Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s tenure as HHS Secretary has meant turmoil for the CDC: thousands of employees have either been let go, or are unclear on their employment status; leadership has been stepping down; and there was a shooting at their Atlanta building in August. The result is RFK being yelled at in the Senate, thousands of CDC employees calling for his resignation, and a country less prepared for the next pandemic. Guest: Apoorva Mandavilli, science and global health reporter at the New York...
Sep 08, 2025•25 min
An Inflation Reduction Act subsidy for electric vehicles is being shut down by the Trump administration at the end of September, and automakers are preparing for sales of EVs to slow. Can this nascent industry survive? Guest: Ryan Felton , reporter covering the automotive industry for the Wall Street Journal Want more What Next TBD? Subscribe to Slate Plus to access ad-free listening to the whole What Next family and all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe today on Apple Podcasts by clicking...
Sep 07, 2025•20 min
We’ve been told that artificial intelligence can write, code, generate images—it can do everything…except feasibly turn a profit. But investing in A.I. has nevertheless become a pillar of the U.S. economy. Where is this leading us? Guest: Ed Zitron, author of the newsletter Where’s Your Ed At and host of the podcast Better Offline . Want more What Next TBD? Subscribe to Slate Plus to access ad-free listening to the whole What Next family and all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe today on A...
Sep 05, 2025•32 min
From the gold accents going up in the White House, to his orders to bring back classical design to federal buildings, Donald Trump is a president with a very specific aesthetic sensibility—which often is a manifestation of his politics. Guest: Abdallah Fayyad , policy correspondent at Vox Want more What Next? Subscribe to Slate Plus to access ad-free listening to the whole What Next family and across all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe today on Apple Podcasts by clicking “Try Free” at th...
Sep 04, 2025•24 min
Donald Trump has been working to expand his presidential influence into places that are supposed to operate independently, like the Bureau of Labor Statistics and the Federal Reserve, and even into Congress’s constitutionally appointed “power of the purse.” As Congress returns to Washington, is this nominally co-equal branch of government willing to wrest its power back? Guest: Luke Broadwater , reporter covering the White House for The New York Times. Want more What Next? Subscribe to Slate Plu...
Sep 03, 2025•27 min
From selling hats, NFTs and cryptocurrency, to stock boosts, swaps and golf-course deals made abroad, the Trumps are taking this presidency to the bank—for what looks to be billions. You can call it distasteful, but has it tipped over into “illegal”? Guest: David Kirkpatrick , staff writer at the New Yorker. Want more What Next? Subscribe to Slate Plus to access ad-free listening to the whole What Next family and across all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe today on Apple Podcasts by click...
Sep 02, 2025•25 min
While the What Next team celebrates Labor Day, please enjoy this episode from our colleagues at ICYMI, Slate’s internet culture podcast. Mary will be back with a new episode of What Next tomorrow. On today’s episode, host Kate Lindsay is joined by Slate senior writer Scaachi Koul to talk about the return of the girlboss. Over five years after various exposes exposed their poor management and, in some cases, racism, former it-girls like The Wing’s Audrey Gelman and Outdoor Voice’s Ty Haney are ba...
Sep 01, 2025•49 min
A24 rose from “small budget indie movie studio” to “one of the most respected brands in cinema” on a reputation for treating filmmakers like auteurs. But as the studio is growing and exploring how to integrate artificial intelligence, it’s at odds with some of the very directors who helped A24 establish itself. Guest: Alex Barasch , culture editor at the New Yorker Want more What Next TBD? Subscribe to Slate Plus to access ad-free listening to the whole What Next family and all your favorite Sla...
Aug 31, 2025•23 min
California Governor Gavin Newsom, presumably as a precursor to a run for the presidency, has been getting attention for a very Trump-influenced style of, uh, fighting back against Donald Trump. Is this where American politics is headed? Does it have to be? Guest: Ben Mathis-Lilley , Slate senior writer. This episode is member-exclusive. Listen to it now by subscribing to Slate Plus. By joining, not only will you unlock exclusive episodes of What Next —you’ll also access ad-free listening across ...
Aug 29, 2025•2 min
The playlists of dozens of high-level government officials and tech executives were suddenly broadcast to the world on a website called “the Panama Playlists.” But the information wasn’t taken by sophisticated hackers infiltrating any mainframes—it was all already publicly available. Guest: Mike Isaac , New York Times Silicon Valley correspondent. Want more What Next TBD? Subscribe to Slate Plus to access ad-free listening to the whole What Next family and all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subsc...
