Radio Atlantic

Gas prices, an unpopular Iran war, and a bizarre Alaska lawsuit about the two Dan Sullivans on the ballot collide as the midterm elections enter their final week. “Radio Atlantic” host Adam Harris is joined by the Atlantic staff writers Ashley Parker and Michael Scherer to break down the final spending blitz, early-voting hype, where Trump is trying to rally his base, and what a Democratic win cou...

Hanna Rosin interviews the comedian Maria Bamford, the subject of the new documentary “Paralyzed by Hope,” directed by Judd Apatow and Neil Berkeley. Bamford explains the relationship between her OCD and her comedy. She talks about why she doesn’t do political comedy, and why she no longer does imitations of her sister. She discusses her divorce and getting on the apps. She does all of that from a...

President Trump is striking deals again—this time with the Russian dictator Vladimir Putin. On Friday, he exempted Russia from a sanctions bill that Congress had passed and he had signed. The executive order followed a deal on importing diesel fuel from Russia the week before. Why is Trump seeming to turn on Ukraine at this moment? Is this a midterm strategy, or is something else going on? Atlanti...

Politics has seemed obsessed recently with performing masculinity. If there’s one factor that animated Donald Trump’s reelection and continues to animate the political right in general, it’s “masculinism,” a movement to fight back against the advances of feminism and reassert the primacy of men, as the Atlantic staff writer Helen Lewis wrote in her June cover story. As the midterms approach, thoug...

Who really controls America’s next era in space: NASA or two billionaire rivals? It might be some combination of the three. On this episode of Radio Atlantic, Adam Harris talks with Atlantic staff writer Josh Tyrangiel about SpaceX’s dominance in satellite launches, Blue Origin’s struggle to catch up, and why the moon is now the key battleground for Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos. - - - Get more from yo...

The Atlantic staff writer Sarah Fitzpatrick discusses her recent story, “Is There Anything Kash Patel Won’t Do for Trump Before the Midterms?” She explains what agents and other sources are telling her about how the mission of the FBI has changed, how resources have been diverted to exploration of long-debunked election-conspiracy theories, and what most worries them about this moment. The FBI has...

During this nail-biting midterm season, tight Congressional races are popping up all over the map. Most immediate, what happens in November could shift the balance of power in Washington. But if Democrats can pull off upsets in some of these tough-to-win races, the repercussions could reverberate into 2028 and beyond. “Radio Atlantic” host Adam Harris sits down with the Atlantic staff writers Russ...

The world has waited almost a decade for a new novel by Min Jin Lee. In 2017, she published the best-selling historical epic “Pachinko,” which became a National Book Award finalist and was named one of The New York Times’ 100 best books of the 21st century. Her new book, “American Hagwon,” is out this week, and at its center is a close examination of the pressure and promise of education. Lee join...

As some Republicans back away from President Trump over Iran, diesel prices, and affordability, something unusual is happening: Trump is not getting mad at them. Is this what his lame-duck status will look like, or is Trump just a savvier political actor now? And will all the electoral-map-shifting help one side over the other, or just make voters mad? The Atlantic staff writers Toluse Olorunnipa...

Less than two weeks before the October 7 attack, Egypt’s top spy flew to Israel with a warning about Gaza. In this special episode of Radio Atlantic, host Adam Harris talks to the Atlantic staff writer Vivian Salama about her reporting. - - - Get more from your favorite Atlantic voices when you subscribe. You’ll enjoy unlimited access to Pulitzer-winning journalism, from clear-eyed analysis and in...

Since he left Google in 2023, Geoffrey Hinton, a Nobel laureate commonly known as the “Godfather of AI,” pops up in the press now and again to issue dire warnings, for example, that there is a 10 to 20 percent chance that artificial intelligence could lead to the extinction of humanity. Hinton explains what exactly alarmed him about the Hugging Face incident and discusses what we can do, right now...

Chinese President Xi Jinping is coming to Washington this week amid a rapidly shifting global order. Entrenched wars, raging oil markets, and AI regulation will hang over the proceedings, as both the United States and China face economic headwinds. President Trump will also be huddling this week with world leaders at the United Nations General Assembly. “Radio Atlantic” host Adam Harris talks with...

