Stateside with Kai and Carter

The 2026 World Cup final has not happened yet, but we already know that there were some clear winners (and total losers) during the tournament. And we’re not just talking about what happened on the pitch. Ahead of Sunday’s game, host Carter Sherman speaks with Max Rushden – host of the Guardian’s Football Weekly podcast – about Argentina’s win over England in the semi-finals, why Lionel Messi is probably “the greatest footballer ever", and what we should be looking out for as Argentina takes on Spain in the final. Then, Guardian US soccer editors Alexander Abnos and Ella Brockway break down some of the most memorable moments of the tournament – and decide who (or what) won the World Cup vibes contest. Spoiler: it's not Donald Trump.Correction added 19 July 2026: This episode says that Cape Verde player Josimar Jose Evora Dias, known as Vozinha, was recruited via LinkedIn. In fact it was his teammate, Roberto "Pico" Lopes.

Over the past ten days, ICE officials have killed two immigrants in separate shootings in Texas and Maine. While the Department of Homeland Security has claimed that the officers were acting in self-defense and the interest of public safety, no evidence has emerged to support those accounts, and outrage is mounting over these latest examples of violence from the agency. Kai Wright speaks with Guardian immigration reporter José Olivares about the killings of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo and Johan Sebastián Durán Guerrero, how their deaths reflect a broader pattern of brutality animating President Trump’s mass deportation agenda, and what accountability for them might look like.‘Fear, intimidation, violence’: calls mount to remove ICE from US streets after agents killed two men‘New terrifying levels’: 10 people fatally shot by immigration officials in Trump’s second term

Thanks to pollution, overpopulation and the climate crisis, Earth is facing a terrifying new crisis: an irreversible "water bankruptcy". Now, fights over water have ramped up across the world, including in the US west. Host Carter Sherman speaks with Guardian extreme weather correspondent Gabrielle Canon about the battle over the future of the Colorado River Basin, whose water sustains some 40 million people across seven states – but is now drying up. Gabrielle recently rafted down the basin's last "wild" river, the Yampa. Damming or diverting the Yampa could bring the west some much-needed hydration. It may also devastate the vast natural ecosystem that relies on the river's free-flowing waters. Also: Carter and Kai Wright react to the death of South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham.Gabrielle Canon’s story on the Yampa RiverGuardian stories on Lindsey Graham:Analysis on Graham as dealmakerThe scramble to replace GrahamLindsey Graham in his own words

Earlier this week, Graham Platner, the Democratic candidate for Senate in Maine, was accused by a former partner of sexual assault. Platner denies the allegations, but on Wednesday, he suspended his campaign, accusing the “political establishment” of tanking his candidacy. But this is only the most recent scandal to have surfaced around Platner’s campaign — over the past year, the oyster farmer and combat veteran was revealed to have a tattoo that closely resembled a Totenkopf (a widely recognized Nazi symbol), a long paper trail of racist, misogynist and homophobic posts on Reddit, and in June, the New York Times published allegations from three former partners about Platner’s “toxic” behavior in their relationships, including, in several cases, physical intimidation (allegations Platner denied).As Democrats regroup and evaluate their dwindling chances to flip the Senate in November, hosts Kai Wright and Carter Sherman are joined by Guardian political reporters Lauren Gambino and Shrai Popat to ask why voters flocked to Platner, why they were reluctant to abandon him as the scandals came out — and what the whole mess says about who gets the privilege of political redemption.

Last week, the US supreme court ruled that Idaho and West Virginia can continue enforcing their bans on transgender athletes playing on girls’ and women's teams in schools. It’s the latest development in the political and legal attack on trans people —and especially trans youth— that has surged in recent years. On the heels of that decision, Kai Wright talks with Guardian reporter Sam Levin, who has been covering the debate over trans athletes in California and speaking with students and their families, and Chase Strangio, co-director of the ACLU's LGBTQ & HIV Project, who is the first out trans person to argue in front of the US supreme court. They walk through the legal and political strategies animating the anti-trans movement, and discuss why this most recent decision could open the door to the erosion of civil liberties for everyone.Trans youth athletes vow to keep playing after US supreme court rulingHow the US supreme court case on trans athletes could unravel LGBTQ+ rightsI'm a 14-year-old trans athlete. No one should face the vicious attacks I have faced

On the Fourth of July, the Trump administration's new savings accounts for children went live. These ‘Trump accounts’, created as part of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, are ostensibly supposed to help families pay for college and other expenses. But Guardian columnist Moira Donegan says these accounts are really the work of the pronatalist movement, which wants women to have as many babies as possible – and is backed by powerful rightwingers such as JD Vance and Elon Musk. Moira speaks with Carter Sherman about the strange bedfellows who make up the movement, including its ties to the racist conspiracy theory known as the ‘great replacement.’