Brian Lehrer: A Daily Politics Podcast

A local congressman and House Intelligence committee Democrat lays out his opposition to a ceasefire in Gaza, and discusses the United States' role in the conflict. On Today's Show:U.S. Representative Jim Himes (D, CT-4) talks about the Israel-Hamas war.

Demonstrations, faculty letters and other on-campus politics around the conflict in the Middle East have sparked uncomfortable discussions and tensions for students and educators.  On Today's Show:Madina Touré, New York City education policy and politics reporter for POLITICO New York, breaks down the latest as pro-Israeli and pro-Palestinian college students clash on campuses around the city and the country.

The trial over whether former President Trump is eligible to be placed on the Colorado ballot under the 14th Amendment started Monday. On Today's Show:Jena Griswold, Colorado Secretary of State and chair of the Democratic Association of Secretaries of State, talks about the lawsuit seeking to bar him and how Colorado and other states are preparing for the 2024 election.

With the ongoing conflict in the Middle East, how should journalists and members of the public think about how the historically entrenched and complex situation got to this point. On Today's Show:David Remnick, editor of The New Yorker and the host of The New Yorker Radio Hour, reports on his recent trip to Israel and offers analysis of the Israel-Hamas war.

How will Congress function with Rep. Mike Johnson, the new House Speaker whom Democrats view as a far-right extremist, at the helm? On Today's Show:U.S. Representative Dan Goldman (D, NY-10), formerly lead counsel for the impeachment investigation of Pres. Trump in 2019 and former assistant U.S. attorney for the Southern District of NY, discusses the new speaker of the House.

A look at a man who has played a key role in the conservative takeover of America's courts: Leonard Leo. On Today's Show:Ilya Marritz, fellow at the Nieman Foundation at Harvard, and Andrea Bernstein, author of American Oligarchs: The Kushners, The Trumps and the Marriage of Money and Power (W. W. Norton & Company, 2020), share the original reporting they did for their podcast We Don't Talk About Leonard from ProPublica and On The Media.

One of the key witnesses to President Trump's role in the Jan. 6 insurrection has a new book. On Today's Show:Cassidy Hutchinson, a former special assistant to President Donald Trump and his chief of staff, Mark Meadows and the author of Enough (Simon & Schuster, 2023), talks about her new book and her testimony to the House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol.

What made people believe the "American Dream" when the mythos around it came about, and where is that sentiment left in 2023 and beyond?' On Today's Show:With the "dream" of an ever-brighter economic future now stymied, David Leonhardt, senior writer for The New York Times who writes The Morning, The Times’s flagship daily newsletter and author of Ours Was the Shining Future: The Story of the American Dream (Random House, 2023), traces its history and offers a path to reclaiming it for future generations.

We discuss how the conflict in the Middle East intersects with the GOP's fight over who the new Speaker of the House will be.  On Today's Show:Mara Liasson, NPR national political correspondent, talks about the latest national political news, including how President Biden is trying to influence Israel, the speaker situation in the House and the Republicans in disarray and more.

Hamas is still holding an estimated 200+ people hostage after a large-scale offensive last week.  On Today's Show:Graeme Wood, staff writer at The Atlantic and the author of The Way of the Strangers: Encounters With the Islamic State (Random House, 2016), talks about the current status of the hostages after Israeli officials provided him a document they claimed Hamas produced outlining how to navigate possible hostage situations.