0:02

This is a Global Player

0:04

original podcast. For

0:06

our final newsagents USA

0:09

of the year, we're doing your

0:12

questions and our attempt

0:14

at answers. And we're going to

0:16

start with this one from Hugh. One,

0:18

which state did you enjoy visiting the most?

0:21

Two, which state was the most

0:23

nuts? And three, which

0:25

state would you choose to live

0:27

in if you ever moved to

0:29

America again in John's case? That's

0:32

from Hugh, a newsagent, 200%. Right,

0:35

mateless. We love Hugh, don't we? We

0:37

love Hugh. I

0:39

mean, just listen to every US edition and UK edition.

0:42

And the rest. God bless you, sir.

0:44

God bless you, sir. Which state? Which state did you

0:46

enjoy visiting the most? Well, I was thinking about this.

0:48

I have to say I arrived in Tennessee by

0:51

road through the, is it the

0:53

Appalachians or the Appalachians? Yeah, the mountains. And

0:55

then I went straight into a

0:57

bar and an old man took my hand

0:59

and started dancing with me in Nashville. And

1:02

so that was an amazing way to start

1:04

seeing the country and western side

1:06

of Nashville, Tennessee. But

1:09

actually, I'm going to plump for Iowa

1:11

because I was there on

1:13

a snowy night in 2016, the

1:16

night of the caucus, when we

1:18

literally got invited into somebody's home.

1:21

And of course, as the Brit, everyone's there

1:23

and assembled for the caucus. This is where they

1:25

literally decide their vote by crossing the floor.

1:27

They walk from one side to the other. And

1:29

I went in thinking, oh, this is a lovely

1:31

house party. I'm sure they'll be offering sort

1:33

of red or white wine. Of course, there's no

1:36

alcohol. There's juice and tray bake cake. And

1:38

you help yourself to juice and tray bake cake or

1:40

maybe a coffee. And you sit

1:42

down and you watch this whole

1:45

thing, democracy in action, in this

1:47

tiny, snowy cottage in Iowa.

1:49

And it absolutely gave me the shivers.

1:51

I just loved it. Can

1:54

I tell you why it won't be Iowa for me?

1:56

I went to Iowa from the UK. I was

1:59

meant to be Iowa. presenting the

2:01

one o'clock television news from

2:03

Iowa. I set my alarm,

2:07

this is when you set your alarm on

2:09

an old-fashioned phone where the phone doesn't automatically

2:11

change time zones. My alarm goes

2:13

off, I thought thank God I have slept

2:15

right the way through the night. I showered,

2:17

shaved, got dressed into my suit and realized

2:20

I hadn't adjusted the time I had gone

2:22

to bed and the alarm had gone off

2:24

45 minutes later. I have not slept through

2:26

the night, it was still the middle of

2:28

the night in Iowa and I was dressed

2:30

and ready to go and we

2:32

were six hours still away from going on

2:35

air and I just wanted to cry. I wanted

2:38

to cry at that particular moment. Anyway

2:40

my favorite state, I think

2:42

Idaho, I mean I just think it's so jaw-droppingly

2:45

beautiful and it just

2:47

looks like you've arrived in a Western movie,

2:49

there was still a load of snow on

2:51

the mountains and there were these kind of

2:53

streets where you could still tie your horse

2:56

up outside the pharmacy or the saloon or

2:58

whatever it happened to be. I just thought

3:00

God this bit of America I really really

3:02

love. Right okay we're taking too long but

3:04

we could do the whole half an hour

3:07

on just this huge question. Right which state

3:09

was the most nuts? Really easy,

3:11

it was West Virginia. West Virginia is

3:13

the only place I've been to in

3:15

America where they don't actually want

3:17

to talk to you if you've got a

3:19

TV camera because everywhere else people are piling

3:22

out to give you their thoughts, their

3:24

box pops, bring you in and West

3:26

Virginia feels I think it is partly the way

3:28

it's sort of stuck in its own valley

3:31

inside the mountains. It is so insular

3:33

and it is so easy to feel

3:35

foreign there and I ended

3:37

up thinking yeah I just walked over

3:39

somebody's grave it left a real sort of weird

3:42

feeling. Okay for me, most

3:44

nuts, Nevada, again broadcasting very

3:46

early in the morning and we were broadcasting

3:48

from a casino floor and I walked across

3:50

to our live position at about 3.30 four

3:53

o'clock in the morning as it was then I just

3:55

thought what a friendly place Nevada is because there were all

3:58

these young women coming up to me and going Hi.

4:00

Hi. They are.

4:02

They love you. Hi. I

4:05

just thought, what a friendly place, and then realized that maybe,

4:07

maybe they wanted my money

4:09

for other things. Nevada was where

4:11

I got taken by Donald Trump

4:14

to watch his, literally, he owned

4:16

the American beauty show, Miss America.

4:18

Miss America, yeah. Yeah. And he

4:20

invited me in there, and he was the judge.

4:22

When he met Zolodomir Zelensky, the

4:25

Ukrainian president, he said, Ukraine, you've

4:27

got some beautiful women. I remember

4:29

them from Miss Universe Pageant. What

4:32

a lovely line for diplomacy. Great opening line for diplomacy.

4:34

Great opening line for diplomacy. Probably quite far. And

4:37

which state would you choose to live in

4:39

if you ever moved to America again in

4:41

John's case? Well, I wouldn't go

4:43

back to D.C. I've been lived there, loved

4:45

it, but I've done D.C., I've done Virginia,

4:47

I've done the surrounding states, Maryland, et cetera.

