Brian Lehrer: A Daily Politics Podcast

Today, a Saturday special. We present America Are We Ready, a national call-in show on Biden's first 100 days. What federal policies would keep us and our families safe from COVID? On Today's Show: Brian is joined by Rose Scott, host of WABE's midday news program “Closer Look” in Atlanta, and their guest, Jayne Morgan, M.D., cardiologist and clinical director of the Covid Task Force for Piedmont Healthcare in Atlanta, to talk about the Biden plan for vaccine equity, how to stay healthy until you get your shots, the new variants, and more.

One of President Biden's top policy priorities is to address the threat of climate change. So what will those initiatives look like, and what sort of support will he need from Congress to get it done? On Today's Show:Lisa Friedman, reporter at the New York Times covering climate and environmental policy, discusses President Biden's push to address climate change through executive orders and the legislative hurdles that might get in the way of his agenda.

Reddit users sent GameStop's stock price soaring while hedge funds lost billions betting against the video game retailer. What does this hyped-up market manipulation mean for markets? On Today's Show:Hannah Denham, national business reporter on The Washington Post's breaking news team, explains the day traders' impact on stock prices and hedge funds.

A lot of issues on the table for Congress, from vaccine distribution to impeachment. We asked a first-term Congressman from the poorest district in the country about his agenda in the House. On Today's Show:U.S. Representative Ritchie Torres (D-NY15), talks about his first weeks in Congress and his priorities. Plus the new Biden administration's priorities, Senate filibuster reform, anti-poverty and housing initiatives and impeachment.

This month in politics, we've had an attempted coup, an impeachment, and an inauguration. What's it like to step onto the national political stage for the first time amid all this? On Today's Show:U.S. Representative Mondaire Jones (D-NY17, Rockland County, part of Westchester), talks about his first weeks in Congress in the wake of the attack and amid the pandemic, as the Biden administration gets underway. Where do his progressive politics fit in with the Democratic-controlled Congress?

After reports that some of the insurrectionists who stormed the Capitol had ties to the military, we take a look at far-right ideologies, and why they might thrive in a military environment. On Today's Show:Leo Shane III, deputy editor for Military Times and former Stars and Stripes reporter, joins us to discuss this alarming trend.

What's the best response to white supremacy? Our guests today have found that one of the best ways to delegitimize racists is to laugh them off the national stage. On Today's Show:Comedians and co-hosts of the podcast "Politically Re-Active," Hari Kondabolu and W. Kamau Bell talk about the latest political headlines and the newest episodes of their podcast.

Biden has been in office for one day, and while he's already undone a lot of Trump's executive orders, the new administration basically has to build a pandemic plan from the bottom up. On Today's Show:Marc Fisher, senior editor at The Washington Post, talks about President Biden's calls for unity, and the many executive actions he took on his first day in office, including rolling back some of Trump's immigration restrictions, and building a pandemic response, basically from scratch.

Today was President Trump's last full day in office. We look back on four tumultuous years of "unprecedented" moments and the tense political atmosphere we're left with. 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 James A. Baker III (Doubleday, 2020), reflects on the President's tenure, including the norms he blasted through, the major policy decisions, the two impeachments and the insurrection he incited. Plus, callers weigh in on how their political thinking has changed over the course of the Trump administration.

When insurrectionists stormed the Capitol, Rep. Watson Coleman caught COVID-19 after sheltering with a GOP colleague who refused to wear a mask. Talk about workplace hazards. On Today's Show:Bonnie Watson Coleman, U.S. Representative (D, NJ-12), discusses the fallout from last week's siege at the US Capitol, the unprecedented second impeachment of President Trump, her case of COVID, racial justice and Dr. Martin Luther King, and the federal executions the Trump administration is trying to push through before he leaves office.

With Democrats in control of both houses of Congress, and the White House, questions of how to balance public health and the economy will fall to them. On Today's Show: Congressman Bill Pascrell (D-NJ 9), talks about this past week in Congress and looks ahead to the new term.

The House impeached Trump yesterday, which means that now, the ball is in the Senate's court. On Today's Show:Senator Kirsten Gillibrand of New York talks about what happens now that the House has impeached Trump, and what's first on the docket for the first Senate session under Biden's administration.

As the House debates and votes on the second impeachment of President Trump, we talked to a legal expert about whether he could be criminally charged, and what evidence would be at play. On Today's Show:Jessica Roth, Professor of Law at Cardozo School of Law and former federal prosecutor answers legal questions related to impeachment proceedings against President Trump.

Biden takes office in 8 days, but for those worried about Trump's involvement in the Jan. 6 attack on the capitol, that's 8 days too many. What's the right response to an attempted coup? On Today's Show:Susan Page, Washington bureau chief at USA Today, discusses the latest political headlines, including impeachment, the 25th Amendment, and the political calculus of holding Trump accountable.

Over the past few days, we've gotten a clearer picture of how the Jan.6 attack on the Capitol went down, and the more we learn, the worse it seems to get. On Today's Show:Mike DeBonis, Congress and national politics reporter for The Washington Post, talks about the latest on a second impeachment of President Trump, following the attack on the Capitol, and other national news.

