State Spotlight on Colorado

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Good Bad billionaire Listen wherever you get your BBC podcasts Today we are going under the radar, bringing news stories away from the main news headlines that we haven't had a chance to get into. We're going to be talking about the viral clips of football fans from all over the world talking about what a welcoming and great country America is. and we're going to be discussing Jill Biden who's been confessing her true feelings about that Biden versus Trump debate two years ago If ended his presidential bid. Welcome to Americast Americast from BBC News. You hear that J? I think When I hear that sound, it reminds me of money. We didn't start this war, but under President Trump, we are finishing it. This is a big cover up, and this administration is engaged in it. This guy has Trump arrangement syndrome. I have for you turn the volume up It's Justin in the Worldwide headadquarters of Americast in London, England. Hello. It's Katrina Perry joining from Washington DC. Katrina, you are very welcome. It's very nice to have you on. We are also going to be joined. I'm reliably informed by Mariana but she's buzzing about doing a million things, so we're not going to wait for her. We're going to start talking about football. A lot of people saying Before it, it's going to be a nightmare, it's going to be heavily politicized. There are all sorts of fears about empty seats because the ticket prices are so high. There's a general kind of sense that the United States is not as welcoming. Actually, it has turned out to be at least online something that is the very opposite of all those things, I guess Yeah, I think all of that's true at the same time because the ticker prices are crazy, really exorbitant. and obviously we see lawsuits proceeding in New Jersey and New York City against FIFA looking for explanations into dynamic pricing and so on And there have been many, many tales about people not getting visas, not getting through the borders and so on. For those who are here, it's America. I mean, we remember that fantastic World Cup in ' ninety four that was hosted here and I know especially for me being from Ireland, that was a really special World Cup because we almost never get to the World Cup, including this year. And there's the same sort of ferver and fever around the place this year as well. and This time around, we didn't have it in ' ninety four. We have Instagram and all the various social media platforms. So people are documenting their travels around their first encounters with Taco Bell or with McDonald's or with waffle houses and all this you know, kind of standard American fair Yeah, I'm talking of social media. Mariana H has joined us. She's in the room. Hi, I Kadrina. I just came running in. Yeah, I mean, this content is going mega mega viral, which is unsurprising to some extent because every time there's a World Cup on the whole, you see a lot of this kind of content. like you've got fans from all over the world coming to a place, often meeting, you know the kind of collision of cultures, but particularly in the US, I think a lot of the social media content has been about places where teams chose to make their base, so a team will decide that like a particular city or place that's convenient for them is where they're going to train in between games because obviously the games are in loads of different places. And one of the clips that I saw pop up on my feed was a TikTok getting quite emotional about how this Louisville in Kansas has become home to team Algeria who Unfortunately lost well, unfortunately for them, lost to Argentina yesterday. so they might not be feeling quite so joyous today. But those of the TikToks are basically this town like completely embracing So you've got restaurants with musicians playing Algerian music, like people who are like thanking Algeria for choosing Louisville. this is a little flavor of the TikTok and an influencer saying how emotional it made her because she really liked it. Algeria decided to go to Louisville, Kansas for their host city and the way people in Kansas have accepted them with open arms has just been the most heartwarming. Thank you team Algeria for choosing our hometown Lords Kansas to come here. and so welcome. Welcome to the United States. Welcome to Kansas. I came mainly because of I was so happy that they chose our town for their best campera. Everybody here has been very friendly and very welcoming and I'm really glad Algeria is gonna be here. And one, two three V Alger. Theur university also learned their national anthem and played it for them. and the people are coming out all decked out in Algeria gear I have to say, none of that surprises me No Angeles a bit and knowing, you know, and you and I have both traveled around Maranna together and separately we've traveled around those parts of the United States There is a kind of it's an almost naive pleasure in The world Also it's just a culture that I guess, and I don't know whether this is fair. I think it probably is fair that there'll be lots of people in the states who because of the states are so big, like don't necessarily travel outside of it. And so to have these cultures come to them to places that they might never go to is kind of amazing really. like to deliberately embrace the culture because you're welcoming a team there is quite a special thing and one of the things about the World Cup that's so positive. And I think that One of the reasons why that influcer says they were crying is because they said they've been concerned about issues like Islamophobia or just kind of anti immigration sentiment in the