Left, Right & Center

Democrats badly want to win control of the Senate this fall, but they just suffered a bad blow: Graham Platner, their candidate in Maine, dropped out of the race after facing rape allegations. Whose job was it to vet Platner? And what do Democrats do with this race now?  Then, from cryptocurrency profits to calling the head of FIFA, what is President Trump’s relationship with corruption? He seems...

The Supreme Court finished its term with some pre-July 4th fireworks by issuing decisions that continue to shape the powers of the presidency. But how solid is this narrative out there that Trump benefits from a conservative-leaning court?  The justices also loosened the leash for how much the parties can coordinate with and help fund congressional candidates. We look at what impact this could hav...

Are socialists taking over the Democratic Party? New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani, a proud Democratic Socialist, won some stunning victories in Congressional primaries. His chosen candidates beat out more mainstream Democrats.  Republicans have their own issues. President Trump met with several GOP senators and things got testy. His decision to target sitting Republicans in recent primaries may be ba...

Take your personal data back with Incogni! Use code KCRW at the link below and get 60% off an annual plan: https://incogni.com/KCRW President Trump is lauding his peace deal between the U.S. and Iran as a success – one far greater than the deal former President Obama brokered. But even members of his own party are skeptical that the new plan is any better. What goals did he achieve in this costly...

Politics cast a big shadow over several big sporting events this week. The President’s immigration policies are affecting players’ and fans’ plans to travel to World Cup events in the U.S., the Administration hosts a UFC event on the White House lawn, and Trump caused disruption and was met with boos when he visited Madison Square Garden for an NBA Finals game. We dig into the all-important senate...

Iowa Republicans picked Zach Lahn over the Trump-backed Randy Feenstra in the gubernatorial primary. Lahn’s a farmer who spoke about the pain of high fertilizer prices and cancer caused by pesticides, earning him support from the MAHA. Was this some rebuke of Trump, or just voters looking for the right person to make their lives better?  Critics say ICE detainees face horrific conditions. Trump wo...

We bring you an episode of "Intention to Treat: The Race Equation." It's a new series from the New England Journal of Medicine that investigates how race-specific diagnostic tools harm Black patients and contribute to growing health inequities.

Take your personal data back with Incogni! Use code KCRW at the link below and get 60% off an annual plan: https://incogni.com/KCRW Texas Republicans are pinning their hopes on Senate candidate Ken Paxton, the state attorney general who was impeached for abusing his office. Maine Democrats are pinning theirs on Graham Platner, who’s had to explain an old tattoo that looks like a Nazi symbol. Welco...

Take your personal data back with Incogni! Use code KCRW at the link below and get 60% off an annual plan: https://incogni.com/KCRW What is an anti-weaponization fund? Is it a legit use of taxpayer dollars to help people of all political stripes who were wronged by their government, or is it a corrupt slush fund to help President Trump and his political allies? One immediate question on the minds...

Some voters are in the dark about which districts they live in and who their candidates are because officials in several states and the president are obsessed with redrawing congressional maps. The latest push on redistricting comes after the Supreme Court struck down parts of the Voting Rights Act. Also, public health officials are clear: hantavirus is different from COVID and highly unlikely to...

Abortion is back at center stage in our politics after a federal appeals court halted access to a mail-order abortion medication. We’ll talk about next steps in the Supreme Court and the decision facing both parties on whether to lean into this issue at this moment. Democrats know it can galvanize their base, but do they want to take attention away from affordability? On the right, could this expo...

The Supreme Court gutted a key piece of the Voting Rights Act, and Louisiana lawmakers are moving fast to redraw district maps ahead of this year’s midterms. The decision could help Republicans’ chances to hold on to their House majority, while delivering a blow to Black representation in Congress.  Conspiracy theories spread fast after last weekend’s attempted attack on the president. Some people...

Democrats claimed victory in Virginia to redraw district maps and flip as many as four seats from Republicans in Congress. It’s the latest in a gerrymandering arms race to control the House that started with the Texas GOP, but where does it end? We talk about the President’s negotiating tactics in Iran. It’s also a big test for Vice President J.D. Vance to prove himself on the international stage....

