Americanswers! Has Donald Trump really stopped six (or seven) wars?

Americast

BBC

Politics, Government, News

4.2 • 2.8K Ratings

🗓️ 20 August 2025

⏱️ 35 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Fresh off the back of Monday’s meeting with Volodymyr Zelensky, Donald Trump has indicated that the U.S could offer Ukraine some form of security guarantee in the event of a peace deal with Russia. While the details of any security guarantee are yet to be confirmed, it has prompted fear and uncertainty within parts of the president’s MAGA base, who view the prospect of a security guarantee as a precursor to a messy U.S entanglement in European affairs. Will they give him the benefit of the doubt over his handling of peace negotiations?

Meanwhile, the Trump administration says a Nobel Peace Prize is “well past time” for the “peacemaker-in-chief” after Donald Trump’s claim that he has ended six (possibly seven) wars. We unpack which conflicts he was referring to and what role he played in stopping them.

A surprising issue that came up in the aftermath of last week’s summit with Vladimir Putin was the subject of voting by mail. Trump claimed that in their meeting, the Russian president told him that the 2020 U.S presidential election was rigged because of mail-in voting, a claim long made by Donald Trump without proof. Is the president even allowed to ban the practice?

We also take a look at Dana White’s plans to host a UFC fight at the White House next year, and why Donald Trump is so keen to host the event.

HOSTS:

- Justin Webb, Radio 4 presenter - Sumi Somaskanda, BBC News Chief Presenter

GET IN TOUCH:

- Join our online community: https://discord.gg/qSrxqNcmRB - Send us a message or voice note via WhatsApp to +44 330 123 9480 - Email [email protected] - Or use #Americast

This episode was made by George Dabby with Alix Pickles and Grace Reeve. The technical producer was Mike Regaard. The series producer is Purvee Pattni. The senior news editor is Sam Bonham.

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.

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

Americast is part of the BBC News Podcasts family of podcasts. The team that makes Americast also makes lots of other podcasts, including 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. Newscast: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/series/p05299nl Ukrainecast: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/brand/p0bqztzm Radical: BBC Sounds - Radical with Amol Rajan - Available Episodes

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	BBC Sounds, music, radio, podcasts.
0:04.8	This is our opportunity to talk to you about the things you want to talk about.
0:08.1	So it's a range of questions we're going to approach this week, from fighting in the White House
0:12.9	through to what happens in Ukraine, has Donald Trump really ended wars all around the world,
0:18.5	and the vital, vital question of mail-in ballots that he wants to get
0:23.2	rid of, in other words, changing the entire American voting system, which he may or may not
0:28.0	have the actual power to do. Welcome to AmeriCast.
0:34.0	AmeriCast from BBC News. You're gambling with the lives of millions of people.
0:39.3	You're gambling with World War III.
0:42.3	President Trump's message is very simple.
0:44.3	We are done being taken advantage of.
0:46.3	Mr. President, in the name of our God, have mercy upon the people.
0:50.3	We're scared now.
0:51.3	Are you supportive of these onesies?
0:53.3	I'm supportive of vaccines.
0:55.2	What is happening?
0:56.3	Like, this is not America.
0:58.1	This is a terrible nightmare.
0:59.6	This is what victory feels like.
1:03.0	Yeah.
1:16.4	Hello, it's Justin in the worldwide headquarters of America, Austin, London, England.
1:19.3	And it's Sumi here in our studios in Washington, D.C.
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from BBC, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of BBC and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.