This is Brian Laird's Daily Politics Podcast from WNYC Studios.

It's Tuesday, July 5th.

I'm Matt Katz from the WNYC Newsroom, filling in for Brian Lair, who is off today.

President Biden is back in the U.S.

after completing a week at the back-to-back G7 and NATO summits, where he, quote,

bashed in the praise of other leaders, according to Politico. There, he agreed on a plan to

contribute $200 billion to counter China's global infrastructure plan and push the soon-to-be-expected

NATO alliance with Finland and Sweden in an effort to stand with Ukraine. It's a stark contrast to

his popularity here at home, where Republicans are bemoaning gas prices in the economy, and

Democrats are challenging what they perceive as his weak stance on abortion and guns.

Yesterday, the president responded to the deadly shooting at a Fourth of July parade in Highland Park, Illinois, in which at least six people were killed and 31 were injured.

Let's take a listen to what he had to say in formal remarks.

You all heard what happened today.

But each day, we're reminded, there's nothing guaranteed about our democracy.

Nothing guaranteed about our way of life.

We have to fight for it, defend it, and earn it by voting.

By voting.

We'll talk a little bit more about that.

Joining me now to talk about the latest political news, including everything with President Biden, is Jonathan Lemire, host of way too early on MSNBC and Politico's White House Bureau Chief and the author of the forthcoming book, The Big Lie, Election Chaos, Political Opportunism, and the state of American politics after 2020,

which comes out later this month.

Welcome back to WNYC.

Jonathan, thanks for being here.

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