With Congress again out for recess—instead of, say, working to end the partial government shutdown or doing something, anything, when the president threatens war crimes—one media organization had the savvy, gall, and, okay, shamelessness to deputize us all as honorary paparazzi. Guest: Harvey Levin , founder of TMZ. 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 list...
Apr 10, 2026•8 min
As OpenAI prepares for its IPO, the company decided to…pay millions of dollars for a tech talk show? Is this just what rich tech guys like Sam Altman are like now? Guest: Mike Isaac , tech reporter for 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 to get ac...
Apr 10, 2026•21 min
An Israeli filmmaker, who returned home from abroad after October 7, attempts to capture the feeling of mourning becoming a thirst for revenge among his compatriots, in a film he describes as a “bomb.” Guest: Nadav Lapid , Israeli screenwriter and film director of Yes ! 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 p...
Apr 09, 2026•26 min
Where was Congress while the president threatened that “a whole civilization will die tonight”? Guest: Senator Mark Warner , U.S. Senator from Virginia, top-ranking Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee. 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 wh...
Apr 08, 2026•25 min
Last week, the Army’s Chief of Staff, General Randy George, joined a long and growing list of high-level military officers who have been fired, forced out, or otherwise induced to leave their positions during the second Trump administration. What does that mean for the war in Iran? Guest: Idrees Ali , national security correspondent at Reuters. 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. Subsc...
Apr 07, 2026•28 min
American Catholicism finds itself at a crossroads—split between its prominent conservative representatives in the Trump administration and in the priesthood, and the more inclusive, social justice-oriented messaging of the American pope. Guest: Colleen Dulle , Vatican correspondent for America Media, co-host of “ Inside the Vatican ” podcast, and author of “Struck Down, Not Destroyed.” Want more What Next? Subscribe to Slate Plus to access ad-free listening to the whole What Next family and acro...
Apr 06, 2026•28 min
One of artificial intelligence’s most hyped “abilities” is how it writes computer code. So much so that seemingly anyone can do it. So we figured… why not us? Guests: Greg Lavalee, Slate’s Chief Technology Officer. Clive Thompson, contributing writer for 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 p...
Apr 05, 2026•31 min
In the wake of the 2008 financial crisis, private credit or “shadow banking” grew as an alternative to the regulations and shared risk that institutional banks operate within. What happens if a crisis hits the trillions of dollars that are outside of those guardrails? We may be about to find out. Guest: Tracy Alloway , co-host of Bloomberg's Odd Lots podcast. 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 pod...
Apr 03, 2026•30 min
Even with Trump in attendance, it didn’t look like the Supreme Court was buying his administration’s attack on the 14th amendment and birthright citizenship. But how the justices decide the case could leave the door open for another, savvier attempt to overturn birthright citizenship in the future. Guest: Jamelle Bouie , opinion 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 Slat...
Apr 02, 2026•27 min
The Iran war’s disruption to global oil supplies demonstrates another upside to switching to renewable energy sources. Instead, Europe is considering rolling back carbon regulations. Guest: Catherine Rampell , economics editor at The Bulwark and anchor at MS NOW. 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. Si...
Apr 01, 2026•28 min
A flurry of activity in the oil-futures market, minutes before Donald Trump made a big announcement about not striking at Iranian infrastructure, has all the appearance of someone using classified national security information to turn a profit. Guest: Paul Krugman, Nobel-Prize winning economist and author of paulkrugman.substack.com . 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...
Mar 31, 2026•23 min
OpenAI is shutting down its video generator Sora less than six months after it launched, and just three months since it signed a deal with Disney. Is this an A.I. company fine tuning its offerings, or the long-awaited popping of the A.I. bubble? Guest: Jason Koebler , cofounder of 404 Media. 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...
Mar 30, 2026•25 min
Artificial intelligence is working its way into every aspect of our lives, including law and immigration enforcement, and the industry is spending millions of dollars to ensure it can continue to do so unregulated. But as evidence of bias appears in this nascent tech, this congresswoman wants to ensure we’re not just recreating our historical biases and problems all over again—which is to say, she wants guardrails. Guest: Summer Lee , U.S. representative for Pennsylvania’s 12th district. Want mo...
Mar 29, 2026•31 min
What YouTube and Meta’s loss in the “social media addiction trial” could mean for your feed. Guest: Ryan Mac , business and technology reporter for 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 to get access wherever you listen. Podcast production by Evan C...
Mar 27, 2026•24 min
Trump’s unpredictability injects uncertainty into the economy, foreign policy, and everything else he touches. Even as his war messaging varies wildly moment to moment, the world economy is certain of one thing: it’s bad for the Strait of Hormuz to close. 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 ...
