

The Brian Lehrer Show
WNYC
Brian Lehrer leads the conversation about what matters most now in local and national politics, our own communities and our lives.
Episodes
Mentioned books

Feb 18, 2025 • 42min
The Trump Administration Goes to Europe
Fred Kaplan, Slate's War Stories columnist and the author of many nonfiction books and his latest, a novel, A Capital Calamity (Miniver Press, 2024), recaps the recent Trump administration officials' visits to Europe, where Vice President JD Vance said European leaders should not shun far-right political parties and more.

Feb 18, 2025 • 22min
A Conservative Takes on Climate Change
Benji Backer, founder and CEO of Nature Is Nonpartisan and visiting fellow at The Foundation for Research on Equal Opportunity, offers his right of center take on how to combat climate change, and how he believes he can influence President Trump's energy secretary to be both pro-energy and pro-environment.

Feb 18, 2025 • 44min
100 Years of 100 Things: Diversity and College Admissions
As our centennial series continues, Lisa Stulberg, associate professor of the Sociology of Education at NYU, and Anthony Chen, associate professor of sociology and political science at Northwestern University, look at the last century of admission preferences at colleges and universities.

Feb 17, 2025 • 18min
SNL's Best Political Sketches
As SNL celebrates its 50th anniversary, Eric Deggans, TV critic for NPR talks, about how they've found humor in American politics over the decades.

Feb 17, 2025 • 24min
Oscar Docs: Porcelain War
This month we hear from the makers of the five films nominated for the Academy Award for best feature documentary. Today, Slava Leontyv, Ukrainian artist, former soldier, and filmmaker, and Brendan Bellomo, film and commercial director, talk about their film, "Porcelain War," telling the story of three Ukrainian artists caught up in the Russian invasion, armed with guns, their art and a camera.

Feb 17, 2025 • 24min
Meet the Mayoral Candidates: Michael Blake
Rev. Michael Blake, former state assemblyman, talks about his campaign for the Democratic nomination for NYC Mayor in the June primary.

Feb 17, 2025 • 45min
100 Years of 100 Things: Presidential Power
On Presidents Day, as our centennial series continues, Douglas Brinkley, professor of history at Rice University, a CNN Presidential Historian, and a contributing editor at Vanity Fair, talks about the history of U.S. presidents, their exercise of executive power and how President Trump's actions compare.

Feb 15, 2025 • 1h 2min
Brian Lehrer Weekend: White Resistance to Federal Authority; Sugarcane; Black Box Diaries
Three of our favorite segments from the week, in case you missed them.Historian Jefferson Cowie offers a history White backlash to federal authority (First) | Filmmakers Julian Brave NoiseCat and Emily Kassie discuss their Oscar-nominated documentary "Sugarcane" and the long history of abuse at residential schools in Canada (Starts at 22:20) | Shiori Itō, director of "Black Box Diaries," talks about her Oscar-nominated documentary about her investigation of her own sexual assault case (Starts at 39:35)If you don't subscribe to the Brian Lehrer Show on iTunes, you can do that here.

Feb 14, 2025 • 25min
Ask Governor Murphy: February 2025 Recap
Nancy Solomon, WNYC reporter and host of the “Ask Governor Murphy” monthly call-in show, recaps her conversation with New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy.

Feb 14, 2025 • 26min
Rep. Goldman Responds to President Trump's Executive Orders
Dan Goldman, US Representative (D, NY-10), formerly lead counsel for the impeachment investigation of Pres. Trump in 2019 and former assistant US attorney SDNY, responds to President Trump's executive orders, and to the moves by Elon Musk and DOGE to drastically cut the federal work force.