4:50

If I could move California to

4:53

the East Coast, I'd choose California

4:55

because it's got so much. It's got

4:57

sunshine, fabulous light. It's got mountains. It's

4:59

got fabulous national parks. It's

5:01

got a lot, but it's too far away. You

5:03

move California to you. So yeah, California's got to

5:06

come 3,000 miles across the coast. I

5:08

couldn't live in America. Full stop.

5:10

Guns. Yeah. I just can't

5:12

do it. And it's really weird because I remember

5:14

being on a trip, and I can't remember, we

5:17

were talking about it with Americans. They were like,

5:19

oh my God, you've been to Iran, you've been

5:21

to Cuba. Where's the most dangerous place you've ever

5:23

been? And I was like, America, it's the most

5:26

random place in terms of accidental death. I do

5:28

feel that still. Yeah. And so that

5:30

was one of the reasons actually at the end. I

5:32

was happy to leave having done about

5:34

eight or nine mass shooting incidents. I

5:36

just thought enough. You didn't do the

5:38

mass shooting incidents in your cupboard then. That

5:40

is fair point. Thank you. We'll be taking

5:43

more of your questions. Welcome to News Agents

5:45

USA. It's

5:48

John. It's Emily. And

5:54

we're loving your questions. They're really good, aren't

5:56

they? Really, really good. I'm a sort of

5:58

awake at 4am. do? Like

6:00

I do because I'm just awake at odd times

6:02

of day. Adam Bull writes in

6:05

and he says if Trump gets in, is

6:07

one of his first acts going to be to

6:09

get rid of the rule that you can only

6:12

serve as president twice? Memorably

6:15

apart from FDR who's said four

6:17

terms. Look, Adam, I don't think

6:19

so actually. I think this time

6:22

round for Trump is predominantly almost

6:25

uniquely about revenge. I think it's

6:27

about finishing the job, proving everyone

6:29

wrong. And finishing his enemies. Yes.

6:31

And then I think that's it. I think he'd prefer to

6:33

be on a golf course, quite frankly, in the

6:35

sunshine once he's locked everyone up

6:38

and done what he wants to do. He

6:40

will then be really old, but I don't

6:42

think of him as having a sort

6:44

of passion for reform or a

6:46

zeal for kind of infrastructure creation. I

6:49

just think he wants to get in

6:51

there to do away with

6:53

the people who he think have done wrong to

6:55

him. Maybe he'll make it hereditary

6:57

system. Yeah. But you get rid of

6:59

elections. Like Kim Jong, his favorite guy.

7:01

And then Ivanka takes over as

7:04

the next president. And Don Jr.

7:06

III takes over after that.

7:08

I think that is probably much more likely. I

7:10

agree with you. I mean, in the end he

7:12

hated it and he hated all the, he liked

7:14

all the flummery that went with being president, the

7:16

Air Force One, the power, the motorcades, all the

7:18

rest of it. But the rest of it turned

7:20

out to be a nightmare. And I think you're

7:22

absolutely right. He is going to want to settle

7:25

scores most of all if

7:27

he became president again. Right. Let's

7:29

go on to Henry Vail. Henry

7:31

asked, it seems that 50% of

7:33

America has stepped into a world

7:35

of altered reality and fat denial.

7:37

Is this the inevitable outcome of

7:40

our new social media dominated world?

7:42

To which I would say, I mean, there's

7:44

a degree of truth in that. I mean,

7:46

it's undoubtedly true that so many of the

7:49

lies that were told about the 2020 election

7:51

by Donald Trump, so many of the

7:53

kind of conspiracy theories that

7:56

were propagated between 2016 and 2020. were

8:00

at the hands of

8:02

clump supporters, were given oxygen

8:05

and propagated on social media,

8:07

and they have altered fundamentally

8:09

the way that dialogue is

8:11

conducted in the US. So

8:13

you do get a situation where millions still

8:15

believe that an election was stolen when there

8:17

is no evidence of it. Henry, yeah, I

8:20

think that's right. But Henry, I'm going to

8:22

answer it slightly differently because I think- You're

8:24

being a politician, you're saying, that's a very

8:26

interesting question, Henry, but what I'd like to

8:28

say is- No, I'm going to say,

8:30

actually, that I disagree with you then. I think

8:33

the altered reality has been a long, long

8:35

time coming. And one of the most fascinating

8:37

books I read on the history of America,

8:39

recent history of America, was by Kurt Anderson.

8:42

It was called Fantasyland, how America went haywire.

8:45

And Kurt Anderson's a great sort

8:47

of cultural writer. He wrote it

8:49

before Trump came to power, but

8:51

it shows how the seeds of

8:53

that craziness were sown. And it

8:55

takes you into places that I

8:58

had never thought about before. But

9:00

I think Trump then came along and broke the

9:03

political gravity, didn't he? Everything that

9:05

we thought would work against him,

9:07

whether it was calling Mexican immigrants,

9:10

rapists, and thieves, we thought, oh, God, that's going

9:12

to be the moment he pulls out, or Pussygate,

9:14

oh, God, that's going to be the moment he

9:17

steps down. And actually now, he's

9:19

literally using phrases like poisoning the

9:22

blood that comes straight from mine

9:24

camp. He's praising dictators. He's doing

9:26

it for effect, and because it

9:28

gives him a boost. So I

9:30

think- But with social media, it

9:32

travels so much faster. It travels

9:34

so much faster. And I think

9:36

what we're seeing now is how he's

9:39

engineered it to work for himself. So the

9:41

more all of us go, I

9:43

can't believe it. It's the words of Adolf

9:45

Hitler, the happier he is. Interestingly, just

9:48

as a sight of that, the Biden

9:50

team, the White House, the comms director

9:52

has talked publicly about how we are

9:54

going to keep saying, this is

9:56

Hitler, this is Mussolini. And they're leaning

9:58

into it. They want to- take Trump

10:00

on on this stuff so that every time

10:02

he talks about immigrants being vermin, they

10:05

want to go after him for it. That

10:07

is their new strategy rather than just ignoring

10:09

it and saying, oh, if we kind of

10:11

go, oh, how shocking, then that just gives

10:13

Trump more publicity. Yeah, I think it's really

10:15

interesting because when people around him are asked

10:17

what they think of his language, they

10:20

don't really have a good reply. I was

10:22

listening to Lindsey Graham saying, oh, you're

10:24

going on about language. What

10:27

about the border policies? And you're like, you

10:30

can't really believe that language is insignificant.

