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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.

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Host - Andy Gawthorpe

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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.

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Host - Andy Gawthorpe

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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 culture

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Host - Andy Gawthorpe

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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.

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Host - Andy Gawthorpe

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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.

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Host - Andy Gawthorpe

Co-host - Catherine Wood

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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.

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Host - Andy Gawthorpe

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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.

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Host - Andy Gawthorpe

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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.

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Host - Andy Gawthorpe

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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.

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Host - Andy Gawthorpe

Co-host - Catherine Wood

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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.

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Host - Andy Gawthorpe