Trump in Trouble?

From Our Own Correspondent

BBC

News, News Commentary

4.4 • 1.3K Ratings

🗓️ 12 October 2019

⏱️ 28 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

President Trump and his supporters remain defiant in the face of the impeachment inquiry against him. But many of Mr Trump's political allies are troubled by another issue: the withdrawal of American troops from Syria, which has allowed Turkey to attack Kurdish targets in Syria. Jon Sopel says Syria may turn into Mr Trump's bigger problem.

The Kalash are a mountain people who live in a series of valleys in the Hindu Kush in northern Pakistan. They number only a few thousand today and there are concerns that there's increasing pressure upon them to convert to Islam. Emma Thomson has been to visit.

There's a fuel crisis in Cuba at the moment and if you want to fill up you'd better be prepared to wait for several hours. As Will Grant reports, the government is taking other measures to save money, such as asking civil servants to work from home.

China's economic influence spreads far and wide. It has reached the city of Sihanoukville in southern Cambodia where billions have been invested in industrial infrastructure. But Vincent Ni encounters ambivalent attitudes there to people of Chinese origin.

Earlier this year the British government imposed a temporary export ban on one of JMW Turner's masterpieces, The Dark Rigi, the Lake of Lucerne. Lucy Daltroff has been to the source of his inspiration.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	BBC Sounds, music radio podcasts.
0:05.0	Today we follow in the footsteps of Alexander the Great, to the mountains of the Hindu Kush,
0:11.0	where we see the locals letting their hair down.
0:14.0	However, in Cuba, we cue for petrol with the locals.
0:17.5	Then take a bus tour through Cambodia, where the locals aren't always welcome.
0:22.2	And we're in the Swiss mountains mountains too, from which Turner drew inspiration in the 1840s.
0:28.0	But first, in the United States, President Trump's difficulties appear to be mounting with an impeachment inquiry in full swing.
0:37.0	Not something which lessens his characteristic swagger and the enthusiasm of the thousands
0:42.4	who come to his rallies.
0:44.0	However, this week Mr Trump made an announcement,
0:47.0	even his most loyal political supporters in Washington
0:50.0	are finding heart to swallow,
0:52.0	that he was pulling out the small contingent of American
0:55.2	troops that had been protecting Kurdish forces in northern Syria.
0:59.7	Almost immediately Turkey launched attacks across the border on Kurdish positions left exposed.
1:06.6	John Sopel considers the President's position.
1:10.7	The other night I was at home in Georgetown, Channel Hopping and looking for the vital
1:14.8	playoff game between the Washington Nationals and the LA Dodgers.
1:18.4	Who'd have thought after five years living here, I'd become baseball obsessed but I digress in the course of
1:25.4	flicking I went over to Fox it's the Rupert Murdoch owned Trump-loving channel that
1:31.2	the president spends a good chunk of his day watching.
1:34.8	But he wouldn't have much liked what was on the screen or what was being discussed.
	...

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.