Give something clever this Christmas.

Treat a loved one to a year of The Spectator, in print and online, for just £99.

And we'll send you a bottle of our very own English sparkling wine worth £48 £48, absolutely free.

Have a bright and sparkling Christmas with the Spectator.

Go to spectator.com.uk forward slash Christmas.

Hello and welcome to the Americano podcast, a series of discussions about American politics, power and prejudices. It is 2025 and Donald Trump is

president once again of the United States. We will, of course, be following the moves of the

Donald's and his second administration very closely. However, it won't just be politics for us this

year. We'll also talk a lot and cover

American culture, life and the arts. I should also remind you, because my producer, Natasha,

will not let me hear the end of it, that we are on Spectator TV. So head to our YouTube channel

to watch that. Hello and welcome back to the Americano show. I'm delighted to be

joined today by Aidan McLaughlin, back by popular demand. We had him on recently, but we can't get enough of

Aiden. He is, of course, correspondent, Washington correspondent for Vanity Fair. And I think it's fair to say, I don't like

saying this as somebody who writes for a different publication, but Vanity Fair has dropped an

incredible story today. It's a two-parter and it's a series of interviews with Susie Wiles,

who is chief of staff to the White House. And the thing that struck me as most

extraordinary about this piece, these two pieces, is that throughout the whole of this year,

Aidan, I think you'll agree. The sort of overriding theme of the Trump presidency has been,

it's been quite a tight ship, certainly at the highest levels. There hasn't been a lot of

fractiousness. There hasn't been a hell of fractiousness. There hasn't been a

hell of a lot of leaking. And Susie Wiles has been credited as the person who's been sort of

...