{"podcast":{"title":"Americast","slug":"americast-89638","podcast_index_feed_id":89638,"rss_url":"https://podcasts.files.bbci.co.uk/p07h19zz.rss","website_url":"http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p07h19zz","image_url":"http://ichef.bbci.co.uk/images/ic/3000x3000/p0k99j29.jpg","author":"BBC","episode_count":644,"summary":"Insight and analysis on what's happening inside Donald Trump's White House. Americast is the authoritative US news and politics podcast from the BBC. Each week we provide audiences with the best analysis from across the BBC, with on-the-ground observations and big picture insights about the stories which are defining America right now. The podcast is hosted by trusted BBC journalists including the BBC’s North America editor, Sarah Smith, BBC Radio 4 presenter, Justin Webb, the BBC’s social media investigation correspondent, Marianna Spring, and BBC North America correspondent, Anthony Zurcher. As well as political analysis, we also specialise in social media. Each week Marianna Spring brings listeners the latest updates from the BBC’s Undercover Voters, our award-winning investigation into the content that is recommended to US voters on social media. The team is also joined by special guests each week, like CNN anchor, Christiane Amanpour, Emmy Award-winning TV host, Rachel Maddow, and Succession actress, J Smith-Cameron. Podcasts are published every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. As well as being a podcast, we are also available every Friday on BBC Radio 4 and every Saturday on th…","last_synced_at":"2026-09-22T06:20:31.692128+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/americast-89638"},"episode":{"title":"Has Trump lost ‘Make America Healthy Again’ voters?","slug":"has-trump-lost-make-america-healthy-again-voters","published_at":"2026-08-12T20:41:00+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/americast-89638/has-trump-lost-make-america-healthy-again-voters","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/americast-89638","url":"http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p0p45dbg","audio_url":"http://open.live.bbc.co.uk/mediaselector/6/redir/version/2.0/mediaset/audio-nondrm-download-rss/proto/http/vpid/p0p45d8b.mp3","summary":"Why does Donald Trump want to limit childhood vaccines, and does it risk alienating voters in key districts ahead of the midterm elections? On Monday, Donald Trump signed a new executive order from the Oval Office that calls for fewer childhood vaccines and also recommends splitting the mumps, measles and rubella (MMR) shots. He criticized vaccines for children that were “the size of a soda bottle” alongside his health secretary, RFK Jr, whose supporters helped Donald Trump win back the White House on the back of the ‘Make America Healthy Again’ movement. The president has long cast doubt on the safety of MMR vaccines despite the fact multiple studies have found no connection between the shots and autism. Medical experts have criticised the new order and said it could reduce vaccination rates and expose children to harmful diseases. Anthony, Marianna and Sarah look at the reasons why discredited claims on the MMR vaccine have been given new life by parts of the MAHA movement and whether Monday’s executive order is an attempt by the White House to win back voters who have been disappointed by other areas of the president’s healthcare agenda. But with some advisers within Donald Trump’s team concerned that vaccine skepticism could cost them votes in key districts, how much of a risk is Donald Trump taking over childhood vaccines? HOSTS: • Sarah Smith, North America Editor • Anthony Zurcher, North America Correspondent • Marianna Spring, Social Media Investigations Senior Correspondent GET IN TOUCH: • Join our online community: https://discord.gg/qSrxqNcmRB • Send us a message or voice note via WhatsApp to +44 330 123 9480 • Email Americast@bbc.co.uk • Or use #Americast This episode was made by George Dabby and Alix Pickles. The technical producer was Stephen Bailey. The…","meta_description":"Why does Donald Trump want to limit childhood vaccines, and does it risk alienating voters in key districts ahead of the midterm elections? On Monday, Don…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":1730,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/americast-89638/episodes/has-trump-lost-make-america-healthy-again-voters/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/americast-89638/has-trump-lost-make-america-healthy-again-voters.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}