Jacques and Jennifer discuss how the US is an Empire with vast extended territories and has been for a long time, and how we have a collective blindspot about this as we refer to a limited 'logo' map of the US, which in reality was only a true representation of its real shape and extent for a few years in the 1850s. This is certainly a hidden aspect of the US's imperial hegemony and power as Daniel Immerwahr explains in his How to Hide an Empire: A Short History of the Greater United States  (2020; London: Vintage).

The presenters ask why Australia is so uncritical and meek in following the US lead, supporting its warfare adventures and giving up sovereignty in our own policies. As former PM Paul Keating has warned, we are in danger of becoming the 51st state of the US, if we are not already there.

Also, see Don Watson's (2024) Quarterly Essay (95): High Noon: Trump, Harris and America on the brink