Brian Lehrer: A Daily Politics Podcast

With Election Day less than a month away, the Senate began hearings into Trump's nominee, Judge Amy Coney Barrett . On the line: Roe v. Wade, LGBTQ+ rights, the Affordable Care Act, and more. On Today's Show: Amanda Becker ,  Washington correspondent for The 19th ,  talks about the latest national political news, as Washington's eyes are trained on the Amy Coney Barrett hearing before the Senate J...

There's no shortage of voices clamoring to be heard on the issue of policing. So what needs to be done? How much reform is the right amount? On Today's Show: Paul Butler , professor at Georgetown Law and the author of Chokehold: Policing Black Men (The New Press, 2017), and  Jami Floyd , senior editor for race and justice at WNYC, talk about how the candidates are addressing movements to defund, r...

In a pluralistic society, can we honor people from our history who some consider a hero, and others consider a genocidal monster? On Today's Show: The Mellon Foundation plans to re-imagine monuments over the next five years, to highlight underrepresented groups or stories and re-think current monuments and memorials. On the day many now celebrate as Indigenous Peoples' Day,  Elizabeth Alexander —...

The Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to a UN agency dedicated to ending world hunger. But is the award worth the hype? On Today's Show: Anne Applebaum , Atlantic staff writer, covering national politics and foreign policy, and the author of Twilight of Democracy: The Seductive Lure of Authoritarianism (Doubleday July, 2020) talks about this year's Nobel Peace Prize: the U.N.'s World Food Programme fo...

Back in 2018, Congress passed the First Step Act, a criminal justice reform measure. So how big of a 'first step' was it, and what are the next steps toward fixing mass incarceration? On Today's Show: Ekow Yankah , professor of law at Cardozo Law School, discusses the First Step Act—a criminal justice bill aimed at reforming sentencing laws, reducing recidivism and decreasing the federal inmate po...

Last night's VP debate was full of sparks and barbs. We take calls about that, plus, new uncertainty about whether the second presidential debate will even happen. On Today's Show: Callers respond to the vice-presidential candidates' debate between current Vice President Mike Pence and Senator Kamala Harris, plus analysis from Tarini Parti , politics reporter at The Wall Street Journal. UPDATE: Th...

The president says that his bout with COVID-19 has taught him about the virus. We took calls from regular people who have been impacted by COVID-19 to hear what he missed. On Today's Show: Dr. Craig Spencer, New York City emergency medicine physician and director of global health in emergency medicine at Columbia University Irving Medical Center, talks about whether the president's medical treatme...

Trump had already tested positive for COVID-19 when he went to an event in Bedminster, NJ. Now, NJ contact tracers want to know who he might have infected, but he won't give them any info. On Today's Show: Nancy Solomon , managing editor for New Jersey Public Radio and WNYC, reports on the contact tracing effort in New Jersey following the president's fund-raiser in Bedminster. She is joined by  A...

The Supreme Court is back in session, for the first time in several decades, without Ruth Bader Ginsburg. So what's on the docket, and what will the court look like as they preside over these cases? On Today's Show: Jami Floyd , senior editor for race and justice at WNYC, previews the court's upcoming cases, plus the latest on the confirmation process. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See...

With just about a month until the final deadline to vote in the 2020 election, President Trump has contracted COVID-19. So what happens next for his campaign, and his White House? On Today's Show: Annie Karni , White House reporter for  The New York Times  and MSNBC and NBC News contributor, brings us what we know about the President's health, and what it means for a country in the throes of a vic...

Pundits have used a lot of colorful language to describe the first presidential debate between Trump and Biden. But who came out on top? On Today's Show: Jonathan Alter ,  MSNBC analyst, co-host, Sirius XM Alter Family Politics, Daily Beast columnist and the author of His Very Best: Jimmy Carter, a Life (Simon & Schuster, 2020), offers his analysis as listeners respond to the first debate between...

The lead prosecutor on Robert Mueller's team has some issues with the way the probe was conducted. We hear about those, plus his take on Trump's newly public tax documents. On Today's Show: Where Law Ends: Inside the Mueller Investigation (Random House, 2020), "}" data-sheets-userformat="{"2":10552,"6":{"1":[{"1":2,"2":0,"5":[null,2,0]},{"1":0,"2":0,"3":3},{"1":1,"2":0,"4":1}]},"7":{"1":[{"1":2,"2...

