Peter York's Culture Wars House Party
Gabriel Gatehouse: How the Weird Stuff Took Over Politics
Published: 22 May 2026 at 10:17 Europe/London
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Episode notes
Gabriel Gatehouse is a former BBC international correspondent, a "Groucho Marx member" of the British establishment, and creator of The Coming Storm — the podcast and book that mapped the deep roots of American conspiracy culture from the Clinton wars to QAnon (was it kind of true?).
We explore his view from fifteen turbulent months of Trump's second term — America as "empire in decline," Britain scrambling for new alliances — his unexpected detour into the "bonkers subject" of UFO documentaries, and what the Epstein files tell us about how power actually works at the very top.
On Putin's view of Trump he's happy to speculate: "a useful idiot." On whether the weird stuff is still driving politics or has simply become Republican Party orthodoxy — that's where it gets complicated.
Please do check out my latest book, A Dead Cat On Your Table – available online and in all good book shops.
@peteryork.bsky.social
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