Pope Leo’s call for peace evidently didn’t sit well with President Trump. He lashed out and called the Pope bad for foreign policy, while Vice President JD Vance lectured the pontiff to be careful when opining on matters of theology.  The president’s next move in Iran is a blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, but is it an effective strategy to force negotiations, or could it backfire and possibly emb...

President Trump wanted the Iran War to end quickly after six weeks of fighting, and so he issued a dire threat: submit or he will “end an entire civilization.” Now we’re in a fragile two-week ceasefire for negotiations. The White House says the warning was necessary to get us to this point, but critics called it reckless. Congress also returns to DC after its two-week recess, and it’s back to the...

President Trump gave a speech this week about the Iran War to say he’s going to finish dismantling the country’s regime. But he also added that this regime seems pretty reasonable. We focus on what’s actually taking place: The U.S. role in the world has shifted dramatically, Russia and China seem to be benefitting from U.S. actions, the American economy seems vulnerable and Trump’s standing with h...

Take your personal data back with Incogni! Use code KCRW at the link below and get 60% off an annual plan: https://incogni.com/kcrw The political brinksmanship over ICE enforcement goes on as travelers in some U.S. airports face hours of wait times at TSA checkpoints. History says voters would blame the party holding things up – Democrats – but polls suggest otherwise, which may be why Republicans...

Take your personal data back with Incogni! Use code KCRW at the link below and get 60% off an annual plan: https://incogni.com/kcrw With our nation at war and under threat, the last thing you’d want is uncertainty and a staffing shakeup at the agency responsible for protecting our country. But here we are. We talk about why Joe Kent, the U.S. head of counterterrorism, resigned, and whether we may...

A president’s words alone can have a big impact. Like when President Trump told a reporter that the war in Iran is nearly over, oil prices dropped. That was a good sign for consumers, but was that responsible leadership from the president? We’re asking the same question of Congress where one senator said let’s not debate the war because a publicly divided legislative branch isn’t good for our troo...

The U.S. and Israel attacked Iran, killing that country’s leader and sparking celebration from some Iranians. What’s not clear is why. President Trump’s reasoning for all this has been a moving target. We’ll talk about the stakes for the region and for the Trump presidency.  Also, the Congressional effort to limit the president’s war powers falls short. Is it time to just give up on Congress playi...

Take your personal data back with Incogni! Use code KCRW at the link below and get 60% off an annual plan: https://incogni.com/kcrw   The way President Trump saw it in his State of the Union address, our nation is getting stronger, safer and more affordable for American families. Polls paint a different picture where far more people think the economy has gotten worse, not better in Trump’s second...

The fallout from the millions of pages released from the Epstein Files has now reached the British royal family with the arrest of former Prince Andrew. In business and academia, many major figures have stepped down. However American politicians named in the files have faced few consequences. Why is that, and what are some of the larger political implications of the Epstein Files? Also, President...

The first votes of the 2026 midterm elections will soon be cast in Texas, and the Senate primary race is shaping up to be messy for both Democrats and Republicans. The two blue candidates, U.S. Representative Jasmine Crockett and state Representative James Talarico are each facing blowback for comments they made about race and identity. There’s also an intraparty fracture between the GOP’s establi...

This week, Congress ended a partial government shutdown, approving funding for several federal agencies through September. The Department of Homeland Security, which oversees I.C.E and U.S. Customs and Border Patrol, was not among those agencies. Democrats say they won’t fund the D.H.S without restrictions on federal immigration agents. In this shifting political landscape, how will congressional...

Protests and skirmishes between Minnesota residents and federal agents are still ongoing after the second shooting of a US citizen in Minneapolis this month. Thirty-seven year old ICU nurse Alex Pretti was killed by Border Patrol agents while filming immigration operations in the city. Following a weekend of inflammatory comments by DHS secretary Kristy Noem and other members of the Trump administ...