Today we examine how much capitalism and how much socialism is needed to save America's middle class. On Today's Show: Pavlina R. Tcherneva , associate professor at Bard College and research scholar at the Levy Economics Institute and the author of   The Case for a Job Guarantee   (Polity, 2020) and   Oren Cass ,  executive director of American Compass, a domestic policy advisor for the Romney pre...

Seung Min Kim , White House reporter for  The Washington Post , talks about the latest national political news, including the president's comments about potentially not accepting a peaceful transition of power and his admission that he wants wants a conservative majority on the Supreme Court in case of an election dispute.  Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for informat...

Today we examine racial justice and the presidential election through the lenses of truth, and reconciliation -- how we got here and where we go now. On Today's Show: Keisha Blain , University of Pittsburgh historian and president of the African American Intellectual History Society talks about truth, and Black feminist scholar Barbara Smith , co- founder of the Combahee River Collective , discuss...

We asked voters around the country how they're planning to vote this year, and whether they trust the system to count their votes. On Today's Show: This year especially, there's not one "Election Day": More people can choose to vote early or vote by mail. What does that mean for this presidential election and for our expectations of when the votes will be counted? Joining this discussion are Ari B...

The Justice Department is trying to withhold funds from certain "Democrat-run cities" by designating them "anarchist jurisdictions." So, what's with the anarchy in the U.S.? On Today's Show: Amber Phillips , Washington Post political reporter and author for The 5-Minute Fix , and Errol Louis , political anchor on Spectrum News NY1, h ost of Inside City Hall on NY1, host of the podcast You Decide a...

The Supreme Court is always an issue in presidential elections. But the death of Ruth Bader Ginsburg just weeks away from election day has changed the stakes, and the political landscape. On Today's Show: Since Ruth Bader Ginsburg's death late last week, Republicans have vowed to push through her replacement before the election. Sabrina Siddiqui, national politics reporter at The Wall Street Journ...

Trump is touting his international chops, and his ability to broker peace in troubled areas of the world. So what's the substance of his Middle East peace plan? On Today's Show: Ishaan Tharoor , Washington Post columnist and author of Today’s WorldView, the Post’s international affairs newsletter, talks about the latest Trump administration attempts at peacemaking initiatives around the world and...

Latino and Latina voters are a crucial demographic for the Biden campaign. But is he doing enough to bring them into the conversation? On Today's Show: Julio Ricardo Varela , co-host of the In The Thick podcast and founder of Latino Rebels, assesses the Biden campaign's attempts to gain support among Latinx voters. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about...

In the police reform debate, the question of holding officers accountable is a key issue. But the way things are, prosecutors often work on cases in conjunction with the police, creating a potential conflict of interest. On Today's Show: Emily Bazelon , staff writer for The New York Times Magazine , co-host of Slate's Political Gabfest podcast, Truman Capote Fellow for creative writing and law at...

On Today's Show: Maria Hinojosa ,  anchor and executive producer of Latino USA , and the author of  Once I Was You: A Memoir of Love and Hate in a Torn , talks about how some of our national conversations about gender, immigration, sexual violence have intersected with her own life. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of person...

Amid the COVID-19 crisis, Trump has resumed a schedule of indoor rallies. Biden won't even send volunteers door-to-door. So what do the campaigns' ground games look like in this pandemic election? On Today's Show: Asma Khalid ,  political correspondent for NPR and co-host of The NPR Politics Podcast,   talks about the status of the Biden/Harris campaign and other national political news. Hosted by...

Peter Strzok resigned from the FBI over politically-charged texts amid his investigation into the relationship between Russian intelligence services and the Trump campaign. On Today's Show: Peter Strzok ,  a 22-year veteran of the FBI and their former deputy assistant director of counterintelligence who headed up the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election, now the author of ...

Bob Woodward's taped interviews with President Trump show that, in public and in private, he was painting two very different pictures of the COVID-19 crisis at a crucial point. Does it matter to his supporters? On Today's Show: Jonathan Lemire , White House reporter for the Associated Press and political analyst for MSNBC/NBC News, talks about what this might mean for the president and his re-elec...