madrid.Shanah's podcast.CreditsHost - Andy Gawthorpe
*** Check out the free America Explained newsletter for a few posts a month on American politics and foreign policy ***Democrats had one of the best midterm showings of the postwar era. In this episode, Andy explains how Joe Biden's strategy of reaching out to independent and even right-wing voters has been vindicated. He also talks about what's next for the GOP, which has been engulfed in chaos since its poor showing last week.Follow Andy on Twitter for more.CreditsHost - Andy GawthorpeResearcher, editorial assistant - Catherine Wood
*** Check out the free https://amerex.substack.com/ (America Explained newsletter) for a few posts a month on American politics and foreign policy *** In this episode, Andy and Catherine discuss next week's midterms. We talk about the current polls and why they seem to have got worse for the Democrats in the last few weeks, then highlight some important ballot initiatives and races taking place across the country. Finally, we talk about what implications the midterms might have for the future of American democracy and U.S. foreign policy towards Ukraine. https://twitter.com/andygawt (Follow Andy on Twitter for more). Credits Host - Andy Gawthorpe Researcher, editorial assistant, host - Catherine Wood
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