Anywhere but Washington
Exploring what America's most overlooked peoples and places reveal about a nation divided.
Behind the scenes at Donald Trump’s national convention - video
Less than a week after a failed assassination attempt, Donald Trump accepted the Republican presidential nomination in Milwaukee. But supposed nods to national unity gave way to partisan falsehoods, as the former president was anointed at a moment of national crisis
Is Joe Biden's bid for re-election in trouble? – video
In the vital swing state of Michigan, growing fractures among the Democratic base could spell trouble for Joe Biden in the November election. As party loyalists canvas in the run up to a primary vote, a protest movement against the president’s support for the war in Gaza gains momentum. Oliver Laughland and Tom Silverstone visit the state.
Why are Republicans still supporting Donald Trump? - video
Despite facing multiple criminal charges, Donald Trump remains the frontrunner in the 2024 Republican presidential primary. But in South Carolina, a traditionally conservative southern state, a split is opening up between Trump loyalists and more moderate Republicans who are fearful of what their party has become
How Donald Trump's legacy poisoned Arizona’s fragile democracy - video
In Arizona, all of the statewide Republican candidates for the midterm elections have falsely claimed the 2020 election result was not legitimate. As these conspiracy theories spread, Oliver Laughland travels to Phoenix to meet Adrian Fontes, the Democrat trying to defeat Trump loyalist and election denier Mark Finchem in the race for secretary of state
Can abortion rights swing the US midterm elections? – video
In the lead-up to the US midterm elections, the Guardian's Oliver Laughland travels to Indiana, the first US state to pass a new abortion ban into law following the overturning of Roe v Wade. Can Democrats who are campaigning on the issue make inroads at the ballot box?
George Floyd: a landmark moment for justice in America? – video
The murder trial of Derek Chauvin drew the attention of the world to Minneapolis, an epicenter of the Black Lives Matter movement after the murder of George Floyd. In some areas of the city people have reclaimed the streets, while others are under military occupation. With the area reeling from yet another recent police killing, Oliver Laughland and Tom Silverstone spent time with activists, lawyers, eyewitnesses and members of the Floyd family to see how this landmark moment in American racial justice is shaping the city
God and the GOP: will conservative evangelicals stay loyal to Trump? – video
In 2016, white evangelicals made up a quarter of all US voters. And 81% of them voted for Donald Trump. Oliver Laughland and Tom Silverstone head to the pivotal battleground state of North Carolina to see if Trump's religious base is showing signs of crumbling. They meet extreme evangelical pastors, travelling progressive preachers and the moral movement leader Rev William Barber
Broken promises and alternative facts: how Donald Trump failed Ohio – video
After winning the 2016 election, Donald Trump promised to deliver new jobs and economic prosperity to Youngstown, Ohio, a city suffering from decades of decline. But four years on those promises never manifested. Oliver Laughland and Tom Silverstone meet residents who lost their jobs and had their families split by economic necessity, and witness how the demise of the city’s only newspaper made it harder to hold politicians accountable for their failures
Battle for the suburbs: can Joe Biden flip Texas? – video
Texas is a rapidly changing state with the fastest growing population in America. Hispanic Texans are set to become the majority by 2022, but will this help Joe Biden flip a Republican stronghold? Oliver Laughland and Tom Silverstone travel to suburban Dallas and the border city of McAllen to look at the political impact of this diversification and the legacy of Donald Trump’s hardline immigration policies
Troubled Florida, divided America: will Donald Trump hold this vital swing state? - video
With six weeks until the most important election in a generation, Oliver Laughland and Tom Silverstone are crossing the US to uncover the political fault lines that underpin American politics. In the vital swing state of Florida, the race for the White House is tightening by the day
'Those horrible pink hats': midterms divide women in era of #MeToo – video
With record numbers of female candidates in the US midterm elections, Paul Lewis travels to New Mexico, where both the Democrat and the Republican standing for a House seat are women. He finds women divided – over Trump, the MeToo movement, and Deb Haaland, a Democrat campaigning to be the first Native American woman elected to Congress