President Trump has directed Secretary of State Marc Rubio to negotiate a peace deal to end the war in Ukraine without Ukraine at the table. U.S. Army Lt. Col. (retired) Alexander Vindman was the director for European Affairs on the White House’s National Security Council, former Political-Military Affairs Officer for Russia and diplomat at the American Embassies in Moscow and Kyiv. He is also a senior fellow at the Foreign Policy Institute and leads the Here Right Matters Foundation organization, which focuses on helping Ukraine win the war against Russia. He joins host Krys Boyd to discuss why he believes U.S. policy towards Russia has only emboldened Vladimir Putin and how tenants of liberal democracy might right the ship moving forward. His book is “The Folly of Realism: How the West Deceived Itself About Russia and Betrayed Ukraine.”

The Trump White House has its sights set on reducing the size of government, including a proposal to dismantle the Department of Education. Rick Seltzer writes the Daily Briefing newsletter at The Chronicle of Higher Education. He joins host Krys Boyd to discuss what the Department of Education does on a daily basis, which services might lapse in its absence, and the response from educators across the country over the possibility of shuttering the department.

We’ve all heard of “the five stages of grief;” problem is, they’re not based on solid science. Lucy Hone, director of the New Zealand Institute of Wellbeing & Resilience, joins host Krys Boyd to discuss why grieving looks different than what we’ve been taught previously and strategies for finding your way back to hope and normalcy. Her book is “Resilient Grieving: How to Find Your Way Through a Devastating Loss (Finding Strength and Embracing Life After a Loss that Changes Everything).” 

Corporations embraced D.E.I. efforts after George Floyd’s murder, and now we’re seeing an about-face. Pavithra Moha, staff writer for Fast Company’s Work Life section, joins host Krys Boyd to discuss the backtrack of corporate D.E.I. efforts, how President Trump’s directives have cooled or eliminated programs put in place to attract or retain historically marginalized workers, and what employees think of shifting workplace values.

The mysteries of spirituality have been with us since the dawn of man — could A.I. help us to better think through some of life’s biggest questions? New York Times reporter Eli Tan joins host Krys Boyd to discuss how religious leaders are experimenting with artificial intelligence, asking questions and even generating sermons, and how this might connect with modern audiences searching for answers. His article is, “At the intersection of A.I. and spirituality.”

President Trump signed more than 50 executive orders on his first day in office —the contents of which are already fundamentally changing the federal government. David E. Lewis is the Rebecca Webb Wilson University Distinguished Professor in the Department of Political Science at Vanderbilt University. He joins host Krys Boyd to discuss Trump’s first month in office, from tariffs to foreign policy, domestic actions to DOGE, and what it all means to the American people so far.

A dog chasing a squirrel is the most wholesome thing; maybe we could learn a lesson from our pups about what happiness looks like. Mark Rowlands, professor and chair of the philosophy department at the University of Miami, joins host Krys Boyd to discuss what he’s learned from observing his dog, Shadow, from microlessons in morality to understanding the temporal nature of life itself. His book is “The Word of Dog: What Our Canine Companions Can Teach Us About Living a Good Life.”

From egg prices to tariffs, a strong job market and stubborn inflation, this economy is hard to wrap your head around — but we’ll give it a try. Rogé Karma, staff writer at The Atlantic, joins host Krys Boyd to discuss the many swirling factors that go into taking a bird’s eye view of the current economy, including what looks promising and what leaves economists in doubt.

When perusing a career in writing, author Chad Sanders didn’t fully anticipate the personal cost of writing about Black pain. The screenwriter, public speaker and host of the Yearbook podcast, joins host Krys Boyd to discuss what he learned about being a Black writer for audiences hungry for stories about race and racism, and the unexpected toll that took on him emotionally. His book is “How to Sell Out: The (Hidden) Cost of Being a Black Writer.” 

The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists’ Doomsday Clock is now set to 89 seconds — the closest to midnight yet. So why is this hopeful? Daniel Holz, chair of the Bulletin’s Science and Security Board, joins host Krys Boyd to discuss the many factors that go into the Doomsday Clock calculations and why determining how close we are to disaster is an exercise in our capacity to change for the better.