The Brian Lehrer Show

Whether we're headed to the polls, rallies, reading the news, or just engaging in dinner party conversations about politics, we always carry our life experiences with us. Tony Award winning writer, comedian and performer Sarah Jones introduces her upcoming podcast America, Who Hurt You?, which discusses how our personal trauma informs how we interact with politics.

Steven Greenhouse, senior fellow at The Century Foundation, former longtime labor reporter at the New York Times and the author of Beaten Down, Worked Up: The Past, Present, and Future of American Labor (Knopf, 2019) discusses the contrast in how Democrats and Republicans (including Project 2025) approach labor, and reflects on the legacy of the late labor organizer Jane McAlevey, who died recently. 

Continuing our centennial series 100 Years of 100 Things, Matthew Barton, curator of recorded sound at the Library of Congress, walks us through the history of radio. 

Erin Doherty, politics reporter covering breaking news and the 2024 election for Axios, discusses the latest in election news headlines, including the newly released Republican Party platform and much more. Plus, listeners call in to describe their essential political values in 6 words or less.

Mayor Adams holds one off-topic press conference per week, where reporters can ask him questions on any subject. Elizabeth Kim, Gothamist and WNYC reporter, recaps what he talked about at this week's event, from four tragic beach drownings to the politics of migration.

Stacey D’Erasmo, novelist, literary critic and the author of The Long Run: A Creative Inquiry (Graywolf, 2024), talks about her new book and what she discovered about how artists keep their creativity going throughout their lives.EVENT: Stacey D'Erasmo will be in conversation with writer James Hannaham tomorrow, July 10th from 7 to 8 pm, at P&T Knitwear  (a bookstore) at 180 Orchard Street in Manhattan.

After Biden's politically harmful debate performance, pundits and some Democratic officials have called for him to step down as the presidential nominee for the party. Jeet Heer, writer for The Nation, explains his argument for replacing Biden, who the left wing of the party is looking towards, and how Democrats should proceed.

Filmmaker Sam Pollard revisits the New York City blackout of 1977, the subject of a new documentary he's working on. Plus, listeners offer their oral histories.

Hurricane Beryl accumulated strength quickly due to unseasonably warm water, while at the same time, extreme heat is expected to break some records in Death Valley. For our climate segment of the week, Bob Henson, meteorologist, journalist, regular contributor to Yale Climate Connections and author of The Thinking Person's Guide to Climate Change ‎(American Meteorological Society, 2019), discusses how global warming is factoring into extreme weather events and how scientists are considering changing the scales in with which these events are measured.

France and Britain held two major elections last week that many saw as referendums to long term ruling parties in both countries. Max Colchester, U.K. correspondent at The Wall Street Journal, and Stacy Meichtry, Paris bureau chief at The Wall Street Journal, break down the results of the U.K. general election, held July 4th, and the results of the runoff elections of the National Assembly in France, held on Sunday.