Aug 29, 2025•24 min
Blood has a very short shelf life, even under the best of conditions—and you can picture the less-than-ideal conditions where blood is frequently needed—which is why scientists have been working on a blood alternative. The results are promising. Guest: Nicky Twilley , host of “ Gastropod ” podcast and author of Frostbite: How Refrigeration Changed Our Food, Our Planet and Ourselves . Want more What Next? Join Slate Plus to unlock full, ad-free access to What Next and all your other favorite Slat...
Aug 28, 2025•24 min
John Bolton isn’t exactly beloved by the right or the left. But sending the FBI to raid his house fits a pattern: Either tell the president what he wants to hear, or face the consequences. Guest: Shane Harris , staff writer covering national security and intelligence for The Atlantic. Want more What Next? Subscribe to Slate Plus to access ad-free listening to the whole What Next family and across all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe today on Apple Podcasts by clicking “Try Free” at the to...
Aug 27, 2025•24 min
Federal Housing Finance Agency director Bill Pulte has led investigations into Senator Adam Schiff, New York Attorney General Leititia James, and the Federal Reserve’s Lisa Cook for mortgage fraud. With a background a lot like Trump’s—and a little like Mr. Beast’s—who is Pulte? And what kind of damage could a vengeful FHFA director do? Guest: Rachel Siegel , reporter covering the economics of real estate and housing for the Washington Post. Want more What Next? Subscribe to Slate Plus to access ...
Aug 26, 2025•27 min
Katie Miller, whose husband Stephen Miller is Trump’s right-hand man, launched a new podcast to join the growing ranks of content made specifically for conservative women. But is there enough demand—in listeners and supplement sponsorship—to make the same impact that the conservative manosphere has? Guest: Emma Goldberg , business features writer at The New York Times. Want more What Next? Subscribe to Slate Plus to access ad-free listening to the whole What Next family and across all your favor...
Aug 25, 2025•27 min
President Trump has proposed cutting $2.5 billion from the National Cancer Institute, which in addition to cuts to the National Institutes of Health and research universities almost makes you wonder: whose side is he on in the fight against cancer? Guest: Angus Chen , cancer reporter for STAT news Want more What Next TBD? Subscribe to Slate Plus to access ad-free listening to the whole What Next family and all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe today on Apple Podcasts by clicking “Try Free”...
Aug 24, 2025•27 min
Two weeks ago, a gunman fired over 500 bullets at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention building in Atlanta. Between the anti-public health rhetoric coming from Robert F. Kennedy Jr. at the top, personnel cuts and firings, and now a literal shooting, many employees are reaching their breaking point. Guest: Lauren Weber , health science accountability reporter for the Washington Post. Want more What Next TBD? Subscribe to Slate Plus to access ad-free listening to the whole What Next fami...
Aug 22, 2025•21 min
Donald Trump was able to take over the Metropolitan Police Department and send in National Guard troops and federal agents to patrol the streets due to Washington D.C.’s strange, not-a-state status. One of the district’s (non-voting) Congressional representatives believes D.C. statehood could come in the backlash. Guest: Ankit Jain , U.S. Senator for Washington, D.C. since 2024. Want more What Next? Subscribe to Slate Plus to access ad-free listening to the whole What Next family and across all ...
Aug 21, 2025•27 min
Donald Trump returned from his meeting with Vladimir Putin convinced that mail-in voting is how he was cheated from winning the 2020 election. Though he’s come to this conclusion without evidence, how much damage can he do to American democracy? Guest: Rick Hasen, UCLA School of Law, Director , Safeguarding Democracy Project, Election Law blog Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information....
Aug 20, 2025•24 min
After visiting with Vladimir Putin, Volodymyr Zelensky, and European leaders, where does Donald Trump stand on the Ukraine-Russia war—and where does that leave Ukraine? Guest: Tim Mak , editor of the Kyiv-based publication The Counteroffensive . Want more What Next? Subscribe to Slate Plus to access ad-free listening to the whole What Next family and across all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe today on Apple Podcasts by clicking “Try Free” at the top of our show page. Sign up now at slate...
Aug 19, 2025•23 min
Characteristic of this administration’s over-the-top but never-thought-out immigration enforcement, Trump traded more than 250 Venezuelans who had been deported to El Salvador’s notorious CECOT prison for 10 Americans who were being held prisoner in Venezuela—including a man convicted of a triple homicide. Guest: Jonathan Blitzer, staff writer at the New Yorker and author of Everyone Who Is Gone Is Here: The United States, Central America, and the Making of a Crisis . Want more What Next? Subscr...
