Slate News

Why a number of Congressional Democrats are skipping tonight’s State of the Union address—and why some are still going. Guest:  Congresswoman Veronica Escobar , representing Texas's 16th Congressional District in El Paso. 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...

Counter to claims that immigrants just need to come to America “the right way,” DHS has begun using the department that administers legal immigration to arrest, detain, and deport people—including those who are following the law. Guest: Jonathan Blitzer, staff writer at the New Yorker and author of Everyone Who Is Gone Is Here: The United States, Central America, and the Making of a Crisis . Want...

You might not think you need artificial intelligence added to your shopping experience. Store employees might not see the point either. So why is it there anyway? Guest: Mia Sato , reporter at The Verge who covers tech companies, platforms, and users. 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. Sub...

This week: Beloved NPR podcast Planet Money is now a book too! Author and Planet Money contributor Alex Mayyasi joins Felix Salmon , Elizabeth Spiers , and Emily Peck to give us a peek into the upcoming Planet Money: A Guide to the Economic Forces That Shape Your Life . Pulling from their favorite chapters of the book, the hosts get into how Argentina’s attempt to foster manufacturing mirrors Trum...

John Dickerson talks with Father James Martin about his new book, Work in Progress: Confessions of a Busboy, Dishwasher, Caddy, Usher, Factory Worker, Bank Teller, Corporate Tool, and Priest . They discuss the spiritual lessons learned through eight different jobs, Martin's controversial LGBTQ ministry that made him a target of criticism within the Catholic Church, and what the Gospels demand abou...

The Supreme Court struck down Donald Trump’s sweeping tariffs on Friday, ruling 6–3 that they vastly exceed anything federal law allows a President to do. It was a massive loss for a signature component of Trump’s economic agenda, and a coalition of liberals and conservatives on the court agreed that the statute invoked to impose these tariffs was never intended to be wielded in this fashion. The...

Tech companies proudly touting that the imminent artificial intelligence revolution are pushing the stock market to ever higher heights, even as workers wonder what their role will be in this brave new world. But outside of the big A.I. players, the rest of the market seems to be wondering the same thing. Guest: Emily Peck, co-host of Slate Money and national correspondent at Axios. Want more What...

This week, Emily Bazelon, John Dickerson, and David Plotz discuss the public figures being shamed and punished for their associations with Jeffrey Epstein while others remain unscathed, the insights and lessons revealed by a new oral history archive and interview with former President Obama, and the meaning of the Trump administration’s efforts to whitewash history. For this week’s Slate Plus bonu...

Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, formerly Prince Andrew, was arrested after a release of Epstein files revealed he had allegedly shared confidential trade reports with the financier.  Guest: Imogen West-Knights , Slate contributing 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 al...

From the hundreds of Washington Post staffers fired, to Anderson Cooper leaving 60 Minutes, to Stephen Colbert and his own network fighting in public, Trump’s return to the White House is transforming legacy media into something less antagonistic to power—but also less capable of fulfilling its own self-described mission. Guest: Oliver Darcy, journalist behind the Status substack . Want more What...

Trump’s “Board of Peace” emerged from last year’s ceasefire negotiations to govern Gaza after the war. But since then, the board has evolved into a motley group of countries that are willing to pay a billion dollars to join a body that has Donald Trump as its chairman for life. They also have mostly stopped talking about Gaza. Guest:  Gregg Carlstom , Middle East Correspondent at The Economis...

An activist and former political director for Bernie Sander’s presidential campaign shocked the field by winning a primary for a special congressional election. Now the favorite to win the solidly blue district, she’s actually excited to work with congressional moderates—and to keep pushing them. Guest: Analilia Mejía , Democratic nominee for New Jersey's 11th congressional district special electi...

In this Money Talks: Felix Salmon is joined by journalist Mariana van Zeller , who has spent years reporting on black and gray markets around the world and has a new podcast, The Hidden Third , that delves into these powerful underground economies. They’ll get into what Mariana has seen embedded with criminal operators, from the surprisingly mundane to the darker side of working outside the system...