US. And to see that reminded them that there are lots and lots of Americans who very much embrace other cultures and don't kind of harbor negative feeling towards someone who's Muslim or otherwise. And I think that what's really interesting, I investigate all the bad stuff on social media. so a lot of the time I'm seeing the really negative stuff Often very extreme content, or often the kind of like troll rage based style content that we see even come out of the White House. And a lot of this social media content around the World Cup feels really at odds with the kind of like political online world, which is quite refreshing because you're probably hearing and seeing from a lot of people whose voices are not often represented online in the same way. Katrina, that's the point, isn't it? This is the real America it really is. It really is. yeah. I mean, you know, when you travel around outside of the big cities and you talk to people And they hear your accent and that you're not American, even outside of the World Cup, any of us I there's so tell the Irish Katrina. Well You said this, you said it Yeah. You just get this incredible warmth I find and people are genuinely interested where you're from, what it's like in your country and your culture. and you know, they love hearing how we'll say we grew up in secondary school watching American teen shows, as they all did. And you know for many people, that's your sort of first taste of American culture, isn't it? We were actually speaking to the mayor of Lawrence on one of my shows yesterday and It was infectious and contagious the joy coming across how their town has just completely become Algerian and they've changed the chant that they usually say at high school football matches and all of this to reflect. Algeria. And so you hope that that kind of carries on beyond that as well. You know, all these promises to stay in touch and sort of have cultures can be turned into that soft power. ye. Oh they do. I feel like they will. yeah. I feel like they give strong ken friend energy. Oh they stay in touch. I mean, I used to go around Kansas and placesounds like you do. Bically so much fad mail. It's so hard, I know. I tell you what I'm thinking about, O. Okay, tease me if you like, but here's my story getting in touch. I'm doing my usual kind of basically Hugh Grant impersonation in Louisiana And we're at the prison. There's an extraordinary prison called Angola In Louisiana, a bit north of New Orleans and it's actually in many respects, a very, very gloomy place as you can imagine. It has a death row etceta, etcetera And I get on very well with these guys we're talking to who are in for long stretches And one of them actually does get in touch with me when he comes back to Washington, DC. slightly to my horror at first, I'll be perfectly honest. But actuallys an incredibly friendly guy and I think he'd been in for quite a long stretch. and It always strikes me that in the outside world don't know of another country where there is that sense of genuine kind of openness and it's weird because it goes alongside all that we know about American foreign policy and all the things that have been done by various presidents of various hues down the years, etc. there is this sort of core in the United States. I suspect, Katrina, it is partly because it is so huge. and you, as Mariana was saying, a lot of people don't travel much, and a lot of people don't have passports, still don't No, that's exactly it. And I found before I moved here, I mean I've been here on and off for ten years now that I found it extraordinary that people wouldn't have passports, especially you know, coming from As small island as I do, everyone has a passport from weeks after you're born practically But then I realized America is It really a country, it's more like a continent of itself as a US being you know, it's more comparable to the European Union or something, where you don't have to leave the US to have a different climate, different foods, you can have a skiing holiday and a beach holiday. all just in a drive. But you know, it's like any nation, isn't it? The people are different to the politicians and policy is set at one level and people operate their lives. just keeping on, keeping on and getting through. I do think it's worth saying that these images of openness and really welcoming America do also feel a little bit at odds with some of the decisions that were made in the buildup to the tournament. So we did see examples fans were not able to travel to the U.S. or very specifically a referee, for example, you might have heard that story about the Somalian referee. Omar Artan, who's thirty four years old, was going to be one of the youngest referees be part of the tournament and he was really excited about it, had been posting loads of social content. And in terms of what we know about why he was denied entry, a Trump administration source said that the individual was seeking admission to the U.S upon further acception by custom and Border protection, derogatory information, including association with suspected members of terror organizations was discovered making the traller ineligible for admission to the United States under the Immigration and Nationality Act, and Aran didn't reply to the BBC's request for a comment, but he did speak to the New York Times and he said this was just after it happened. and he said he was questioned by border officials over his links to a Somali militant group Al Shab and had told them he knew nothing about the group One of the reasons why I think people online are sort of guzzling up the content of America being open and free is because so much of the discourse prior