Terry Gross

Politico reporter Dan Diamond says infighting at the Department of Health and Human Services and the need to flatter Trump impeded the response to the coronavirus.

RuPaul is the most successful drag queen of all time. His reality competition series for drag queens, RuPaul's Drag Race, is now in its 12th season. He'll talk about how he began his career, broke thru to wider audiences, and how he uses drag to challenge preconceived notions of gender and identity.

James McBride is best known for his memoir, The Color of Water, about being the son of an African American father and a white mother. His new novel, Deacon King Kong, takes place in 1969, in a Brooklyn housing project, similar to the one he grew up in., and involves the wide consequences of a shooting.