What Next | Daily News and Analysis

A recent advertisement for crypto.com, featuring Matt Damon, was met with widespread mockery online. But Damon’s ad is only the most visible example of a much broader—and more insidious—trend of celebrity cryptocurrency endorsements. Is the partnership between crypto and Hollywood really dangerous? And what separates the trend from run-of-the-mill salesmanship? Guests: Jacob Silverman , staff writ...

President Biden, unlike his predecessor, was able to spend some time planning his COVID-19 response. One year in, is the plan working? Guest: Dan Diamond , national health reporter for the Washington Post.  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—a...

The Supreme Court heard two challenges to the Biden administration’s COVID-19 vaccination mandates this month. It blocked one mandate and upheld another, giving some observers whiplash.  How did the court come to such different rulings on similar workplace mandates, and what do the rulings say about how the court views the federal government as a whole? Guest: Mark Joseph Stern , staff writer cove...

Conservative talk radio host Dan Bongino sits atop a media ecosystem that is fueling the fervor behind Trump and his big lie.  Guest: Evan Osnos is staff writer at The New Yorker and a fellow at the Brookings Institute. He’s also the author of Wildland: The Making of America’s Fury . If you enjoy this show, please consider signing up for Slate Plus. Slate Plus members get benefits like zero ads on...

Today on What Next TBD: What is going on with little kids' vaccines? Why don’t they seem to be a priority for the government or the pharmaceutical companies, while parents are stressed to a breaking point? We discuss with Meg Tirrell, health and science correspondent for CNBC, and co-host of the Readout Loud podcast. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Today on What Next TBD: What is going on with little kids' vaccines? Why don’t they seem to be a priority for the government or the pharmaceutical companies, while parents are stressed to a breaking point? We discuss with Meg Tirrell, health and science correspondent for CNBC, and co-host of the Readout Loud podcast. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

For the past year, Democrats have been touting the importance of passing two huge federal voting protections bills. If those plans can’t pass, should the party tackle straight-up election subversion?  Guest: Rick Hasen, professor of law and political science at the University of California–Irvine School of Law and author of Election Meltdown: Dirty Tricks, Distrust, and the Threat to American Demo...

Back in March, Texas Governor Greg Abbott sent a couple hundred members of the Texas National Guard to the U.S.-Mexico border to counteract what he called President Biden’s “open border policies.” Almost a year later, around 10,000 troops are stationed there at Abbott’s command. Many guardsmen have had to upend their lives for a mission that seems to have little purpose.  Guest: Davis Winkie , sta...

Chicago Public Schools canceled classes for three consecutive days this year, following a vote by the teachers union to defy in-person teaching orders amid a rise in COVID-19 cases. The union wants additional safety measures in place as teachers and students return to school. Meanwhile, Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot said the union’s actions are “illegal,” and the public schools system said the refu...

J.D. Vance became a sought-after cultural translator when he published Hillbilly Elegy. Now, he’s a rhetorical bomb-thrower running for the Republican nomination for Senate in Ohio. But underneath Vance’s transformation is a relatively consistent appreciation for a new strain of conservatism still in the process of defining itself. Could Vance’s candidacy advance this intellectual movement on the...

Elizabeth Holmes was found guilty of defrauding investors this week in federal court. The former CEO, wunderkind, and blood mogul has been the subject of intense legal interest and public fascination ever since her company, Theranos, was beset by scandal in 2015. Today on What Next: TBD we follow-up with Rebecca Jarvis, host of “The Dropout” podcast and ABC News Chief Business, Technology & Ec...

Back in March of 2020, a scientist working at MIT developed a rapid test for the novel coronavirus. It wasn’t quite as accurate as a PCR, but would have gone a long way in detecting infectious cases during the emerging pandemic. But her test was never approved—and today, the U.S. is still behind other developed countries in our mass testing scheme. Guest: Lydia Depillis , reporter for ProPublica....