to it was around these issues, issues of fan entry, issues of alth now entry. The irony is though with that that a lot of these people will have voted for Donald Trump I mean, you can be both things. You can be very much a Trump supporter, but you can also believe in gun rights and the anti abortion and all the other things that are kind of in other parts of the world, particularly among liberal people. Oh goodness, the United States has gone down this avenue. It's those same people often. And it's this, you know, sort of concept of the fear of the other. like if you don't know people from other places and you haven't met them, you're sort of into this sort of protectionist space which many politicians here have really leaned into and some would say really exploited. And you know the president likes to say over and over doesn't he immigrants who come to the U.S being murerers and you know he has that sentence he uses where you know all the bad ones are sent here and that kind of thing. Okay, another subject, Mariana, Jill Biden. She's back. She is back. She's been back in the news because she's doing interviews about her new book and shes said she wants to quote set the record straight. Most of the conversation and a lot of these interviews have ended up focusing on her view of what was going on with her husband while he was President, particularly his health, and there's a discussion about, for example, that very infamous Donald Trump Joe Biden debate where Biden was heavily criticised for stumbling his words, and not answering questions. And now Joe Biden has actually told CBS News she thought her husband was having a stroke during the debate. Here she is talking to Rita Braver about how she felt watching her husband during the debate. Were you horrified As you saw it unfold. I wasn't horrified. I was frightened because I had never ever seeing Joe like that Four or since. N ever since. Yes Or did they never seen never. No What happened? I don't know what happened. I mean, when as I watched it, I thought, Ohh my God, he's having a stroke And it scared me to death Which has to be said is not what she said at the time. So this is just after the debate when they visited that watch party together That's a great job, answered every question you because we have such a great Porters here, so thank you all for coming And everyone, Katrina will remember this debate, but it is worth saying, this was the moment that everything collapsed. So there had been a definite effort to keep him there by his team, by the man himself He did the debate. It was just shocking. America. Well, I say shocking. I mean it was horrifying, but actually I think in a sense not shocking to most Americans because most Americans were perfectly calmly aware that he shouldn't be running again. That was the view among Republicans, It was the view among Democrats, the view pretty much among everyone, except them. And I just wonder Katrina, the rehashing of it all It's not ideal for Democrats, is it that she's doing this book to her at all, frankly No. I mean, I was in Atlanta that night at that debate and could have heard a pin drop, you know, sort of that half an hour or so through that first answer that Joe Biden really stumbled on talking about COVD and losing his way and you even see Donald Trump sort of looking at him What's going on here assistant? Making sure that we're able to make every single solitary person eligible for what I've been able to do with with the COVID excuse me with dealing with Everything we have to do with M more If We finally beat Medicare. Thank you, President Biden, President Trump He's right, He did beat Medicaare. He beat it to death and he's destroying Medicare because all and you know, it spurred all of that big debate as you say gosh, it feels like it feels like a fever dream at this point giving everything that's happened that's just coming up to two years ago now Democrats need this discussion brought up as one said to me like a hole in the head at this point in time. you know, they're trying to move beyond all of that in fighting, all of what was seen as, you know protecting a party elder. and there've been books written about who was protecting him, who wasn't protecting him. So there's been a lot of blowback against Joille Biden over the last few weeks since her book came out that she's now saying this people saying Why didn't he say that at the time I think what's difficult for Joe Biden here is when, for example, she's giving an interview like the one we were discussing before, where she says, I've not seen him like that before or since. And you know there's that since, and she's like, yes, since The issue is that in the sort of very online age, it's very possible to find lots of examples of where Joe Biden doesn't seem super capable of talking or has forgotten something or got something wrong or got himself in a muddle since then. And so I think that this wasn't like the only time where there was a sudden moment of war and the before as well, obbviously all the before when he was president, but I think that the ability for people now to essentially investigate this stuff for themselves and to be like, o, hang on a second, Well, what was happening here and here and here and here means that you can't really set upon a narrative and say, right this is what I'm going to say happened because other people will be like, well hold on a second. just I don't know what you think, Katrina. I mean, Jill Biden there's a sort of slightly kind of lady Macbeth side to her. I think it would be better for the Democrats if she just hadn't written the book and just disappeared, frankly, which a lot of people felt should be the fate