Slate News

Is the arrest of Milwaukee County Judge Hannah Dugan the start of Trump’s open war on judges? Guest: Jeremy Fogel, retired federal judge and executive director for the Berkeley Judicial Institute. Want more What Next? Join Slate Plus to unlock full, ad-free access to What Next and all your  other favorite Slate podcasts. You can subscribe directly from the What Next show page on  Apple Podcasts  a...

What is it about the way that Elon Musk wields power that led 65 percent of Americans to agree he has too much influence on the federal government? Guest: Faiz Siddiqui , Washington Post tech reporter and author of “ Hubris Maximus: The Shattering of Elon Musk.” 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 po...

Whether it’s attempting to overturn birthright citizenship, effectively stripping citizenship from American children, or claiming Alien Enemy Act war powers under an imaginary invasion, Trump’s anti-immigrant moves are outlandishly unconstitutional. They are also being met with significant pushback from judges, even conservative ones. On this week’s Amicus, Dahlia Lithwick is joined by Slate senio...

This week: The entire Iberian peninsula lost power for 18 hours. Felix Salmon , Emily Peck , and Elizabeth Spiers are joined by energy expert John Kemp to talk about why that might have happened and nerd out on power grids. Then, the GDP is down by 0.3%. But is that really the right metric to care about? Finally, the tech world is bringing back the brutal system of stack ranking management. The ho...

What drove Marc Andreessen’s transformation into a political actor, and what is he looking for from having Washington in his thrall? Guest: Zoe Schiffer , WIRED journalist covering business and Silicon Valley. 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...

This week, Emily Bazelon, John Dickerson, and David Plotz discuss the Trump administration’s first 100 days and recent polls, the state of American health policy and underlying DOGE cuts with reporter  Dan Diamond , and a potential radical shift in American life if the Supreme Court allows a religious charter school in Oklahoma. For this week’s Slate Plus bonus episode, Emily and David interview J...

Many of the policy changes in Trump’s first 100 days have come from the White House—but now, it’s Congress’s turn. Republicans have roughly a month to pass a multi-trillion-dollar bill to advance the president’s domestic agenda. But will the bill’s combination of tax cuts and increases in spending on defense and border security render it unpassable for GOP budget hawks? Guest: Jim Newell , senior...

After Tufts student Rümeysa Öztürk was abducted off the streets of her district, Rep. Ayanna Pressley is not mincing words when it comes to the Trump administration: “These are the actions of a dictator.”  Last week, Rep. Pressley traveled to Louisiana with a Congressional delegation to visit Öztürk and Mahmoud Khalil in the ICE detention facilities where they’re being held. Now, she’s speaking ou...

At his first press conference as head of the Department of Health and Human Services, RFK Jr. gave a glimpse of what the department will look like under his leadership: a smaller overall budget, relitigating settled scientific questions.   Guest: Kiera Butler , senior editor and reporter at Mother Jones and author of Raise: What 4-H Teaches Seven Million Kids and How Its Lessons Could Change Food...

In this Money Talks: Succession may be over but the drama continues for the Roy family’s real world counterparts. Felix Salmon is joined by McKay Coppins to discuss his experience getting up close and personal with the Murdoch family and break down the dynamics behind the battle over the family empire.  Want to hear that discussion and hear more Slate Money? Join Slate Plus to unlock weekly bonus...

The Supreme Court is hearing two cases this month regarding religion in public schools that seem to contradict each other—a public school in Maryland where parents claim books with LGBTQ characters or themes are indoctrination, and a Catholic charter school in Oklahoma arguing it has the right to state funding. Can the court’s religion-friendly majority give them both what they want without fallin...

The Trump administration has already begun cutting the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which includes the U.S. National Weather Service. What’s the advantage to understanding the weather less? Guest: Daniel Swain , weather and climate scientist with the University of California Agriculture and Natural Resources. Want more What Next TBD? Subscribe to Slate Plus to access ad-free li...

As we approach President Trump’s 100th day in office (this time around) this Wednesday, Dahlia Lithwick checks in with one of the key architects of the litigation strategy that is successfully confounding the administration’s most exorbitant executive overreach. After almost 140 executive orders and scores of associated lawsuits, it’s hard to keep track of the state of play. But Skye Perryman of D...

