The case for American power
Americano
The Spectator
4.0 • 762 Ratings
🗓️ 12 April 2026
⏱️ 40 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Freddy Gray speaks to Shadi Hamid, author of the book The Case for American Power, which explores – and puts forward – the case for American power in spite of Donald Trump.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | The British right is up for grabs. As May's local elections approach, the Conservatives face strong competition from Reform UK. |
| 0:07.9 | Join the Spectator's assistant editor, Isabel Hardman, for the spectator debate, the fight for the right, on Wednesday, the 29th of April in London. |
| 0:15.5 | We will pit the Conservatives represented by Matthew Saeed and Dominic Johnson against Reform UK, represented by |
| 0:21.5 | Matt Goodwin and Danny Kruger. To see which party truly represents the future of the right, |
| 0:27.2 | book your tickets at spectator.com forward slash fight. |
| 0:41.0 | Hello and welcome back to the Americano show. |
| 0:42.2 | My name is Freddie Gray. |
| 0:45.9 | I am the deputy editor of the spectator and the US editor. |
| 0:51.4 | And I'm pleased to tell you that this is the 10th year of the Americano podcast. |
| 0:56.7 | And I think it's fair to say it's been a fairly fascinating time in American politics, life and culture. And that's what we talk about every episode on this podcast. |
| 1:04.1 | So please keep listening and provide as much feedback as you like. |
| 1:09.0 | I am delighted to be joined today by Shadi Hamid, who is the author of a |
| 1:14.2 | brilliant new book called The Case for American Power. And Shadi, I'm going to start by congratulating |
| 1:21.3 | you on the book because it's brilliantly written and very well structured. I've also |
| 1:26.8 | commend you because it's very honest about your |
| 1:30.8 | own doubts about your thesis. And I wondered, I couldn't help wondering, this is probably a very |
| 1:37.0 | obvious way to start this, but I couldn't help wondering, those doubts must have increased |
| 1:41.8 | dramatically in the last few weeks, I think, |
| 1:44.8 | because your book is about how important it is for America to be the preeminent power in the world, |
| 1:51.0 | to use its power militarily, economically, socially, and so on. |
| 1:56.0 | And the Iran War has been a real test of that thesis, I think. |
| 1:59.7 | Has it not? |
... |
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