Brian Lehrer: A Daily Politics Podcast

Today an official from the US Armed Forces discussed the state of the country's military readiness, and its role in the conflict in Ukraine, and tensions with China. On Today's Show:Christine Wormuth, secretary of the U.S. Army, talks about recruiting and readiness challenges within the army, her professional role in the Defense Department, and the military's role in conflicts around the globe.

In order to reach an agreement to avoid a US government default, negotiations included some measures that could have an impact on the federal government's climate policy.  On Today's Show:Mark Hertsgaard, executive director of the global media collaboration Covering Climate Now and environment correspondent for The Nation magazine, offers a look at what the debt ceiling agreement means for key climate measures and how climate-related policy is shaping up as an election issue.

The number of Americans who are part of any organized religion has been dropping for decades, and over the past ten years, dropped by about 11 points. On Today's Show: Ryan Burge, associate professor of political science at Eastern Illinois University, research director for Faith Counts, and the author of The Nones: Where They Came From, Who They Are, and Where They Are Going (Fortress Press, 2021), digs into the patterns around the country and explains how the trend might affect presidential politics in 2024 and beyond.

It's been one month since the Writers' Guild Of America's strike began. On Today's Show:Lisa Takeuchi Cullen, vice president of film/television/streaming for Writers Guild of America East, talks about the strike, how it's affecting productions and more related news.

Happy Pride Month! We kick off our conversations about LGBTQIA+ lives by exploring how to think about how masculinity and femininity can instill a feeling of "gender euphoria." On Today's Show:Tuck Woodstock, journalist, educator and host of the Gender Reveal podcast, and Imara Jones, journalist, and founder and creator of Translash Media, and callers that identify as transgender shed light on what it's like to live as a trans person, what gives them gender euphoria, and answer most commonly asked questions about being trans.

Last May, a gunman opened fire in an elementary school in Uvalde, TX. A year later, we look at how the community has changed, and how the nation's thinking on gun control has evolved.  On Today's Show:Maria Hinojosa, founder of Futuro Media and president of Futuro Investigates, anchor and executive producer of Latino USA, and the author of the Once I Was You: A Memoir of Love and Hate in a Torn America (Simon and Schuster, 2020), examines the tragedy at Robb Elementary School and where we go from here.

Where does the US stand on the international stage now, when it comes to current conflicts as in Ukraine, and potential conflicts, as with China's and Taiwan? 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), shares his analysis of why it's a good thing that tensions between the U.S. and China are apparently thawing somewhat, plus the latest news on Russia's war in Ukraine.

We talk about the systemic issues that lead to right wing radicalization, and about some of the personal factors that contributed to an influential insurrectionist's life trajectory. On Today's Show:Anna Sale, creator and host of the WNYC podcast Death, Sex & Money, and Micah Loewinger, correspondent for WNYC's On the Media, discuss their interview with the ex-wife of Oath Keepers founder, Stewart Rhodes, who was just sentenced to 18 years in prison in his seditious conspiracy case.

The US government's 'debt ceiling' negotiations continue, but the complexities of the national debt and the global economy obfuscate what the real impact might be if we surpass it. On Today's Show:Jeff Stein, White House economics reporter for The Washington Post, explains what will actually happen in the U.S. if the government hits the debt ceiling, and shares his analysis of how the negotiations to prevent that are going.

A number of whales have recently beached themselves on NY and NJ's shorelines. On Today's Show:Andy Read, professor of marine biology and the director of the Duke University Marine Laboratory, talks about why so many beached whales are turning up on the New York and New Jersey coastlines, and why claims from some groups that surveying for wind farms is causing the deaths are untrue.