This week: Trump has reversed his stance on Jay Powell and his extreme tariffs on China. Felix Salmon , Emily Peck , and Elizabeth Spiers discuss Trump’s backtrack on his threat to fire the Fed chair as well as his recent concession that his 145% tariffs on China aren’t sustainable. Then, the hosts weigh in on the growing trend of film and television productions moving out of California in search...

One of DOGE’s goals is to get government data out of “silos” and make it more easily shared across departments. But there are good reasons for some data to be kept apart.  Guest: Vittoria Elliot , WIRED reporter covering platforms and power. 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 tod...

This week, Emily Bazelon and David Plotz are joined by  Henry Blodget  to discuss the financial and political fallout from the President’s threats to fire Fed Chair Powell and subsequent retreat; a Supreme Court case over free exercise of religion that could have broad implications; and why Trump stands by Hegseth after Signalgate Part 2. For this week’s Slate Plus bonus episode, Emily and David a...

The Trump administration’s actions on immigration and firing the federal workforce have drawn condemnation from all sorts of unions—from building trades to graduate students. What happens when labor speaks as one? Guest: Sara Nelson , international president of the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA, AFL–CIO. Want more What Next? Join Slate Plus to unlock full, ad-free access to What Next and al...

Why Trump wants to ouster his own appointee, Jerome Powell, from the Fed chair—and why the rest of the world is rooting for Powell to stay put. Guest: Liz Hoffman , Semafor’s business and finance editor , host of Semafor’s World Economy Summit , and author of Crash Landing: The Inside Story of How the World’s Biggest Companies Survived an Economy on the Brink . Want more What Next? Join Slate Plus...

Preaching for empathy and compassion, Pope Francis was at times seen as an agent of dramatic change in the Catholic Church. Did he succeed? Is that even an answerable question before the world knows his successor? Guest: David Gibson, director of the Center on Religion and Culture at Fordham University Want more What Next? Join Slate Plus to unlock full, ad-free access to What Next and all your  o...

Some of the nation’s biggest law firms have found themselves in Trump’s crosshairs and have pledged pro-bono legal service to maintain their security clearances and access to government buildings. Others, however, are trying to fight back. Guest: Ankush Khardori, attorney and former federal prosecutor in the US Justice Department. Want more What Next? Join Slate Plus to unlock full, ad-free access...

If setting up a baby monitor in the room with your sleeping kids doesn’t allow you to pop out and enjoy the cruise ship, what are they actually good for? Guest: Stephanie Murray, writer for The Atlantic, the newsletter Family Stuff , who wrote “ You’re on Vacation. You Leave Your Kid in Your Hotel Room With a Baby Monitor. What Could Go Wrong? ” for Slate. Want more What Next TBD? Subscribe to Sla...

Ever since March 15, when three flights carrying hundreds of men who had been afforded zero due process left United States airspace and landed in El Salvador, American democracy has been hurtling toward an internal conflict that the federal judiciary would very much prefer to avoid, but just keeps getting more unavoidable. On this week’s Amicus podcast, Mark Joseph Stern is joined by Leah Litman f...

John Dickerson talks with author Maggie Smith about her new book,  Dear Writer: Pep Talks & Practical Advice for the Creative Life .  They talk about the essential elements of all creative projects, when you know a project is “done”, how to stay “porous” in the world, and more.  Tweet us your questions  @SlateGabfest  or email us at  gabfest@slate.com . (Messages could be quoted by name unless...

This week: Trump isn’t happy with Fed chair Jay Powell’s take on his tariffs. Felix Salmon , Elizabeth Spiers and guest host Cardiff Garcia discuss the economic reasoning for why Powell is resisting the president’s demands to lower rates and what would happen if Trump finds a legal way to fire him. Then, the Trump administration is both gutting the IRS and potentially weaponizing it against Harvar...

This week, the FTC and Meta began a trial to determine if—by adding Instagram and WhatsApp to its portfolio with Facebook over a decade ago—the company became a monopoly in social media. If Meta loses, it could be forced to split up, losing Instagram—and its substantial ad revenue. Guest: Paresh Dave , senior writer at WIRED. Want more What Next TBD? Subscribe to Slate Plus to access ad-free liste...