Brian Lehrer: A Daily Politics Podcast

A special treat as we close out this consequential year: a history and civics news quiz. Listen to our callers answer questions from the citizenship test, and see how well you'd do. On Today's Show: 2020 was a year for the history books. For today's show,  Kenneth C. Davis ,  author of the "Don't Know Much About History" series and most recently, " More Deadly Than War: The Hidden History of the S...

As Joe Biden's cabinet comes together, there's a pattern emerging: he knows and gets along with most his nominees on a personal level. On Today's Show: Gabriel Debenedetti , national correspondent at New York Magazine , talks about Biden's executive branch, and what it means for the next four years. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection...

Trump isn't making life easy for his party, which is trying to hold on to the Senate amid two runoff elections in Georgia, scheduled for next week. What's his angle? On Today's Show: Gabriel Debenedetti , national correspondent at New York Magazine , talks about the upcoming Georgia Senate runoffs, and how Trump politics and tactics are coming into play even as the sun sets on his presidency. Host...

Trump pardoned Roger Stone and Paul Manafort, two of his loyal defenders. He also pardoned Jared Kushner's dad. What should we make of the sunset of the Trump administration? On Today's Show: Andrea Bernstein , WNYC senior editor and co-host of the WNYC/Pro Publica podcast Trump, Inc. and the author of   American Oligarchs: The Kushners, the Trumps, and the Marriage of Money and Power   (W.W. Nort...

After months of waiting, Congress passed a pandemic relief package on Tuesday morning. Now Trump is saying he won't sign it. On Today's Show: Lisa Lerer , New York Times reporter and CNN political analyst, looks at how blue-collar voters - especially but not only white blue-collar voters - continued the trend of voting Republican, and what this means for Democrats in the future. Hosted by Simpleca...

Congress passed a $9 billion COVID relief package. So what relief is coming? But you don't have to read all 5,000 pages. We asked Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY8) for the rundown. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Trump has spent the past 4 years unraveling the EPA. What does Biden need to do to restore it, and direct it to address not only climate change, but local environmental injustices? On Today's Show: Peggy Shepard , co-founder and executive director of WE ACT for Environmental Justice and  Juliet Eilperin , Washington Post senior national affairs correspondent, covering environmental and energy poli...

Officials say that Russian intelligence infiltrated several US government computer systems, including parts of the military. Plus, COVID relief in Congress and Hunter Biden. On Today's Show: Jonathan Lemire , AP White House reporter, talks about the COVID relief bill in Congress, the Russian hack of government agencies and more national news.  Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adsw...

Today on the radio, we held a Holiday Party on the air. Hear two selections: Can citizens pass the citizenship test, and some secular Hanukah laughs. On Today's Show: Andy Borowitz , author, comedian, and creator of The New Yorker's “Borowitz Report,” a satirical news column, talks about his holiday traditions and keeping a sense of humor during such a dark winter. Maeve Higgins , comedian and con...

Biden named his former campaign trail opponent Pete Buttigeig to be Secretary of Transportation. How will the former mayor of South Bend run the country's transportation efforts? On Today's Show: Janette Sadik-Khan , former Department of Transportation commissioner for New York City under the Bloomberg administration, principal at Bloomberg Associates and author of the book Streetfight: Handbook f...

Sen. Maj. Leader Mitch McConnell, one of the nation's leading Republicans, just congratulated Biden on his victory, a month after the race was called. On Today's Show: U.S. Rep. Kathleen Rice (D NY-4), shares the latest on the coronavirus relief bill, plus reacts to some of the big news of the day, including Barr's resignation, President-elect Biden's message of unity, and Mitch McConnell's acknow...

More than a month after Election Day, and the result has been made official. But just because Biden's win is now concrete, it doesn't mean Trump will concede defeat. On Today's Show: Anita Kumar , White House correspondent and associate editor at Politico and   Rebecca Green , professor of law at William & Mary and co-director of its Election Law Program,  talk about the latest national political...

