The Opinions

Despite growing concerns, the Opinion writer Jessica Grose doesn’t want you to panic about the falling birthrate. In this episode of “The Opinions,” she argues there’s a positive picture behind the decline in births and suggests there are creative solutions that could help us embrace a future below replacement rate. Thoughts? Email us at theopinions@nytimes.com. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz co...

Many undecided voters aren’t undecided; they’re just uncomfortable, Patrick Healy, the deputy Opinion editor, argues. In this episode of “The Opinions,” he says that “uncomfortable Trump voters” — people who don’t want to admit that they’re going to vote for Donald Trump — could end up costing Kamala Harris the election.   Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for informati...

Since coming down the escalator to announce his bid for president in 2015, Donald Trump has disparaged and dehumanized immigrants. In this episode of “The Opinions,” the Opinion columnist Carlos Lozada, an immigrant from Peru, reflects on what it means to not just discuss the issue but to be at the center of it. Thoughts? Email us at theopinions@nytimes.com. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz compan...

In the wake of the Dobbs decision, South Carolina banned abortion after around six weeks of pregnancy. The law does have a few exceptions, including rape and incest. Dr. Kristl Tomlin, a pediatric and adolescent gynecologist, saw what those exceptions look like in practice for young victims of rape — and she decided to leave the state. In this episode, Dr. Tomlin describes how having to involve th...

Florida’s two major hurricanes in the past month highlight how decades of deregulation and overdevelopment under Republican leadership have made the state increasingly vulnerable to climate change. After more than 30 years of living through Florida hurricanes, the writer Jeff VanderMeer believes a “managed retreat” is a necessary response to the growing frequency and intensity of storms. Thoughts?...

Melania Trump promoted her recent memoir, “Melania,” with a series of glossy and cryptic promotional videos stating the desire “to share my perspective: the truth.” But what does the self-titled memoir reveal to us about the often inscrutable former first lady? The bookish Opinion columnists Carlos Lozada and Pamela Paul discuss what they learned — and often, what they did not — from her work. Tho...

Despite concerns over the falling birthrate, especially on the right, the Times Opinion columnist David French recognizes that the push to have more families — and bigger ones — has become problematic. In this audio essay, French explains why he thinks the recent political conversation on the topic reveals “the worst form of natalism.” Thoughts? Email us at theopinions@nytimes.com. Hosted by Simpl...

This week, the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to Nihon Hidankyo, a Japanese group of atomic bombing survivors, “for its efforts to achieve a world free of nuclear weapons.” Over the summer, in an effort to bring light to this new and terrifying nuclear era , Opinion’s editor, Kathleen Kingsbury, and the writer W.J. Hennigan interviewed Japanese survivors of the U.S. atomic bombing of Hiroshima and...

Mirielle Silcoff received backlash when she wrote a guest essay for Times Opinion about paying her 12-year-old daughter $100 to read a novel. In this audio essay, Ms. Silcoff explains why she doesn’t regret her decision, and why she felt like the experience for her daughter was worth the cost. Thoughts? Email us at theopinions@nytimes.com. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz....

Donald Trump has been on a tour of the Gen Z influencer ecosystem, from Theo Von to Adin Ross. In this episode of “The Opinions,” Daniel Pfeiffer, a senior adviser to former President Barack Obama, argues that Trump is trying to win the support of young men, a once loyal Democratic constituency. Mr. Pfeiffer says Democrats ignore these voters at their peril, for the 2024 election and beyond: “Ther...

The last time Mosab Abu Toha, a poet and teacher, was in a classroom in Gaza, it was to shelter with his students and their families, all seeking refuge from Israeli airstrikes. Since then, he and his family have fled Gaza, and they temporarily reside in the United States. In this audio essay, he shares what it means when classrooms cease being places of learning and become a family’s only hope fo...