A psychologist wanted to conduct a study showing the benefits of meditation. But the results—and some of her own unsettling experiences—turned everything she thought she knew about the practice upside down. Read Olga Khazan’s story “The Dark Side of Mindfulness.” - - - Get more from your favorite Atlantic voices when you subscribe. You’ll enjoy unlimited access to Pulitzer-winning journalism, from...

President Trump insisted last week that Canada is “dying to make a deal” on tariffs with the United States. But dealmaking hasn’t been working out well for him lately. And even though many of AI’s chief architects are warning that something needs to be done about the technology, Trump doesn’t seem concerned about making any sort of deal on that front, either.  Radio Atlantic host Adam Harris...

Despite his message at the first-ever Republican midterm convention this week, President Trump’s brand is weak. His approval rating is hanging at about 35 percent, and even die-hard MAGA Republicans are frustrated by his war with Iran, gas prices, and tariffs.  There’s an opportunity here for Democrats. The question is whether they’ll be able to seize it. Sarah Longwell is the publisher of “T...

Long DMV lines, endless tax forms, and paperwork-heavy safety-net programs aren’t just annoyances—they’re “time taxes,” the administrative burdens that waste people’s time and can keep eligible families from getting help. On this episode of “Radio Atlantic,” Atlantic staff writer Annie Lowrey tells host Adam Harris that these burdens are often harsher for people with less social status and have lo...

The breakout crime drama “Furious,” which had its series finale this week, centers around a female serial killer who is exacting revenge on the men who abused her. We talk with the Atlantic staff writer Sophie Gilbert about what the show reveals about society in the post-MeToo era, and with the show’s creator, Liz Meriwether, about what it means to humanize a psychopath.  - - - Get more from...

Midterm elections are almost always referendums on the policies of the party in power; President Trump is hoping that Republicans steer into the skid. Last week, my colleagues reported that the president—dogged by the war in Iran, the trade war with Canada, and an economy that has Americans dipping into their savings for groceries and daily expenses—hopes that Republicans seeking to win reelection...

Bill Gates has generally been an AI optimist. Three years ago, he wrote that AI had downsides, but the risks were “manageable.” This week, Gates wrote a new memo, headlined: “The Turbulent AI Era Is Here. The Choices We Make Now Are Critical.”  He joins the show to raise the alarm about the dangers he sees in artificial intelligence—economic upheaval, social unrest, cyberattacks, bioterrorism...

This back-to-school season, higher education finds itself at a crossroads. Amid rising costs, pressures from the Trump administration over admissions and ideological diversity, and AI, a debate is raging about what college is actually for.  Radio Atlantic host Adam Harris speaks with Jack Stripling of The Chronicle of Higher Education about new challenges that colleges and universities are fa...

What does it take to win Jeopardy?  Drew Goins—an Atlantic staff writer, a Jeopardy champion, and the creator of The Atlantic’s new trivia game, Rabbithole—shares his secrets on winning at Jeopardy and cultivating a very particular brand of curiosity. - - - Get more from your favorite Atlantic voices when you subscribe. You’ll enjoy unlimited access to Pulitzer-winning journalism, from clear-...

In 2013, Julia Curlee became the first CIA officer to transition openly and keep serving the agency. She felt more effective at her job living as the person she always believed she was—and years ago she wrote about her experience under a pseudonym in The Atlantic. Her performance proved her effectiveness: She became the daily intelligence briefer for Vice President Pence during the first Trump adm...

Gen Z has romanticized the technology of the ’90s—or the era’s lack of it. Young long for a time when people were looking at each other instead of their phones. But could that nostalgia for a smartphone-free society actually help guide the future? That’s one of the driving questions from the latest season of How to Touch Grass, co-hosted by Julie Beck and Natalie Brennan. This week on Radio Atlant...

Radio Atlantic host Adam Harris speaks with former Republican U.S. Senator and former U.S. Ambassador Jeff Flake about his recent endorsement of Democratic Senator Jon Ossoff in the Georgia Senate race and why character in politics still matters. --- Get more from your favorite Atlantic voices when you subscribe. You’ll enjoy unlimited access to Pulitzer-winning journalism, from clear-eyed analysi...

We’ve entered the era of the great romance slump. Fewer people are moving in together and getting married, and a shrinking number of young adults say they have experience in a committed relationship—all this despite people saying that they want to find love. So why aren’t they getting it? The Atlantic’s staff writer Faith Hill explains what’s driving the romance decline and reports on life inside...