Opinion columnist Jonathan Capehart has a new Sunday morning show on MSNBC. So how will he cover the news and politics in a post-Trump America? On Today's Show: Jonathan Capehart , Pulitzer Prize-Winning journalist, opinion columnist and editorial board member of The Washington Post and now the new host of MSNBC’s The Sunday Show with Jonathan Capehart, which premieres this Sunday, December 13th f...

With Trump's ongoing efforts to overturn the election, it's worth asking: does he really want to change the result? Or is he sowing strategic chaos? On Today's Show: Susan Glasser , staff writer for The New Yorker , CNN global affairs analyst and co-author, with Peter Baker, of The Man Who Ran Washington: the Life and Times of Jim Baker III (Doubleday, 2020), talks about the latest national politi...

We've reached "safe harbor," a point on the calendar where Congress is bound by federal law to accept the results of the Electoral College, which votes next week. On Today's Show: What is "safe harbor day" and what does it mean for President Trump's efforts to undermine the results of the 2020 Election?  Aaron Blake ,  Washington Post  senior political reporter, discusses this and other national p...

How is the medical profession handling the latest surge in COVID cases? How should the rest of us change our behavior around it? On Today's Show: Wafaa El-Sadr , university professor of epidemiology and medicine at Columbia University, the director of ICAP at Columbia University, and director of the Global Health Initiative at the Mailman School of Public Health, talks about the latest COVID surge...

With COVID cases rising around the country, and the policy conversation turning to vaccine distribution, we take a look at who'll get the first doses, and who might still be skeptical of it. On Today's Show: Dara Kass , MD, emergency medicine physician at Columbia University Medical Center and Yahoo News medical contributor, talks about the latest numbers and the latest on vaccine development and...

Thousands are still jobless due to the COVID pandemic and unemployment supplements ended months ago. Should those who need it expect Congress to step up in its next session? On Today's Show: Rep. Adriano Espaillat , U.S. Representative (D, NY-13), talks about the COVID surge in his district (and everywhere), plus the latest on where the next coronavirus relief bill stands, as economic aid to milli...

As the Biden administration continues to take shape, the executive branch is filling up with familiar faces. We check in on how progressives are feeling about the appointees? On Today's Show: Karthik Ganapathy , progressive communications consultant who recently advised Charles Booker’s US Senate campaign, served as a spokesperson for Senator Bernie Sanders and Representative Keith Ellison, and th...

It's the first Supreme Court session with a new conservative majority, and there's three politically charged issues on the docket. This week, we get our first good look at the new SCOTUS on COVID precautions v. religious freedom, counting everyone v. counting citizens in the Census, and baseless fraud allegations v. a legitimate election. On Today's Show: Emily Bazelon, staff writer for The New Yo...

John Podesta ran Obama's transition team in 2008. So what does he think of Biden's cabinet nominees? And what do progressives think about the incoming Biden administration? On Today's Show: John Podesta , former senior advisor to Presidents Clinton and Obama, talks about President-elect Biden's transition, including his cabinet appointments, and specifically, how the Biden administration will tack...

With Biden's inauguration approaching, Trump is running out of legal ways to challenge the results of the election. So where are those efforts now? On Today's Show: Zoe Tillman , senior legal reporter for BuzzFeed News, talks about how the Trump campaign is still trying to change the results of the election through the courts, and whether there is any chance they could succeed. NOTE: This conversa...

Every presidential transition, we can see the incoming administration start to take shape. So what's the executive branch going to look like under Biden? On Today's Show: John Hudson, national security reporter for The Washington Post, talks about the establishment figures President-elect Biden is appointing to join his cabinet and the White House. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm...

For the first woman elected to the Vice Presidency, Kamala Harris's support among women, and specifically white women, is lacking. What political, racial and gender dynamics are at play? On Today's Show: Kat Stafford , AP national race and ethnicity reporter, and Julie Kohler , fellow in residence at the National Women's Law Center, a senior advisor to the Democracy Alliance, a progressive donor n...

Trump continues to try and invalidate the ballots of voters in Atlanta, Philadelphia and Detroit, areas with large numbers of Black and Latinx voters. On Today's Show: Vanessa Williams , reporter on the national desk at  The Washington Post , talks about the latest political news you may have missed over the weekend, and hones in on the, injustice, long perpetrated through this country's history,...