Israeli anger toward Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been building in the year since the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks. Mairav Zonszein, an Israeli-American journalist and analyst, argues that this anger does not extend to the plight of the Palestinians living in Gaza and the West Bank. More than 41,000 people have been killed in Gaza, and yet, she says, Israelis are stuck in a cycle of “apathy” and...

M. Gessen, an Opinion columnist, watched Tuesday’s vice-presidential debate with a sense of dread. In their mind, the question was not who would win the debate but, rather: How much did we lose? In this audio essay, Gessen argues that when we put Trump and his acolytes on the same platform as regular politicians and treat them equally, “that normalization degrades our political life and degrades o...

Thomas Friedman, an Opinion columnist and Middle East correspondent, is keenly aware of the many red lines that have been crossed in the growing conflict between Israel and Iran, Hezbollah and Hamas. He says, after Iran’s latest attack on Israel, anything is possible — from symbolic retaliation to the bombing of a nuclear facility. Hear why he believes that “this really is the most dangerous momen...

Eric Adams, the mayor of New York City, was indicted last week for soliciting foreign funds for his campaign and for personal use. Casey Michel, director of the Combating Kleptocracy Program at the Human Rights Foundation, argues that to prevent the further degradation of our democracy, officials need to be more aggressive about enforcing existing foreign interference laws.   Thoughts? Email us at...

Listen to Times Opinion Editor Kathleen Kingsbury make the case for Kamala Harris. Thoughts? Email us at theopinions@nytimes.com. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Jesse Wegman, a member of the Times editorial board, has argued that to make the American election process more straightforward and just, the United States should elect its president based on the outcome of the popular vote rather than the Electoral College. But in this episode of “The Opinions” he goes a step further, arguing that the Electoral College renders elections more vulnerable to legal m...

Flash floods plagued Utah and much of the Colorado Plateau this summer. Climate change has made them more frequent and more intense. In this audio essay, Terry Tempest Williams, a writer and conservationist, describes the terrible beauty of witnessing one such flood alone in her home. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of pers...

In this episode, the columnist Nicholas Kristof argues that Democrats should focus their criticism on Donald Trump instead of Trump voters.   Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Recently, Republicans have taken to accusing Kamala Harris of using fake accents while on the campaign trail. In this episode of “The Opinions,” John McWhorter, an Opinion writer and linguist, argues the vice president is simply revealing a piece of herself by slipping into “Black English,” a form of code switching that is actually quite presidential. Questions? Thoughts? Email us at theopinions@n...

David French, a Times columnist, believes that to understand MAGA, we have to understand the joy and sense of belonging that the movement bestows upon its adherents. In this episode, he explains why Donald Trump’s most outrageous statements — such as the lie that Haitian immigrants are eating pets — appeal to his followers’ “sense of gleeful transgression.”   Thoughts? Email us at theopinions@nyti...

The economist and New York Times Opinion Columnist Paul Krugman makes the case for aggressive rate cuts by the Federal Reserve and argues that now is not the time for caution. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Heat waves kill more Americans than hurricanes, tornadoes and floods combined. But despite their deadly toll, we rarely treat them with the urgency they demand. Eric Klinenberg, a sociologist, has spent the better part of his career studying the effects of heat waves. In this episode, he argues that to take heat waves more seriously, we need to start naming them like we do hurricanes — a simple, z...

With Anastasia Berg. Having children has become increasingly “coded as conservative and reactionary,” philosopher Anastasia Berg argues. She makes the case for why young liberals and progressives should take the decision back — and stop delaying it. Thoughts? Email us at theopinions@nytimes.com Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and u...

For voters whose top issue is the economy, the choice is clear, argues Binyamin Appelbaum, a member of the Times Editorial Board. Though Vice President Kamala Harris’s plans may be ill-defined, he says, Donald Trump’s plans — curbing immigration, raising tariffs and cutting taxes — would actually leave consumers worse off than they are today. Thoughts? Email us at theopinions@nytimes.com Hosted by...