{"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":"The Democrats fight back Trump-style in Maine… but have they messed up?","slug":"the-democrats-fight-back-trump-style-in-maine-but-have-they-messed-up","published_at":"2026-06-11T04:59:00+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/americast-89638/the-democrats-fight-back-trump-style-in-maine-but-have-they-messed-up","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/americast-89638","url":"http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p0nr9b6z","audio_url":"http://open.live.bbc.co.uk/mediaselector/6/redir/version/2.0/mediaset/audio-nondrm-download-rss/proto/http/vpid/p0nr913j.mp3","summary":"There are new allegations against Graham Platner, the confirmed Democratic senate candidate in Maine. The small north eastern state which borders Canada is at the centre of a fierce debate within the Democratic party. Have they picked the right candidate for a profoundly important election in Maine, which will be integral to Democrats’ chances of winning back control of the US Senate? Graham Platner, the Democrat’s new candidate, is facing multiple allegations and scandals around his conduct and behaviour, particularly around women. He says he’s been unfairly targeted, and that everyone has behaviours in their past which they regret. But will that be enough to convince voters? In this episode, Anthony Zurcher - who is just back from reporting in Maine - joins Justin to give us his take after hearing from voters and Graham Platner himself. Also, we hear from insiders on exactly how Platner was selected and vetted before he became a Democrat candidate. He’ll be facing incumbent Susan Collins, the longest serving female Republican in the senate, who is also a longstanding Trump critic. Plus, with accusations from the US president about election fraud in California - where ballots are still being counted for the governor race to replace Democrat Gavin Newsom - we look at the preliminary results. It looks like British-born Republican Steve Hilton has been chosen to stand against Democrat Xavier Baccera in November. Why is it taking so long to count ballots and come up with a result? And, we discuss whether Trump’s claims about election fraud part of a bigger playbook for November’s midterm elections. HOSTS: • Justin Webb, Radio 4 presenter • Anthony Zurcher, North America Correspondent GET IN TOUCH: • Join our online community: https://discord.gg/qSrxqNcmRB • Send us a mess…","meta_description":"There are new allegations against Graham Platner, the confirmed Democratic senate candidate in Maine. The small north eastern state which borders Canada i…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":2375,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/americast-89638/episodes/the-democrats-fight-back-trump-style-in-maine-but-have-they-messed-up/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/americast-89638/the-democrats-fight-back-trump-style-in-maine-but-have-they-messed-up.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}