Slate Daily Feed

The worst part about the election being tomorrow is knowing that we (almost definitely) won’t know the results tomorrow. Guests: Ari Berman, voting rights reporter for Mother Jones Kadia Goba, political reporter for Semafor Isaac Saul, founder of the Tangle newsletter Want more What Next? Subscribe to Slate Plus to access ad-free listening to the whole What Next family and across all your favorite...

Voters in swing states are being subjected to constant political messages—on billboards, commercials and, increasingly, via text messages. But are dozens of “make a plan to vote” texts you’re receiving going to make a difference? Guest: Jacob Neiheisel, political science professor at the University at Buffalo  Want more What Next TBD? Subscribe to Slate Plus to access ad-free listening to the whol...

This week’s show is unapologetically long, deep, and hopeful. Dahlia Lithwick is joined by Yale history professor Timothy Snyder to talk about his new book, On Freedom , and to have the audacity to re-imagine freedom on the precipice of an election that could turn the United States hard right into tyranny. Next, Dahlia is joined by Rick Hasen, Director of the Safeguarding Democracy Project at UCLA...

This week: Readers aren’t buying Jeff Bezos’ claim that killing the Washington Posts’ presidential endorsement wasn’t from his own business interests. Emily Peck , Elizabeth Spiers , and Anna Szymanski weigh in on how the move may or may not help Bezos and what the WaPo boycott can actually accomplish. Also: How would a Trump victory affect the economy? Badly, economists say. Finally: Facebook lai...

Candice Lim is joined by Pop Culture Debate Club host Ronald Young Jr. to reveal their favorite fictional presidents of film, television, and the internet. Twitter, Tumblr, and Facebook were historically platforms rife with presidential meme content. Since the 2016 election, however, there seems to have been a shift in the way the internet talks — or doesn’t talk — about the commander-in-chief. On...

How did Elon Musk go from a poster to someone pumping millions of dollars towards Donald Trump? And what’s he hoping to get for doing so? Guest: Max Chafkin , Bloomberg Businessweek columnist.   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...

This week, Emily Bazelon, John Dickerson, and David Plotz discuss the final week of the presidential campaign; the threats to election integrity; and the consequences of not endorsing. Join us on December 4 for Political Gabfest Live in Brooklyn!  Tickets are on sale now . And send us your Conundrums at  slate.com/conundrum . Email your chatters, questions, and comments to  gabfest@slate.com . (Me...

On this episode: Lucy, Zak and Elizabeth answer a listener's question about something that happened last Halloween… when an older gentleman might’ve taken a photo of her young kid. We’ll talk about whether it’s as creepy as it sounds — and also, why Elizabeth is over Halloween.  We’ll also circle up for a round of triumphs and fails — including an update on Lucy’s mama.  Join us on Facebook and em...

They believe they are the law. They believe the 2020 election was stolen from Donald Trump. They’re determined not to let it happen again. Meet the constitutional sheriffs. Guest: David Gilbert , reports on disinformation, online extremism and election hucksters for WIRED . Want more What Next? Subscribe to Slate Plus to access ad-free listening to the whole What Next family and across all your fa...

(While we work on the next season of Slow Burn we're showcasing new episodes from Slate's narrative podcast Decoder Ring.) Oscar-winner Warren Beatty first secured the rights to the comic book character Dick Tracy in the lead up to his 1990 movie adaptation. Decades later, Beatty kept playing Tracy in bizarre late-night specials airing on cable TV, that confounded nearly everyone. Why is one of th...

Candice Lim and Slate culture writer Nadira Goffe dissect the drama surrounding country singer Zach Bryan and his breakup with Barstool Sports personality Brianna “Chickenfry” LaPaglia. On October 22, Bryan announced via Instagram Story that he had split from LaPaglia, which did not surprise certain corners of Reddit who had been discussing alleged Raya profiles and recent ominous podcast comments...

On September 14th 2024, thousands of people joined the Gender Liberation March in Washington D.C. to join the call to protect reproductive health, bodily autonomy, and comprehensive healthcare access. In this episode, Jules Gill-Peterson sits down with lead organizers Raquel Willis and Eliel Cruz to talk about the march and movement building during an election year. Raquel and Eliel share into the...

