“Nobody’s gonna know. They’re gonna know.” If you’ve been on TikTok in the past year, you’re most likely familiar with these two sentences, first drolly uttered in a post by TikTok creator Chris Gleason in 2020. The post has become a hit and has been viewed more than 14 million times. But the sound is more famous than the video. When uploading a video to TikTok, the creator has the option to make that video’s audio a “sound” that other users can easily use in their own videos — lip-syncing to it...
Sep 18, 2022•29 min
It’s March 2013. The G.O.P., in tatters, issues a scathing report blaming its electoral failures on an out-of-touch leadership that ignores minorities at its own peril. Just three years later, Donald Trump proves his party dead wrong. Today, how certain assumptions took hold of both parties — and what they’re still getting wrong — heading into the midterm elections. Unlock full access to New York Times podcasts and explore everything from politics to pop culture. Subscribe today at nytimes.com/p...
Sep 17, 2022•41 min
The adoption of electric cars has been hailed as an important step in curbing the use of fossil fuels and fighting climate change. There is a snag, however: such vehicles require around six times as many metals as their gasoline-powered counterparts. A giant storehouse of the necessary resources sits at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean. But retrieving them may, in turn, badly damage the environment. Guest: Eric Lipton , an investigative reporter for The New York Times. Background reading: Mining ...
Sep 16, 2022•34 min
With the midterm elections a few weeks away, Senator Lindsey Graham, Republican of South Carolina, forwarded a plan to save his party from the growing backlash over abortion. But the proposal — a federal ban on almost all terminations after 15 weeks — has served mostly to expose the division among Republicans about the issue. Guest: Lisa Lerer , a national political correspondent for The New York Times. Background reading: Mr. Graham’s effort has reignited debate on an issue that Republicans hav...
Sep 15, 2022•22 min
When President Biden canceled college debt last month, he left untouched the problem that created that debt: the soaring price of college. In the 1980s, the list price of undergraduate education at a private four-year institution could hit $20,000 a year. At some of these schools in the last couple of years, it has topped $80,000. Why has a college education become increasingly costly, and why has that become such a difficult problem to solve? Guest: Ron Lieber , a personal finance columnist for...
Sep 14, 2022•27 min
Over the weekend, Ukraine’s military stunned the world. After months of a kind of stalemate, its military took hundreds of miles of territory back from Russia — its biggest victory since the start of the war. How did the war reach this critical point, and what does Ukraine’s success mean for the future? Guest: Eric Schmitt , a correspondent covering national security for The New York Times. Background reading: A lightning Ukrainian offensive in the country’s northeast has reshaped what had becom...
Sep 13, 2022•22 min
The U.S. Open crowned its winners this weekend. But for a lot of fans, this year’s competition was less about who won, and more about a player who wasn’t even involved in the final matches. Serena Williams, who announced last month that she’d be retiring from tennis after this year’s tournament, has made an indelible impact on her sport and left a legacy away from the court that has very little precedent. Guest: Wesley Morris , a critic at large for The New York Times and co-host of Times podcas...
Sep 12, 2022•43 min
The Claremont Institute, a right-wing think tank in California, has in recent years become increasingly influential in Republican circles. In 2016, its goal was to turn Donald J. Trump into a legitimate candidate — and then it did . The journalist Elisabeth Zerofsky traces the origins of the divisive organization, explaining how it made the intellectual case for Trumpism but also how, with ties to Ron DeSantis and John Eastman, the think tank has become a home for “counterrevolutionary” politics...
Sep 11, 2022•59 min
The death of Queen Elizabeth II on Thursday brought to an end a remarkable reign that spanned seven decades, 15 prime ministers and 14 American presidents. During her time on the throne, which saw the crumbling of the British Empire and the buffeting of the royal family by scandals, Elizabeth’s courtly and reserved manner helped to shore up the monarchy and provided an unwavering constant for her country, the Commonwealth and the wider world. Guest: Alan Cowell, a contributor to The New York Tim...
Sep 09, 2022•33 min
As California watches the impact of rising temperatures devastate its environment with brutal heat waves and raging fires, the state is taking increasingly far-reaching steps to combat climate change. One of those measures — banning the sale of new gasoline-powered cars by 2035 — could prove a turning point for the transition to electric vehicles. Guest: Neal E. Boudette , an automotive correspondent for The New York Times. Background reading: Not only is California the largest auto market in th...
