Donald Trump’s never been all that committed to the truth. But experts are warning that by firing the head of the Bureau of Labor Statistics and appointing loyalists across the judiciary, he’s taken his war on facts to another level. How long can he attempt to remake reality before the truth—someday, eventually, but inevitably—hits back? Guest: David A Graham , staff writer at the Atlantic. Want more What Next? Subscribe to Slate Plus to access ad-free listening to the whole What Next family and...
Aug 07, 2025•24 min
More than a thousand rabbis and Jewish leaders have signed a letter calling for Israel to end “the use and threat of starvation as a weapon of war.” This New York rabbi, who has felt a connection to Israel her whole life, explains why she signed. Guest: Sarah Reines , rabbi at Temple Emanu-El in Manhattan. 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 clickin...
Aug 06, 2025•28 min
How Texas redrawing its election maps could set off a gerrymandering arms race across the country—a race the Republicans are likely to win. Guest: Ari Berman is a voting rights correspondent at Mother Jones. 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.com/whatnextplus to get access wherev...
Aug 05, 2025•25 min
Belief in democracy was, until quite recently, taken for granted in America. But what if democracy is less a static noun, and more of a dynamic ideal we (could be) working towards? Guest: Osita Nwanevu, contributing editor at The New Republic, columnist at The Guardian, author of “ The Right of the People: Democracy and the Case for a New American Founding .” 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 ...
Aug 04, 2025•23 min
OpenAI’s Sam Altman, flanked by President Trump and Softbank’s Masayoshi Son, announced a hugely ambitious investment in data centers across America to support all the artificial intelligence we’re going to be using. Months in, the project has been scaled back to a single, power-hungry data center in Ohio. Guest: Berber Jin , reporter covering A.I. 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 f...
Aug 03, 2025•24 min
Some disputes resist an easy “good vs. evil” dynamic, but when one side calls their plans “Operation Satanique,” it’s not too hard to figure who “the baddies” are. Guest: Dan Kois , Slate writer. Articles mentioned in this piece: The Last Days of the Rainbow Warrior Why We Keep Putting Up With Martin Short Who Killed the Segway This Is the Correct Way to Divide Public Bathrooms Who Won the World Cup of Arm Folding? Also mentioned: What Next: The Lawsuit Scaring Protesters . This episode is membe...
Aug 02, 2025•5 min
A shadow app for the dating world had its data hacked and exposed, and it laid bare the perils of creating safe spaces for women online — and of relying on tech companies. Guest: Kate Lindsay, host of Slate’s ICYMI 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 wh...
Aug 01, 2025•25 min
How an Obama-era decision to invest in space capitalism handed Elon Musk a monopoly on space. Guest: Franklin Foer , staff writer at the Atlantic, author of “ The Last Politician ” and “ World Without Mind: The Existential Threat of Big Tech .” 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....
Jul 31, 2025•28 min
As Trump came back to the presidency, one of the first warnings liberals began repeating was “Do not obey in advance.” But from government-agency heads to university presidents to news organizations, people are opting to simply leave their jobs, rather than do the uncomfortable work of standing up to authoritarianism. Guest: Jonathan Last , editor of The Bulwark. Want more What Next? Subscribe to Slate Plus to access ad-free listening to the whole What Next family and across all your favorite Sl...
Jul 30, 2025•26 min
Trans rights and access to health care have been under attack on the state level for years, but the second Trump administration and the Supreme Court have accelerated a chilling effect at clinics across the country. Guest: Grace Byron , author of “ The Grim State of Trans Health Care ” and “ The Bureaucratic Nightmares of Being Trans Under Trump ” for 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 favorit...
Jul 29, 2025•26 min
In May, after Trump announced a thorough regime of tariffs, supply chain experts warned that Americans would be looking at empty shelves by the end of June . But here we are in late July and the stores still seem fully stocked. So what happened? Guest: Justin Wolfers , professor of economics at the University of Michigan 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 Podc...
Jul 28, 2025•27 min
There’s an entire economy devoted to seeing what products are trending—clothing, skin care, even Greek Islands—and delivering you a cheaper knock-off to buy. Guest: Mia Sato , reporter for The Verge 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 liste...
Jul 27, 2025•30 min
Was the Late Show too unprofitable, or too political? Guest: Eric Deggans , NPR TV critic and media analyst, Knight Chair, Journalism and Media Ethics, Washington & Lee University. 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. Podcast pro...
Jul 25, 2025•22 min
What does it change to call Israel’s assault on Gaza a “genocide”? Guest: Omer Bartov , Dean's Professor of Holocaust and Genocide Studies at Brown University and author of the op-ed, “ I’m a Genocide Scholar. I Know It When I See It. ” Another article mentioned in this episode: “ The Need to Forget ” by Yehuda Elkana 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 Podcast...
Jul 24, 2025•28 min
If Trump follows through and successfully shuts down the Department of Education, what does America stand to lose? Guest: Laura Meckler, national education writer for The Washington Post and author of Dream Town: Shaker Heights and the Quest for Racial Equity . 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...
Jul 23, 2025•21 min
Why the Epstein scandal—more than any of Trump’s other, lengthy list of scandals—is so damaging that even the Democrats can wield it effectively. Guest: Brian Beutler, author of the Substack “Off Message,” cohost of the podcast Politix . 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.com/wha...