It’s gone to Trump once and Biden once. Now, there’s a slight but very real chance that the entire election will turn based on how Nebraska’s second congressional district—with its singular electoral college vote—goes. Guest: Paul Kane , congressional reporter at the Washington Post. Want more What Next? Subscribe to Slate Plus to access ad-free listening to the whole What Next family and across a...

On this week’s show, Slate senior editor Rebecca Onion sits in for Julia Turner. First, the hosts examine Dahomey , an audacious new documentary by acclaimed filmmaker Mati Diop ( Atlantics .)‌ With a one hour, eight minute run time, Dahomey is an incredibly rich text in a very small package, and contemplates the repatriation of 26 royal treasures plundered from the Kingdom of Dahomey as they jour...

This week, author and podcaster Kendra Adachi explains how she took perfectionism and strict time-management way too far and was forced to radically change her ways. Her new book is called The Plan: Manage Your Time Like a Lazy Genius , and it aims to be what most time-management books aren’t: flexible, kind, and applicable to people with busy schedules and loved ones to care for.  To learn more a...

The hardest-to-reach portion of the electorate remains “undecided” at this point of the election cycle, but the outcome depends on which campaign can convince them to join their side. Guest: Michael Podhorzer , Senior Fellow at the Center for American Progress (CAP) and author of the substack Weekend Reading . We want to hear from you! Submit your answers to our What Next listener survey at  slate...

In this Money Talks: the man who would bet billions on a coin toss. Host Felix Salmon chats with Lionel Barber, whose new book Gambling Man: The Secret Story of the World’s Greatest Disruptor, Masayoshi Son reveals how the man who backed Alibaba became the world’s biggest maverick investor, throwing fortunes at enterprises that could either succeed spectacularly or go down in flames. Podcast produ...

Hosts Alex Kirshner , Lindsay Gibbs , and Ben Lindbergh examine the notable silence from major sports stars on this year’s presidential election. They also discuss Michael Jordan's legal battle against NASCAR, plus the first week of the NBA regular season. In the Bonus episode exclusively for Slate Plus subscribers, the panel reflects on the life and legacy of Fernando Valenzuela and his impact on...

We’re always getting questions about puberty. And even if we’re not dealing with a question explicitly about puberty, it seems like this topic always finds a way to come up anyway… like in last Thursday’s episode, for example. And puberty is always in the news – just this year, the NIH published research about precocious puberty caused by chemicals in personal care products . And Harvard researche...

In a presidential race as tight as this one, a few thousand votes—in the right states—could be the difference. Is the Green Party candidate Jill Stein set up to be that difference, like so many Democrats believe she was in 2016? Guest: Matt Flegenheimer, correspondent for the New York Times specializing in long-form profiles of political figures. We want to hear from you! Submit your answers to ou...

He didn’t find his grandfather. But traveling to, photographing, and uploading his grandfather’s memorial stone gave him something else.  Guest: Tony Tran, senior tech editor at Slate and author of the feature “ My Weekends with the Dead. ” 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 toda...

It’s easy to dismiss nativist rhetoric as mere Trumpy “locker room talk.” But when it comes to immigration, deportation and even detention, rhetoric about foreigners and violent invaders is actually a legal long game. Toward the end of the summer of 2023, Katherine Yon Ebright, counsel in the Brennan Center’s Liberty and National Security Program, noticed that rightwing anti immigration groups and...

This week: How do you buy an election? Throw a sweepstakes! Emily Peck , Elizabeth Spiers , and Rueters’ Anna Szymanski (filling in for Felix Salmon) discuss Elon Musk’s scheme to get potential Trump voters to the ballot box and the maneuverings of the campaign finance industrial complex. Next, they discuss a French gambler whose massive bet on the election may affect Trump’s real-world odds. Fina...

Candice Lim is joined by Meghan Keane, the founder of NPR’s Life Kit and the author of Party of One: Be Your Own Best Life Partner . We’re approaching “cuffing season,” a viral term that demarcates those colder months when everyone in your life suspiciously couples up. While it’s bred a whole economy of cozy, staying in vlogs and soft (or hard) launches, what happens to those who choose not to cuf...

U2 have millions of admirers—and haters: from the fans who regard them as rock’s conscience, to the cynics who blanch at lead singer Bono’s self-importance. Here’s the thing: U2 want to play to both crowds. They know why the haters can’t stand them. After a decade of earnestness in the ’80s, Bono, The Edge, Adam Clayton and Larry Mullen called BS on themselves, rebooting their sound and image for...