Left, Right & Center

2026’s first primary is just two months away. Both parties are trying to get voters to believe in their ability to address the affordability crisis. Republicans are combatting President Trump’s conflicting perspective on the economy. Democrats are hoping to solidify their voice for voters after struggling to find a message that connected with them in 2024. Our panel breaks down which races could help define their identities - and reshape Congress - in the year ahead.Online prediction markets have reintroduced election betting to the American public. Companies like Kalshi and Polymarket have grown in popularity for allowing users to wager on everything from wars to the weather - as well as elections. Now, major media outlets are looking to embed their odds into their news coverage. Is there any upside to gamifying politics?As one listener writes, admitting when you’re wrong is a key part of engaging with politics. So where did our panel miss the mark in 2025?

Foreign policy took center stage in the first year of President Trump’s second term, which may be a surprise after his America First focus in 2024. The president sought to ease tensions with adversaries while bringing an end to existing conflicts in Ukraine and Gaza. Trump promised an isolationist shift after finding resolutions for those wars. Instead, the back half of 2025 saw the United States enter a new military campaign in the Caribbean and use geopolitics to project Trump’s political values abroad. Also, panelists Mo Elleithee and Sarah Isgur have had long careers in and around politics. But it wasn’t always their greatest obsession. Join host David Greene for insight into their perspectives on the changes they’ve seen over the last several decades -- and what they really love beyond politics.

2025 is set to end without the passage of a new health care bill. Congress had been working to hammer out new legislation before the holiday break. Democrats were pushing for an extension of Affordable Care Act subsidies that lowered the cost of health care premiums for millions of Americans. Those subsidies are set to expire at the end of 2025. House Democrats were joined in the fight by moderate Republicans who worried that skyrocketing healthcare costs would leave them vulnerable in next year’s midterms. GOP leadership pushed for alternatives that would increase the possibility of coverage without the extensions. Lawmakers will resume the fight in January, with votes set for the extensions desired by Democrats after a Republican proposal passed earlier this week. Will the pressure of the midterms lead to larger cracks between GOP members and leadership?Midterms also have the potential to bring a new look to the Republican base. New polling from NBC News shows that the share of Republicans who identify as MAGA compared to traditional Republicans dipped from 57/43 in the spring to 50/50 as the year ends. Is this identity shift among voters a red flag for a party looking to increase turnout next November? And has the president lost some of his charm with Republican voters?Plus, does either party really care about the national debt anymore? Our KCRW panel answers one listener’s question about a political argument that seems to have gone by the wayside. 

As peace talks between Russia and Ukraine continue, last week the White House released its National Security Strategy. The strategy, viewed favorably by Moscow, was critical of the European Union and views the suppression of far-right politicians as a threat to peace and democracy in the region, especially in resolving the war in Ukraine. A US-brokered peace plan would see Ukraine cede the Donbass region to Russia, a non-starter for Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy. President Trump sees it as the best way to end the bloodshed, but the plans have also concerned European leaders. What’s the president’s motivation for peace?The National Security Strategy also outlined immigration as a threat to European democracy. There were warnings that Europe risked “civilizational erasure" if it failed to curb mass migration. What is the tie between peace and President Trump’s skepticism on migration?Also, our panel answers your questions. Can you still be a fiscal conservative and a social progressive without contradicting yourself? What happened to virtue in politics?

At the end of a cabinet meeting this week, President Trump unleashed controversial comments about Minnesota’s Somali community. The president said he “[didn’t] want them in our country” and referred to Minnesota’s Somali-American congresswoman Ilhan Omar as “garbage”. His diatribe came as reports surfaced of ICE raids in the Minneapolis/St. Paul region targeting Somalis in the area. The Department of Homeland Security said that there would be increased focus on immigrant communities in the wake of the November 26th shooting of two National Guard members in Washington, D.C., which had no connection to Somali-Americans. Is the administration clouding legitimate questions about immigrant vetting with its actions?Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth continued to deny reports he ordered an illegal strike on a boat suspected of trafficking drugs in the Caribbean. Congressional Armed Services Committees have opened investigations into the attack. What could accountability look like legally and politically?A new feature on X reveals where accounts on the app originated from . A number of popular accounts posting about American politics were exposed as foreign users. Is there any way to push back on the influence of foreign actors on social media?