of the Bidens after the mistake that they made in trying to hang on The real sting in the tail here, potentially that has Democrats really quaking and quivering, is that one of the Jill Biden book events in New York Joe Biden was there. and said something along the lines of, well wait till you see my book. It's out in September. in September, like, you know a few weeks before the country goes to the polls for the midterms Now we haven't been able to get official confirmation of exactly the publication date, but you know a few operatives who are trying to sort of swing seats are saying, oh my goodness, what is going to be in this book? It's going to take over the media narrative for weeks upon end and you know at the time when we least need it. One thing that's interesting that actually I think I kind of know the answer to this question, but nonetheless, I think it's worth discussing, which is so much of the narrative now unfolds on social media. I feel like the whole kind of like book circuit, headlines that derive from those books It almost like feels like you're in two parallel realities. I mean, some of it does travel, like particularly viral clips will travel, comments that are deliberately being made on social media will travel. and stuff that is like big headline news will obviously get loads and loads of pickup. But it is kind of interesting because it's almost like passed it, it'smost like the interternet's moved on. it's not as interested. Yeah. Is that true, Katrina, do you think I think it depends who you are and what you're looking at. you know, I mean, we all get really obsessed about like the latest political happening and who's saying what about who to the extent that voters are caught up on that kind of stuff I don't know. I mean, the writing of a book is a rite of passage here, isn't it? especially if you want to run for office. you know Jadie Vance just dropped his second book yesterday. He did five or six interviews on all the big US networks yesterday about that. so we'll expect to hear a lot from him in the coming days as he's kind of shipping that book around the place. But I think there's still a merit in it, but it's like anything. It's the clips that tell the story. How many people will actually go and read these books, but they will see those little clips. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. And how political people are. I mean you're right to draw attention to the fact that they're not. I mean that's one of the reasons why smaller town America is so wonderful. People don't give monkeys about politics, do they? between elections. Anyhow, let us turn to other matters because we have promised to do as many things as we can fit in and A very different subject. Todd Blanche, Donald Trump's former personal attorney He wants to make him now the attorney general Katrina, just tell us, give us a kind of thumbnail sketch of Banche because I think everyone's sort of vaguely aware of him because he's had sort of walk on parts, hasasn't he? but whoo is he? He has yeah, he's going from a walk on part into a main character at this point, but people will be familiar with Todd Blanche from before Donald Trump came back into office when he was facing all the various lawsuits, particularly the hush money trial around Stormy Daniels in New York, and Todd Blanche would be there standing beside President Trump as the president or former president as he was then would give these long lengthy remarks after court every day. It was Todd Blanche was standing up in court doing a lot of the arguing and the advocating for Donald Trump. He actually left his law firm in order to be sort of solely representing Donald Trump. So that's how close the relationship is. Then you fast forward to Donald Trump getting reelected, being back in office, and you know he was trying to kind of find appointments for many of those who'd been loyal to them and who he trusted and he decided at that point to make Bond attorney general, which is basically the chief prosecutor for the U. S. She was another loyalist of Donald Trump's from Florida. We know how things have fared for Pam Bondy, not in the role anymore, largely having to resign over the way the Jeffrey Epstein situation was handled. and so there's a vacancy. So Donald Trump says, I know a guy my very loyal close friend, personal attorney Todd Blanche, who is now in the post as acting attorney General The way it works he has to be confirmed by the Senate up on Capitol Hill. So he's got to go through ar There's a vote at a committee stage and then there's a vote of the whole Senate then he' sen it confirmed and he's sworn into office and away he goes. I have to say Katrina, the Donald Trump endorsement of him for the job is well worth listening to and we should listen to it now. so because it's pure Trump. So this isonald Trump Praising Tode Blanche. It's a speech in the Rose Garden at the Rose Garden Club dinner even just last month. Let's listen We have a man who's doing a great job. I'll tell you, I knew it 'a he kept me out of jail for years the attorney genereral She kept me out of jail. they would indict me left and right The crooked Democrats. You know, it's amazing They impeach me. they indict me and then when I get in office. If I say something like, well, maybe that should be looked into weaponization and we want to keep it The way it is, what we have now, we have great law enforcement now, and we have law enforcement that loves our country I mean just Katra, first of all, the thing that it brings home to me is just what the jeopardy was actually for Donald Trump. because when he says he kept me out of jail, he's not joking, is he? I mean, he really