Shows

Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer, under tremendous pressure from the left, announced his resignation this week, which allows President Biden to name a successor while the Democrats still control the Senate.

Does Joe Manchin’s decision to vote no on President Biden’s top priority end its chances? And we remember Bob Dole, the former Senate Majority Leader and 1996 presidential nominee, who died earlier this month at the age of 98.

Former Sen. Joe Lieberman, author of a new book about centrism in politics, says both parties need to compromise if they expect anything to get done. And we review the career of Sen. Pat Leahy (D-VT), who announced his retirement after nearly 48 years in office.

We remember former Georgia Democratic Sen. Max Cleland, who died last week and who was on the receiving end of one the most controversial attack ads in political history. And we weigh the decision by New Hampshire GOP Gov. Chris Sununu not to challenge Sen. Maggie Hassan (D) next year, who is thought to be vulnerable.

Tuesday’s gubernatorial contest in Virginia is being watched nationwide for a possible clue about what might happen in the 2022 midterms … and how to deal with Donald Trump. And former Sen. Harry Reid makes the case for Nevada to lead off the presidential calendar, not Iowa.

A book by a longtime Republican strategist says his party has become indistinguishable from Donald Trump — and all that’s wrong with Trumpism. We look ahead to next month’s historic Boston mayoral race. And we talk to Colin Powell’s former chief of staff, who has the inside scoop behind Powell’s infamous 2003 UN speech about “weapons of mass destruction.”

Sen. Kyrsten Sinema may be driving progressives nuts by thwarting much of President Biden’s agenda, but her actions may be popular back home. And we remember the unfortunate 2012 campaign gaffe of Todd Akin, who died last week, and who suggested that “legitimate rape” would not result in pregnancy.

The decision by anti-Trump Republican Anthony Gonzalez of Ohio not to seek reelection next year is seen as a victory for the former president, who retains deep loyalty among GOP voters. And we discuss the meaning of last week’s defeated recall vote in California.

We set up what’s at stake in Tuesday’s California gubernatorial recall election. And we replay an interview from last summer with former Illinois Sen. Adlai Stevenson III, who died last week.

An awful month. A disastrous exit from Afghanistan. And we lost Neal Conan to cancer.