What Next | Daily News and Analysis

We survey this week’s developments: the testimony from Ambassador Bill Taylor, a stunt at the SCIF, and what the founding fathers might have thought of our reticence to impeach.  Guests: Dahlia Lithwick and Jim Newell .  Slate Plus members get bonus segments and ad-free podcast feeds. Sign up now. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Over the last week, Facebook and Mark Zuckerberg have been under fire for declining to fact-check political ads. But a former insider says this is the wrong debate to be having—and it misses a more fundamental problem: Facebook’s business model itself.   Guests: Yael Eisenstat, former head of global elections integrity operations at Facebook and Charlie Warzel, an opinion writer at the New York Ti...

Over the last week, Facebook and Mark Zuckerberg have been under fire for declining to fact-check political ads. But a former insider says this is the wrong debate to be having—and it misses a more fundamental problem: Facebook’s business model itself.   Guests: Yael Eisenstat, former head of global elections integrity operations at Facebook and Charlie Warzel, an opinion writer at the New York Ti...

Hey If Then listeners! As of now, the new Slate podcast What Next: TBD will be taking over this feed. What Next: TBD is a weekly analysis with host Lizzie O’Leary of how technology is impacting our lives, and where we’re headed. From fake news to fake meat, algorithms to augmented reality, we’ll be examining the often hidden forces shaping our world, and we’ll talk to the people who are studying t...

Syria is in the midst of a civil war, a refugee crisis, a war on terror, and a massive demographic shift. Why does Russia want a piece of it?  Guest: Deb Amos , international correspondent for NPR.  Slate Plus members get bonus segments and ad-free podcast feeds. Sign up now. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Gabriel Zucman and his co-authors have become known for releasing these charts that go megaviral. In a  new book , Zucman claims to have found that the 400 richest Americans now pay a lower tax rate than the bottom 50 percent of the country. This finding sparked outrage among the public, disagreement within the economics community, and debate among the democratic candidates for president last week...

Last Thursday, in the city of Culiacán, a massive gun battle between Mexican government forces and the Sinaloa cartel erupted in broad daylight. It was captured on cameras by residents across the city. For hours, residents took shelter as the Mexican forces detained the son of El Chapo, Ovidio Guzman Lopez, and tried to hold off the cartel. When it ended, El Chapo’s son was released. So why did th...

Guest: Alex Thompson , covers the Elizabeth Warren campaign for Politico. Podcast production by Mary Wilson, Jayson De Leon, Danielle Hewitt, and Mara Silvers. Slate Plus members get bonus segments and ad-free podcast feeds. Sign up now. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

One week ago, the White House released a letter effectively stating to House Democrats: no more witnesses, no more documents. This week, witnesses in the impeachment inquiry lined up to testify on Capitol Hill, and a cascade of revelations ensued. How much damage did they do to the president? And how will the White House counterpunch? Guest:  Jeremy Stahl , senior editor at Slate Slate Plus member...

There have been indications of discord at Fox News -- tension between the news division and the more opinion-driven shows on the network. Shepard Smith and Tucker Carlson hashed out their differences on air. And then, Smith submitted his resignation to the network. Is the impeachment inquiry changing the message coming from Fox News? Guest: Justin Peters , writer for Slate Hosted on Acast. See aca...

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When the US abandoned its Kurdish allies, it not only left the Kurds vulnerable to devastating attacks from Turkey, but it also abandoned Rojava, the Kurdish autonomous region that lies in the northeast of Syria. Right now, the Kurds are fighting to preserve what they can of this unique political arrangement, but it might already be too late. And, maybe, it was always destined to fall. Guest: Jenn...

The impeachment inquiry has crowded out all but the most urgent news about the 2020 presidential election. In doing so, it’s frozen the Democratic primary in ways that have helped Sen. Elizabeth Warren at the expense of almost every other candidate. How long will the freeze-frame last? Guest: Amy Walter , National Editor of the Cook Political Report and Friday host of WNYC’s The Takeaway. Slate Pl...

As the impeachment inquiry rolls on, it’s easy to get lost in the paperwork and characters surfacing each week. We’re here to help sort through it all and tell you what you really need to know. Today: the White House’s letter to Congress and what it says about the fight that’s only going to heat up on Capitol Hill. Guests: Dahlia Lithwick , who covers the courts and the law at Slate. And Jim Newel...

Growing up in D.C. during the civil rights era made the fight for D.C. statehood deeply personal for civil rights advocate Wade Henderson. He’s said that being unable to secure a voting representative in Congress is one of his greatest disappointments. Christina Cauterucci speaks with Henderson about the fight for statehood and why he still has hope for the movement. This episode is a part of Slat...

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The Federal Election Commission was designed to prevent the parties from going rogue with overly punitive campaign finance regulations. But what’s paralyzed FEC is something less partisan, and more principled: Democrats think the government should enforce campaign spending laws. Republicans don’t. Guest: Ellen Weintraub , Federal Election Commission Chair. Slate Plus members get bonus segments and...

The Supreme Court embarks on its new term with a solidly conservative majority and a sense of urgency when it comes to settling legal questions that keep cropping up. Will Chief Justice John Roberts continue to strike centrist compromises in the interest of preserving the court’s legitimacy? Or will the country feel the court’s rightward shift? Guest: Mark Joseph Stern, legal reporter for Slate. S...

Last week, a contentious affirmative action case came to a temporary resolution. In a lawsuit filed against Harvard by Asian American students and conservative opponents of affirmative action, a judge ruled in favor of the university’s race-conscious admissions process. The selection process, she says, helps create a diverse student body and does not discriminate against Asian American applicants....

How independent can a Trump cabinet official be? Acting DHS chief Kevin McAleenan is testing the limits. Guest: Nick Miroff , Washington Post reporter covering immigration enforcement and the Department of Homeland Security. Slate Plus members get bonus segments and ad-free podcast feeds. Sign up now. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Adam Schiff was elected to Congress as part of the blowback against House Republicans after the Clinton impeachment saga in the late 1990s. Now he’s at the forefront of another spectacular political scandal enveloping Washington. Schiff, who chairs the House Intelligence Committee, has been a leading critic of the Trump administration. But that doesn’t mean he’s losing his cool now that the impeac...

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In the late spring and early summer of 2019 there were these stories. Stories that ran in the New York Times and BuzzFeed News about Rudy Giuliani and his backchannel campaign to get Ukraine’s help securing Donald Trump’s re-election. Though not easy reads these articles are undoubtedly the first draft of what Washington can’t stop talking about now, the Ukraine Scandal. So, what made the whistleb...

A growing contingent of Amazon employees has been pushing the company to be a leader in the fight against climate change. Recently, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos promised to reduce carbon emissions and add thousands of electric trucks to the company’s fleet. Activist employees hope that’s just a beginning. Guest: Louise Matsakis, staff writer for Wired. Podcast production by Mary Wilson, Jayson De Leon, D...

In a week that saw the talks of impeachment boil over into Congressional action, a former Republican Senator says Speaker Nancy Pelosi was right to hold off on an impeachment inquiry until now. Once a reliable critic of the Trump administration, Jeff Flake joins Mary Harris to discuss a week that could change the presidency, how he’s reflecting on the Kavanaugh hearings one year later, and why the...