10:32

You can't be a

10:34

politician of that stature in

10:37

the US, in the biggest democracy,

10:39

almost the biggest democracy in the world, and

10:41

not think that language is important. I just

10:43

don't believe it. So I think this will

10:46

start to follow around those people who are

10:48

close and have to go out and defend

10:50

them. It's not sounding very good at the

10:52

moment. Let's go on to Justine Hancock, and

10:54

it's about funding. There's one thing I've always

10:57

been curious about is the issue of fundraising

10:59

and why it's so important that individual candidates

11:01

have to fundraise themselves. And it's not a

11:03

central thing for each of the parties. I

11:06

mean, the essence of that is that

11:08

one, America is a huge country,

11:10

no Sherlock, but it means it's very

11:13

decentralized. It's federal, so everyone is doing

11:15

their own thing. There is no conservative

11:17

party HQ or Labour Party

11:19

HQ like there is in the UK.

11:22

The Democratic Party is a million

11:24

different organizations spread across the country.

11:27

The other thing is that if you're in the House of

11:29

Representatives, you are running

11:32

for election every two years. That's the

11:34

maximum term. Two years, and then there's

11:36

every seat is up for grabs, which

11:38

means that you are permanently fundraising to

11:40

fund the advertising spots that you need

11:42

to put on TV because your opponent

11:45

will be doing exactly that for the

11:47

primary campaigns. And so you're never

11:49

actually really, really, if you're

11:51

a member of the House of Representatives, you're

11:53

never legislating Your fundraising. You're raising

11:55

it in the whole time because you

11:57

have to think how much you would.

12:00

Actually, get done politically in terms

12:02

of legislation passed if you weren't

12:04

spending all your time at chicken

12:06

dinners, guy. A chicken

12:08

did is the very least. If you

12:10

want lobster dinners where people have got

12:13

really big checkbooks that they can open

12:15

and Tv huge sums of money. Yeah,

12:17

because the money that is being spent

12:19

on political campaigning in the Us is

12:21

extraordinary, but the party's central eats and

12:24

do very little about with local candidates

12:26

as a seamlessness as well about richness

12:28

britches in America which you. Don't. Have

12:30

here is somebody was spending too much

12:32

on a campaign. If you had a

12:34

candidate. Who was flying themselves around in their

12:37

own helicopter? They would not do well in

12:39

a you tell exit look. This is totally

12:41

transactional in a way that the you case

12:43

in a we had on the Us edition

12:46

of the podcast last week. Matthew Balls and

12:48

the former Us Ambassador to London. He

12:50

got the job in London because he braced

12:53

a ton of money if for Barack Obama

12:55

from small donors in the two thousand and

12:57

eight election campaign. That's why he was given

12:59

an ambassadorship. If you let me to, your

13:02

private jet are lots and lots of occasions

13:04

for me to fly around the country. I'll

13:06

give you a massive house in London, beautiful

13:08

house in London or whatever happens to be

13:11

A So. it's just simply different. The attitude

13:13

towards money in politics in America was much

13:15

more open. I would say that it is

13:17

in the Uk where it's. Oh,

13:20

we've given you a C D.

13:22

Well Dogs Zero Zero really shows

13:24

where your service to a political

13:26

fundraising. Yeah. Kevin,

13:29

Kevin But. Sleep was asking about

13:31

and blink in the Us Secretary of State

13:33

and this is such a good question that

13:35

again kevin it's sort of whoop meal from

13:37

my restlessness in the middle of the night,

13:39

less thought. Well why?

13:42

Isn't. This Anthony blink and mentioned

13:44

as a potential political candidates this

13:46

is Kevin Sclerosis. he sees be

13:48

a safe pair of hands that

13:50

wouldn't necessarily scare off G P

13:52

voters. Republicans. And I suppose

13:54

my first thought was actually the he's on

13:56

the Civil Service. Side of things You know

13:58

he's not a politician. not a sort of

14:00

political figure. He's somebody who's absolutely embedded in

14:03

the sort of diplomacy and the state's

14:05

craft of sort of helping other presidents.

14:08

But I also think there's something about

14:10

him, which is that he's frankly to

14:12

a bane. You know, he's a French

14:15

speaker, and he sort of

14:17

grew up in Paris. That did for John Perry, didn't it? I

14:19

don't think it makes you folksy enough. And

14:21

it sounds a crazy thing to say, but

14:23

he goes back with Biden a long way. I

14:25

mean, he was running Biden's presidential campaign

14:28

in 2008, the one that

14:30

Obama obviously won. But

14:32

he is a proper civil servant. And I

14:34

think it's probably like... In the US context,

14:36

they wouldn't say that. They would say he's a staffer. A

14:38

staffer. Okay. But I think it's the equivalent of

14:41

asking why somebody like Gus O'Donnell

14:44

wouldn't run for prime minister. It

14:46

just feels a different sort of character.

