Americast is profiling the four candidates in the race to become the next President and Vice President of the United States. How did JD Vance, whose memoir “Hillbilly Elegy” about growing up in Ohio amidst alcoholism and drug addiction, become Trump’s VP pick for the White House? Once a fierce critic of Trump, publicly declaring himself a “never Trumper”, Anthony looks into what JD Vance stands for, and why he changed his mind about the former President. We also find out which song makes him cry, and how Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings influenced his career.

HOST:

GUESTS:

GET IN TOUCH:

This episode was made by Catherine Fusillo, Chris Flynn and Claire Betzer. The technical producer was Mike Regaard. The series producer is Purvee Pattni. The senior news editor is Sam Bonham.

US Election Unspun: Sign up for Anthony’s new BBC newsletter: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-68093155

If you want to be notified every time we publish a new episode, please subscribe to us on BBC Sounds by hitting the subscribe button on the app.

You can now listen to Americast on a smart speaker. If you want to listen, just say "Ask BBC Sounds to play Americast”. It works on most smart speakers.

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