Historian and journalist Rick Perlstein has been called the “chronicler extraordinaire of American conservatism.” His new book "Reaganland" is the latest in a series exploring how conservative politics came to dominate America. The author speaks with Walter Isaacson about how this sequence of events led to the current political climate in America.

America’s top athletes are united in an unprecedented display of solidarity and protest. From women’s and men’s basketball to major league soccer and baseball games, professional players across the United States have walked out over the police shooting of Jacob Blake in Kenosha, Wisconsin. ESPN Columnist Howard Bryant joins the program to weigh in on this moment in history.

A damning bipartisan Senate Intelligence report detailing Russia’s interference in the 2016 presidential election passed virtually unnoticed when released 10 days ago. Moreover, Russia is believed to be interfering in the current election campaign. Former U.S. National Security Advisor Susan Rice joins Walter Isaacson to discuss this and the shooting of Jacob Blake.

The political fallout of the situation in Kenosha, Wisconsin was on display in Vice President Pence’s speech, which emphasized law and order above all else. Is this the party’s rallying cry for November? To discuss, Christiane speaks with Ohio’s former secretary of state and Trump campaign advisor Ken Blackwell.

The Republican Party sees a path to electoral college victory through the suburbs, and it is once again targeting the narrow coalition of voters who pushed President Trump over the top in 2016. It’s a group that is whiter, older, and more evangelical than much of America. The strategy appears to offer short-term advantages but will not prove sustainable, according to author Robert P. Jones.

To discuss the racial and political ramifications of events in Wisconsin, President Obama’s former Secretary of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson joins the program.

Scientists say there's no doubt that recent extreme weather is driven by climate change. Yet the RNC will have nothing to say about it. Environmentalist and Republican Benji Backer grew up knocking on doors for John McCain and Mitt Romney. In college, he created the American Conservation Coalition to engage young conservatives on climate change and push the GOP to take action.

Mia Love broke through the glass ceiling in 2015 when she became America's first Black Republican Congresswoman. The daughter of Haitian immigrants and a Mormon convert, Love represented Utah’s fourth district until she lost her seat in 2019. A proud conservative, Love spoke at the 2012 RNC. Whether she supports President Trump today is not an easy question to answer, as she tells Michel Martin.

Alcohol is back on sale in South Africa, after previously being banned by South African President Ramaphosa to stave off domestic abuse. Josina Machel was blinded in one eye in a brutal attack by her partner five years ago. The incident led her to set up the Kuhluka Movement to empower women. She joins the program to tell her story and the discuss how the pandemic fuels domestic violence.

The effects of coronavirus on the human body are still unclear. Michael Reagan was fit and healthy before contracting COVID-19 in March. Since then he has been admitted repeatedly to New York’s Mount Sinai Hospital with serious, recurring symptoms. He speaks with Hari Sreenivasan about his experience, alongside the doctor running Mount Sinai’s Center for Post-COVID Care.

The Republican National Convention is underway. President Trump has doubled down on his unsubstantiated claim that mail-in voting is riddled with fraud. Yet in the crucial battleground state of Florida, he’s actively encouraging the practice and is making use of it himself. To discuss the latest, Christiane speaks with former Florida governor and current GOP Senator Rick Scott.

After President Trump's inauguration in 2017, one of his first guests to Mar-a-Lago was Chinese President Xi Jinping. But after three years of trade wars, tariffs, and a coronavirus war-of-words, a new U.S. intelligence report states that Beijing would prefer Trump lose the 2020 election because he is “unpredictable.” To discuss this, Christiane speaks with experts from the U.S. and China.

Beth Fukumoto served three terms in the Hawaii House of Representatives, but the GOP forced her resignation after she publicly denounced President Trump's policies and rhetoric. She's now a Democrat and openly acknowledges what she calls her "political failings." She tells Michel Martin what led to her resignation.

Afua Hirsch is a prominent British writer, and in her book "Brit-ish," she laid out the consequences of Britain's ongoing denial of its imperial past. In her latest BBC series, "African Renaissance," she turns her gaze to Africa's art, history, and liberation culture. She joins the program to discuss the toxic legacy of racism.

One of President Trump's top campaign promises is tackling coronavirus. On Sunday, the President announced emergency authorizations of Convalescent Plasma Therapy as a potential treatment. Dr. Paul Offit is the Director of the Vaccine Education Center at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. He joins Christiane to explain the science behind the treatment.

As he accepted the GOP nomination, the President once again challenged the validity of mail-in ballots and of the upcoming election in general. The Republican National Committee has chosen not to draft a party platform this election cycle and instead to "enthusiastically support the President's America-First agenda." What can the U.S. expect from four more years of Trump? Scott Jennings discusses.

The world first knew Chanel Miller as Emily Doe, when her anonymous victim impact statement about suffering a brutal sexual assault went viral in 2016. She joins Christiane to discuss healing and her latest project: a 75-foot-long mural called "I Was, I Am, I Will Be" at San Francisco's Asian Art Museum.

How does this year's DNC fit in with the history of party conventions past? Doris Kearns Goodwin is perhaps the nation's best known presidential historian. For decades she has studied the highest office in the land -- and at one time viewed it from up close, as a young aide to Lyndon Baines Johnson. She recently wrote the book "Leadership in Turbulent Times" and she joins Christiane from Boston.

Political conventions are the stage upon which Presidential candidates need to employ one skill above all others: the art of persuasion. Jonah Berger, Professor at the Wharton School of Business, is an expert on such matters. His latest book, "The Catalyst: How to Change Anyone's Mind," argues that removing barriers is the key to changing the way people think. He speaks with Hari Sreenivasan.

The Democratic National Conventionmade history this week when Kamala Harris officially accepted the nomination to be Joe Biden’s running mate -- making her the first Black woman and the first Asian American on a major party ticket. One who helped pave the way for this moment is Carol Moseley Braun, the first Black woman to become a U.S. senator. She joins the show to discuss the significance.