14:48

Maybe I'll be wrong because I agree with

14:50

you. I think he is quite cross party. And

14:52

I think he's very good diplomatically at his job

14:54

and at state craft. Am I wrong? What do

14:56

you think? No, I think you're right for all

14:59

of those reasons. I think he was seen as

15:01

a staffer. If Biden has

15:03

got anything like a difficult record to

15:05

defend, then I think that

15:07

he is too closely tied to Biden.

15:09

Everything he is is Biden. I also

15:12

think that as a secretary of state,

15:14

he has been consumed by

15:17

foreign policy. And

15:19

American elections are one on domestic policy.

15:21

But he finds himself in a very

15:23

similar position to someone else who I've

15:25

got to know a bit over the

15:27

years. And that's Condoleezza Rice, who

15:29

was secretary of state for George W

15:31

Bush, for Bush 43. She

15:34

never ran for the presidency. And loads

15:37

of people thought... I'm not ashamed though.

15:39

...loads of people thought she had got

15:41

a brilliant intellect. She's a fantastic musician,

15:43

a pianist, knows international affairs inside out.

15:46

Very smart and talented. And yet could never

15:49

be persuaded that she wanted to take the

15:51

next step. Maybe they're too smart. Actually, maybe

15:53

they're too smart to think that being president

15:55

would be a fun job. And also just

15:58

how poisonous the whole process is. If

16:00

you're a normal human being and haven't been

16:02

used to running a campaign and Condoleezza Rice

16:04

has never run for office Just

16:07

like Anthony Blinken has never run

16:09

for office when you Joe Biden you've run

16:11

for office a million times because you've been

16:13

a senator For 400 years, then it's a

16:15

different thing But I just think that if

16:17

you are outside of the electoral

16:19

bit of US politics It's

16:22

ghastly and you think I don't want to go

16:24

anywhere near it. Also. He's a New Yorker Blinken

16:26

I think that's quite hard. It's not like you

16:28

bring a sort of a southern state or

16:30

a sort of outlier swing state into the race

16:32

He's got New York. They've got New York. Let's

16:35

go on to Gordon Lee He asks if

16:37

Trump wins a second term could this lead

16:40

to cracks appearing in the Union is? California's

16:42

economy big enough for it to go

16:45

alone in theory. I remember in 2015

16:49

2016 interviewing a lot of kind of superstars

16:52

Actors and actresses and comedians who all

16:55

said if Trump wins were leaving and

16:57

they never did Trump won the election and

17:00

they never left America and Weirdly

17:02

on the night of the 2016

17:05

election one of the highest trending

17:07

hashtags was about Cal exit the

17:09

California exit And everyone was like,

17:11

oh my god, this is it. This is happening months

17:14

later maybe even years later an

17:17

investigation showed it was actually Trending

17:19

because of Russian bots. It was Putin

17:22

once again trying to stir things up

17:25

I don't think there is any

17:27

real appetite for people of California

17:29

to leave the Union But that's the thing I'm not

17:31

gonna have on my bingo card if I'm proved wrong

17:33

in 2024 That's a great story

17:35

But to the central question is does

17:37

it have the economic power to do

17:39

that? Yeah I California

17:42

if it was a country is about the fifth

17:44

or sixth biggest economy in the world and you

17:47

just look at the tech industry You

17:49

look at the movie business the media business

17:51

around LA you look at the central belt

17:53

which provides America with kind of most of

17:56

its soft Oh, just as a wine exactly

17:58

and then you look at down south and

18:00

there's biotech and all of a sudden San Diego.

18:02

Yeah, following the footsteps of Arnold

18:05

Schwarzenegger. The bottleneck of a governor. Yeah.

18:07

And so look, we should explain. This is

18:09

Steve Hilton. Steve Hilton, who was David Cameron's.

18:11

Very old friend of mine about 10, 15

18:13

years ago, 20 years ago, maybe,

18:16

who then went on to become David Cameron's.

18:18

He was the character in The Thick of

18:20

It, who wandered around without any shoes on

18:22

his gallant street. Exactly. That was Steve Hilton.

18:25

And he's been apparently very busy touring

18:27

the different counties of California over the

18:29

past year, now that his Fox show

18:31

may no longer be existing. So I

18:34

mean, he's- Because famously, you do not

18:36

need to have been born in the US to become

18:38

a governor. To be a governor. OK. We're

18:41

now moving into the sublime

18:43

slightly. Just looking at this question, I'm

18:45

laughing. It is so good. I know.

18:47

This is one of my, oh, is

18:49

it 4 AM or am I actually

18:52

asleep? This is not really a USA

18:54

question, but Maitless and Sople were in

18:56

a dream of mine last week. They

18:58

were in New Hampshire, taking a two-week-long

19:00

soup-making class hosted in a barn. So

19:03

obviously, the question that emerges from this is,

19:05

favorite soup? Well,

19:07

I saw this question and thought, you

19:10

haven't had a dream. You've probably been listening

19:12

to Lewis Goodall on a Friday afternoon on

19:14

the UK edition, where he talked to Invens

19:16

what John Sople and Emily Maitless are doing

19:19

at the weekend, which will explain why they're

19:21

never in the studio on a Friday. I

19:23

don't think I'd spend two weeks on a

19:25

soup-making course. With me? Would

19:28

you spend a day on a soup-making course with

19:30

me? Oh, definitely. Oh, a day? In New Hampshire,

19:32

I'd love that. New Hampshire is

19:34

kind of cool, actually. I like New Hampshire. New

19:37

Hampshire, the first time I went to New Hampshire

19:39

was to listen to Donald Trump in 2015 in

19:41

Manchester, Manchester,

19:44

New Hampshire, talk about the

19:46

opioid crisis. And it

19:48

was brand new to me at that time.

