Pat Kenny has launched a new weekly podcast on life and politics in the United States called The Divided States of America.

The first episode of The Divided States of America has arrived and the new podcast hosted by Pat Kenny is already dissecting some of the biggest questions about the country and unpacking its biggest news stories.

The Newstalk broadcaster will be joined by academics, journalists and political figures to explore what these talking points mean to listeners here, with the first guest being TJ Mulloy of Democrats Abroad Ireland.

One of the topics this week was Elon Musk suggesting that he had interfered with the 2024 election, with the tech billionaire reportedly saying that he has 10,000 satellites so he knows the result.

When asked if he was "spoofing", Mr Mulloy said: "I don't know. I mean, he's quite the spoofer, I think we can all say, quite the salesman.

"Obviously he had put enough money there to make a difference, I think, regardless. It is quite a daunting prospect when you look at the American system and you see how money can influence the outcome.

"I think we've seen that you can [buy an election], and it's been shown that the candidate who is able to raise the most money often is the victor.

"But what we've seen, I think, now in the last couple of years, we're seeing a little bit of a demographic change.

"We saw the New York election, [Andrew] Cuomo was the establishment candidate, then he ran as an independent, he had all that establishment behind him, he had more money, he had more everything.

"But it didn't matter. Times had changed, times had moved on."

US President Donald Trump in the Oval Office with Elon Musk in February 2025. Pic: White House

Speaking ahead of the launch, Pat Kenny said he has “always loved America” and completed his graduate studies in an era when it was still very much the promised land.

“I saw the American Dream in action,” he recalled.

“Every generation is better off, better housed, better educated than the one before.

“So, what went wrong? Why has the American Dream become the American Nightmare; not just for its own people, but for many of America’s former allies and friends?

“Or were we all looking at the United States through a distorting prism? Is the Presidency of Donald Trump an anomaly, or has he simply, perhaps inadvertently, lifted the veil on a country whose engine has always been money and self-interest?

“Over the coming months, into the midterms and beyond, we’ll be explaining what’s gone wrong with America and asking can it be fixed? Can it regain global respect as the era of Donald Trump comes to an end?”