What Next | Daily News and Analysis

Weeks after Kevin McCarthy was ousted, Republicans are still scrambling to elect a new Speaker of the House. After failed runs by Steve Scalise and Jim Jordan, the candidate pool keeps growing. Who is in the running now, and will anyone be able to snag the 217 votes needed?  Guest: Joseph Zeballos-Roig , Congress reporter at Semafor. If you enjoy this show, please consider signing up for Slate Plu...

Before the new abortion clinic even opened in Casper, Wyoming, it was set ablaze. But to the clinic’s founder, property damage and violence aren’t new.  Guest: Julie Burkhart , founder of Wellspring Health Access If you enjoy this show, please consider signing up for Slate Plus. Slate Plus members get benefits like zero ads on any Slate podcast, bonus episodes of shows like Slow Burn and Dear Prud...

Since Microsoft announced its bid to buy Activision Blizzard last year, regulators around the world sounded the alarm that the merger would suppress competition in the industry.  Now that the deal has officially gone through, should gamers be worried?  Guest: Jason Schreier , covering the video game industry for Bloomberg If you enjoy this show, please consider signing up for Slate Plus. Slate Plu...

Since war broke out, Hamas has been efficient in getting its message out on social media - both in providing crucial information to refugees fleeing the area, and in waging psychological warfare. How can platforms meet the need for open lines of communication without spreading propaganda?  Guest: Sheera Frenkel , covering tech for the New York Times If you enjoy this show, please consider signing...

With bombs falling in Gaza, President Biden traveled to Israel to make a show of support. But as meetings with allied government leadership around the region were canceled, is the president doing more harm than good? Guest: Yousef Munayyer , Palestinian-American political analyst and writer and Senior Fellow at the Arab Center Washington DC. If you enjoy this show, please consider signing up for S...

New Jersey Senator Robert Menendez, who was the chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, was charged with conspiring to act as a foreign agent for the Egyptian government. This follows on the heels of an indictment for bribery and federal corruption. But Menendez says he isn’t stepping down. Guest: Jessica Taylor , Senate-and-governors editor at The Cook Political Report.  If you enjoy thi...

Donald Trump has been saying shocking—even violent—things for so long, it barely registers as news anymore. But after January 6, and with Trump again leading the field of Republican candidates for president, is there a real-world danger to what he’s saying? Guest: Robert A. Pape , professor of political science and the director of the University of Chicago’s project on security and threats If you...

While mounting a military response to Hamas, the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been forced to unite his far-right wing with his political rival, centrist Benny Gantz, a former military Chief of Staff. The plans for retaliation that are emerging are unlike any of Israel’s past skirmishes with Hamas. Guest: Dov Waxman , director of the UCLA Y&S Nazarian Center for Israel Studies...

Zelle has exploded in popularity as a fast, convenient way to send and receive money. But the story of a couple who was scammed out of a pool shows there are problems with safety on the platform.  Guest: Devin Friedman, journalist and senior correspondent for GQ magazine. You can read Devin’s piece here. If you enjoy this show, please consider signing up for Slate Plus. Slate Plus members get bene...

When the Arab Spring was unfolding, Twitter was hailed as a way for on-the-ground reporting to reach the public. But when fighting between Hamas and Israel broke out over the weekend, X became flooded with misinformation. Guest: Casey Newton , founder and editor of the technology newsletter Platformer. If you enjoy this show, please consider signing up for Slate Plus. Slate Plus members get benefi...

After their first plan to forgive billions of dollars of student debt was thwarted by the Supreme Court, the Biden administration is quietly searching for other ways to help borrowers.  Guest: Jeremy Bauer-Wolf , senior higher education reporter for Higher Ed Dive. If you enjoy this show, please consider signing up for Slate Plus. Slate Plus members get benefits like zero ads on any Slate podcast,...

President Biden’s administration announced plans to resume construction of a wall on the southern border, contradicting a contrast then-candidate Joe Biden drew between himself and his opponent in 2020,  Guest: Muzaffar Chishti , senior fellow at the Migration Policy Institute at NYU’s School of Law If you enjoy this show, please consider signing up for Slate Plus. Slate Plus members get benefits...

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is vowing a complete blockade of Gaza after Hamas militants killed more than 700 Israelis this weekend. The surprise attack caught Israeli intelligence completely off-guard, and has thrown the region into disarray, on the eve of landmark talks between Israel and Saudi Arabia.  What’s the next stage of this already-volatile conflict? And what’s next for ci...