19:50

And I remember thinking, God, he

19:52

actually got onto something that became this massive, massive

19:55

story. I mean, obviously, it was big for the

19:57

people in New Hampshire. It was big for people

19:59

in America. The habit sort of hit the

20:01

political airways and I didn't understand what he

20:03

was talking about. That and of course that

20:05

became one of his. sort of central seems

20:08

under way that he won new. Hampshire has

20:10

to the yeah. my first time you Hampshire was

20:12

in two thousand and eight. With. Obama yeah

20:14

when he was running the first time on

20:16

it I went to i think to school

20:18

a high school and. It. Was electric

20:21

I just oh wow this guy

20:23

or the stage School gymnasium what

20:25

a superstar he was. Just in

20:27

terms of the or three of

20:29

the storytelling is fantastic and I

20:31

went skiing at a place called

20:33

can Stop and go Skiing in

20:35

New Hampshire. Swirls was and so

20:37

I see is terrible in. New

20:39

Hampshire where Hillary Clinton having lost

20:41

the primary. Started. Crying

20:43

and a cast? Yeah yeah yeah. it

20:45

was called something like Sarah see New

20:48

Hampshire rule. What was It was

20:50

like an abstract Now New Hampshire. And there

20:52

was this really sad. Moment where you suddenly

20:54

kind of thought oh my word was she

20:56

suddenly realized she was suddenly realized that Obama

20:59

was for real on my going away life

21:01

yeah adding that were not how it turned

21:03

out that way Joe Biden in Twenty Twenty

21:05

six top executive not wait for the result

21:08

he would still to South Carolina and didn't

21:10

wait to find out the he has com

21:12

fifth here in the primary amazingly blew it

21:15

away because even though his sons the as

21:17

almost sunk cost and you have saved by

21:19

Jim Clyburn in South Carolina and that was

21:21

when his fought since turned. Around we're going

21:24

to take a break. Will be back with more

21:26

of your costs. Interested in. The

21:29

News agency Usa with Emily made lists

21:32

and John said that. The

21:36

News Agency Usa. Welcome.

21:40

Back and we are still loving

21:42

your questions. I. We

21:45

saw. Very. Challenging the

21:47

also play enlightening first. Richard

21:50

Durham. Has said is the

21:52

Democrats. Could bring one president that from

21:54

history to guarantee they beat Donald Trump

21:56

in twenty twenty Four. who would

21:58

it be and why Well,

22:01

I mean, obvious two names that come to

22:03

mind, maybe three names. FDR

22:05

introduced the New Deal, hugely

22:07

successful. I'm not going to

22:09

say John F. Kennedy because I think that's too

22:12

obvious and actually John F. Kennedy was so untested.

22:14

And so, you know, by the time of his

22:16

political assassination, we didn't really know

22:18

whether he was going to achieve all the potential

22:20

that he had set out. And it was actually

22:22

Lyndon B. Johnson who pushed through

22:25

some of the most signature legislation like

22:27

the Fair Voting Act and Equal Rights

22:29

Act. I would say FDR, Clinton,

22:31

who remember, left office at the

22:33

end of the second term, post-impeachment

22:36

with extraordinary approval

22:38

ratings and was able

22:41

to connect with a vast swathe of

22:43

the American public. And after Donald Trump,

22:45

Bill Clinton's shenanigans could look quite minor

22:47

next to what Donald Trump did. Do

22:50

you know what I would say? I would say any

22:53

of them could beat Trump, actually.

22:55

And that's what's so weird. But

22:59

this is a binary choice. So

23:01

you're choosing Biden if you're a

23:03

Democrat over Trump. But Biden is

23:05

not a sexy choice. We know.

23:08

I heard this lovely phrase this morning on one of the

23:10

shows, which is like, the ex-boyfriend

23:12

that you're still hankering after coming

23:14

back is Obama. It's not Biden,

23:16

right? Biden is just the guy who's

23:19

there to do the job. But

23:21

I don't think there's... I can't think

23:23

of a Democratic president who

23:25

would come back and

23:28

not beat Trump at this

23:30

point. That's what's so extraordinary. Because Trump,

23:32

as we know, doesn't actually

23:34

win elections that easily. He hasn't

23:36

won anything since 2016. All

23:39

he's winning at the moment is

23:41

the polling race against other Republican

23:43

candidates. So I sort of want

23:46

to say anyone. That's why it's

23:48

so extraordinary. Anyone as long as they're young

23:50

enough. Because they do think... You

23:52

can't have FDR if he was now and he'd

23:54

be that clear. Exactly. And he'd be in

23:56

the wheelchair and he'd be like he was towards the end of the second World War. Or

23:59

now. that the principal thing that is

24:01

counting against Biden is age and

24:03

I just think it's undeniable. I think there

24:05

are all sorts of things where in terms

24:07

of the politics of what he's done, what

24:09

he's achieved, what he's notched up, the state

24:11

of the US economy, the growth rate, everything

24:13

is looking good. Do you know what? I suddenly

24:15

realised this, that Trump loves nothing

24:18

more. There is nothing he values more than

24:20

strength and I'm no therapist but I

24:22

wonder if he like didn't have enough

24:24

like action men when he was a

24:27

kid because everyone he admires

24:29

is like a strong man like an

24:32

Orban or an Erdogan or Putin.

