Welcome to this special year-ending hard talk from the BBC World Service with me, Stephen Sacker.

Big elections, catastrophic conflict.

2024 has been a year full of upheaval and suffering.

This is a chance to listen back to some of hardtalk's most memorable moments.

Of all those elections this year, from Russia to Mexico, the UK to India, it was the presidential

vote in the United States that offered the most compelling, consequential narrative.

For those who wrote Donald Trump off after his 2020 election loss and his supporters

assault on the Capitol, 2024 delivered the mother of all shocks. He won the popular vote.

He won the Electoral College. The convicted felon took back the White House. I spoke to the Democratic Party

Senator Chris Murphy, but first you're going to hear from one of Donald Trump's most loyal Republican

supporters, Senator Lindsay Graham.

Inflation is eating people's paycheck alive. We've had 10 million illegal immigrants coming to the country, raping and murdering people.

People do not believe the policies are working.

They're living the consequences of disastrous policy choices.

Inflation is down, as you well know.

You accuse Kamala Harris of being soft on crime. In California, she was

criticized for being too tough on crime. And the fact is, and again, facts matter. Violent crime

and murders across the United States have gone down during the Bible. I don't buy that one bit.

But again, it's difficult to conduct a conversation if you won't accept facts which come

from official U.S. government agencies.

I don't accept the fact that America along the border is chaos.

You're telling me that these border communities are safe.

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