The Global Politics Of Picking A New Pope

The global influence of the Catholic church has been a historically important force on the international stage. On Today's Show:Daniel Rober, associate professor and department chair of the Catholic Studies department at Sacred Heart University, talks about the leading contenders to be the next pope, the fraught process in the Vatican and the different directions the next leader of the world's Catholics might take the church.

What constitutes an "authoritarian" government, and what causes them to fail?On Today's Show:Anne Applebaum, staff writer at The Atlantic, historian and author of Autocracy Inc. (Penguin, 2024), argues the checks on presidential power, put in place by the founders, have so far failed in the second Trump administration.

The National Institute of Health is set to cut funding for climate research.On Today's Show:Maggie Astor, New York Times reporter covering the intersection between health and public policy, explains the broader impact these cuts may have on our public health.

The Trump administration's recent deportation efforts have raised questions about the law around citizenship and the removal of non-citizens from the country.On Today's Show:Quinta Jurecic, contributing writer at The Atlantic, fellow in governance studies at the Brookings Institution, and senior editor at Lawfare, offers legal analysis of the Supreme Court's recent rulings on deportation and how the Trump administration is responding.

President Trump has frozen some federal funds to Harvard University, and has a list of demands in order to unfreeze it.On Today's Show:Rick Seltzer, reporter for The Chronicle of Higher Education, talks about the latest news in the escalating fight between the Ivy League and the Trump administration, including how Harvard would likely have used that money, and what it means for higher education in the U.S. more broadly.

There's an ongoing stand-off between a federal judge and the Trump administration over their deportation practices. On Today's Show:Emily Bazelon, staff writer for The New York Times Magazine, co-host of Slate's "Political Gabfest" podcast, Truman Capote fellow for creative writing and law at Yale Law School and author of Charged: The New Movement to Transform American Prosecution and End Mass Incarceration (Random House, 2019), shares her legal and political analysis. 

The legal and ethical considerations behind in vitro fertilization have gotten more complicated since SCOTUS overturned Roe v. Wade.On Today's Show:Anna Louie Sussman, freelance journalist covering gender, economics, health, and reproduction, discusses her three-part series for The New York Times about human embryos, which explores the IVF process today, and what it means for parenthood, privacy and society.

The Federal Trade Commission will argue that the social media giant Meta, formerly Facebook, maintained a monopoly after it bought Instagram and WhatsApp.On Today's Show:Cristiano Lima-Strong, associate editor at Tech Policy Press, offers analysis of the FTC's antitrust case.

As they head to recess, pressure mounts on Republican lawmakers to fulfill President Donald Trump's agenda.On Today's Show:Catie Edmondson, congressional correspondent for The New York Times, offers political analysis of the budget blueprints passed by Congress last week, including what tax and spending cuts might look like and why Republicans were far from united on this.

On Today's Show:William Cohan, co-founder of Puck News and author of many books, including Power Failure: The Rise and Fall of an American Icon (Penguin Random House, 2022), offers analysis of the latest twists and turns of President Trump's trade war, and how Wall Street is reacting to the chaotic rollout — and rollback — of the tariffs.