Sep 08, 2022•34 min
A counteroffensive by Ukrainian forces to try to drive Russian troops out of southern Ukraine has placed the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, the biggest in Europe, directly in the path of the fighting. As the world scrambles to prevent a catastrophe, the plant’s workers find themselves in a dangerously precarious position. Guest: Marc Santora , an international news editor for The New York Times, currently based in Kyiv. Background reading: Renewed shelling has put the Zaporizhzhia plant at ri...
Sep 07, 2022•23 min
In November, Americans will head to the polls for the first nationwide election since the Capitol riot on Jan. 6, 2021. But what happens this fall won’t just be about who wins and who loses. On the first episode of "The Run-Up,” host Astead Herndon lays out the stakes of the midterm elections and explores the big questions the podcast is looking to answer. “ The Run-Up ” is a new politics podcast from The New York Times. You can follow it wherever you get your podcasts, including on Apple , Spot...
Sep 06, 2022•14 min
Today marks the unofficial start of the campaign for the midterm elections. This year’s midterms will be the first major referendum on the Biden era of government — and a test of how much voters want to reinstall the Trump wing of the Republican Party. On today’s episode, Astead W. Herndon, a political reporter and the host of our new podcast, “ The Run-Up ,” offers a guide to the campaign. He’ll explore the forces at play in this election and how we arrived at such a fraught moment in American ...
Sep 06, 2022•43 min
An influx of Fentanyl, a highly lethal synthetic narcotic, has aggravated the opioid crisis in the United States and prompted communities to scramble for ways to lower the skyrocketing rates of overdose deaths. In Vancouver, a Canadian city that has been at the forefront of innovative approaches to drug use, a novel and surprising tactic is being tried: It’s called “safer supply.” Guest: Stephanie Nolen , a global health reporter for The New York Times. Background reading: The mounting toll of o...
Sep 02, 2022•34 min
Few leaders have had as profound an effect on their time as Mikhail S. Gorbachev, the last leader of the Soviet Union, who died this week at 91. It was not Mr. Gorbachev’s intention to liquidate the Soviet empire when he came to power in 1985. But after little more than six tumultuous years, he had lifted the Iron Curtain and presided over the dissolution of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, ending the Cold War. Guest: Serge Schmemann , a member of The New York Times’s editorial board. Ba...
Sep 01, 2022•42 min
This episode contains detailed descriptions of a mass shooting that some listeners may find disturbing. A trial is underway in Parkland, Fla., to determine the fate of the gunman who killed 17 people at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in 2018. The trial is expected to last for months, forcing people in Parkland to relive the pain of a day they have spent years trying to put behind them. We look back at conversations with some of the survivors of the 2018 shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas...
Aug 31, 2022•28 min
This episode contains discussions about suicide, self-harm and mental health issues. In decades past, the public health risks teenagers in the United States faced were different. They were externalized risks that were happening in the physical world. Now, a new set of risks has emerged. In 2019, 13 percent of adolescents reported having a major depressive episode, a 60 percent increase from 2007. And suicide rates, which had been stable from 2000 to 2007 among this group, leaped nearly 60 percen...
Aug 30, 2022•29 min
Since he left office, former President Donald J. Trump has been facing several investigations. They include the congressional inquiry into the Jan. 6 attack at the Capitol and the F.B.I.’s search of Mar-a-Lago, his club and Florida residence, as part of an investigation into his handling of classified material. Of all the government investigations, the one that is receiving the least attention — a case being made by a local prosecutor in Georgia — may end up being the most consequential. Guest: ...
Aug 29, 2022•29 min
Going to college can be a shock to most: Leaving the comfort of friends and family for a leap into the unknown, a fresh start. But what is the university experience like as a refugee? The journalist Maddy Crowell met some of the 148 Afghan women who have been enrolled in U.S. colleges to complete their degrees, and relates how they have adapted to American and collegiate life a year on from the fall of Kabul. It has, she finds, been far from easy. Ms. Crowell wrote that one student said “she spe...
Aug 28, 2022•52 min
President Biden’s announcement this week that he would cancel chunks of student loan debt stands to have a major impact for many of the 45 million Americans who owe $1.6 trillion for having gone to college. Who will benefit from the plan, what will the cost be to the taxpayer and the economy, and, ultimately, could the White House have done more? Guest: Stacy Cowley , a finance reporter for The New York Times. Background reading: The plan for student loan forgiveness comes after months of delibe...
