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Left, Right & Center

Left, Right & Center

By: KCRW
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Left, Right & Center is KCRW’s weekly civilized yet provocative confrontation over politics, policy and pop culture.

KCRW 2020, 498771
Politics & Government
Episodes
  • Trump keeps US and Europe in the dark on Iran plans
    Jun 20 2025

    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.


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    51 mins
  • Could ICE protests sink Trump’s immigration policy?
    Jun 13 2025

    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?


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    51 mins
  • Breaking up is hard to do
    Jun 6 2025

    President Donald Trump has made the “big, beautiful bill” a hallmark piece of legislation for his administration. However, the bill’s most vocal opponent has been one of Trump’s closest allies. Elon Musk, the world’s richest man and former head of DOGE, has called out the bill for increasing the debt ceiling. Musk has been pushing for legislators to kill the bill. In a press conference with German chancellor Friedrich Merz, Trump responded to a question about Musk and shared his disappointment in the billionaire. It’s created a war of words between the president and the billionaire. Could the public spat signal the downfall of Trump’s spending plan?

    A humanitarian aid organization in Gaza backed by the US and Israel is under scrutiny. The newly founded Gaza Humanitarian Foundation has been criticized by more established aid groups for a lack of transparency and infrastructure following attacks on Palestinians as they attempted to receive food and resources delivered by GHF. Israel’s government says the group is necessary because of a lack of trust in groups like the United Nations and Amnesty International. But is their ability to handle the massive undertaking of providing aid to Gaza compromised?

    How does support for overarching policies shift when those policies hit closer to home? KCRW discusses the dilemma facing a small Missouri town.

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    51 mins

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