Brian Lehrer: A Daily Politics Podcast

Campaign finance sources indicate that  running for president requires more and more  money each year. 

On Today's Show:
Daniel Klaidman, investigative reporter based for CBS News, former editor-in-chief of Yahoo News and author of Kill Or Capture: The War on Terror and the Soul of the Obama Presidency, and co-author of Find Me the Votes: A Hard-Charging Georgia Prosecutor, a Rogue President, and the Plot to Steal an American Election, breaks down the megadonors who fueled Donald Trump's campaign for president and what they may want in the next 4 years.

COP29, the annual climate conference with world leaders, is underway in Azerbaijan, just after the election of President Trump, who promised to start "drilling, drilling, drilling."

On Today's Show:
Zack Colman, reporter covering climate and energy at Politico, shares the takeaways so far from the first week of COP29, including the roles of the U.S. and China, and Trump's pick of oil executive Chris Wright to be the secretary of energy.

With Republicans about to take control of the White House and both houses of Congress, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries  weighs in on the Democrats' path forward.

On Today's Show:
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D NY-8th, Brooklyn) talks about next steps, and how that relates to his new book, The ABCs of Democracy (Grand Central Publishing, 2024), based on a floor speech he gave last year.

With Trump's transition underway, the key national political news has been how he is staffing up his upcoming administration.

On Today's Show:
Annie Karni, congressional correspondent for The New York Times, talks about the various people President-elect Donald Trump has chosen for top positions and how Republican leadership is responding to his picks.

As Democrats search for the reasons Americans rejected the party in this past election, some have pointed to a culture of racism and misogyny.

On Today's Show:
Debbie Walsh, director of the Center for American Women and Politics (CAWP), talks about Harris's loss from her perspective as a scholar of women in politics while Nadira Goffe, associate culture writer at Slate, discusses the reason she sees as the elephant in the room -- Americans were not in favor of having a Black woman as president. 

As the president elect begins to staff his upcoming administration, a opposition member of Congress weighs in on the Democrats' agenda, and the White House's.

On Today's Show:
U.S. Representative Adriano Espaillat (D, NY-13) talks about how he plans to resist Trump's plans for "mass deportation," and shares other priorities of Democrats in Congress, especially as they are facing the next Trump term, and the potential that Republicans will hold on to the House majority.

In the wake of the 2024 election, some members of the populist left are offering their explanations for how Democrats lost an opportunity to grow their base. 

On Today's Show:
David Sirota, founder and editor-in-chief of The Lever, host of the podcast Master Plan, co-creator of the movie Don't Look Up, and former presidential campaign speechwriter for Bernie Sanders, shares his analysis of why he believes Harris lost the election, from his perspective on the political left.

On Today's Show:
Susan Glasser, staff writer at the New Yorker, where she writes a column on life in Washington, co-anchor of "The Political Scene" podcast, and co-author with Peter Baker of The Divider: Trump in the White House, 2017-2021 (Doubleday, 2022), offers political analysis of how President-elect Trump might approach U.S. foreign policy and military affairs.

Despite normally blue-state New Jersey's surprisingly strong turnout for the Republican presidential candidate this election season, the Garden State is sending a new, Democratic senator to Congress.

On Today's Show:
Andy Kim, U.S. Representative and Senator-Elect (D NJ), talks about the election results and his plans for his move to the senate.

As more detailed information comes out about the election results, Democrats are left to consider their losses.

On Today's Show:
Astead Herndon, New York Times national politics reporter, host of their politics podcast "The Run-Up" and CNN political analyst, offers his analysis of Trump's win, after spending months during the campaign talking to voters across the country.