Aug 26, 2022•25 min
Daria Dugina and her father, Aleksandr Dugin, have been major figures in the Russian propaganda landscape, advocating Russian imperialism and supporting the invasion of Ukraine. But a few days ago, Ms. Dugina was killed in a car bomb after leaving a nationalist festival, fueling speculation about who carried out the attack and whether Moscow’s reaction could affect the war in Ukraine. Guest: Anton Troianovski , the Moscow bureau chief for The New York Times. Background reading: The clamor over t...
Aug 25, 2022•24 min
Across industries and income brackets, a growing number of American workers are discovering that their productivity is being electronically monitored by their bosses. This technology is giving employers a means to gauge what their employees are doing and it’s already impacting how much and when people get paid. Times investigative reporters have discovered that this tracking software is more common than one might think. Guest: Jodi Kantor , an investigative reporter for The New York Times. Backg...
Aug 24, 2022•32 min
Even as the anti-abortion movement celebrates victories at the Supreme Court and in many states across the country, there is debate about where to go next. A hard-edge faction is pursuing “abortion abolition,” a move to criminalize abortion from conception, targeting not only the providers but also the women who have the procedure. Guest: Elizabeth Dias , a correspondent covering faith and politics for The New York Times. Background reading: Abortion “abolitionists” are looking to gain followers...
Aug 23, 2022•34 min
For more than 500 days, coal miners in rural Alabama have been on strike. Around 900 workers walked off the job in April 2021, and they haven’t been back since. As the strike drags on, the miners are discovering that neither political party is willing to fight for them. For Braxton Wright, 39, a second-generation coal miner and, until recently, a Republican, the experience has altered his view of American politics. Guest: Michael Corkery , a business reporter for The New York Times. Background r...
Aug 22, 2022•38 min
In the past decade, planting trees has come to represent many things: a virtuous act, a practical solution and a symbol of hope in the face of climate change. But can planting a trillion trees really save the world? Visiting the Eden Reforestation Projects in Goiás, Brazil, and interviewing numerous international scientists and activists, the journalist Zach St. George offers a vivid insight into the root of the tree-planting movement — from the Green Belt Movement of the 1970s to the Trillion T...
Aug 21, 2022•51 min
What is a black hole? Why do we remember the past but not the future? If time had a beginning, does it have an end? We don’t have the answers to some of the universe’s biggest questions. What we do know often feels bleak, such as the notion that in a billion years there will most likely be no life on Earth. Or the reality that someday the entire human race will probably be forgotten. Nonetheless, people search for answers. These are some of the cosmic questions that haunt the human experience. G...
Aug 19, 2022•25 min
Last week, the F.B.I. took the extraordinary step of searching Mar-a-Lago, former President Donald J. Trump’s private club and Florida home. Their goal? To find materials he was thought to have improperly removed from the White House, including classified documents. An inventory of the material taken from the search showed that agents seized 11 sets of documents with some type of confidential or secret marking on them. We explore some of the latest developments in the case. Guest: Maggie Haberma...
Aug 18, 2022•22 min
Across the United States, airline travel this summer has been roiled by canceled flights, overbooked planes, disappointment and desperation. Two and a half years after the pandemic began and with restrictions easing, why is flying still such an unpleasant experience? Guest: Niraj Chokshi , a business reporter for The New York Times. Background reading: The question for many travelers is whether they can trust airlines to get them where they want to go on time. Here is what to know about the air ...
Aug 17, 2022•24 min
One year ago this week, when the Taliban retook control of Afghanistan, they promised to institute a modern form of Islamic government that honored women’s rights. That promise evaporated with a sudden decision to prohibit girls from going to high school, prompting questions about which part of the Taliban is really running the country. Guest: Matthieu Aikins, a writer based in Afghanistan for The New York Times and the author of “The Naked Don’t Fear the Water: An Underground Journey with Afgha...
Aug 16, 2022•23 min
Carried interest is a loophole in the United States tax code that has stood out for its egregious unfairness and stunning longevity. Typically, the richest of the rich pay 40 percent tax on their income. The very narrow, select group that benefits from carried interest pays only 20 percent. Earlier versions of the Inflation Reduction Act targeted carried interest. But the loophole has survived. Senator Kyrsten Sinema, Democrat of Arizona, demanded her party get rid of efforts to eliminate it in ...
Aug 15, 2022•26 min
