Freedland asks Glasser about Trump’s judgment of prominent men
The Guardian released the episode on Friday, Nov. 13, 2026, first publishing it at 08.02 CET and listing it at 08.05 CET under its US politics strand, Politics Weekly America. The episode is titled for its thesis: “Why the Nvidia CEO’s downfall is bad for Trump – podcast.”
In the episode description, The Guardian says Trump “is still defending men who are facing a lot of heat.” The two men it names are Jensen Huang, Nvidia’s chief executive, and Pete Hegseth, the secretary of defence.
On Huang, the description says he “could be ousted after admitting an affair with an alleged Chinese spy.” The wording is conditional and hedged: ouster is presented as a possibility, and the description calls the spy in the affair an alleged spy, not a confirmed one.
On Hegseth, the description offers only that he is Trump’s “embattled secretary of defence” and gives no further detail about the source of that pressure within the episode listing itself.
The description also says Trump “has also (jokingly) begged strongmen to take his job offers” — a third thread the episode pursues alongside the cases of Huang and Hegseth.
Freedland frames the discussion as a question about pattern rather than any single appointment or association. He speaks to Susan Glasser of the New Yorker, the description says, about “why Trump’s judgment of high-profile men is … questionable.” The ellipsis in the published description is the Guardian’s own.
The episode is presented by Jonathan Freedland, with Susan Glasser, and produced by May Robson and Danielle Stephens, with Maz Ebtehaj as executive producer. It is distributed through Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and the show’s RSS feed, with downloadable audio and a question-and-feedback address, [email protected].
The Guardian’s listing also points listeners to a new series of Comfort Eating with Siobhán McSweeney and to the Politics Weekly YouTube channel, where Freedland appears in video form.