Slate News

In a world where everyone is carrying smartphones and setting up Ring cameras, you could be forgiven for thinking the war is over and the surveillance state won. But Flock cameras being denounced in town halls and smashed on the street have become a place for people to channel their heretofore unseen rage.  Guest: Joseph Cox , reporter for 404 Media Want more What Next TBD? Subscribe to Slate...

This week, Emily Bazelon, David Plotz, and guest host Juliette Kayyem discuss the security calculations behind Trump’s plane switch operation; the White House’s attempts to circumvent Supreme Court rulings in its continued obsession with ‘birth tourism’; and whether ‘burritogate’ reveals the extent of today’s economic anxiety or that young Americans simply aren’t learning to cook anymore.  Fo...

Why Donald Trump’s proudly announced executive order on childhood vaccines is a move in the wrong direction—and towards a less healthy, more measle-y America. Guest: Julie Rovner , chief Washington correspondent, host of the KFF Health News weekly health policy news podcast, “ What the Health? ” Want more What Next? Subscribe to Slate Plus to access ad-free listening to the whole What Next family...

Donald Trump’s success with Gen Z men was one of the many surprises in 2024, but as the second administration has gone on, that support has been plummeting. What would it take for Democrats to win the Zoomers?   Guest: Adam Mockler, host of The Adam Mockler Show podcast and YouTube channel . Want more What Next? Subscribe to Slate Plus to access ad-free listening to the whole What Next f...

Any jobs report, by necessity, is going to be vague and subject to revision, but the latest from the Bureau of Labor Statistics paints a pretty clear picture: America hasn’t added as many jobs as hoped or expected this summer, and the labor market is looking rough. Guest: Justin Wolfers , professor of public policy and economics at the University of Michigan and “deputy platypus” at Platypus Econo...

Credible accusations of sexual assault, eventually, led to Graham Platner leaving the Maine Senate race. But Ohio Representative Max Miller is responding to his own allegations with a different tact: the Trump method of ignoring, denying, and staying in. Guest: Jill Filipovic , journalist, lawyer, and author of The H-Spot: The Feminist Pursuit of Happiness and OK Boomer, Let’s Talk: How My Generat...

This week: On the heels of his recent story on the glut of art that baby boomers are leaving to younger generations, Felix Salmon talks with Elizabeth Spiers and Emily Peck about why boomers like to collect things—from fine art to Pez dispensers—and why younger generations aren’t necessarily following suit. Then, the hosts look at why Scott Bessent decided to prop up the Japanese yen and what make...

In the final episode—for now—of our series on reclaiming constitutional power for every American, Dahlia Lithwick and Mark Joseph Stern urge you to consider the many ways you can make constitutional meaning in your life, your community, and your profession. Joining us to imagine what that has looked like historically and what it might look like tomorrow is New York Times columnist Jamelle Bouie, o...

The wins, the losses, the wins-that-are-so-close-are-they-REALLY-wins, and more from the primary elections this week, that left us asking, “Can we just get the midterms over with now?” Guest: Jim Newell , Slate senior politics writer. This episode is member-exclusive. Listen to it now by subscribing to Slate Plus. By joining, not only will you unlock exclusive episodes of What Next —you’ll also ac...

Investments in—and among—artificial intelligence companies have pushed the S&P 500 to record highs. It’s also introduced a volatility to the markets that may be unprecedented. Is this growing pains or the wobble before the fall?  Guest: Ed Elson , co-host of the Prof G Markets and First Time Founders podcasts. Want more What Next TBD? Subscribe to Slate Plus to access ad-free listening to...

This week, Emily Bazelon, John Dickerson, and David Plotz discuss what Abdul El-Sayed's Michigan primary win signals about the future of the Democratic Party, Todd Blanche's march toward confirmation as attorney general and how opposition to AI data centers swiftly became a bipartisan political fight. Listener chatter from Francis Creighton in Bethesda, Maryland: UK Parliament: Chiltern Hundreds a...

If you feel compelled to comment on a famous woman’s body, a good rule of thumb to remember is “don’t.” But to avoid feeling complicit or like we’re normalizing something we know to be harmful, there are discussions to be had—amongst ourselves at least. Is that any better? Guest: Scaachi Koul , Slate senior writer  Want more What Next? Subscribe to Slate Plus to access ad-free listening to th...

