The Chuck ToddCast

With former President Trump's ongoing trial in Manhattan, last week's hearing in front of the Supreme Court on presidential immunity, plus federal cases in Florida and Washington, DC, we're getting a glimpse at the edges of how the justice system works. NBC News Senior Legal Correspondent Laura Jarrett and NBC News Supreme Court reporter Lawrence Hurley join Chuck to discuss.

Doug Sosnik, former senior adviser to President Bill Clinton, joins Chuck to explore how President Biden may have a narrower path to the presidency than former President Trump (edited)

Senior Political Editor Mark Murray joins Chuck to talk through the findings in the April 2024 NBC News poll, as former President Trump’s hush money trial begins in Manhattan.

Layne Eskridge, executive producer of "Manhunt," joins Chuck as the Apple TV+ miniseries wraps its seven-episode run on the 12-day search for the killer behind America's first presidential assassination.

Los Angeles Clippers owner and former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer joins Chuck to talk about USAFacts, his civic initiative to make government data more accessible to Americans.

Ken Block, author of "Disproven," tells Chuck how he was brought on by a lawyer with former President Trump's 2020 campaign to validate claims of widespread voter fraud in the election — and instead found far fewer fraudulent votes than were needed to impact the results in any state.

NBC News Chief International Correspondent Richard Engel talks with Chuck about the challenges facing peace in Israel, Ukraine and across the globe.

Produced in collaboration with The George Washington University, Chuck moderates a panel on the topic of sports washing, featuring Professor William Youmans, Professor Kelsey Nelson and a student and women’s soccer player named Avril Silva.

Chuck talks with Nathan Gonzales, the Editor & Publisher of Inside Elections, about the difficulty in using recent presidential elections as a guide for 2024.

In their new docuseries, "American Conspiracy: The Octopus Murders," Christian Hansen and Zachary Treitz set out to uncover the mystery behind the 1991 death of journalist Danny Casolaro while he was investigating a shadowy conspiracy. They join Chuck to detail what they've learned

"For All Mankind" co-creators and showrunners Matt Wolpert and Ben Nedivi join Chuck to talk through an alternative history where the Soviet Union beats the United States in the space race to the moon. This episode contains spoilers through Season 4 of the show. Read the For All Mankind timeline: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Timeline/ForAllMankind

Democratic pollster Cornell Belcher and Republican strategist Brad Todd join Chuck to debate the races in the election year ahead, and discuss how much we should read into early 2024 polling.

Sasha Issenberg, author of, “The Lie Detectives: In Search of a Playbook for Winning Elections in the Disinformation Age,” talks to Chuck about the wave of artificially generated video, audio and photos that are upending how candidates campaign for office.

Rep. Maxwell Frost (D-Fla.) joins Chuck for a wide-ranging interview on his proposed reforms for Congress, talks about how young voters are approaching President Biden's handling of the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, and weighs in on the plan to ban TikTok in the U.S.

Jeff Nussbaum, former Senior Speechwriter and Special Assistant to President Biden, joins Chuck to analyze his former boss's State of the Union address delivered Thursday night.

Amy Walter, editor-in-chief and publisher of the Cook Political Report joins Chuck to talk through the Super Tuesday results and look ahead to the general election.

Nick Troiano, author of “The Primary Solution: Rescuing our Democracy from the Fringes," joins Chuck to argue that partisan primaries have created "a broken system with broken incentives and bad outcomes," and abolishing them would make government more representative of its constituents and more accountable to them.

Chuck asks whether Republicans can win an election without finding a position on abortion. Plus, Katherine Mangu-Ward, editor-in-chief of Reason, talks about the Libertarian view on elections and why third-party candidates seeking ballot access like to embrace them.

Tom Schaller and Paul Waldman, authors of "White Rural Rage: The Threat to American Democracy," join Chuck to discuss how former President Trump became hailed as the "god-king of heartland, rural America" and wielded their anti-elite resentment despite his background as a billionaire businessman from Queens.

The amount of intra-party infighting might be the most revealing metric when looking ahead to any election. Plus, Mike McFaul, former ambassador to Russia, joins Chuck to talk about the death of Alexei Navalny and what it means for the future of Vladimir Putin’s regime.