Slate News

This week, DOGE set its sights  and scythe on the Department of Health and Human Services, with a goal of cutting 10,000 federal workers, once again raising the question: what’s their endgame here? Guest: Makena Kelly , senior writer for WIRED 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 t...

This week, Emily Bazelon, John Dickerson, and David Plotz discuss liberal judge Susan Crawford’s sweeping victory in the Wisconsin Supreme Court race; Trump’s new, nearly universal massive tariffs; and the dangerously casual standards the government is using to deport alleged gang members despite acknowledged mistakes. Here are this week’s chatters: Emily: Stephanie Nolen for the New York Times:...

Trump campaigned on deporting dangerous criminals, but in his administration’s haste to deliver on that promise, men with no criminal records or who are in the United States legally have been taken to a prison in El Salvador, which even the administration admits was a mistake. Guests: Jonathan Blitzer, staff writer at the New Yorker , author of Everyone Who Is Gone Is Here: The United States, Cent...

On Wednesday, the Supreme Court is hearing oral arguments in Medina v. Planned Parenthood South Atlantic, a case that will determine whether South Carolina can cut Medicaid funding to Planned Parenthood. But with clear legal precedent stating that they can’t, how did this case even end up before the Supreme Court? And, given how far the court has gone to accommodate the MAGA agenda, is the outcome...

As video of federal agents stopping Tufts student Rumeysa Ozturk on the street and taking her away to be detained circulated on social media, people kept asking, “how could this happen here?” The answer involves organizations that claim to help the federal government identify and find activists, and victims whose rights to free speech and due process can be swiftly suspended. Guest: Aymann Ismail,...

In this Money Talks: Amidst the Trump administration’s continued attacks on the press, David Enrich ’s new book, Murder the Truth: Fear, the First Amendment, and a Secret Campaign to Protect the Powerful , feels incredibly timely. He joins Elizabeth Spiers to discuss his reporting on increasing efforts to exploit the legal system to protect the rich and powerful from being held accountable, creati...

How an election to the Wisconsin Supreme Court has become a referendum on Elon Musk—and the most expensive state supreme court race ever. Guest: John Nichols , associate editor at The Capital Times in Wisconsin, contributor on electoral politics and public policy for The Nation, and author of multiple books on media and politics. Want more What Next? Join Slate Plus to unlock full, ad-free access...

Ketamine has gone from a recreational psychedelic to an approved treatment, and it has caught on in Silicon Valley in a big way. Are the long-term effects of using ketamine—recreationally or therapeutically—sufficiently known? Are we witnessing them right now? Guest: Shayla Love , staff writer for the Atlantic. Want more What Next TBD? Subscribe to Slate Plus to access ad-free listening to the who...

Ketamine has gone from a recreational psychedelic to an approved treatment, and it has caught on in Silicon Valley in a big way. Are the long-term effects of using ketamine—recreationally or therapeutically—sufficiently known? Are we witnessing them right now? Guest: Shayla Love , staff writer for the Atlantic. Want more What Next TBD? Subscribe to Slate Plus to access ad-free listening to the who...

The Trumpian inversion of reality was threaded into so many areas of the law and active litigation this week. Slate senior writer Mark Joseph Stern joins Dahlia Lithwick to discuss the apparent evaporation of judicial patience for Trump lawyers simultaneously claiming that a signal chat was not classified or subject to record preservation rules, AND the flights to El Salvador that were  filmed for...

This week: A leaked Signal message revealed illegal use of the commercial app by the Defense Department. Felix Salmon , Emily Peck , and Elizabeth Spiers explain how this is a common issue in finance, where employees often defy SEC regulations on secure communication in favor of more convenient ways of communicating. Then, a recent study shows that people are leaving states with anti-abortion laws...

Memecoins are a niche type of cryptocurrency with no intrinsic value. But they remain a popular form of crypto, as seen earlier this year with President Trump’s own memecoin. And if it worked for him, then why not our little podcast?  Guests:  Azeem Khan , advisor to UNICEF’s crypto fund and cocreator of the blockchain Morph. Nitish Pahwa , Slate staff writer covering business and tech. Want more...

This week, Emily Bazelon, John Dickerson, and David Plotz discuss the hilarious-if-it-wasn’t-so-terrifying accidental sending of secret attack plans from Trump administration officials to a journalist; the chilling capitulation of big law firms to Trump’s onslaught; and similar aggressive efforts to intimidate higher education in the United States.  For this week’s Slate Plus bonus episode, Emily...

