Left, Right & Center

President Trump says he wants to end mail-in voting and voting machines. The Constitution outlines that state governments manage their elections, but in a post on Truth Social, Trump said that the states simply serve as agents for the federal government. "They must do what the Federal Government, as represented by the President of the United States, tells them, FOR THE GOOD OF OUR COUNTRY, to do," he wrote. Any change to the way Americans vote would need congressional approval. The president has already pushed to solidify a Republican majority in Congress by supporting the redrawing of congressional maps in Texas. That new map could add another five seats for the GOP in the House. Could the president use that majority to end voting by mail? What are the implications of this for American democracy and states’ rights over elections? National Guard troops are still patrolling the streets of Washington D.C. When Vice President JD Vance, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, and White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller visited National Guard troops at D.C.’s Union Station, they faced protestors shouting, “Free D.C.” Miller heckled the activists and said they would compel the administration to ramp up their efforts. Is Trump's use of National Guard troops simply a temporary demonstration of power, or should Americans be concerned that militarized cities will become the norm? In a room full of merchandise near the Oval Office, shelves are lined with “Trump 2028” hats. President Trump gifted some of them to world leaders. The possibility of running for a third term is something Trump has teased since the early days of his second term. Is he just trolling, or should Americans take it seriously?

President Trump promised to address crime in Washington, D.C. following an attack on a former DOGE employee. This week, the president put his plan into action. He ordered the deployment of 800 National Guardsmen to patrol the District. The guardsmen will be joined by members of a number of federal agencies. Is there more to the president’s decision than enforcing law and order? The president will shift his focus from D.C. to Anchorage, Alaska and a meeting with Russian leader Vladimir Putin. The two leaders are scheduled to discuss possible next steps towards an end to the war in Ukraine. Can president Trump negotiate peace without conceding to Russian demands? The Trump administration has worked to push America’s cultural institutions further to the right. But can that shift expand past the halls of power? Is American society really growing more conservative?

President Trump fired the commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), Erika McEntarfer, after the organization released its July jobs report. Trump claimed that several reports under McEntarfer had been manufactured to hurt him and his economic agenda. But will the firestorm around the jobs report hurt the credibility of the next commissioner? A pair of House members have called out their respective parties in the last week. Republican Marjorie Taylor Greene and Democrat Sarah McBride shared their critiques on how the parties were spurning voters. Will anyone else in Congress listen? It may be hard to believe, but journalists mess up too. KCRW responds to a listener's comment calling out a critical mistake as we continue to discuss ways to restore journalistic credibility.

Leaders in France, Canada, and the U.K. have stated they would recognize and call for Palestinian statehood at the next General Assembly of the United Nations. The calls from world leaders come on the heels of troubling images of starvation and famine in Gaza. President Trump has long been an ally of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, but Trump also pushed back against Netanyahu’s claims that there was no starvation in the region. It’s a rare pressure campaign on the Israeli government to improve conditions for Palestinians as the conflict between Israel and Hamas wages on. But will it result in meaningful change? Are other factors playing into Trump’s callout? Republican legislators in Texas will discuss redrawing the state’s congressional map during a special summer session. The plan, first floated by the Trump administration, could create five new seats in the House of Representatives if approved. Democratic officials in and out of the Lone Star State are trying to figure out how to fight back. Do they have any choice? And who does the move benefit? The newest frontline of the culture war? The movie Superman and blue jeans. KCRW discusses the latest “woke” controversies.

President Donald Trump continued to air his grievances with the mainstream media this week. First, he filed a $20 billion defamation suit against The Wall Street Journal. The suit claims that a “bawdy” birthday letter to Jeffry Epstein that the paper attributed to Trump is a fake. The president took to Truth Social to demean the paper and its owner Rupert Murdoch. Amid his social media rant, he celebrated previous victories over ABC News and CBS. Should we be concerned about the stability of press freedoms under the second Trump administration? Masked ICE agents have become a frequent sight around the United States since Trump’s return to office. Democratic leaders across the country are pushing legislation that would ban federal law enforcement from hiding their identities. Is it a distraction from deeper questions about the standing of immigrants in America? Plus, KCRW discusses who the president is really speaking for when he calls for the return of some controversial sports team names.