It's easy to look at the latest pandemic-related disruptions and assume we're careening into another full-blown COVID crisis. But in many ways, we’re getting better at combating this coronavirus.  Guest: Dan Diamond , national health reporter for the Washington Post.  If you enjoy this show, please consider signing up for Slate Plus. Slate Plus members get benefits like zero ads on any Slate podca...

Months before the attack on the Capitol, Bart Gellman predicted that the 2020 election would usher in a make-or-break year for American democracy. He was correct. Now, he’s trying to sound the alarm again. This time he says American democratic institutions and systems are being broken before our eyes, and the people in power aren’t doing enough to stop it. Guest: Barton Gellman , staff writer at T...

The Justice Department’s criminal investigation into the January 6th insurrection is unprecedented. More than 700 rioters face charges, and federal prosecutors are still adding names to the pile. As cases work their way through the courts, judges are sparring over the proper approach to sentencing rioters. How do you hold an individual responsible for a collective event?  Guest: Zoe Tillman , seni...

This episode originally aired in July 2021 Last week, the U.S. government released a new report that attempts to categorize 144 verified sightings of unidentified aerial phenomena, or U.A.P. They could only definitively explain one of them.  The new report signals a shift in the way we think about U.A.P. As technology has advanced and evidence of these encounters have increased, the question has b...

This episode originally aired in July 2021 Last week, the U.S. government released a new report that attempts to categorize 144 verified sightings of unidentified aerial phenomena, or U.A.P. They could only definitively explain one of them.  The new report signals a shift in the way we think about U.A.P. As technology has advanced and evidence of these encounters have increased, the question has b...

We’re re-running some of our favorite episodes from the past year. This episode originally aired in August 2021. Last week, the northern California mountain town of Greenville was wiped out by the Dixie Fire, which lasted for two months and is now the second largest wildfire in California history. As Greenville residents assess the damage to their homes and businesses, is it safe to rebuild? Is it...

We’re re-running some of our favorite episodes from the past year. This episode originally aired in June 2021. The Las Vegas Raiders’ defensive end, Carl Nassib, came out in an Instagram post back in June, making him the first openly gay active player in NFL histroy. The league immediately posted in celebration of Nassib’s announcement. But given the NFL’s sorry history of standing by players on t...

We’re re-running some of our favorite episodes from the past year. This episode originally aired in October 2021. Colin Powell, known as a “trailblazer” and “pathbreaker” in his military career, leaves behind a complicated legacy. The four-star general became a household name during the first Gulf War as the first Black chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and later the first Black secretary of s...

We’re re-running some of our favorite episodes from the past year. This episode originally aired in September 2021. Who are the people seeking a religious exemption to the Biden administration’s vaccine mandate? What are their religious claims? And how do workplaces decide who has a real claim to belief versus a convenient letter from a pastor-for-hire?  Guest:  Ruth Graham , reporter for The New...

This episode originally aired in September. In the U.S., the PCR test is the gold standard for COVID testing. Common knowledge would have it that the test is more accurate—and therefore more effective at containing the spread of the disease—than the rapid antigen test.  What if that isn’t quite true?  Guest: Michael Mina , assistant professor of epidemiology at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Publ...

This episode originally aired in September. In the U.S., the PCR test is the gold standard for COVID testing. Common knowledge would have it that the test is more accurate—and therefore more effective at containing the spread of the disease—than the rapid antigen test.  What if that isn’t quite true?  Guest: Michael Mina , assistant professor of epidemiology at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Publ...

We’re re-running some of our favorite episodes from the past year. This episode originally aired in July 2021. Brittany Hogan worked in diversity and inclusion for the Rockwood School District for eight years. As public debate intensified over the way race is discussed in schools and threats were made against her, Hogan eventually was pushed to resign. Guest: Brittany Hogan , former director of ed...

We’re re-running some of our favorite episodes from the past year. This episode originally aired in May 2021. A year after the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis, residents near the intersection of 38th Street and Chicago Avenue—now dubbed George Floyd Square—continue to keep the area closed off. The city wants to reopen the intersection, but activists say they aren’t giving in until the commun...