TrumpWorld

In his new book Michael Lewis, bestselling author of The Big Short and Moneyball, reveals the inside story of Elon Musk’s DOGE and Donald Trump’s assault on the US government.

In Blockers, Lewis tells the stories of the civil servants who tried to stop Musk’s cost-cutting crusade and paid the price.

What happens when the people protecting the government become the enemy? What is actually left of America’s administrative state? And what comes next?

With weeks to go until the 2026 US midterm elections, both the House and the Senate hang in the balance. As Donald Trump barnstorms the country from Texas to Alaska, the polls increasingly seem to be in favour of the Democrats.

In this episode of TrumpWorld, Anushka Asthana sits down with political data analyst Lakshya Jain, co-founder of forecasting platform Split Ticket. Jain’s latest modeling gives Democrats an 89% chance of retaking the House and a 65% probability of capturing the Senate. But could the forecasting be underestimating the Republican vote?

Former CIA analyst turned bestselling author David McCloskey joins Anushka Asthana, where they explore the widening cracks in transatlantic intelligence sharing. Drawing on six years at Langley drafting the President’s Daily Brief across the Middle East, McCloskey’s new spy thriller, ‘London Station’, imagines the CIA and MI6 turning their covert apparatuses against one another.

Following the withdrawal of US bombers from RAF Fairford and security tensions over Iran, they discuss whether the "Special Relationship" can survive a second Trump administration. From Five Eyes burden-sharing complaints to Donald Trump’s war in Iran, can intelligence partnerships withstand growing political distrust between the UK and the US?

On this episode of TrumpWorld, Matt Frei speaks to Naomi Klein about her new book, End Times Fascism, and her argument that Donald Trump, Big Tech and the religious right are converging around a shared vision of the future.

They discuss Trump’s embrace of AI, the tech industry’s warnings about its dangers, the growing influence of apocalyptic thinking among some of his allies, and whether the backlash against AI and data centres could become a political problem for Trump ahead of the midterms.

On this episode of TrumpWorld, Matt Frei and Anushka Asthana discuss Donald Trump’s speech to the UN General Assembly.[Subscribe to our Substack newsletter: https://channel4news.substack.com/subscribe]During his 37 minute speech there were familiar rants against the media, Cuba and Iran, who he threatened with “annihilation”.This time though, not only did he stay mainly on script - but he also seemed ‘lower energy’ than usual, according to Matt Frei.

Donald Trump claims that warnings across the globe about AI could wipe out humanity are the latest “hoax” to fool the world. 

Just days after AI leaders across the world - led by the bosses of Anthropic and OpenAI, as well as Elon Musk – united in a call to slow down AI development, Trump has hit back against calls for regulation, saying that the only guardrail we needed was a "smart president".  

In this episode of TrumpWorld, Matt Frei and Anushka Asthana speak to Channel 4 News’ Science and Technology Editor, Siobhan Kennedy to ask how worried we should really be about the development of AI, and what any regulation to slow it down could actually look like.

Does the Republican Party have an Islamophobia problem? Muslims in the US say they are facing levels of Islamophobia worse than directly after 9/11 - and blame Republican politicians for driving anti-Islam sentiment. 

Texas is home to the Anti-Sharia caucus, and its governor wants to ban foot washing stations in its airports. And as the Republican convention kicks off in Dallas, TrumpWorld looks at the Islamophobia emanating from the state, and asks how a fringe issue has become rife in the Republican party. 

In this episode of TrumpWorld, Matt Frei and Anushka Asthana are joined by Mobashra Tazamal, who researches Islamophobia at Georgetown University’s Bridge Initiative. 

The US has launched fresh strikes on Iran - just as senior American military commanders are warning Donald Trump’s so-called secretary of war Pete Hegseth that the conflict is becoming unsustainable.

US forces have hit Iranian targets around the Strait of Hormuz, after Iran attempted to target commercial shipping and US forces in the region. Trump has warned Tehran that any retaliation will trigger even larger strikes.

So where does this war go next? And as Hegseth faces warnings from his own generals, a depleted military and growing chaos at the Pentagon, does the Trump administration actually have a strategy for ending the conflict?

In another bid to force Iran to succumb to his will, Donald Trump has launched Operation Economic Outcast against Iran - but is it America who is becoming the international pariah? 

Trump has already infuriated many of America’s traditional allies with his tariff policy, not least its biggest neighbour and trading partner Canada. 

Those not so quiet Canadians are making a habit out of standing up to the bully in the White House. Today they retaliated by matching Trump’s massive tariffs. 

So who will support America if they end up taking on China after Beijing promised to protect itself by ‘all means necessary’ if the White House enforces its  “economic onslaught” against those who trade with Iran? 

Last time Donald Trump picked a trade fight with Xi Jin Ping, China won. Is recent history about to repeat itself?

To discuss,  I’m joined by Soumaya Keynes who’s a Financial Times columnist and co-author of How to Win a Trade War. 

And Leslie Vinjamuri who’s President and CEO of the Chicago Council on Global Affairs.

Hasan Piker is one of the biggest political streamers in the world, and an increasingly influential voice on the American left as the Democrats try to figure out a way to take the fight to Donald Trump in the mid-term elections. But Piker is also one of the left’s most controversial voices - frequently criticised for his aggressive commentary and even banned from the UK with the government worried his presence ‘may not be conducive to the public good’. On this episode of TrumpWorld, Anushka Asthana and Matt Frei speak to Piker about the war in Gaza, how a “socialist Trump” could “change the trajectory” of “America’s decline” and whether he regrets any of his past inflammatory comments.