24:34

It's some kind of military

24:36

megalomaniac and I just think God if

24:38

he'd only had a few more little bendy

24:41

dolls, you know, if only he could have

24:43

put uniform on and off people and sort of chop

24:45

them into a tank or whatever,

24:47

we wouldn't be here. He just

24:49

loves the idea of warcraft, right?

24:51

You're listening to Psychotherapy Today with

24:53

Emily Mateless. This is a

24:55

regular podcast that will be coming to you over the

24:57

coming weeks. I'm not sure the

25:00

person it was intended for is listening to this

25:02

particular clip but let's hope. What

25:04

do you imagine will be the three key issues that

25:06

will dominate US politics over the next

25:08

decade? This is from Texas, this is

25:11

from Danielle in Texas. I

25:14

wonder whether we know anyone called Danielle in

25:16

Texas. I would say,

25:18

but obviously the economy,

25:20

that goes without saying. That's

25:22

boring. Okay,

25:25

China, Taiwan, that's going to be the

25:27

huge one. Come on, push the boat

25:29

up. Ten years, ten years. Ten years,

25:31

it's still going to be China, Taiwan.

25:34

Go on, you wanted me to push the boat up. You're

25:36

talking now. I'm Danielle the Sun Fair. I'm going to pull

25:38

it down from ten years to actually the next two years.

25:40

Oh, well I could have done that. Well, I am doing

25:42

it. You've rewritten the world. I am doing it and I'm

25:45

going to say the first thing that they need

25:47

to look at is the next generation of politicians.

25:49

Who is there? Who really is there? Who

25:52

is going to step into the shoes? Because everyone

25:54

that is in power is like 80, 90. Right?

25:57

So I think they have to work out who is actually in power.

26:00

going to lead their parties next. And

26:02

I also think there's a really interesting

26:05

question to be asked about politicization

26:07

of the

26:10

judiciary because one party

26:12

now believes that that has

26:14

already happened and what on

26:16

earth happens to, for example, the

26:19

whole kind of idea of the Supreme

26:21

Court if you've got a country like

26:23

the Democrats think the Supreme Court is

26:25

already politicized and the Republicans think that

26:27

all the Trump trials are politicized already. I

26:30

think that's a massive clash that we're gearing

26:32

up for. Let us move

26:34

on. This is from Simon. Has there

26:36

ever been any move towards

26:38

proportional representation in US elections or

26:40

is the two-party system too deeply

26:42

entrenched for it ever to make

26:45

any sense? Well you're right that

26:47

for the most part its

26:49

winner takes all and if you

26:51

look at the presidential election and the

26:53

way that the electoral college is organized

26:55

that is certainly the case. But let's

26:57

get into the weeds now. It's up

26:59

to individual states to decide what their

27:01

electoral college rules are and

27:04

Maine and Nebraska do

27:06

have a sort of proportional

27:08

representation system. Very imperfect but

27:10

they don't just say right

27:13

Democrats you've got a plurality of the

27:15

votes in this state therefore you

27:18

take all the electoral college votes.

27:20

They do it on a proportional

27:22

basis. So yeah in theory you

27:24

can do that on a proportional

27:26

basis but for the most part

27:28

it is a winner takes all

27:30

and the two-party system is strong

27:32

except when you get a strong

27:34

third-party candidate who

27:36

buggers it all up and who can change things

27:38

around. I mean in a good way and a

27:40

bad way. I mean there's a lot of candidates

27:43

that we haven't really talked about that are coming

27:45

into this race whether it's

27:47

Cornel West who's kind of socialist we've

27:49

talked a little bit about Dean Phillips who

27:51

might or might not challenge Biden, Jill

27:53

Stein for the Greens. There is a few

27:56

more of them sort of floating around. Robert

27:58

F Kennedy obviously. Robert F Kennedy. And

28:01

I guess individually they

28:03

do nothing. But

28:06

collectively they might sort of

28:08

push the vote into awkward places

28:11

for one or other candidates and we can't

28:13

yet tell who. And yet, you know, remember

28:15

there are five or six states that will

28:17

be fought over where the margins will be

28:19

way for fit. Tiny. Tiny.

28:22

Tiny. Tiny. Tiny.

28:25

With 10,000 votes. Exactly. So

28:27

you can get these tiny way for fit majorities. And if you get 10,000 votes in

28:29

a way for fit majority state, they

28:32

can make a difference. So it's not

28:34

proportional representation, but third party candidates can

28:37

upset the apple card. Does irreverent

28:39

comedy, this is a question from

28:41

Andrew Morris, have any

28:43

real influence on the US political narrative

28:45

and public opinion or are they just

28:47

an escape from the futility of government?

