Decoding America

The Guardian
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Each week hosts Reged Ahmad and Jonathan Yerushalmy peel back the surface of Trump's America. Each episode examines the most consequential stories of the week as well as the underreported stories that tell us a lot more about what's going on than the headlines reveal.

  1. 5d ago

    Everything you need to know about the midterms

    In this episode of Guardian Australia’s US politics podcast, co-hosts Reged Ahmad and Jonathan Yerushalmy take a special look at the midterms which are coming up in early November. All 435 House seats are up in this election as representatives only serve fixed two-year terms. In the Senate, 35 of 100 seats are up for grabs too as senators serve six-year terms. There are many predictions of a blue wave -– a big win for the Democratic party who are tipped to take back the House and Senate. But are pollsters being too optimistic? What are the factors that could instead allow the Republican party and the Trump administration to hold on to power in Congress? They also look at why US ambassador to Greece Kimberly Guilfoyle has been ousted from her job – and whether criticism of new White House press secretary Katie Zacharia is fair

  2. Oct 7

    What next after Christa Pike’s botched execution?

    A warning for this episode - it covers details of a murder and an execution that some might find distressing. In this episode of Guardian Australia’s US politics podcast, co-hosts Jonathan Yerushalmy and Reged Ahmad examine what happened when the state of Tennessee tried to execute prisoner Christa Pike. They also look at the controversy over taxpayer-funded ads promoting US president Donald Trump, midterm AI attack ads and the Elon Musk-Trump bromance appears to be back on.

  3. Sep 23

    Decoding America: Trump’s war on the media

    In this episode of Guardian Australia’s weekly US politics podcast, co-hosts Reged Ahmad and Jonathan Yerushalmy dive into what’s driving Donald Trump’s ban on journalists from CNN, MS Now and Politico - and the significance of the response from major TV networks. They also cover the US president at the UNGA and why Trump’s decision making on international conflicts could be explained by the price of diesel. Plus - could daylight savings become permanent in the US.

  4. Sep 16

    Decoding America: Why won't Donald Trump regulate AI?

    In this episode of Guardian Australia’s weekly US politics podcast, co-hosts Jonathan Yerushalmy and Reged Ahmad look at whether there is any appetite across the political spectrum to put guardrails on artificial intelligence as around the world existential fears mount that the technology is developing too quickly. They also explain what the latest supreme court ruling on the Trump administration’s mail-in ballot restrictions means for the midterms. And they look at what happened when the US president waded into the Irish reunification debate

  5. Sep 9

    Decoding America: How Trump is powering the global right

    In this episode of Guardian Australia’s weekly US politics podcast, co-hosts Reged Ahmad and Jonathan Yerushalmy look across the water to Germany, where the rightwing political party Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) has had a landslide state election win. As some commentators draw parallels to the Maga movement, they examine how Donald Trump is influencing global leaders and movements. Also in this episode: why are White House staffers being subjected to polygraph tests? And George Clooney criticises the US administration in Venice

  6. Aug 26

    Decoding America: Could datacentres lose Trump the midterms?

    In this episode of Guardian Australia’s US politics podcast Decoding America, co-hosts Jonathan Yerushalmy and Reged Ahmad explore why datacentres in the US have provoked such anger – and whether that could harm Republicans in the midterms given Donald Trump is such a supporter of the growing industry. They also look at why the US and Canada are fighting over tariffs. The Canadian prime minister, Mark Carney, is pushing back and both countries could be on the cusp of a full-blown trade war. Finally: why does the Trump administration’s secretary of transportation, Sean Duffy, have his very own YouTube show – and is he the only one?

  7. Aug 19

    Decoding America: Why Maga vaccine scepticism might be catching

    In this episode of Guardian Australia’s US politics podcast, co-hosts Reged Ahmad and Jonathan Yerushalmy look at what the reported food shortages and mental health crisis on the USS Lincoln say about whether the US military is stretched too thin as the war on Iran drags on. They also look at Donald Trump’s vaccine executive order and why experts are fearful it could spread vaccine hesitancy to Australia. Finally, what’s the update on Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s long-running bromance?

  8. Aug 5

    Decoding America: are the Democrats having their own Maga moment?

    In this episode of Guardian Australia’s weekly US politics podcast, co-hosts Jonathan Yerushalmy and Reged Ahmad take a look at how the Michigan Senate primaries could decide the future of the Democrats. This is a race that has revealed the civil war raging inside the party, as some seek to take it further to the left, with candidates such as Abdul El-Sayed. But will this schism be the Democrats’ Maga moment, or will it leave the party open to a Republican communist ‘red scare’ campaign that could cost them the midterms? They also look at why the Senate unanimously passed a resolution declaring its opposition to any presidential pardon for Ghislaine Maxwell, the longtime associate of Jeffrey Epstein, as well as the next chapter in the reflecting pool saga and why Donald Trump said US attorney and Maga faithful Jeanine Pirro had ‘folded like an umbrella’

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About

Each week hosts Reged Ahmad and Jonathan Yerushalmy peel back the surface of Trump's America. Each episode examines the most consequential stories of the week as well as the underreported stories that tell us a lot more about what's going on than the headlines reveal.

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  • Creator
    The Guardian
  • Episodes
    21
  • Copyright
    © 2026 Guardian News & Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved.
  • Show Website
    Decoding America