Not long ago, the idea that Donald Trump could return to the White House seemed like a MAGA-fueled fantasy. With his legal troubles piling up, Ron DeSantis surging, and President Biden notching legislative successes, a Trump victory appeared out of reach.

Not anymore. And so, the question becomes, what would a second Trump term look like?

“Chaos,” says David Frum, staff writer at The Atlantic. “It would mean endless questions about presidential power, military obedience. It would be chaos upon chaos, upon chaos.”

Frum joins Diane on today’s episode of On My Mind to discuss “The Danger Ahead,” the lead essay for the January/February edition of The Atlantic. The issue features a series of pieces that consider what Donald Trump might do if he regains the presidency in 2024.

The annual United Nations climate conference, or COP 28, begins in Dubai this week. A big topic on people’s minds: how countries are doing on their pledges to slash production of greenhouse gasses outlined in The Paris Agreement.

The consensus is ... not great.

On this episode of On My Mind, Diane looks at one part of the effort to reduce emissions here in the U.S. -- the transformation away from fossil-fuel-powered machines we use to heat our homes, cook food, and drive to work.

Experts agree households will have to embrace a suite of new low-carbon options to achieve President Biden’s goal of net-zero emissions by 2050. Michael J. Coren writes the “Climate Coach” column for the Washington Post. He joins Diane to explain what those options are – and the barriers to widespread adoption.

In 2008 journalist Martin Walker published the first of his Bruno, Chief of Police novels. Fifteen books later, the internationally bestselling series continues to delight readers with murder, mystery -- and delicious food.

Walker has called the books a love letter to his adopted home of the Périgord region of southwestern France, where he lives in an old farmhouse with his wife, food writer Julia Watson. Indeed, the tales of Bruno take readers into the rich history of the area and its culinary traditions.

The character of Benoît Courrèges – nicknamed “Bruno” – loves to cook and is perhaps known as much for transforming the bounty of his garden into elaborate meals as his ability to crack a case.

Now Walker and his wife Julia Watson have released a cookbook that brings together many of Bruno’s culinary creations. They join Diane this Thanksgiving week to talk about “Bruno’s Cookbook: Recipes and Traditions from a French Country Kitchen” and share a couple of Bruno's favorite recipes, which you can find on our website, dianerehm.org.

Last week, the FDA approved a medication said to be the most potent yet in the treatment of chronic obesity, a condition that affects more than 100 million American adults.

Developed by Eli Lilly, Zepbound is the latest in a new class of drugs doctors now have to help patients lose weight. Others include Ozempic, Wegovy, and Mounjaro.

“It’s like this total new world for weight control,” says Gina Kolata, a health reporter for the New York Times. She has written about this issue of obesity for decades and adds that after years with very little progress “these medications are really changing things.”

Kolata joins Diane on the latest episode of On My Mind to break down how these drugs work, possible side effects, and what's next in the development of obesity medications.

Those in favor of abortion access notched several more victories in Tuesday’s elections.  Reproductive rights played a role in  wins for Democratic politicians in Virginia, Kentucky, and Pennsylvania. In Ohio, voters enshrined the right to abortion access in the state’s constitution.

“It has become very hard for Republicans to distance themselves from these laws that are now on the books,” says Mary Ziegler, professor at U.C. Davis School of Law.

These results came as good news for Democrats after a week that showed Donald Trump leading President Biden in polling in key swing states. But Ziegler warns Democrats shouldn’t count on abortion driving turnout in the presidential race in the same way we have seen in state contests.

Unless, that is, they can connect the dots for voters on exactly what might change if Trump is re-elected. And those changes, she adds, could be dramatic.

Ziegler is one of the country’s leading experts on the law, history, and politics of reproduction in the United States. She joins Diane on On My Mind to discuss where the abortion debate goes from here and whether it will be a deciding factor in 2024.

Earlier this year, Florida lawmakers outlawed the use of cell phones during class time in schools throughout the state. Some Florida school districts went further, barring phones from campus all day due to concerns over student distraction and risk of cyberbullying.

Natasha Singer is a reporter for The New York Times who focuses on ways tech companies and their tools are reshaping public schools. She recently visited one of the Florida high schools that outlawed phones and talked to school administrators, teachers, parents and students to hear how the year is going.

Singer adds that these new bans are spreading at the same time lawmakers across the country consider the issue of youth and technology more broadly. This past spring Utah adopted strict limitations on social media for minors. Just last week, states across the country sued tech companies, accusing them of making their apps intentionally addictive to adolescents.

Singer joins Diane on this episode of On My Mind to explain the pros, cons, and unintended consequences of this wave of tech regulation.

About 1.3 million, or one in 25 Americans, are over the age of 80.

On My Mind has covered issues regarding our aging population in the past, from the coming crisis in care to whether enough legal protections are in place to prevent elder financial abuse.  

On this episode, Leonard Downie, former executive editor of the Washington Post, joins Diane to talk about the experience of what life feels like in older age.

“I’m determined not to fear the future,” he says. “Of course, sometimes I do.”

As Downie approached his ninth decade, he started keeping a journal about the experience of becoming an octogenarian. For more than a year, he documented the daily changes, challenges, and unique pleasures of older age, and has now released his musings in a new book titled “80: An Octogenarian’s Journal.”

A horrific bombing at a hospital in Gaza this week left hundreds of Palestinians dead and deepened the crisis in the Middle East.

Hamas placed the blame for the devastating loss of life on an Israeli airstrike, but Israel and the United States say they have intelligence suggesting it was misfire by the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, a militant group in Gaza.

The strike pushed Arab leaders to cancel scheduled meetings with President Biden, who visited Israel Wednesday and voiced continued support for the country.

Washington Post foreign affairs columnist David Ignatius says we are in a period where “people really have to think carefully about long-term interests.”

Ignatius joins Diane to discuss the path forward and warns if leaders in the region act on emotion and think only of immediate goals, we could end up with a widespread, “catastrophic war.”

Over the past several days the Israeli military has continued a devastating bombardment of the Gaza Strip, with airstrikes flattening entire neighborhoods. Forces also cut off supplies to the area as troops gathered for a likely ground invasion.

This is, of course, in retaliation for the attack by Hamas fighters in Israeli territory on Saturday that left 1300 dead and filled social media with images of intense brutality against civilians.

“I think we’re still in this period of grief,” says Daniel Kurtzer, former U.S. Ambassador to both Israel and Egypt. Kurtzer currently teaches Middle East policy at Princeton University and joined Diane to help give context to the tragic events unfolding in the Middle East.

Last month the FDA approved a new Covid vaccine. But many people around the country have had trouble getting it.  

Lena Sun is a national reporter for the Washington Post who has covered Covid since it first emerged in China. She says this bumpy rollout is a result of how the shot is viewed. Under the federal government’s health emergency, vaccination was seen as a public good. Now the shots are seen as a commercial product, subject to terms of insurance companies, the bottom lines of providers, and market demands. 

“What this has done is highlight the completely byzantine, lousy healthcare system in the United States,” Sun says. 

Sun joined Diane to explain why it has been so difficult to get the vaccine, how dangerous Covid is today, and how to keep yourself and your loved ones safe as we move toward winter, when cases of not only Covid, but also RSV and flu are expected to rise.