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Characteristic of this administration’s over-the-top but never-thought-out immigration enforcement, Trump traded more than 250 Venezuelans who had been deported to El Salvador’s notorious CECOT prison for 10 Americans who were being held prisoner in Venezuela—including a man convicted of a triple homicide.  Guest:  Jonathan Blitzer, staff writer at the New Yorker and author of Everyone Who Is Gone...

In this special episode of Slate Money Travels,  Felix Salmon ,  Emily Peck  and  Elizabeth Spiers  discuss what extras are really worth paying for when you travel. Airlines, especially want to nickel and dime for every little thing. But is the extra leg room worth it? What about getting off the plane sooner? Can you put a price on not waiting in line?    Want to hear that discussion and hear more...

The scam du jour arrives via a text message, offering you a job. What happens when you accept? Guest: Alex Sammon , Slate features writer.  Want more What Next TBD? Subscribe to Slate Plus to access ad-free listening to the whole What Next family and all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe today on Apple Podcasts by clicking “Try Free” at the top of our show page. Sign up now at slate.com/what...

The scam du jour arrives via a text message, offering you a job. What happens when you accept? Guest: Alex Sammon , Slate features writer.  Want more What Next TBD? Subscribe to Slate Plus to access ad-free listening to the whole What Next family and all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe today on Apple Podcasts by clicking “Try Free” at the top of our show page. Sign up now at slate.com/what...

Law firms, universities, and businesses are bending the knee to the Trump administration at the slightest threat. Amid this shocking cowardice, blue states have been a bastion of defiance against the president’s escalating power grabs—with attorneys general leading the way. Mark Joseph Stern talks with New Jersey Attorney General Matthew Platkin, who has been on the frontlines of this battle since...

Political Gabfest host Emily Bazelon talks with Jonathan Mahler about his new book, The Gods of New York. They discuss the unraveling of Mayor Ed Koch’s New York City; how the city’s current mayoral race is mirroring the past; and more.   Tweet us your questions @SlateGabfest or email us at gabfest@slate.com. (Messages could be quoted by name unless the writer stipulates otherwise.)   Podcast prod...

This week: Trump continues to involve himself in the operations of large US companies. Felix Salmon , Elizabeth Spiers , and Emily Peck discuss this slide toward state capitalism, which seemingly goes against the GOP’s usual stance on government involvement in business. Then, so called “ wrench attacks " are on the rise wherein wealthy crypto holders are being targeted with real life violence for...

A patron and perhaps foremost practitioner of “anti-woke comedy,” Tony Hinchcliffe sits atop his own thriving comedy kingdom in Austin. And when you’re on top, you’ve got nowhere to punch but down. Guest: Luke Winkie , staff writer at Slate , author of “ The Cult of Kill Tony ” This episode is member-exclusive. Listen to it now by subscribing to Slate Plus. By joining, not only will you unlock exc...

Jensen Huang, cofounder of NVIDIA, finds himself president of a $4 trillion company, at the forefront of A.I. technology, and, consequently, something of an international diplomat, as he charms President Trump and negotiates to sell his powerful chips to China.  Guest: Amrith Ramkumar , reporter for The Wall Street Journal in Washington covering tech and crypto policy. Want more What Next TBD? Sub...

This week, Emily Bazelon, John Dickerson, and guest host Jamelle Bouie discuss the perils of this week’s Trump-plus-Putin (minus Zelensky) summit in Alaska, how Trump’s claimed crime “emergency” provided pretext for National Guard deployment and takeover of D.C. police, and a new presidential memorandum requiring colleges to share admissions data to “verify” that they are not considering race.  Fo...

On Sunday, Al-Jazeera’s entire team in Gaza City were killed by an airstrike. Almost immediately, Israel said it targeted one of them on purpose – Anas al-Sharif. The strike fits a pattern, growing both in Israel and across the world, of targeting journalists—and holding no one accountable afterwards. Guest: Jodie Ginsberg , head of the Committee to Protect Journalists, a nonprofit organization pr...

Jimmy Carter sent his daughter to its public schools; pictures of Obama still grace businesses’ walls; and now Trump has taken an interest in Washington, D.C…by deploying the National Guard, reassigning FBI agents, vowing to evict the city’s homeless population. Guest: Jenny Gathright , reporter at the Washington Post covering the D.C. region. Want more What Next? Subscribe to Slate Plus to access...