28:50

I love that, the futility of government. I

28:52

remember, I mean, I always used

28:55

to watch John Stewart's Daily Show when I was

28:57

there at night, you know, when I was actually

28:59

over there. And I remember just before the 2012

29:01

election, John Stewart had Obama on, right? Because it

29:03

was the show. It was an amazing place for

29:05

him to be on. And in

29:07

his sort of very funny, very kind

29:09

of twinkly, cheeky way, he

29:12

kind of said to Obama, how's all the hope

29:14

and change stuff going? And he

29:17

said, yes, we can. And

29:19

Barack Obama answered fatally, yes,

29:22

we can. And

29:24

everyone laughed, the whole audience laughed because it was

29:26

like, that's the difference. Four years on, you

29:29

stop being the optimist and you've had to become

29:31

the realist. And I remember thinking John Stewart got

29:33

that line out of a sitting president where us

29:35

mere mortals would have failed. I think some of

29:37

the shows do have an impact. I mean, if

29:39

you think of the way Sarah

29:42

Palin, who was John McCain's running mate,

29:44

the way she was depicted on Saturday

29:46

Night Live, absolutely caught

29:48

the imagination. Nobody could remember

29:50

if she'd actually said the thing about being able to see

29:53

Russia. She never said that. But

29:55

it became sort of law, this idea that

29:57

she'd actually said she could see Russia from her

29:59

window. said that it was just that

30:01

in our life. Yeah so the satirists in America

30:03

can have an impact in a weird kind of

30:05

way on setting the narrative but

30:07

I mean you know for all the satarists that

30:10

have tried to take down Donald Trump

30:12

and there have been lots of them they

30:15

are absolutely adored by the people

30:17

who hate Donald Trump and absolutely

30:19

ignored and would never be watched

30:22

by the Trump supporters and that

30:25

is part of the problem in America

30:27

your viewing habits are entirely dictated by

30:29

how you're going to vote. Until you

30:32

come to somebody who actually crosses all

30:34

that and you need somebody massive like

30:36

Taylor Swift and Taylor Swift is I

30:38

mean don't get out the baby violins

30:41

but having quite a tricky time at

30:43

the moment because all

30:45

her fans want her to say something

30:47

about where her allegiances lie whether

30:49

it's on Gaza, Israel, whether

30:51

it's on Trump, Biden we know that

30:53

she actually did give to Biden's fundraising

30:56

but as soon as you are a

30:58

megastar in America everyone is after a

31:00

piece of you right and it becomes really

31:02

difficult for you to say I'm a singer I'm

31:04

remaining neutral I want to just please my audiences

31:07

you can't do that. Do you think if we

31:09

got a chance to doorstep Taylor Swift our first

31:11

question was do you think the Fed went too

31:13

far with quantitative easing? I think she'd

31:15

be absolutely fine on that I mean that's my

31:17

sense I bet Taylor Swift would be impeccably

31:19

well briefed on whatever she decided to

31:22

comment on because she's that kind of

31:24

woman but I also think

31:26

that she probably thinks don't drag

31:28

me into your crises and your

31:30

political colourings I don't I don't want

31:32

to do it. I mean the things that

31:34

she has said have tended towards the Democrats

31:36

of the line and I feel like she's

31:38

been outspoken on abortion. Yes but then you

31:40

get groups like who were the Dixie chicks

31:43

but are now the chicks because

31:45

Dixie is kind of a kind of can't

31:47

do Dixie because of the South who

31:50

were very critical of George W Bush and

31:53

of course their big audiences were in the southern

31:55

states of the United States of America and they

31:57

really took a hammering for it. Well,

32:01

Piers Morgan, formerly of the CNN

32:03

parish, was basically hounded out of

32:05

America because he kept on asking guests about

32:07

gun rights. And they got to

32:09

the point where they were just like, I want to promote

32:11

my film. I don't want to lose half my audience, right?

32:14

Exactly. So these things do matter. You

32:16

can't be unaware of the

32:18

risks as well as the rewards

32:21

of taking a political stand if you're a comedian,

32:23

a celebrity, a musician and all the rest of

32:25

it. A soup maker in New Hampshire. Yeah, I

32:27

was hoping that you would ask me for my

32:29

recipe for clam chowder. No, I've got no recipe

32:32

for clam chowder. I was going to talk about

32:34

clam chowder. If you're in Maine and

32:36

you get the little biscuits that go with

32:39

the clam chowder, I kind of think that's

32:41

kind of okay. Mm. Delicious. Nice. Right. Last

32:43

one. Dennis Thompson has asked, have you

32:46

noticed a big difference when you're interviewing

32:48

politicians in American politics compared

32:50

to their counterparts in Westminster? Or

32:52

does it always depend on the

32:54

individual? I think that the interviews

32:56

that you see on American television

32:58

and the way American politicians expect

33:00

to be treated is

33:03

with much greater deference, much

33:05

greater respect and much more

33:07

fawning than we would ever

33:09

dream of doing in the

33:11

UK. Can I admit something to you? John,

33:13

if this is questionable. I always call any

33:15

politician, American politician, ambassadors just to be safe

33:17

because they all seem to be called, they

33:19

all have titles and they always have like...

33:21

Well, they keep their titles. Exactly. So I

33:24

say ambassadors, just be careful. I think that's

33:26

absolutely right, except when you start to see

33:28

the cracks appear. And weirdly,

33:30

once you've done the deference and once you've done

33:32

the kind of terribly nice of you to appear

33:34

on our show, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah,

33:37

you can actually get through and they

33:39

will give you the most cataclysmically

33:41

huge sound bites because they actually

33:43

don't care. They quite like having a

33:45

row with you. They quite like having a bit

33:47

of a riot on British TV. And

33:50

I think that's worked quite well for us actually,

33:52

that once they realize that you're there and you're not

33:54

going to go away and you might pick a fight,

33:56

they'll go, right, I'll have the fight with you. And

33:58

then that's much more engaging than most people. I

34:00

remember the first presidential news conference that I

34:02

went to when I was over in the

34:05

States and the President walked in and

34:07

everyone stands up, all the journalists have to

34:09

stand up. I mean the idea that we would

34:11

stand up if Rishi Sunak or whoever the Prime

34:13

Minister of the time and I could go back

34:16

and just to be even handed list about 15

34:18

recent Prime Ministers that we would stand up for,

34:20

you know, oh Liz Tusk, what better stand up?

34:23

Well we would never do it and I think that's

34:25

also to do with the fact that I suppose that

34:27

the President of the United States is head of state,

34:29

just as the President of France is head of state

34:31

whereas our Prime Minister is not the head of state.

