The White House Power Struggle, Festival Previews, The Drama of History

Coming up on today’s show:

• On Thursday, the Trump Administration dropped the largest non-nuclear bomb in the American arsenal on an Islamic State cave complex in Afghanistan. The unprecedented move came on the heels of an airstrike in Syria, which killed 18 coalition allies. Paul McLeary, Foreign Policy’s senior reporter covering the U.S. Defense Department and national security issues, has the details. 

• There appears to be a power struggle within the Trump Administration. Takeaway Washington Correspondent Todd Zwillich explores the expanding role of Jared Kushner, President Trump’s son-in-law, and how his influence is shaping the president’s relationship with Stephen Bannon.

• Beginning next week, Arkansas plans to execute seven inmates on death row over the course of 11 days before the state’s lethal injection drugs expire. Critics are calling the process cruel and unusual punishment, and are fighting to stay the executions. Tom Meagher, deputy managing editor at The Marshall Project and the website The Next to Die, which tracks scheduled executions across the country, explains what you need to know. 

• Rafer Guzman, film critic for Newsday and The Takeaway, reviews this week’s big new movie releases, including the action sequel “The Fate of the Furious,” the science-fiction comedy “Colossal,” and the British drama “Their Finest.”

• Melissa Locker, culture reporter for TIME, The Guardian, and The Takeaway, gives a festival season preview right before she heads out to Coachella. Headliners at this year’s festival includes Radiohead, Lady Gaga, and Kendrick Lamar.

• At the end of March, reports began surfacing from human rights workers and a Russian opposition newspaper that hundreds of gay men were being arrested, beaten, and disappeared by authorities in Chechnya. The nation’s leader, Ramzan Kadyrov, has refused to comment on the allegations, despite a multitude of reports. Tanya Lokshina, director of the Russia program for Human Rights Watch, has the details. 

• “Oslo,” a new play by J.T. Rogers, opened this week on Broadway. It tells the behind-the-scenes story of the back channel negotiations that led to the Oslo Accords. The Takeaway hears from Rogers, and Bartlett Sher, director of the play, and Mona Juul, Norwegian Ambassador to the U.K.