Brian Lehrer: A Daily Politics Podcast

Shane Goldmacher, national political correspondent for The New York Times covering the major developments, trends and forces shaping American politics, shares his reporting on how the Trump administration is attempting to sabotage Democrats' operations, and how it could affect elections and Democrats' ability to gain power in the future.

With Trump squaring off against the federal court system, which has attempted to block some of his actions, we look at the state of the judiciary branch.On Today's Show:Heather Cox Richardson, professor of American history at Boston College and author of "Letters from an American" on Substack and several books, including Democracy Awakening: Notes on the State of America (Viking, 2023), offers a historian's take on the first weeks of the second Trump presidency.

The federal government has issued a list of demands to Columbia University that they say it must comply with in order to restore hundreds of millions of dollars of fundingOn Today's Show:Jake Offenhartz, New York City reporter for The Associated Press, talks about the nature of the ultimatum and the contentious relationship between the university and the Trump administration.

On today's show: David Sanger, White House and national security correspondent for The New York Times and the author of New Cold Wars: China's Rise, Russia's Invasion, and America's Struggle to Defend the West (Crown, 2024), talks about the many ways in which President Trump and his administration have challenged the post-WWII international order.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has detailed Mahmoud Khalil—a legal permanent resident with a green card and prominent student-activist-turned-negotiator in pro-Palestine demonstrations at Colombia University.On Today's Show:Peter Markowitz, professor of law at Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law and the founding faculty member and co-director of the Kathryn O. Greenberg Immigration Justice Clinic, offers legal analysis of the detention.

President Trump's U.S. Department of Agriculture has purged the agency's website of  information related to climate change, extreme weather resilience and sustainable farming practices.On Today's Show:Emily Atkin, editor-in-chief of the HEATED newsletter, unpacks the story.

Elon Musk and DOGE are slashing the size of the federal workforce in what they say will bring big savings to taxpayers. On Today's Show:Stephen Fowler, political reporter with NPR's Washington desk, reports on the typos, exaggerations and shoddy math in DOGE's receipts.

After 6 weeks of the new Trump administration, different parts of the political left are calling for different postures in opposing it. On Today's Show:Anand Giridharadas, journalist, publisher of the newsletter The.Ink, analyst for MSNBC, and the author of The Persuaders: At the Front Lines of the Fight for Hearts, Minds, and Democracy (Knopf, 2022), shares his thoughts on the state of American democracy and what protest actions can be taken by those opposed to President Trump's current policies.

After President Donald Trump delivered his address to joint session of Congress, we explore how the Democratic senator from Michigan responded.On Today's Show:Kadia Goba, congressional reporter for Semafor, provides her analysis from the chamber, and her reporting on how Democrats have responded to Trump's speech

With RFK Jr. at the helm of the nation's health policies, we hear some public health analysis on his recent official actions from an expert on infectious diseases.On Today's Show:Jessica Malaty Rivera, epidemiologist, science communicator and PhD student at Johns Hopkins School of Public Health, talks about the government's response to the ongoing measles outbreaks, why an FDA vaccine advisory committee meeting on planning next year's flu shot was cancelled and what it could mean for next year's flu season.