The Edition: Team Trump, astrologers versus pollsters & debating history
Best of the Spectator
The Spectator
4.4 • 785 Ratings
🗓️ 31 October 2024
⏱️ 43 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
To understand Trumpworld you need to appreciate it’s a family affair, writes Freddy Gray in the magazine this week. For instance, it was 18-year-old Barron Trump who persuaded his father to do a series of long ‘bro-casts’ with online male influencers such as Joe Rogan. In 2016, Donald’s son-in-law Jared Kushner was the reigning prince; this year, he has been largely out of the picture. Which family figures are helping Trump run things this time around, and which groups hold the most influence? Freddy joins the podcast alongside economics editor Kate Andrews. What are the most important personnel decisions facing Trump if he wins next week? (0:58).
Next: do astrologers predict elections better than pollsters?
When pollster Nate Silver declared that dissecting an individual poll is like ‘doing astrology’, it led Andrew Watts to ponder what sorts of predictions astrologers make about elections. Could there be some merit in consulting them? And are astrologists better predictors than pollsters? Andrew joined the podcast to discuss further alongside The Oxford Astrologer’s Christina Rodenbeck, host of podcast Astrology Talk. What do the planets tell us about next week’s US election? (13:18).
And finally: by whose values should we judge the past?
Joan Smith’s new book Unfortunately, she was a nymphomaniac: a new history of Rome’s imperial women is reviewed in the Books section of the magazine this week. An eye-catching title which is ‘as thought provoking as it is provocative’ Daisy Dunn writes. Many popular historians are singled out for criticism for how they analyse women from ancient Rome, including Professor Dame Mary Beard. Is there merit in judging history by today’s standards? Well Mary Beard joined us to provide her thoughts (26:32).
Hosted by William Moore and Lara Prendergast.
Produced by Patrick Gibbons and Oscar Edmondson.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | The Spectator magazine is home to wonderful writing, insightful analysis and unrivaled books and arts reviews. |
| 0:06.2 | Subscribe today for just £12 and receive a 12-week subscription in print and online, |
| 0:11.5 | along with a free £20 £10, John Lewis or Waitrose voucher. |
| 0:15.0 | Go to spectator.com.uk forward slash voucher. |
| 0:28.7 | Hello and welcome to the edition podcast from The Spectator, |
| 0:32.1 | where each week we shed a little light on the thought process behind putting the world's oldest weekly magazine to bed. |
| 0:35.4 | I'm William Moore, the Spectator's Featured editor. |
| 0:37.8 | And I'm Laura Prendergars, the Spectator's Executive Editor. This week we look at how |
| 0:42.8 | Team Trump is always putting family first. We ask whether astrologers can predict elections |
| 0:48.5 | better than pollsters, and we also look at the values by which we judge the ancient world. |
| 1:03.5 | We're now into the final week of the American election campaign ahead of polling day on Tuesday, |
| 1:10.5 | and in the magazine this week, the spectator's deputy editor and host of our Americano podcast, Freddie Gray, says that while Trump's slogan might be |
| 1:13.0 | America first, in reality, the Donald's campaign is always family first. The race at the moment is |
| 1:19.2 | on a knife edge, as an initial poll lead for Kamala Harris has narrowed, and most pollsters are now |
| 1:25.0 | saying it's 50-50. In his piece, Freddie speculates on some of the key staffing decisions Trump might make if he does win next week. |
| 1:32.8 | For example, what role his own family will play, whether some of the MAGA-Otras will get given key positions, |
| 1:39.3 | or whether some Republican moderates or neocons may well be elevated. |
| 1:44.0 | Freddie joined us earlier to discuss his piece alongside the spectator's economics editor, Kate Andrews. |
| 1:49.7 | I started by asking Freddie to take us through the dynamics of family Trump. |
| 1:54.3 | Well, I'm not the first person to make this point, that the Trump family tends to run the Trump operation. |
| 2:01.4 | And while Donald Trump hasn't always historically been a family man, |
| 2:05.2 | obviously he's had three marriages and so on, |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from The Spectator, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of The Spectator and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2025.