Americanswers…on 5 Live! “Chipocalypse Now”… has Trump declared war on Chicago?

Americast

BBC

Politics, Government, News

4.2 • 2.8K Ratings

🗓️ 8 September 2025

⏱️ 35 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

"I love the smell of deportations in the morning..." It was those words, posted alongside a mock-up of Donald Trump dressed as Lieutenant Kilgore from ‘Apocalypse Now’, that has worried Chicago Democrats, who the president has threatened with the deployment of the National Guard.

Sarah, Anthony, and Marianna join Matt Chorley on 5 Live to discuss what Trump is planning for Chicago, and how the Democrats should be responding. Plus, what does Trump being booed at the US Open final on Sunday say about his national popularity? The team also unpack the implications of the biggest workplace deportation raid of the administration so far and why the 2026 midterms could be more important than other midterm elections.

HOSTS: • Sarah Smith, North America Editor • Anthony Zurcher, North America Correspondent • Marianna Spring, Social Media Investigations Senior Correspondent

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 Rufus Gray with Alix Pickles. 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.
0:05.0	Hi there, it's Sarah here.
0:06.0	And as usual on a Monday, along with Anthony and Marianna,
0:09.0	I've just been on Five Live with Matt Charlie answering the questions you sent into us.
0:13.0	Like, why is Donald Trump threatening to go to war with Chicago?
0:16.0	How might the new UK Foreign Secretary get on with the MAGA crowd in the White House?
0:27.0	And might the biggest immigration raid in the US yet actually upset Donald Trump's economic policy?
0:29.7	Thanks for asking all these questions for us.
0:31.2	And do please keep them coming. You can WhatsApp us plus 44-330, 123-9480.
0:37.1	Or email America as to BBC.com.com.
0:39.5	We really do read them all and try and answer as many of them as we can.
0:44.1	Welcome to American Answers.
0:48.5	Ameriast.
0:49.2	Ameriast from BBC News.
0:51.6	You're gambling with the lives of millions of people.
0:54.4	You're gambling with World War III.
0:56.6	President Trump's message is very simple.
0:58.7	We are done being taken advantage of.
1:00.5	Mr. President, in the name of our God,
1:02.9	have mercy upon the people.
1:04.8	We're scared now.
1:06.1	Are you supportive of these onesies?
	...

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.