While the What Next team enjoys today's holiday, we are proud to present this episode on viral misinformation in 1955 from our colleagues at Slate's One Year. What Next will be back tomorrow. When Alaskans wanted their own mental-health facility, a rumor took hold all over America. This week, Evan Chung traces the origins of that far-right conspiracy theory: that the government was building a conc...

Hank Asher was a lot of things: a Florida condo maven, a drug runner, a DEA informant—and a tech visionary who created the mixed blessing of turning everyone’s online activity into an unshakable shadow profile. Guest:  McKenzie Funk , reporter for Pro Publica and the author of The Hank Show If you enjoy this show, please consider signing up for Slate Plus. Slate Plus members get benefits like zero...

As the trial begins, SBF is making the case that what he did is typical in the world of crypto. But when the government paints a much bleaker picture of FTX—one riddled with fraud and deception—what does that say about the industry?  Guest:  Nitish Pahwa , associate business and tech writer at Slate . If you enjoy this show, please consider signing up for Slate Plus. Slate Plus members get benefit...

For once, Donald Trump is going to court for things that have nothing to do with his presidency. As Trump defends himself and his businesses against charges of fraud, what does his conduct in New York tell us about how his other trials may go? Guest: Zach Schonfeld , courts and legal reporter for The Hill. If you enjoy this show, please consider signing up for Slate Plus. Slate Plus members get be...

After an arduous series of votes to get the job, it only took one vote to remove Kevin McCarthy from his position as Speaker of the House of Representatives. Guest: Todd Zwillich , deputy Washington bureau chief, VICE News  If you enjoy this show, please consider signing up for Slate Plus. Slate Plus members get benefits like zero ads on any Slate podcast, bonus episodes of shows like Slow Burn an...

California Democrats were already jockeying to run for Dianne Feinstein’s Senate seat next year and Governor Gavin Newsom sidestepped the contenders by announcing he would appoint Laphonza Butler to the seat.  While Newsom made good on his vow to appoint a Black woman to the Senate, does Butler’s job offer come with a poison pill? Guest: Alex Sammon, Slate politics writer . If you enjoy this show,...

One case on the Supreme Court’s docket could upend federal regulatory bodies’ ability to regulate at all.  Guest: Jay Willis , editor-in-chief of Balls & Strikes If you enjoy this show, please consider signing up for Slate Plus. Slate Plus members get benefits like zero ads on any Slate podcast, bonus episodes of shows like Slow Burn and Dear Prudence—and you’ll be supporting the work we do he...

The trial of Sam Bankman-Fried marks the end of an era where crypto rose to dizzying, Super-Bowl-commercial heights. Where does the industry go from here?  Guest: Zeke Faux, investigative reporter for Bloomberg and author of Number Go Up: Inside Crypto’s Wild Rise and Staggering Fall .  If you enjoy this show, please consider signing up for Slate Plus. Slate Plus members get benefits like zero ads...

After years of being a rare spot of universal, American-government-funded health care, this fall’s new COVID-19 vaccine is hitting the commercial market for the first time. So far, the rollout has been mired by hiccups and confusion.  Guest: Jen Kates , senior vice president at KFF If you enjoy this show, please consider signing up for Slate Plus. Slate Plus members get benefits like zero ads on a...

Amazon evolved from a place to get cheap used books to the “everything store”—one encompassing warehouses, logistics and shipping.  But with the FTC now run by Lina Khan—who wrote the essay ‘Amazon’s Antitrust Paradox” while at Yale Law School—a new contender for “antitrust trial of the century” has begun.  Guest: Leah Nylen , antitrust reporter for Bloomberg If you enjoy this show, please conside...

Why is everyone—on the left and the right—suddenly touting the benefits of a married two-parent family? And what is it about this institution that appeals to a certain class of politicians and pundits as means to address American poverty, even as it loses popularity? We consider the public meltdown over lower marriage rates and the renewed interest in ending no-fault divorce.  Guest: Rebecca Trais...

Everybody loves pandas—and China knows it. As we say goodbye to the National Zoo’s pandas, we look back at 50 years of “panda diplomacy” and consider its uncertain future. Guest: E. Elena Songster, author of Panda Nation: The Construction and Conservation of China’s Modern Icon and professor of environmental history of modern China at St. Mary’s College of California. If you enjoy this show, pleas...