Donald Trump fires up another legal case with legacy media. Lawmakers are calling out ICE agents for hiding their identities. Plus, what’s in a team name?

Something you should know, from the team at Left, Right and Center.

Prior to his re-election in 2024, Donald Trump committed to releasing files related to several controversial investigations, including the Jeffrey Epstein case. Epstein was an alleged sex trafficker who died while in prison in 2019. Epstein’s connections to prominent figures and the suspicious circumstances surrounding his death created fodder for conspiracy theorists on the right. Last week, Trump’s DOJ and FBI announced they would not release the files and would no longer be investigating the case. That announcement has led to massive blowback from the president’s MAGA base. The president is facing similar disdain from the MAGA universe over recent decisions regarding the war in Ukraine. After a massive attack of Russian drone strikes on Kyiv, Trump declared Russian President Vladimir Putin had 50 days to agree to a ceasefire. He also promised to ramp up U.S. military support for Ukraine through a NATO agreement. What finally flipped the switch on Trump’s reverent tone for the Russian leader? Is there any ideological strategy we can glean from this move? Tourism to the United States is down. Is there any connection to the policies of Donald Trump? Should the tourism industry be a concern of the “America First” crowd?

Donald Trump’s newest beef is with the MAGA movement. Could the honeymoon be ending? Plus, is tourism to the United States in trouble?

Authorities were still searching for survivors of the deadly July 4 floods in Central Texas when some Democrats started asking whether President Donald Trump’s cuts at the National Weather Service exacerbated the disaster. Republicans, including Texas Senator Ted Cruz, accused those Democrats of “partisan finger-pointing.” How early is too early to talk about accountability? And is a nuanced policy conversation to prevent future tragedies possible in our political climate? Democratic strategist Rebecca Pearcey joins on the left, Republican strategist Mike Dubke joins on the right, and host David Greene holds down the center. Five years after the pandemic, American kids are still struggling in reading and math. Glimmers of hope are shining in red states like Louisiana, Alabama, and Mississippi. What are those states doing right? And are both parties too distracted by the culture war to focus on improving public education? Elon Musk threatened to start a third party if Trump passed his “Big Beautiful Bill.” The tech billionaire launched that party on X this week, saying he wants to represent the “80%” of Americans “in the middle.” Is anyone on the left or the right taking him seriously? Or is this just the latest development in his very-public spat with the president?

Republicans accuse Democrats of playing partisan games following deadly floods in Texas. How soon is too soon to ask difficult policy questions after a tragedy?

Congress signed into law the “Big Beautiful Bill” this week. The bill survived slim margins to passage through the Republican-led Senate and House. GOP Senator Thom Tillis of North Carolina was one of its strongest holdouts, citing the nearly $1 trillion in Medicaid cuts outlined by the bill. His opposition created a war of words with President Trump and led Tillis to announce he would not seek re-election. Senator Tillis cited the lack of compromise and bipartisanship in Washington under the president. But is compromise truly a thing of the past? Or is it as essential to this political moment as ever? Parental opt-outs for school curriculum have usually been reserved for lessons on sexual education. That changed with a ruling from the Supreme Court at the end of its recent term. In a 6-3 decision, the court decided that parents in Maryland had the right to opt their children out of lessons featuring characters that go against the parents’ religious beliefs. The case revolved around a school district’s decision to incorporate storybooks with LGBTQ characters. Should parents have a bigger role in what their kids learn at school?

