Brian Lehrer: A Daily Politics Podcast

A judge in New York State just shot down the Democrats' proposed new map of electoral districts. On Today's Show: Jon Campbell, Albany reporter for WNYC/Gothamist, explains what this means for the upcoming primary elections and eventually the midterms and the makeup of the House of Representatives.

Senator Kirsten Gillibrand dropped by to talk about her international trip to sure up global support for Ukraine. On Today's Show:Kirsten Gillibrand, U.S. Senator (D-NY), talks about her recent overseas trip and and speaks with constituents about issues closer to home. Plus, a preview of a new true crime podcast from WNYC:New Jersey politics is not for the faint of heart. But the brutal killing of John and Joyce Sheridan, a prominent couple with personal ties to three governors, shocks even the most cynical operatives. The mystery surrounding the crime sends their son on a quest for truth. Dead End is a story of crime and corruption at the highest levels of society in the Garden State. Click here to listen and subscribe to Dead End.

It's been over a year since President Trump's supporters stormed the Capitol to overturn the election of Joe Biden. Since then, he's worked to block investigations into the event. On Today's Show:Andrea Bernstein, investigative journalist, and the author of American Oligarchs: The Kushners, the Trumps, and the Marriage of Money and Power (W.W. Norton and Co, 2020) and Ilya Marritz, who covers Trump legal matters for NPR, talk about their new podcast from Pineapple Media, "Will Be Wild," about what led up to the Jan. 6th insurrection, plus the latest on the former president's legal issues.

The Supreme Court recently that Puerto Ricans were ineligible for some disability benefits. What does it mean for boricuas, and their relationship with the mainland US? On Today's Show:Yarimar Bonilla, professor of Puerto Rican Studies and Anthropology at the City University of New York, monthly columnist at El Nuevo Dia, and incoming director of the Center for Puerto Rican Studies at Hunter College, talks about the implications of that ruling and what it might mean for the future of statehood for the island.

The geopolitical and cultural drivers behind Russia's invasion of Ukraine have a religious dimension, and the conflict is causing tension within the Eastern Orthodox Church. On Today's Show:With Eastern Orthodox Easter this weekend, Ishaan Tharoor, Washington Post columnist and author of Today's WorldView, the Post's international affairs newsletter, examines the Russian church's support of the invasion of Ukraine -- even as many of the church's congregants and holiest sites are in Ukraine.

With states around the nation moving to legalize weed, it's worth considering how employers might test for impairment on the job. On Today's Show:As legal recreational cannabis sales roll out in New Jersey, Alyson Martin, co-founder of Cannabis Wire and adjunct professor at the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, discusses the complicated laws behind testing for the drug for professions that bar its use, and how legal states are approaching the issue differently.

It's been 8 months since the United States withdrew from Afghanistan. Why hasn't the Taliban government allowed girls to return to the classroom, as they said they would? On Today's Show:Karen DeYoung, Washington Post associate editor and senior national security correspondent, talks about the latest in Afghanistan with girls' education and the economic impact of the country's frozen bank assets.

French citizens in France and abroad will head to the polls for the presidential election this weekend. On the ballot: the current president, Emmanuel Macron, the far right, anti-immigrant nationalist Marine Le Pen. On Today's Show:Roger Cohen, Paris bureau chief for The New York Times, discusses what's at stake as French President Emmanuel Macron and far-right candidate Marine Le Pen head to the runoffs.

One of the few Black Republicans to serve in Congress discusses partisanship around the country, in his home state, and some of the GOP's policy agenda's including abortion bans and more. On Today's Show:Will Hurd, former member of Congress (R - TX 23rd), CIA undercover officer, and cybersecurity executive, now an officer at the private investment bank Allen & Company and the author of American Reboot: An Idealist’s Guide to Getting Big Things Done (Simon and Schuster, 2022), talks about his new book and the state of partisan politics in Texas and the nation.

We asked a Nobel laureate economist about one of the top issues on voters' minds as we go into this year's midterm elections: inflation. On Today's Show:Paul Krugman, Nobel laureate in economics, New York Times columnist, distinguished professor at the City University of New York Graduate Center, and the author of Arguing with Zombies: Economics, Politics, and the Fight for a Better Future (W. W. Norton & Company, 2020), discusses last month's Consumer Price Index, released Tuesday, and the politics of inflation as Democrats and Republicans play the blame game.