The United States of America is younger than the British Museum and Guinness - in 2026 it celebrates its 250th birthday. How did this vast melting pot of people and ideas come to dominate global politics and culture?

Historian and journalist Simon Jenkins believes America’s success stems from its careful balancing of the freedoms and interests of the states and the federal government. For this episode he talks to Mythili Rao about the enduring tensions and balances that have enabled these fifty distinct states not only to survive civil war, but to prosper. He shows how there is a long strain of populism, antagonism towards Washington DC and isolationism in American politics that long pre-dates President Trump. And he makes the case that, despite its divisions, the USA is a unique achievement that will endure long after Trump has left the White House.

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