Brian Lehrer: A Daily Politics Podcast

With crime apparently on the rise, Manhattan's progressive district attorney is taking heat for some of his reformist policies. On Today's Show:Alvin Bragg, Manhattan district attorney, talks about his approach to criminal justice, and how his positions have evolved in the face of current public sentiment about crime.

With abortion policy now in the hands of individual states, what shape will abortion rights activism take as statehouses and governors weigh the politics of reproductive rights? On Today's Show:U.S. Representative Bonnie Watson Coleman (D, NJ-12), vice chair at large of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, talks about her arrest, along with several other members of Congress, at an abortion rights rally, plus other national news.

At the final public hearing of the Jan. 6 committee, we heard testimony about Trump's behavior and attitude while he knew that the Capitol was under violent attack. On Today's Show:Quinta Jurecic, fellow in Governance Studies at the Brookings Institution, senior editor at Lawfare and contributing writer at The Atlantic, recaps Thursday evening's January 6th committee hearing, which laid out what the president was doing (or not doing) during the attack on the Capitol.

The phrase 'pregnant people' has caused divisions within reproductive rights conversations. On Today's Show:Kate Manne, associate professor of philosophy at Cornell University and the author of Entitled: How Male Privilege Hurts Women (Crown, 2020) explains why using it doesn't mean she never says "women," and why she thinks it's both "inclusive and accurate."

A new company recently purchased eighteen Spanish-language stations that will serve ten of the largest Latinx-populated cities in the country. On Today's Show:Graciela Mochkofsky, dean-elect at the Craig Newmark School of Journalism and contributing writer for The New Yorker, joins to talk about what this means for the fight against misinformation in the Spanish speaking community.

Europe is going through an intense heatwave, and the region's infrastructure isn't enough to keep people cool through it. The U.K. has declared a national emergency due to unprecedented heat and Spain and Portugal have recorded hundreds of heat-related deaths.  On Today's Show:Andrew Freedman, energy and climate reporter at Axios, discusses the hellish weather sweeping across the continent, including areas unaccustomed to high temps.

Violent militia groups like the Proud Boys, Oath Keepers and Three Percenters have coalesced around a number of hateful conspiracy theories, and around Donald Trump. On Today's Show:Malcolm Nance, national security and counterterrorism analyst and the author of They Want to Kill Americans: The Militias, Terrorists, and Deranged Ideology of the Trump Insurgency (St. Martin’s Press, 2022), sounds the alarm about what he calls 'TITUS' (Trump Insurgency in the United States) and discusses other issues related to national security.

A progressive congressman gives his analysis of the political landscape as it stands today. On Today's Show:U.S. Representative Ritchie Torres (D-NY15) talks about what the federal government can do to support abortion rights in the wake of Dobbs, what it means that Sen. Joe Manchin is opposing new climate change legislation, and more on Democrats' agenda in the nation's capitol.

An airline that implored climate-conscious fliers to 'fly responsibly" has been taken to court, claiming that the ad campaign misleads the public. On Today's Show:Sara Kiley Watson, news editor who leads sustainability coverage at Popular Science, talks about the impact of the lawsuit filed against KLM Airlines.

Yesterday's hearing covered connections between certain Trump allies and violent extremist groups, as well as warnings about possibly inciting violence that the president ignored. On Today's Show:Philip Bump, national correspondent for The Washington Post, offers analysis of Tuesday afternoon's hearing of the January 6th committee.