Jul 22, 2025•27 min
Their son was immunocompromised and couldn’t get the measles vaccines. So his dad asked if everyone going to his school would get vaccinated. And the thing is—people listened. Guest: Carl and Rhett Krawitt 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.com/whatnextplus to get access wherever...
Jul 21, 2025•27 min
It’s kind of strange that Grok, Elon Musk’s chatbot, went full Nazi a few weeks ago, and is just…still out there. But, then again, how are you supposed to hold an LLM accountable? Guest: Drew Harwell , technology reporter for 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 Free” at the top of our show page. Sign up now at slate.co...
Jul 20, 2025•25 min
In this political moment where hostility towards immigrants and outsiders is openly espoused, one of our own colleagues has released a book about growing up as a Muslim-American in the post-9/11 era—and raising his own kids now. Guest: Aymann Ismail , Slate staff writer and author of “ Becoming Baba: Fatherhood, Faith, and Finding Meaning in America .” 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 ...
Jul 18, 2025•4 min
The MAGA world has been waiting for Jeffrey Epstein’s client list to be released since the first Trump administration. But with those like Kash Patel and Dan Bongino, who stoked interest in the list literally in power, the administration is now saying that no such list exists. For some MAGA fans, this is finally a bridge too far. Guest: Anna Merlan , senior reporter at Mother Jones. Want more What Next TBD? Subscribe to Slate Plus to access ad-free listening to the whole What Next family and all...
Jul 18, 2025•26 min
For years, Donald Trump was often the only Western leader with anything nice to say about Vladimir Putin.But with Russia and Ukraine still fighting six months into his term, their friendship is on the rocks. Are we seeing a temporary spat – or a real policy shift? Guest: Michael McFaul , U.S. ambassador to Russia 2012-2014, author of the upcoming book “ Autocrats vs. Democrats: China, Russia, America, and the New Global Disorder .” Want more What Next? Subscribe to Slate Plus to access ad-free l...
Jul 17, 2025•23 min
His client, Nyo Myint, is a refugee from Myanmar who was deported by the Trump administration—first to Djibouti, then to South Sudan—along with seven other men. His lawyer is now reaching out to the United Nations to intervene. Guest: Jonathan Ryan, San Antonio-based immigration attorney and author of the Firewall Substack . 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 ...
Jul 16, 2025•25 min
Why the Democrats’ electoral strategy of “hire consultants to tell you which positions poll well enough to take” has run its course—and where they should look to start rebuilding. Guest: Ben Mathis-Lilley , Slate senior writer and author of “ How Strategist Brain Took Over the Democratic Party”. Cited in this episode: The Hollow Parties: The Many Pasts and Disordered Present of American Party Politics (Daniel Schlozman and Sam Rosenfeld) Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Commun...
Jul 15, 2025•25 min
This week, the Senate Judiciary Committee prepares to vote on Emil Bove, who has been promoted from Trump’s personal lawyer to his current nominee for a lifelong appointment to the Third Circuit Court of Appeals. In any other administration, Bove would be a real outlier. But here? He’s par for a very strange course. Guest: Jay Willis , editor-in-chief of Balls and Strikes. Want more What Next? Subscribe to Slate Plus to access ad-free listening to the whole What Next family and across all your f...
Jul 14, 2025•25 min
He started using ChatGPT to help with spreadsheets. But their relationship took a turn, and before long it was telling him he could leap off a 19-story building and fly. Guest: Kashmir Hill , features writer at the New York Times. 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 ...
Jul 13, 2025•19 min
It’s a record-breaking year for America: we’ve now had the most reported cases of measles since the disease was declared “eradicated” in 2000. How did public health backslide so hard that it undid decades of progress—and is there any hope we can get back on track? Guest: Dylan Scott, senior health correspondent at Vox. 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 ...
Jul 11, 2025•23 min
In the wake of #MeToo, Hollywood productions began hiring “intimacy coordinators,” people who work to ensure sex scenes are safe and comfortable for performers. How are they working out so far? Guest: Jennifer Wilson , 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 clicking “Try Free” at the top of our show page. Sign up now at ...
Jul 10, 2025•27 min
After one of the deadliest floods in American history in central Texas, people are looking at cuts to the National Weather Service and FEMA’s absence contributing to the devastation. But one looming problem is much, much bigger. Guest: Jeff Goodell, writer covering climate change, author of The Heat Will Kill You First: Life and Death on a Scorched Planet and The Water Will Come: Rising Seas, Sinking Cities, and the Remaking of the Civilized World . Want more What Next? Subscribe to Slate Plus t...
Jul 09, 2025•21 min
A federal force—often defying local governance—coming to take people away without due process has happened before. What lessons can be drawn from parallels between a law that led to the Civil War and what’s happening today with Trump’s hardline immigration enforcement? Guest: Jamelle Bouie , columnist 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 favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe today on Apple Po...
Jul 08, 2025•20 min
Built in just eight days, Donald Trump and Kristi Noem toured “Alligator Alcatraz,” a migrant detention facility built on a disused airstrip in the Florida Everglades. Even before Trump touched down in South Florida, branded merchandise was being sold. Soon after he headed back to Washington, the first detainees were brought in. Guest: Sommer Brugal , Miami reporter for Axios . Want more What Next? Subscribe to Slate Plus to access ad-free listening to the whole What Next family and across all y...
Jul 07, 2025•24 min
