The Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to a UN agency dedicated to ending world hunger. But is the award worth the hype? On today's show, Anne Applebaum, Atlantic staff writer, covering national politics and foreign policy, and the author of Twilight of Democracy: The Seductive Lure of Authoritarianism (Doubleday July, 2020) talks about this year's Nobel Peace Prize: the U.N.'s World Food Programme for its work fighting hunger during the worldwide pandemic -- and also why she's a skeptic when it comes to the award's significance.

Back in 2018, Congress passed the First Step Act, a criminal justice reform measure. So how big of a 'first step' was it, and what are the next steps toward fixing mass incarceration? On today's show, Ekow Yankah, professor of law at Cardozo Law School, discusses the First Step Act—a criminal justice bill aimed at reforming sentencing laws, reducing recidivism and decreasing the federal inmate population—and assesses the next steps proposed by the presidential candidates.

Last night's VP debate was full of sparks and barbs. We take calls about that, plus, new uncertainty about whether the second presidential debate will even happen. On today's show, callers respond to the vice-presidential candidates' debate between current Vice President Mike Pence and Senator Kamala Harris, plus analysis from Tarini Parti, politics reporter at The Wall Street Journal. UPDATE: The negotiations have shifted from whether to have the second presidential debate on Oct. 22, or to postpone it until President Trump is no longer contagious.

The president says that his bout with COVID-19 has taught him about the virus. We took calls from regular people who have been impacted by COVID-19 to hear what he missed. On today's show, Dr. Craig Spencer, New York City emergency medicine physician and director of global health in emergency medicine at Columbia University Irving Medical Center, talks about whether the president's medical treatment differs from what the average American receives. Plus callers describe what they've learned about the virus from contracting it, or caring from a loved one, and what they'd like the president to understand about their experience.

Trump had already tested positive for COVID-19 when he went to an event in Bedminster, NJ. Now, NJ contact tracers want to know who he might have infected, but he won't give them any info. On today's show, Nancy Solomon, managing editor for New Jersey Public Radio and WNYC, reports on the contact tracing effort in New Jersey following the president's fund-raiser in Bedminster. She is joined by Anita Kumar, White House correspondent and associate editor for Politico, who talks about the latest developments in the president's COVID-19 case and the others at the White House and the press corps.

The Supreme Court is back in session, for the first time in several decades, without Ruth Bader Ginsburg. So what's on the docket, and what will the court look like as they preside over these cases? On today's show, Jami Floyd, senior editor for race and justice at WNYC, previews the court's upcoming cases, plus the latest on the confirmation process.

With just about a month until the final deadline to vote in the 2020 election, President Trump has contracted COVID-19. So what happens next for his campaign, and his White House? On today's show, Annie Karni, White House reporter for The New York Times and MSNBC and NBC News contributor, brings us what we know about the President's health, and what it means for a country in the throes of a viciously contentious election. NOTE: In this episode, Annie Karni reports that Trump's public schedule included a conference call with senior groups about the dangers of COVID-19. The New York Times has since reported that the President was not on that call, with Vice President Mike Pence taking his place. 

Pundits have used a lot of colorful language to describe the first presidential debate between Trump and Biden. But who came out on top? On today's show:Jonathan Alter, MSNBC analyst, co-host, Sirius XM Alter Family Politics, Daily Beast columnist and the author of His Very Best: Jimmy Carter, a Life (Simon & Schuster, 2020), offers his analysis as listeners respond to the first debate between Pres. Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden.

The lead prosecutor on Robert Mueller's team has some issues with the way the probe was conducted. We hear about those, plus his take on Trump's newly public tax documents. On today's show, Where Law Ends: Inside the Mueller Investigation (Random House, 2020), "}" data-sheets-userformat='{"2":10552,"6":{"1":[{"1":2,"2":0,"5":[null,2,0]},{"1":0,"2":0,"3":3},{"1":1,"2":0,"4":1}]},"7":{"1":[{"1":2,"2":0,"5":[null,2,0]},{"1":0,"2":0,"3":3},{"1":1,"2":0,"4":1}]},"8":{"1":[{"1":2,"2":0,"5":[null,2,0]},{"1":0,"2":0,"3":3},{"1":1,"2":0,"4":1}]},"11":4,"14":[null,2,0],"16":13}' data-sheets-formula='=IF(RDAUX!R[-5]C[2] = "",RDAUX!R[-5]C[5], CONCATENATE(RDAUX!R[-5]C[2], ", ",RDAUX!R[-5]C[4], ", ",RDAUX!R[-5]C[5])) '>Andrew Weissmann, now teaching criminal and national security law at NYU School of Law and the former lead prosecutor in Robert Mueller’s Special Counsel's Office, talks about his new book, Where Law Ends: Inside the Mueller Investigation (Random House, 2020), and more generally about what's at stake for the Justice Department in this presidential election.

Today we examine how much capitalism and how much socialism is needed to save America's middle class. On Today's Show: Pavlina R. Tcherneva, associate professor at Bard College and research scholar at the Levy Economics Institute and the author of The Case for a Job Guarantee (Polity, 2020) and Oren Cass,  executive director of American Compass, a domestic policy advisor for the Romney presidential campaign and the author of The Once and Future Worker: A Vision for the Renewal of Work in America (Encounter Books, 2018), talk about where on the spectrum from capitalist to socialist each candidate stands, from their own very different points of view.