Over the weekend, President Biden authorised Ukraine to use long-range missiles supplied by the US to strike Russia. Is this his last-ditch effort to help before Trump takes over?

Also, Trump’s cabinet picks continue to draw criticism. The Americast team discuss how the president-elect is making his decisions, and whether he’s actually interested in governing once his team is in place.

And what do Americans mean by the middle class?

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This episode was made by Rufus Gray and Catherine Fusillo. The series producer is Purvee Pattni. The senior news editor is Sam Bonham.

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Americast is part of the BBC News Podcasts family of podcasts. The team that makes Americast also makes lots of other podcasts, including The Global Story, The Today Podcast, and of course Newscast and Ukrainecast. If you enjoy Americast (and if you're reading this then you hopefully do), then we think that you will enjoy some of our other pods too. See links below.

The Global Story: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/brand/w13xtvsd