Laura Loomer may not have an official position in the White House (or anywhere?) but she nevertheless does have the president’s ear—and newfound affinity for Ukraine and its war against Russia. Guest: Ken Bensinger , media and politics reporter for the New York Times. Want more What Next? Subscribe to Slate Plus to access ad-free listening to the whole What Next family and across all your favorite...

More Democrats than ever are suspicious of big money in politics and against unconditional American military support for Israel. The prominent lobbying group AIPAC sits right where these issues intersect, and it has become a bogeyman in primary races across the country this year. Guest: Peter Beinart, editor-at-large for Jewish Currents , author of the Beinart Notebook Substack .  Want more W...

In this Money Talks: Felix Salmon sits down with Lee Buchheit for an in-depth chat on sovereign debt at a live event hosted by The Library of Mistakes .  Join Slate Plus to unlock weekly bonus episodes. Plus, you’ll access ad-free listening across all your favorite Slate podcasts. You can subscribe directly from the Slate Money show page on Apple Podcasts and Spotify . Or, visit slate.com/mon...

Roiling like a wine-dark sea since the casting was announced, controversies surrounding Christopher Nolan’s “The Odyssey” didn’t stop with the film’s release. But what turned a summer blockbuster into an IMAX-sized lightning rod?  Guest: Sam Adams , Slate writer and senior editor covering culture.  Want more What Next? Subscribe to Slate Plus to access ad-free listening to the whole What...

Long before the Supreme Court handed down the landmark Obergefell ruling on equal marriage in 2015, activists were canvassing door-to-door, courting any lawmaker who would listen, and losing at the local level—a lot. Their scrappy determination helped convince family members, neighbors and eventually the rest of the country that the Constitution's guarantees of liberty and equality applied to same...

This week: Situational Awareness—an A.I.-forward hedge fund led by a former wunderkind and OpenAI employee—was tanking fast until a rival fund stepped in. Felix Salmon , Elizabeth Spiers , and Emily Peck explain the series of events that led to Citadel swooping in to buy the bulk of assets held by 25-year-old Leopold Aschenbrenner’s investment firm. Then, it’s time to talk about the “crack spread”...

As part of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Senator Cory Booker had questions for Todd Blanche—and made space for Jeffrey Epstein survivors.  Guest: Cory Booker , US Senator for New Jersey, member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Foreign Relations Committee, Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship, and Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry. This episode is member-exclusi...

The Bureau of Labor Statistics is a department for wonks, by wonks. But under the dual pressures of the changing nature of work—like the growing gig economy—and an administration that doesn’t accept bad news, should next week’s jobs report be taken with a grain of salt?  Guest: Ben Casselman , chief economics correspondent for The New York Times. Want more What Next? Subscribe to Slate Plus t...

This week, Emily Bazelon, John Dickerson, and David Plotz discuss the expanding Iran war and what it means for Trump that news of U.S. missile shortages is leaking from the inside, the blend of conspiracy theory and Rand Paul's personal umbrage that drove the show trial of a Senate hearing with Dr. Anthony Fauci, and various developments that brought medication abortion and FDA restrictions back t...

On the heels of the success of GLP-1s like Ozempic, other peptide treatments are flooding the marketplace—and advertising spaces. But even as the Trump administration’s FDA discusses approving more treatments and the businesses selling them proliferate, many peptides are sitting in a legal and medical gray area. So how real - and safe - is this peptide hype? Guest: Kate Knibbs , senior writer at W...

The US can’t leave Iran in charge of the Strait of Hormuz, but it can’t wrestle control away without committing ground troops—but it also can’t keep going on like this. So where does that leave everyone? Guest: Josh Keating , senior correspondent covering foreign affairs at Vox.  Want more What Next? Subscribe to Slate Plus to access ad-free listening to the whole What Next family and across...

In the wake of the success among members of the Democratic Socialists of America, The Atlantic’s Jonathan Chait has turned in a series of articles that call the group anti-democratic, against the Democratic Party, and unnecessary or even a hindrance to accomplishing policy goals like universal health care. On the other hand, he thinks DSA member Zohran Mamdani is doing a pretty good job as mayor s...

In the immediate aftermath of Charlie Kirk’s murder, the NFL was holding moments of silence, Ezra Klein was waxing about how he was ‘practicing politics the right way,” and criticizing Kirk online could get you fired. Now, as the trial of Tyler Robinson, Kirk’s alleged killer, begins, something has replaced that reverence.  Guest: Will Sommer , senior reporter for the Bulwark and writer of Fa...