Russian President Vladimir Putin put his country’s nuclear deterrent forces on high alert – Yale professor Timothy Snyder joins Mehdi to discuss how Putin manages to bring out the best in some people and the worst in others; Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal previews President Biden’s upcoming State of the Union address.

The RNC providing cover for Capitol rioters, calling the January 6 attack “legitimate public discourse”; House Democrats push President Biden to pull U.S. support from Saudi Arabia’s military intervention in Yemen; China attempts to sweep its human rights abuses under the rug by having a Uyghur athlete carry the torch to open the Olympic Games in Beijing. 

Republicans are launching a campaign to keep a black woman from the Supreme Court bench. The Ukrainian government is downplaying threats of a Russian invasion, blaming foreign media outlets for escalating the situation. Mehdi takes an in-depth look at the toxic xenophobia American Muslims endure in a post-9/11 world.

Arizona Democrats have had it with Senator Kyrsten Sinema. Congressman Ruben Gallego (D-AZ) joins the show to discuss perhaps challenging for her seat in the primary; top expert on Russia and Khruschev’s great-granddaughter Nina Khrushcheva breaks down the critical situation between Russia and Ukraine; a small Alabama town has a big policing problem – local legal expert Carla Crowder joins to talk policing-for-profit.

Democracy is on the line and the stark warning on where America's future could lead. The fight for voting rights continues, but Republicans in Arizona have introduced bills that point us in the wrong direction. A look at long-term effects of covid regardless of which variant you may catch. 

The partner of the late Capitol police officer Brian Sicknick, Sandra Garza, joins the show one year after the Jan. 6 insurrection; Former CDC Director Dr. Tom Frieden discusses the confusion surrounding the CDC’s messaging; Randi Weingarten talks Covid school closures and teachers’ unions.

Yale professor Tim Snyder on the latest with the Trump/G-O-P rolling coup, 1619 project creator Nikole Hannah-Jones discusses free speech and the teaching of history in schools, and we’ll hear from the leader of the first ever unionized Starbucks

Dr. Peter Singer from the World Health Organization talks COVID messaging and mask mandates; Tom Nichols debates what an anti-Trump, pro-democracy coalition should look like between liberals and conservatives; and Leta Hong Fincher discusses China, human rights, and missing tennis star Peng Shuai.

Bill Nye talks COP26, the challenges of climate change, and the war on science; Chinese artist Ai Weiwei discusses his new memoir and how his art defies authoritarianism; and political tension and violence is growing: Experts Dr. Joanne Freeman and Jack Goldstone break it all down.