How former congressman and Air Force veteran, Adam Kinzinger interprets the leaked Signal chat of top Trump administration officials discussing a military strike on Houthi targets.  Guest: Adam Kinzinger , former Republican Congressman for Illinois’s 11th and 16th districts who served on the January 6th select committee, and author of Renegade: Defending Democracy and Liberty in Our Divided Countr...

Trump’s attempted elimination of the Department of Education has left more than 40 million Americans with student loans wondering how their repayment plans will be affected—and future college students wondering what options will exist when it’s time to go to school.  Guest: Danielle Douglas-Gabriel, higher education reporter at the Washington Post . Want more What Next? Join Slate Plus to unlock f...

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Bernie Sanders are holding packed rallies on their “Fighting Oligarchy” tour. The energy is there, but what is the message and how could it translate to a win for the down-and-out Democratic Party? Guest: David Weigel, national political reporter at Semafor . Want more What Next? Join Slate Plus to unlock full, ad-free access to What Next and all your  other favorite S...

The Trump administration is using federal money—and the withholding thereof—as a way to bring universities like Columbia and Penn to heel. But institutes of higher education have not yet begun to fight, and when they do, they’ve got strong legal arguments against incursions on their academic freedom. Guest: Lee Bollinger, president emeritus, Columbia University Want more What Next? Join Slate Plus...

During his first term, President Trump and Jeff Bezos openly sparred with each other. During this second administration, though, it seems like Bezos is trying to endear himself - and his companies - to the White House. So what changed? Guest: Dana Mattioli, reporter for the Wall Street Journal and the author of The Everything War: Amazon’s Ruthless Quest to Own the World and Remake Corporate Power...

If you’re overwhelmed by the sheer volume of lawless acts, constitutional crises (we count five), and huge Trump administration losses in court this week - honestly, same. But if anyone can render this swirling storm of lawsuits and orders and injunctions legible, and put them in terms that can help make sense of this moment, it’s Dahlia Lithwick. On this week’s show, Dahlia is first joined by Qui...

This week: DOGE is taking its chainsaw to the Social Security Administration. Felix Salmon , Emily Peck , and Elizabeth Spiers examine the real reasons behind the Elon Musk led crusade against the SSA. And then, DOGE used extreme tactics against the US Institute of Peace including a physical takeover of the building by force. Meanwhile, the founder of Pirate’s Booty tried a similar tactic to try t...

The National Institutes of Health is the primary engine of biomedical research around the world, which makes the Trump administration's dramatic cuts to its grant program both confusing and potentially incredibly harmful. Guest: Katherine J. Wu, staff writer for the Atlantic . Want more What Next TBD? Subscribe to Slate Plus to access ad-free listening to the whole What Next family and all your fa...

This week, John Dickerson and David Plotz are joined by Ruth Marcus to discuss the showdown over mass deportation and the government’s defiant response to court orders; a deep data dive by Ezra Klein and David Shor about why Trump won the 2024 election; and this week’s so-called “negotiation” call between Trump and Putin. Listener chatter from Kevin in Portland, Oregon: Orb (Netflix) For this week...

The economy that Donald Trump inherited from Joe Biden had low unemployment, slowing inflation, and a growing GDP. So what is he trying to achieve by imposing heavy tariffs on our allies and trading partners?  Guest: Stephanie Ruhle , NBC business analyst and the host of MSNBC's The 11th Hour with Stephanie Ruhle. Want more What Next? Join Slate Plus to unlock full, ad-free access to What Next and...

Mass deportations were a big part of Donald Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign and now in office, he’s making good on the wide-sweeping aspects of his policy, though the numbers aren’t yet massive. Most recently, he’s justified these actions through the 1798 Alien Enemies Act which only applies during wartime. When a judge attempted to halt the deportations to evaluate this use of the rarely-utili...

In this urgent extra episode of Amicus,  host Dahlia Lithwick and Slate's senior writer Mark Joseph Stern discuss the unfolding constitutional crisis triggered by the Trump administration's defiance of a court order to halt flights carrying Venezuelan migrants to be delivered to El Salvador’s so-called Terrorism Confinement Center - a vast foreign prison  that could  be described as a labor camp. ...