What drove a mob of conspiracy theorists to attack the Capitol building amid critical election proceedings? And in the aftermath, what does the broader far-right think went down? On Today's Show:Brandy Zadrozny, investigative reporter for NBC News, where she mostly covers misinformation, disinformation and extremism on the Internet, talks about the events that led up to Wednesday's breach on the Capitol, and how the event is being viewed by Trump's most ardent supporters and far right activists.

The shocking attack on Congress yesterday, in the midst of a critical democratic function, has called to the forefront questions of how to stop an attempted coup. On Today's Show:U.S. Rep. and House Democrats Chairman Hakeem Jeffries (D NY-8th, Brooklyn and Queens), talks about yesterday's insurrection and what comes next for Congress.

2020 was a crash course in navigating risk. Now, we look ahead at some of the major political risks we're likely to encounter in the coming year, including climate change, cybersecurity and China. On Today's Show:Ian Bremmer, president of Eurasia Group and GZero Media, host of GZERO World with Ian Bremmer and the author of Us vs. Them: The Failure of Globalism (Portfolio, 2018), previews the top political risks ahead for 2021.

Trump pressured Georgia election officials to "find" more votes. But amid these affronts to democracy, don't forget about COVID relief and vaccine distribution policy. On Today's Show:Mikie Sherrill, U.S. Representative (D, NJ-11), talks about the role of the House of Representatives in the transition of power, President Trump's phone call to the Georgia secretary of state and more news from Washington, D.C.

In 10 years, what will we remember about 2020? What lessons about our democracy do we want to make sure we keep in mind in the next decade? On Today's Show:Brooke Gladstone, co-host of WNYC's On The Media, talks about how the news covered the pandemic, the election, and the intersection of the two.

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 Spanish Flu and the First World War," brings his best historical quiz questions for the listeners, from OTHER important eras of American history, including questions on civics, one-term presidents and more.

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 Spanish Flu and the First World War," brings his best historical quiz questions for the listeners, from OTHER important eras of American history, including questions on civics, one-term presidents and more.

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.

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.

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. Norton and Company, 2020), and Ilya Marritz, WNYC senior reporter and co-host of the WNYC/Pro Publica podcast Trump, Inc., talk about the president's pardons so far, including those for Jared Kushner's father and Paul Manafort, plus what legal consequences Donald Trump could face post-presidency.

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.

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.

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 policy changes to the government in the Trump administration, talk about EPA in the Biden administration and the extent to which environmental justice will be a priority.

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.

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 contributing writer for The New York Times, tries to stump us with questions from the new citizenship exam.

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 for an Urban Revolution (Penguin Books, 2017) talks about the news that President-elect Biden has nominated his former rival in the presidential campaign (and the former mayor of South Bend, Indiana) to be the next transportation secretary -- and what that means for the transportation and infrastructure needs of the New York area.

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 acknowledgement this morning that Biden won the election.

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 news.

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 from 10AM to noon ET on MSNBC, talks about the latest political headlines and what viewers should expect from The Sunday Show.

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 political news.

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 political news of the day.

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, and how frontline workers are fighting back the second wave.

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 distribution.

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 millions of people is about to run out and the pandemic is still wreaking havoc on people's health and the economy.

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 the climate change campaign organization 350.org and Katrina vanden Heuvel editorial director and publisher of The Nation magazine, on Biden’s cabinet picks and where progressives go from here.

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 York Times Magazine, talks about recent and upcoming Supreme Court court hearings on three crucial issues to democracy.

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 tackle climate change.

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 conversation was recorded on Wednesday, Nov. 25. That afternoon, a judge in Pennsylvania put the certification process on hold, pending a hearing scheduled for Friday, Nov. 27.

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.

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 network, and host of the podcast White Picket Fence, talk about how women voted and the effect of having a woman on the ticket as vice president.

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, of disenfranchising voters of color.

Trump's attempts to overturn the election in the courts isn't going well for him. But are there other ways, through quirks in the Electoral College, that he could hold on to power? On Today's Show:Robert Alexander, professor of political science and founding director of the Institute for Civics and Public Policy at Ohio Northern University and the author of Representation and the Electoral College (Oxford University Press, 2019), talks about how tightly the Electoral College is bound by certified election results in their states.

Trump's lawsuits continue, but there are so many of them, being brought on so many different complaints, that it's hard to keep track of them all. On Today's Show:Rebecca Green, professor of law at William & Mary and co-director of its Election Law Program, gives an update on the president's attempts to overturn the results of the election by filing (what most legal experts say are baseless) lawsuits.

Joe Biden has proposed changes that would affect millions of student loan borrowers, while leaders in the Democratic Party have pushed for student debt to be forgiven. Other commentators have said forgiving student loan debt would be unfair to people who did not go to college or have already paid back their loans. On Today's Show:Sarah Jones, senior writer at the Intelligencer and New York Magazine, talks about the potential backlash against these changes, and argues that change is needed anyway.

Voters have sent a record-breaking wave of Republican Congresswomen will be going to DC in January, and they want to challenge what they call the 'socialism' of the progressive left. On Today's Show:Olivia Perez-Cubas, communications director for Winning For Women, which advocates and organizes to elect Republican women, and the former communications director for Senator Marco Rubio (R FL), talks about how Republicans got 35 women elected, and what it means for the GOP.