genuinely thinks that, I think, that there was a serious jeopardy. and we used to talk about it a lot, a serious jeopardy that he was under. So you would in those circumstances, wouldn't you feel very, very grateful and very close to the people who you thought were responsible for your freedom Indeed, I mean, I think that's a natural human reaction, isn't it? And he's had Todd Blanche around him in this administration as deputy attorney Geral, but this step up is quite a remarkable one in terms of, you know, there's a direct line from the president to the attorney general in any administration.'s very close relationship, particularly close in this case, especially with some of the reporting that's come out of the Department of Justice in the last year and a half. and obviously we saw a whole pile of lawyers fired, we saw a whole pile est because they didn't want to sort of represent the government in the cases that they were being asked to represent. So there's a whole sort of chaos in the Department of Justice as well. And now we have Donald Trump wanting to put Todd Blanche in there And of course there are Republicans outn't there in the Senate who no longer feel the connection to Donald Trump that they once had. Shall I just put it like that. So people effectively have been forced by him. Tom Tillis in North Carolina has decided to go, but John Cornan in Texas, who actually has been forced out by Donald Trump. And the question I suppose Katrina, well, you can answer it possibly is whether they're going to support this or not and whether it matters Well, they are two big questions that we don't know the answers to yet. And those individuals and a couple of others are members of what's known as the YOLo Caucus. You only live once or less politely called the DGAF caaucus, which is don't give a F Star Star star. And they're people who won't be in the Senate next time round and, you know, John Cornan from Texas in particular was primary A couple of weeks ago, he won't be able to stand for election because Donald Trump backed another Republican in his district. So these people feel that now they can sort of vote with their conscience what's good for America. They're not tied to looking for watchges of cash to try and get reelected or to be loyal or faithful to the president So it just takes a couple to not vote for Todd Blanche and then he'll be in real trouble. And if his nomination is rejected, then that's a big problem for Donald Trump There's a lot of kind of horse trading before we get there, but definitely it is not a done deal for Todd Blanche at this point. Before we go, time for this. pllededge allegiance to the United States of America. Right, if you're a regular listener, you know by now what we're doing. We're building this map of state by state, the United States. We want to hear from all fifty states. We want to hear what's going on in your state, but it doesn't have to be in your state. It could be just a state you've been to. it could be a fun fact, it could be something we don't know. You don't have to live there, you don't have to have much of a connection. You're in, if you've got any connection at all. So we've got Sophie from Colorado, who's got in touch this time round. We are known for our mountains and our skiing, where the square state in the middle of the United States But something not many people know about us is that we are really into dinosaurs. The stegosaurus is our state dinosaur of Colorado All the kids know this. We share Dinosaur Ridge with Utah and we also have the flluorescent The Florescent Fossil Bed National Monument and we used to be under in ocean during the tririassic period, but then later we grew these big rainforests. so a bunch of the herbivore dinosaurs came and then the predator meat eating dinosaurs came And that's why we have so many dinosaur bones under our soil I am moving to London this fall to go to grad school and I really appreciate knowing learning about what the British people are thinking about the American political system. So thank you so much. Thank you, Sophie, Katrina, do you know Colorado? I do. I've been there many times and along the border with Utah as well. And it's absolutely fabulous. so I go along with everything that Sophie says, Definitely worth a visit. I went there for a podcast a couple of sumers ago And had some lovely Bison burger.. Bison' a big thing, isn't it The weird thing about Colorado is so I used to go there skiing with the kids and you drive from Denver to the ski resorts and right at the very kind of top of the mountain so it's very snowy and you feel I don't know, like the early settlers moving west across the United States and you stop at a place that looks like a shack and they serve kind of fantastic cappuccinos and things because Katrina. I don't know this is your experience. Colorado or indeed Sophie's experience. Colorado has been Colonized in a nice way by a lot of very wealthy people as well who've demanded of it all the kind of creature comforts that they used to have in San Francisco. now they prefer to live in Colorado. and that's very much a part of the modern state. Absolutely. Especially if you go anywhere around Aspen, I don't know if that's where you are skiing, but Not quite Aspen though. L of the influeners go skiing in Aspen That's where I know it. It's really gorgeous. And like we're saying earlier, big road trip potential there and you stumble upon All of these old sort of little pioneer towns, many of which still have kind of the flavor of that area and it's just gorgeous and far more affordable in parts, not necessarily in Aspen, but in other parts, far more affordable than the other big cities in the US