What is driving Donald Trump’s America – and what lessons might the rise of the MAGA movement, and the Democrats’ defeat in the 2024 US presidential election, hold for Keir Starmer and the Labour Party?

Tim Ryan, a former Democrat nominee for President, served in the US House of Representatives for Ohio for over two decades. He ran for President in 2020 and then the US Senate from Ohio in 2022, an election won by JD Vance – the future US Vice President.

On Monday 14 July, Tim Ryan joined Anushka Asthana, Channel 4’s US Editor, at the Institute of Government, to share his experiences of US politics – and what other countries can learn from the rise and return of President Trump. What lies behind the dissatisfaction in US voters that saw Trump return to the White House? How can the Democrats build a vote-winning agenda? And what was it like to face JD Vance – and how influential is the Vice President on Trump’s America?

This event was introduced by IfG Director and CEO Dr Hannah White.

Tim Ryan, the former representative for Ohio, was in London with PPI to champion the Campaign for Working Americans – the Progressive Policy Institute (PPI) mission to develop ideas and policy proposals to help the US Democratic Party reconnect with working Americans. Ryan represented Ohio in the US Congress from 2003–23, and ran for the Senate in Ohio in 2022, an election JD Vance won and went on to become US Vice President. 

Anushka Asthana joined Channel 4 News in June 2025 as US Editor. She previously worked at ITV News, where she had been Deputy Political Editor since 2021 and co-presented Peston since 2018. Prior to joining ITV, Anushka was joint Political Editor of The Guardian, having worked for Sky, The Times, and The Observer. In 2024, her book, Taken As Red, was published as one of the first accounts of Labour's dramatic election win, with the updated paperback published in June 2025 on Labour’s first year in government.

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