34:33

But I think that the Americans are far too, they

34:35

ask what sounds like, I tell you what, American

34:38

interview... I think American interview is they pull their punches

34:40

more. They also don't follow up. You can fight back

34:42

on this if you're listening to this and you think

34:44

that's wrong, very happy to hear your pushback but

34:46

I genuinely think they don't follow up on questions.

34:49

They don't, they've got question one written down. Ask it

34:51

once, probe a bit and then leave it. And they

34:53

go, leave it on and they would not... Right, right.

34:57

That is the best impression I've heard of Emily Maitless

34:59

in a very long time. Thank you very much. We'll

35:02

be back in just a second. The

35:04

News Agents USA with Emily Maitless

35:06

and John Sople. The

35:11

News Agents USA. From

35:16

Mr. Sreb, I was wondering

35:19

which of you do you think

35:21

knows more about American presidential and

35:23

political trivia? I really think that

35:25

young fellow on the

35:27

other show does that a lot

35:29

and would love to see more of it on

35:32

the US edition. Keen

35:34

for your thoughts? Well, hold on a minute.

35:36

Oh bloody hell. Well, I guess the truth

35:39

is, you leave the trivia to the newest

35:41

good old and we take the big stuff.

35:43

The News Agents USA has walked in. I

35:45

see you've redecorated. Yeah, I like it.

35:47

The News Agents USA. You don't fit in here. Can

35:49

we get... Well, can someone call security? Turns out that

35:51

you need a little bit of a helping hand for

35:53

your last episode of the year. So

35:55

they tell me, take it up with the editor. And also it wouldn't be,

35:58

I mean, 90% of my enemies relate to the news. is

36:00

based on doing quizzes. So I mean, it's absolutely essential

36:02

that we sort of finish up the year. I didn't

36:04

know there was any of them. Why do your quizzes?

36:06

I don't think you do my quizzes. Well, where are

36:09

they? I'd happily do some more of your quizzes. All

36:11

right. So here we go, right?

36:13

Okay, so this is gonna, there's a prize for this,

36:15

whoever wins, okay? So this is between the two. All

36:17

right, so buzz in for these questions, right? Okay, question

36:20

one. Donald Trump hopes to

36:22

become the first president to win

36:24

two non-consecutive terms. Grover

36:27

Cleveland. Sople. Very nice.

36:30

In 1934, the image of a

36:32

president was printed on a $100,000

36:34

bill. The

36:37

highest denomination ever issued by the US federal

36:39

government. Which president was it? Abraham

36:42

Lincoln. What is it? No. In

36:46

1934. In 1934, come on, a lot depends on this. Everything's

36:49

resting on it. George Washington. No,

36:51

it was Woodrow Wilson. Wilson, yeah. Woodrow

36:53

Wilson. Question three, Congresses are numbered. The

36:56

first Congress, the second Congress, et cetera.

36:58

Which Congress is the current Congress? The

37:02

125th. No, less than that.

37:04

124th. 118th, you're not

37:06

very good at this, are you? Come on. 118th,

37:09

118th Congress. All right, here we go, all right. When

37:11

was the last time, it's a bit more, right, it's

37:13

an electoral map question, right? When was the last time

37:16

Alabama was won by a Democrat? Bzzz,

37:18

64. No. Well,

37:20

it wasn't Clinton in 92. No,

37:23

she's getting going, here we go. Oh, that's not fair, I'd

37:25

go first. I shouldn't have gone first. He has sort of

37:27

started. Okay, okay. Last time Alabama

37:30

was won by, okay, I'm gonna tell

37:32

you. Come on, come on, here we

37:34

go. No, look, look, look, look, I

37:36

know you energy bills have gone up.

37:38

I'm gonna tell you. Don't get too

37:40

excited, all right. It was won by

37:42

a guy called Doug, who became the

37:44

Alabama Senator when he replaced Roy Moore,

37:46

who got done for Peter Philia, I

37:48

think, in the Alabama. See there, I

37:50

didn't specify a presidential election. So you're right,

37:52

I suppose I'm, I'm sorry, I probably have to give you

37:54

the point, but at a presidential level. It

37:57

was Jimmy Carter. Finally, for a bonus question,

37:59

how many episodes of the news agents USA have

38:01

there been 35 oh

38:06

come on John 32 no 27 27 well and how

38:11

many for the final question how many before John took

38:13

his first holiday oh well

38:18

I went to Miami for the first episode that's true

38:20

so it's actually zero the answer is zero so easy

38:22

you actually have one I want that I think you

38:25

did win that I think in fairness you need to

38:27

want to know the answers yeah she doesn't want to

38:30

know any of the answers I think they have to be

38:32

answers that make you feel satisfied what you did brilliantly

38:34

which I thought was unfair of Lewis Goodall does

38:36

not pick you up on it was when I

38:39

got an answer wrong you said oh

38:41

well it's not such-and-such like I'm not giving you

38:43

an answer which is incorrect and you would let

38:45

her carry on that's not the first time she's

38:48

answered her own question is it fish fishing giving

38:50

three different answers well you know that is just

38:52

the game we play what else

38:54

you doing here at the end of the show is it just

38:56

the same as normal we know we don't know all right

38:59

someone comes in with the drinks trolley okay fine

39:01

some hot tub key yeah

39:04

Philly Philly cheese steak yeah all right

39:07

okay I wonder what we were spending

39:09

the cash on thing yeah yeah exactly

39:11

been lovely all right see you next

39:13

year yeah red card to you you're

39:15

not bad we'll see you next year

39:17

bye bye this

39:20

has been a global prayer original

39:22

podcast and a personal financial