Congress signed into law the “Big Beautiful Bill” this week. The bill survived slim margins to passage through the Republican-led Senate and House. GOP Senator Thom Tillis of North Carolina was one of its strongest holdouts, citing the nearly $1 trillion in Medicaid cuts outlined by the bill. His opposition created a war of words with President Trump and led Tillis to announce he would not seek re-election. Senator Tillis cited the lack of compromise and bipartisanship in Washington under the president. But is compromise truly a thing of the past? Or is it as essential to this political moment as ever? Parental opt-outs for school curriculum have usually been reserved for lessons on sexual education. That changed with a ruling from the Supreme Court at the end of its recent term. In a 6-3 decision, the court decided that parents in Maryland had the right to opt their children out of lessons featuring characters that go against the parents’ religious beliefs. The case revolved around a school district’s decision to incorporate storybooks with LGBTQ characters. Should parents have a bigger role in what their kids learn at school?

Is it time to revisit Congress’ war powers authority? NATO makes a new commitment to defense spending. Plus, a democratic socialist could end up as NYC’s new mayor.

President Trump’s decision to strike Iran has sparked debate in Congress over the executive branch’s ability to take military action without authorization. The strikes Trump ordered last week were in line with recent precedent. But some critics and supporters alike are calling for restrictions to his ability to take further action in Iran. House Speaker Mike Johnson called the debate ill-timed, and openly questioned the constitutionality of the War Powers Act. That act requires the president to seek Congressional approval before declarations of war. Is this another battleground in the fight over legislative checks and balances? Trump’s assistance with a ceasefire agreement between Israel and Iran led to a warm reception at a NATO security summit later in the week. The summit was planned to discuss the war in Ukraine, the conflict between Israel and Iran, and other alliance concerns. Much of the focus landed on the ceasefire and an agreement by members to commit 5% of their GDP to defense. The new spending mark was seen as a major concession to Trump, who had threatened since his first term to leave the alliance if it wasn’t met. But was the decision made more for self-preservation than appeasement? Zohran Mamdani, a 33-year-old democratic socialist, won the Democratic primary in New York City’s mayoral race. Progressives are pointing to his victory as a beacon for Democrats nationwide to push further to the left. Does that ignore the fact that he ran against the scandal-ridden former governor Andrew Cuomo?

What does “America First” mean when it comes to U.S. plans for Iran? The business community puts pressure on immigration policy. Plus, June marks 10 years since the Charleston church shooting.

President Trump has plans for securing peace after Israel launched a war with Iran. However, he’s keeping them to himself. A lack of clarity on whether the U.S. will support Israel has created a divide amongst interventionist and isolationist wings of Trump supporters. Which direction will Trump’s often-touted “America First” policy lead the U.S. in? The federal government’s mass deportation efforts have expanded to work sites like farms, hotels, and restaurants. The business community has pushed back, calling for President Trump to relax deportation efforts on industries that rely on immigrant labor. Trump obliged those requests, but federal officials say they’ll continue to enforce immigration law wherever possible. Will the president continue to try navigating the pitfalls of interior enforcement? Ten years ago this month, the country mourned a tragic act of racial violence in Charleston, South Carolina. As America reckons with another all too familiar occurrence, this time in Minnesota, KCRW discusses what has changed and what hasn’t in America’s political climate.

Will the protests over the National Guard hurt Trump politically? Plus, will the “Big, Beautiful Bill’s” unpopularity on Wall Street keep it from passing?

Protests in Los Angeles sprang up this week as residents sought to deter ICE raids in several neighborhoods. The raids are part of a larger “mass deportation” program Trump promised to enact on the campaign trail. Recent polls show that mass deportation maintained popularity amongst a majority of voters, but will the images coming out of LA change the perception of immigration policy? California Governor Gavin Newsom and LA Mayor Karen Bass told the federal government that local law enforcement could handle the situation in Los Angeles. Despite this, President Trump called in 4,000 National Guardsmen as well as several hundred Marines. It’s sparked a discussion over the administration’s continued efforts to expand executive powers. Has Trump acted outside the powers of the office? President Trump’s “Big, Beautiful Bill” is full of corporate-friendly tax breaks and major cuts to entitlement programs. So why does Wall Street hate it? Has the president missed the chance to build a true coalition on the right?

Donald Trump and Elon Musk’s whirlwind bromance comes to an end. Plus, why are Israel and the UN at odds over a new humanitarian aid group in Gaza?