TrumpWorld

Donald Trump’s approval ratings have hit a new low amid anger over the Iran war and soaring gas prices - raising fresh fears for Republicans ahead of the midterm elections.

In this episode of TrumpWorld Anushka Asthana speaks to former US congressman Beto O'Rourke, who also ran to be the Democratic nominee for president in 2020 and he warns that the mid-terms “will decide the future of the country” and that if Trump wins “it;s game over”.

Channel 4 News’ Kiran Moodley also joined Anushka to discuss what chances Democrats have and if there’s any sign about who could be their next leader.

Donald Trump has arrived in Beijing for the first US presidential visit to China in nearly a decade - but it’s his comments on Iran that are dominating headlines.

Asked whether Americans’ financial struggles were influencing his negotiations with Iran, Trump gave a strikingly blunt answer: “I don’t think about Americans’ financial situation. I don’t think about anybody.” The comments have sparked fresh questions about his priorities as tensions in the Middle East continue to rattle global markets.

In this episode of TrumpWorld, Matt Frei and Anushka Asthana discuss Trump’s high-stakes China trip, the pressure surrounding Iran negotiations, and what the President’s remarks reveal about how he sees power, diplomacy and America’s role in the world.

The first ships have passed through the Strait of Hormuz as part of Donald Trump’s “Project Freedom”, a US-led operation to escort commercial ships after Iran’s blockade disrupted global oil supplies and stranded hundreds of vessels. 

Tehran has warned it will treat any unauthorised military presence in the strait as a hostile act, and America says there has been some ‘low level kinetic’ activity in the Strait - despite reports of renewed backchannel diplomacy.

So is this a masterstroke from Trump - break Iran’s stranglehold on the Strait while devastating Tehran’s economy with his own blockade? Or is this whole endeavour doomed to fail? 

On this episode of TrumpWorld Matt Frei and Anushka Asthana are joined by analyst Trita Parsi who is co-founder and executive vice president of the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft.

Another assassination attempt on Donald Trump, relations between the president and Keir Starmer have hit rock bottom and the spectre of Jeffrey Epstein hanging over the White House and Buckingham Palace. 

King Charles III’s state visit to America is happening at one of the most turbulent periods to hit the so-called “special relationship”, and now the leaked footage obtained by the Financial Times appears to show the UK ambassador to the US Christian Turner saying that the only country to have a special relationship with the US is “probably Israel”. 

A Government spokesperson says: "These were private, informal comments made to a group of UK sixth-form students visiting the US in early February. They are certainly not any reflection of the UK government’s position.”

So, will the state visit stay on track or could it all unravel? And does Israel really have a more "special relationship" with America than Israel? 

In the latest episode of TrumpWorld Matt Frei and Anushka Asthana pick apart all the latest news from DC and the Palace and analyse exclusive polling about what Americans feel about the monarchy, the special relationship and Trump himself where almost a fifth of people polled said they supported Trump running for a third term.

Donald Trump has extended the ceasefire between the United States and Iran, but only for around 3-5 days the White House told Fox News. 

At the same time, Trump has maintained the naval blockade while unleashing fresh threats against Iran, as Tehran signals it will not back down.

So, is there any hope for the peace negotiations? Or are we on the brink of a fresh round of military action? 

On this episode of TrumpWorld Matt Frei and Anushka Asthana are joined by former Pentagon official and Middle East expert Jasmine El-Gamal. 

Donald Trump says his war with Iran is “close to over” and there’s reports of more peace talks coming soon, but this isn’t the first time the US president has said an end to the war is imminent - so what’s actually going on? 

This comes off the back of a week where the president has picked a fight with the Pope, he then went on the attack against Italy’s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni for cancelling a defence agreement with Israel and to top it off his other European ally, Viktor Orban of Hungary, was ousted after 16 years of power. 

So, is this the week it all went wrong from Trump? Matt Frei and Anushka Asthana discuss.

It’s the morning after the night before - when - just 90 minutes before his deadline for Iran to unblock the Strait of Hormuz or “a whole civilisation will be destroyed”, President Trump announced a two week ceasefire.

Iran has signed on and both sides have claimed victory.

In this episode of TrumpWorld, Matt Frei discusses what we don’t know about the ceasefire and the control of the Strait of Hormuz with the Brookings Institution’s Suzanne Maloney, a leading voice on US policy on Iran, who’s advised both Democratic and Republican administrations.

Donald Trump says the United States could be “out of Iran pretty quickly”, with the option of returning for “spot hits”, even as he escalates his criticism of Nato allies and questions America’s future in the alliance. His Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, is amplifying that message despite having backed legal safeguards preventing a US exit from Nato only two years earlier.

In this episode of TrumpWorld, Matt Frei and Anushka Asthana examine why this rupture feels different, how Trump’s frustration over the Iran war is driving the rhetoric, and what diplomats in London and Washington are saying privately about the strain. They also speak to lawyer and political scientist Anne-Marie Slaughter, CEO of New America and former State Department official under Hillary Clinton.

As Israel and Iran exchange fresh attacks, President Donald Trump says a 15-point peace plan has been sent to Tehran via Pakistan and claims negotiations are underway. Iran publicly rejected Trump's proposal and said the US is negotiating with itself, but did respond with demands of its own.

In this episode of TrumpWorld Matt Frei, in Jerusalem, and Anushka Asthana, in Washington, try to make sense of the contradictions. Is there really a diplomatic off-ramp - or is the US trying to calm markets while escalating militarily? And what does Trump actually want from Iran after weeks of war and rising tensions across the Middle East?

They’re joined by Matthew Miller, former US State Department spokesperson under Joe Biden, to unpack the strategy, the politics in Washington, and the global stakes. From Trump’s shifting messaging to Israel’s role and the pressure on Gulf states, we ask the key question: is this the start of peace talks - or the next phase of the war?

In week three of the Iran war, Donald Trump faces the consequences of a campaign he believed he could control. As Israel strikes the South Pars gas field and Tehran vows retaliation across the Gulf, the regional balance is shifting in real time. With turmoil in the Strait of Hormuz, a spiraling energy shock, and a widening conflict stretching into Lebanon, TrumpWorld asks one central question: What did Donald Trump think would happen, and does he now regret it?

Matt Frei reports from Jerusalem where Israel insists everything is going to plan after the killings of senior Iranian officials, and Anushka Asthana joins from Washington DC, where the administration is scrambling to contain the fallout. We speak to Professor Robert Pape of the University of Chicago about the ‘escalation trap’, the logic that pulls presidents into wars they cannot easily end.