Youth sports have grown into a $40-billion dollar per year industry, where eager parents shell out for private coaches, off-season practice, and travel leagues, in the hopes of giving their child a competitive edge.  Guest:  Anna North, senior correspondent at Vox. She writes Kids Today, a newsletter about kids. Want more What Next? Subscribe to Slate Plus to access ad-free listening to...

The Olympics are touted as a moment for the world to come together and celebrate sport and achievement and check their politics at the door—yeah right. Guest:  Justin Peters , Slate correspondent currently covering the 2026 Milano-Cortina Winter Olympics and author of The Idealist: Aaron Swartz and the Rise of Free Culture on the Internet .  Want more What Next? Subscribe to Slate Plus t...

This week: Alphabet announced a rare 100-year bond issuance.  Felix Salmon , Elizabeth Spiers , and Emily Peck , explain the calculation the tech giant is making here and how the market responded to the move. Then, an analysis from the NY Fed has concluded that most of the burden of Trump’s tariff hikes is on US households and the hosts debate the possible pros – and obvious cons – of this sn...

The machinery to enable Stephen Miller’s darkest deportation dreams is both tangible and legal. In this week’s show, Dahlia Lithwick explores the statutory and regulatory foundations of the Trump administration’s expanding network of detention camps, plus the historical background of the vast warehouse system they are using to imprison tens of thousands of migrants. First, she speaks with Linus Ch...

There was a moment, when the tech CEOs and media moguls were lining up to kiss Trump’s ring, when it looked like almost all the demographic arrows were pointing right, where it looked like Trumpism was, if not widely embraced, at least too big to be written off. After a year of Trump back in office, the culture cries out for Woke 2.0. Guest: Brian Beutler, founder of Off-Message . This episode is...

Data centers are a hot issue - tech companies say they need them, but communities don’t want to be anywhere near them. Senator Van Hollen stops by the show to share his plan to address the rising costs of energy for consumers that data centers create, as well as his thoughts on ICE and the future of the Democratic Party.  Guest: Senator Chris Van Hollen of Maryland Want more What Next TBD? Su...

This week, live from Sixth & I in Washington DC to celebrate 20 years of the Political Gabfest, Emily Bazelon, John Dickerson, and David Plotz discuss the contentious House Judiciary Committee hearing with AG Pam Bondi and the Trump administration’s violations of constitutional rights with guest Rep. Jamie Raskin , how Trump’s assaults on DC have radically transformed the city, and patriotism...

Democrats have a list of demands and reforms they want implemented before continuing to fund the Department of Homeland Security. But  DHS doesn’t really need their approval to keep going. Guest: Garrett Graff , journalist, historian, author of Doomsday Scenario . Want more What Next? Subscribe to Slate Plus to access ad-free listening to the whole What Next family and across all your favorit...

Although sexual assault and rape by rideshare drivers has been widely reported, Uber itself largely avoided legal liability until last week, when a jury decided the company had to pay $8.5 million to a woman who said she was raped by her Uber driver.  Guest:  Sarah London , co-Lead and liaison counsel in the multidistrict litigation against Uber. Want more What Next? Subscribe to Slate P...

Markiplier has been entertaining millions of fans on YouTube for over a decade. But his new movie Iron Lung - which he self-financed, directed, wrote and acted in - was a smash at the box office, not on his YouTube channel. Is it proof that he’s more than a YouTuber? Or is it proof that Hollywood is thinking about the platform and its creators all wrong?  Guest: Mark Fischbach aka Markiplier,...

Trump has called for elections to be “nationalized,” something neither the president, nor the federal government, has the authority to do. But as he’s already sent the FBI to raid Fulton County, Georgia’s election offices with director of intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, and with the midterms on their way, it’s time to ask how much damage a vindictive president could do. Guest:  Ari Berman , votin...

Scamming attempts might seem to just come out of nowhere to suddenly appear in your WhatsApp, but a special economic zone in Laos has emerged as a hotbed of cryptocurrency schemes—where victims of human trafficking are trapped and forced to attempt more crime. Guest: Andy Greenberg , senior writer for WIRED. Want more What Next TBD? Subscribe to Slate Plus to access ad-free listening to the whole...