Aug 18, 2025•24 min
The scam du jour arrives via a text message, offering you a job. What happens when you accept? Guest: Alex Sammon , Slate features writer. Want more What Next TBD? Subscribe to Slate Plus to access ad-free listening to the whole What Next family and all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe today on Apple Podcasts by clicking “Try Free” at the top of our show page. Sign up now at slate.com/whatnextplus to get access wherever you listen. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more informati...
Aug 17, 2025•30 min
The scam du jour arrives via a text message, offering you a job. What happens when you accept? Guest: Alex Sammon , Slate features writer. Want more What Next TBD? Subscribe to Slate Plus to access ad-free listening to the whole What Next family and all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe today on Apple Podcasts by clicking “Try Free” at the top of our show page. Sign up now at slate.com/whatnextplus to get access wherever you listen. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more informati...
Aug 17, 2025•30 min
A patron and perhaps foremost practitioner of “anti-woke comedy,” Tony Hinchcliffe sits atop his own thriving comedy kingdom in Austin. And when you’re on top, you’ve got nowhere to punch but down. Guest: Luke Winkie , staff writer at Slate , author of “ The Cult of Kill Tony ” This episode is member-exclusive. Listen to it now by subscribing to Slate Plus. By joining, not only will you unlock exclusive episodes of What Next —you’ll also access ad-free listening across all your favorite Slate po...
Aug 15, 2025•4 min
Jensen Huang, cofounder of NVIDIA, finds himself president of a $4 trillion company, at the forefront of A.I. technology, and, consequently, something of an international diplomat, as he charms President Trump and negotiates to sell his powerful chips to China. Guest: Amrith Ramkumar , reporter for The Wall Street Journal in Washington covering tech and crypto policy. Want more What Next TBD? Subscribe to Slate Plus to access ad-free listening to the whole What Next family and all your favorite ...
Aug 15, 2025•23 min
On Sunday, Al-Jazeera’s entire team in Gaza City were killed by an airstrike. Almost immediately, Israel said it targeted one of them on purpose – Anas al-Sharif. The strike fits a pattern, growing both in Israel and across the world, of targeting journalists—and holding no one accountable afterwards. Guest: Jodie Ginsberg , head of the Committee to Protect Journalists, a nonprofit organization promoting press freedom worldwide. Want more What Next? Subscribe to Slate Plus to access ad-free list...
Aug 14, 2025•26 min
Jimmy Carter sent his daughter to its public schools; pictures of Obama still grace businesses’ walls; and now Trump has taken an interest in Washington, D.C…by deploying the National Guard, reassigning FBI agents, vowing to evict the city’s homeless population. Guest: Jenny Gathright , reporter at the Washington Post covering the D.C. region. Want more What Next? Subscribe to Slate Plus to access ad-free listening to the whole What Next family and across all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscr...
Aug 13, 2025•25 min
After using a Trump-stand-in during his first administration, South Park has come back from hiatus as vulgar and confrontational as ever, with its aiming firmly fixed on MAGA. Contrary to government sources, the show’s enjoying a renewed cultural relevance in its 27th season. Guest: David Mack , contributing writer to Slate. Want more What Next? Subscribe to Slate Plus to access ad-free listening to the whole What Next family and across all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe today on Apple ...
Aug 12, 2025•30 min
From the Statue of Liberty to the Golden Gate Bridge, and places in between like Yellowstone and the site of the Battle of Gettysburg, the National Park Service has been a point of American pride since its inception. And with a small budget and actually generating revenue, even fiscal hawks had no reason to complain. So why is the Trump administration cutting their budget? Guests: Jon B. Jarvis ,18th director of the National Parks. Kevin Heatley, former superintendent of Crater Lake National Par...
Aug 11, 2025•25 min
It’s hard to make money in the music industry. But if you could flood every streamer with hundreds of “original” songs without having to, you know, write or produce it yourself, there’s money there—and less for everyone else. Guests: Chris Molanphy , host of Slate’s Hit Parade podcast . Kate Knibbs , senior writer at Wired Want more What Next TBD? Subscribe to Slate Plus to access ad-free listening to the whole What Next family and all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe today on Apple Podca...
Aug 10, 2025•27 min
In January, Mark Zuckerberg announced that Meta was moving from employing professional fact-checkers to letting its users fact-check each other. If you’ve heard that it’s going perfectly, then you, too, have been exposed to misinformation. Guest: Geoffrey Fowler, tech columnist with the Washington Post Want more What Next TBD? Subscribe to Slate Plus to access ad-free listening to the whole What Next family and all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe today on Apple Podcasts by clicking “Try ...
Aug 08, 2025•25 min
