Brian Lehrer: A Daily Politics Podcast

If we're in one era of content that goes viral online, we're at the end of another. On Today's Show:Ben Smith, editor in chief of Semafor, former media columnist for The New York Times, and the author of Traffic: Genius, Rivalry, and Delusion in the Billion-Dollar Race to Go Viral (Penguin Press, 2023), traces the rise and fall of digital media upstarts like HuffPost, Gawker and BuzzFeed.

On Today's Show: Peter Coy, New York Times opinion writer covering economics, and Annie Lowrey, staff writer at The Atlantic and the author of Give People Money: How a Universal Basic Income Would End Poverty, Revolutionize Work, and Remake the World (Crown, 2018), compare notes on whether a recession is coming, or whether the so-called "soft landing" the Fed was aiming for is happening, as the jobs numbers remain solid and the economy rolls.

On Today's Show:Fred Kaplan, Slate's War Stories columnist and the author of many books, including The Bomb: Presidents, Generals, and the Secret History of Nuclear War (Simon & Schuster, 2020), draws on his expertise in nuclear history to assess the historical accuracy of Christopher Nolan's epic new film "Oppenheimer".

Last week, the House Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government held a hearing at which Republicans chose RFK, Jr. as a primary witness on government censorship.  The Democrats on the committee called Maya Wiley to counter his take.  On today's show, Maya Wiley, civil rights attorney and president and CEO of The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, debriefs her testimony and speaks about the dangers of ignoring misinformation, disinformation and hate speech.

Friday morning, Judge Aileen Cannon set a May 2024 date for former President Trump's documents case -- before the election, contrary to the his defense attorneys' request, but later than the prosecutors asked. On today's show, Susan Page, USA Today Washington bureau chief and the author of Madam Speaker: Nancy Pelosi and the Lessons of Power (Twelve, 2021), rounds up the latest news from Washington, including former President Trump's legal troubles, abortion politics and 2024 campaign, the Senate Democrats' bill on Supreme Court ethics, and more.

In his concurrence in the Supreme Court's recent decision that struck down race-based affirmative action, Justice Clarence Thomas cited Alison Stewart's book about the rigorous and formerly legally segregated public high school Dunbar. On Today's Show:Alison Stewart, host of WNYC's All of It and the author of First Class: The Legacy of Dunbar, America’s First Black Public High School (Lawrence Hill Books, 2015), talks about what she thinks he got wrong and how he misinterpreted what she wrote to uphold his opinion.

The Teamsters union, which represents UPS workers, may go on strike if a deal is not reached by the end of this month. On Today's Show:Jane McAlevey, organizer, senior policy fellow at the University of California at Berkeley’s Institute for Research on Labor and Employment, strikes correspondent at The Nation and co-author of Rules to Win By: Power and Participation in Union Negotiations (Oxford University Press, 2023), talks about what the union is looking for, and Jason Miller, associate professor of supply chain management and interim chair of the supply chain management department at Michigan State, explains what would happen to the package delivery business and the broader economy if the more than 300,000 workers go on strike.

On Today's Show:Oliver Franklin-Wallis, author of Wasteland: The Dirty Truth About What We Throw Away, Where It Goes, and Why It Matters (Hachette Books, 2023) and features editor for British GQ magazine, outlines the cost to the environment of everything we discard, as well as efforts to address the crisis.

The former head of the Council on Foreign Relations argues that domestic threats, related to civic participation, are more dangerous to American democracy than global threats. On Today's Show:Richard Haass, American diplomat, former longtime president of the Council on Foreign Relations (now president emeritus) and the author of The Bill of Obligations: The Ten Habits of Good Citizens (Penguin Press, 2023), reflects on his time leading CFR, and talks about his analysis that the current biggest threat to the United States is not from Russia or China, but from within.

On Thursday, the Biden administration announced plans for a new income-driven repayment plan called the Saving on a Valuable Education — or SAVE. On Today's Show:Danielle Douglas-Gabriel, national higher education reporter at The Washington Post, explains what's in the plan and what legal and political challenges it may face.