After using a Trump-stand-in during his first administration, South Park has come back from hiatus as vulgar and confrontational as ever, with its aiming firmly fixed on MAGA. Contrary to government sources, the show’s enjoying a renewed cultural relevance in its 27th season. Guest:  David Mack , contributing writer to Slate. Want more What Next? Subscribe to Slate Plus to access ad-free listening...

From the Statue of Liberty to the Golden Gate Bridge, and places in between like Yellowstone and the site of the Battle of Gettysburg, the National Park Service has been a point of American pride since its inception. And with a small budget and actually generating revenue, even fiscal hawks had no reason to complain.  So why is the Trump administration cutting their budget?  Guests: Jon B. Jarvis...

In this special episode of Slate Money Travels,  Felix Salmon ,  Emily Peck  and  Elizabeth Spiers  discuss whether traveling can really “broaden your mind.” They dig into the distinction between ‘traveling’ and actually living somewhere; why you need to do more than tick places to see off a list to really have an experience; and how you can travel within the US and still have a mind-bending exper...

It’s hard to make money in the music industry. But if you could flood every streamer with hundreds of “original” songs without having to, you know, write or produce it yourself, there’s money there—and less for everyone else.  Guests:  Chris Molanphy , host of Slate’s Hit Parade podcast . Kate Knibbs , senior writer at Wired Want more What Next TBD? Subscribe to Slate Plus to access ad-free listen...

This week: Planet Money’s Mary Childs wrote about why we should all care about the growing national debt right now. Felix Salmon , Elizabeth Spiers , and Emily Peck are joined by Mary to help them understand why the arguments we’ve heard before about why we don’t need to worry about the national debt are falling short. Then, they discuss the statistical crisis that was exacerbated by Trump firing...

The official history of America’s founding is often told as a whites-only story, a heroic tale of wealthy white men forging a new nation—with no mention of the people they excluded, displaced, or oppressed. But who gets left out of the story that “originalists” like to tell about the law? This week Mark Joseph Stern talks with Maggie Blackhawk, professor at NYU School of Law, and Gregory Ablavsky,...

In January, Mark Zuckerberg announced that Meta was moving from employing professional fact-checkers to letting its users fact-check each other. If you’ve heard that it’s going perfectly, then you, too, have been exposed to misinformation. Guest: Geoffrey Fowler, tech columnist with the Washington Post Want more What Next TBD? Subscribe to Slate Plus to access ad-free listening to the whole What N...

This week, Emily Bazelon, David Plotz, and guest host Juliette Kayyem discuss the future integrity of US economic data after Trump fired the head of the Bureau of Labor Statistics, what the mid-decade redistricting arms race portends for the future of US representative government, and the phenomenon of “Trump’s Rasputin,” Laura Loomer. Here are this week’s chatters: Emily: Jake Jones for BBC Sport...

Donald Trump’s never been all that committed to the truth. But experts are warning that by firing the head of the Bureau of Labor Statistics and appointing loyalists across the judiciary, he’s taken his war on facts to another level. How long can he attempt to remake reality before the truth—someday, eventually, but inevitably—hits back? Guest: David A Graham , staff writer at the Atlantic. Want m...

More than a thousand rabbis and Jewish leaders have signed a letter calling for Israel to end “the use and threat of starvation as a weapon of war.” This New York rabbi, who has felt a connection to Israel her whole life, explains why she signed.  Guest:  Sarah Reines , rabbi at Temple Emanu-El in Manhattan. Want more What Next? Subscribe to Slate Plus to access ad-free listening to the whole What...

How Texas redrawing its election maps could set off a gerrymandering arms race across the country—a race the Republicans are likely to win.  Guest:  Ari Berman is a voting rights correspondent at Mother Jones.  Want more What Next? Subscribe to Slate Plus to access ad-free listening to the whole What Next family and across all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe today on Apple Podcasts by clic...

In this Money Talks: Slate ’s own Cheyna Roth joins Emily Peck to break down how HBO’s Sex and the City revival And Just Like That… has taken the fantasy of being fabulous in New York City into a whole new tax bracket. They’ll discuss the curious dimensions of the kitchen in Carrie’s Manhattan mansion among other real estate mysteries within the show, examine why it’s so annoying to watch incredib...

Belief in democracy was, until quite recently, taken for granted in America. But what if democracy is less a static noun, and more of a dynamic ideal we (could be) working towards? Guest:   Osita Nwanevu, contributing editor at The New Republic, columnist at The Guardian, author of “ The Right of the People: Democracy and the Case for a New American Founding .” Want more What Next? Subscribe to Sl...