Is war with North Korea imminent?

Check out our weekly newsletter - and get ⁠15% off for podcaster listeners⁠!Andy and Catherine talk about the history of USAID and why the Trump administration picked it as the first target of its efforts to destroy the federal bureaucracy.

Check out our weekly newsletter - and get 15% off for podcaster listeners! It's Inauguration Day and America Explained is backed. In today's episode, Andy and Martijn discuss what to expect from Trump in foreign and domestic affairs in the coming months - and whether he will really be the unconstrained MAGA steamroller that a lot of commentary assumes.

*** *** 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