The Current

The Brookings Institution
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  • POLITICS
  • EVERY TWO MONTHS

The Current brings you smart, timely, and quick analysis from Brookings experts on breaking news and changing policies. In under ten minutes, learn not only what happened, but why, and how to make sense of it.

  1. 4 SEPT

    What’s the president’s legal basis for sending National Guard troops to DC streets?

    On August 11, President Donald Trump issued an executive order that put the federal government in charge of the local police force. A second executive order directed members of the D.C. National Guard into active federal service. Today, over 2,000 National Guard members from D.C. and other states are mobilized in the nation’s capital. To talk about the constitutional and legal basis of these actions and what this expansion of federal military power by the Trump administration could mean for other U.S. cities, Scott Anderson, a fellow in Governance Studies, plus general counsel and senior editor for Lawfare, joins the Current. Show notes and transcript. Follow The Current and all Brookings podcasts on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. Send feedback email to

    17 min

  2. 6 AUG

    How resilient is New Orleans today?

    20 years after Hurricane Katrina made landfall along the Gulf Coast, researchers from New Orleans, Brookings, and The Data Center are examining how the city has recovered and the challenges it still faces. Manann Donoghoe joins The Current to talk about the extensive new analysis, the many factors that make a city resilient, and the areas policymakers should be investing in to ensure communities can adapt to extreme weather events and other shocks. Transcript and show notes: https://www.brookings.edu/articles/how-resilient-is-new-orleans-today  Follow The Current and all Brookings podcasts on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. Send feedback email to podcasts@brookings.edu

    12 min

  3. 27 JUN

    How do we know if US strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities were successful?

    Mara Karlin, a visiting fellow at Brookings and former U.S. assistant secretary of defense for strategy, plans, and capabilities, discusses the recent U.S. attack on Iranian nuclear facilities, the Israeli-Iran conflict, and what might come next. A key question is how to assess the impact of the military strikes on Iran's nuclear capabilities. Show notes and transcript. Follow The Current and all Brookings podcasts on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. Send feedback email to podcasts@brookings.edu.

    17 min

  4. 5 JUN

    The moral dimension of AI for work and workers

    Molly Kinder, fellow in Brookings Metro, reflects on the moral and ethical dimensions of artificial intelligence, work, and workers, as she lays out in her recent paper, “The unexpected visionary: Pope Francis on AI, humanity, and the future of work.” Kinder addresses the late Pope Francis’s leadership on this issue, and look ahead to how Pope Leo XIV will continue the Church’s attention to this fundamental challenge. Show notes and transcript. Follow The Current and all Brookings podcasts on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. Send feedback email to podcasts@brookings.edu.

    30 min

  5. 8 MAY

    What Medicaid and other safety net cuts could mean for US poverty

    House Republicans are currently negotiating a budget reconciliation bill that packages extensive tax breaks with deep spending cuts to anti-poverty programs like Medicaid and SNAP. Robert Greenstein explains how the U.S. safety net has cut the poverty rate nearly in half in recent decades and the impacts of the cuts now being considered.   Show notes and transcript: https://www.brookings.edu/articles/what-medicaid-safety-net-cuts-could-mean-for-us-poverty  Follow The Current and all Brookings podcasts on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. Send feedback email to podcasts@brookings.edu.

    25 min

  6. 15 APR

    Closing the racial gap in economic and social power

    Historically, Black Americans’ quest for power has been seen as an attempt to gain equal protection under the law, but power in America requires more than basic democratic freedoms. It’s linked with economic influence and ownership of one’s own self, home, business, and creations. In his new book, "Black Power Scorecard: Measuring the Racial Gap and What We Can Do to Close It," published by McMillan, Brookings Senior Fellow Andre Perry quantifies how much power Black Americans really have and calculates how that translates into the longevity of Back communities. On this episode of The Current, which was taped in front of a live audience, Perry, who also directs the Center for Community Uplift at Brookings, is interviewed by senior fellow David Wessel, who directs the Hutchins Center on Fiscal and Monetary Policy. Show notes and transcript:  https://www.brookings.edu/articles/closing-the-racial-gap-in-economic-and-social-power Follow The Current and all Brookings podcasts on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. Send feedback email to podcasts@brookings.edu.

    36 min

  7. 21 MAR

    The US government data purge is a loss for policymaking and research

    In its first two months, the Trump administration has not only laid off thousands of federal workers and shuttered agencies, but it has also purged taxpayer-funded data sets from a swathe of government websites, including data on crime, sexual orientation, gender, education, climate, and global development. Caren Grown, senior fellow in the Center for Sustainable Development at Brookings, joins The Current to explain why the loss of data and the expertise behind its collection will harm good policymaking. Show notes and transcript:  https://www.brookings.edu/articles/the-us-government-data-purge-is-a-loss-for-policymaking-and-research/ Follow The Current and all Brookings podcasts on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. Send feedback email to podcasts@brookings.edu.

    19 min

  8. 13 FEB

    A playbook to counter democratic backsliding in the US and abroad

    Democracy Playbook 2025, published by the Anti-Corruption, Democracy, and Security project at Brookings, identifies seven pillars that are essential to safeguard democracy worldwide and offers actionable steps to strengthen democratic institutions in the U.S. and globally. To talk about the new report, Governance Studies Senior Fellow Norm Eisen, co-editor of the Playbook, joins The Current. Show notes and transcript:  https://www.brookings.edu/articles/what-might-us-rural-policy-look-like-in-the-trump-administration/ Follow The Current and all Brookings podcasts on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. Send feedback email to podcasts@brookings.edu.

    17 min
See All (116)

About

The Current brings you smart, timely, and quick analysis from Brookings experts on breaking news and changing policies. In under ten minutes, learn not only what happened, but why, and how to make sense of it.

Information

  • Creator
    The Brookings Institution
  • Years Active
    2017 - 2025
  • Episodes
    116
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © The Brookings Institution
  • Show Website
    The Current

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