Mar 26, 2026•25 min
Leftist political commentator Hasan Piker feels the Democrats have missed an opportunity to articulate their opposition to Trump’s foreign policy—in Venezuela, Iran, and, from the sound of it, soon enough in Cuba, where Piker just visited. Guest: Hasan Piker, political commentator on Twitch who recently joined the Nuestra América convoy to Havana, Cuba. 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 podcas...
Mar 25, 2026•21 min
Kristi Noem is out, and Senator Markwayne Mullin is in (in theory) as the new DHS secretary. Mullin tried to strike a softer tone during his confirmation hearing, nodding towards rolling back controversial policies like entering homes without a judicial warrant—but his reputation as a Senate-floor brawler raises questions about whether that’s just rhetoric. Meanwhile, the partial government shutdown, ongoing since February 14, continues to affect the department, including causing disruptions to ...
Mar 24, 2026•28 min
The argument against counting mail-in ballots that arrive after election day is going to involve Supreme Court-pleasing “originalist” language, but is the case really just another way to say that Trump should have beaten Joe Biden in 2020? Guest: Jay Willis, editor-in-chief of Balls & Strikes. 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 Fr...
Mar 23, 2026•25 min
Why Palantir cofounder and CEO Alex Karp views working with Western militaries not just as a business opportunity, but as a higher calling. Guest: Jacob Silverman , journalist and author of “ Gilded Rage: Elon Musk and the Radicalization of Silicon Valley .” 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 no...
Mar 22, 2026•28 min
Hank Green recently pulled a “reverse OpenAI” - he took his education platform Complexly and made it a nonprofit. In a world where outrage, A.I. slop and “brain rot” are all heavily incentivized by platforms, Hank explains why he’d rather make content that leans into the complexity of our world. Guest: Hank Green , YouTuber, half of Vlogbrothers, host of Crash Course and SciShow and founder of VidCon and Complexly . Want more What Next TBD? Subscribe to Slate Plus to access ad-free listening to ...
Mar 20, 2026•31 min
The war in Iran is either already over, or almost over, or going to continue until Trump feels it is over in his bones? If you’re Congress, what are you supposed to do with that? Guest: Adam Kinzinger, former Republican Congressman for Illinois’s 11th and 16th districts, Jan 6 Committee member, former lieutenant colonel in the Air National Guard. 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. Sub...
Mar 19, 2026•26 min
Israel and America’s war with Iran has spread, leading to the displacement of nearly 20 percent of people in Lebanon. What does that look like on the ground—and how will the conflict end? Guests: Basma Alloush , Deputy Director for the Middle East and North Africa at the International Rescue Committee. Joshua Keating , senior 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. Su...
Mar 18, 2026•27 min
The Republican-led Senate prepares this week to tackle an issue that’s very important to the president, his diehards, and hardly anyone else: passing the SAVE Act in order to force people to prove citizenship before voting. Guest: Ari Berman , national voting rights correspondent for 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 Fr...
Mar 17, 2026•25 min
If no other explanations for the Iran War seem satisfying, have you considered that the point is to bring about the end of the world and the return of Jesus Christ? The people in power have. Guest: Tim Dickinson , senior writer and editor at The Contrarian . 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...
Mar 16, 2026•26 min
A half dozen state attorneys general have sued the online gaming platform Roblox after multiple investigations found child predators on the site and more than 20 people were arrested for abducting or abusing children they had met via Roblox. Guest: Mike Hilgers , Nebraska Attorney General. 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 ...
Mar 15, 2026•33 min
On this week’s Slate Plus exclusive, Timothée Chalamet enters the pas de deux between an Oscar-nominated actor and a public itching for a villain. But as one Gen Z star’s public approval goes down, another’s rises, on the strength of a “ bixie .” Guest: Nadira Goffe , Slate culture 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 all your favo...
Mar 13, 2026•4 min
Drone warfare has evolved immensely since Ukraine. The use of artificial intelligence in combat has evolved just since Venezuela. Guest: Steven Feldstein, political scientist and senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in the Democracy, Conflict, and Governance Program . 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...
Mar 13, 2026•26 min
Is the Strait of Hormuz safe? Is the U.S. going to put boots on the ground? Did we obliterate Iran’s nuclear facilities? And why are we at war with Iran… at all? Guest: Tommy Vietor, political commentator on Pod Save America and Pod Save the World, spokesman for Obama and the National Security Council in 2011 and 2012. 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 Podcas...
Mar 12, 2026•31 min
Who is the new supreme leader of Iran, and how does he differ from his predecessor father? Guest: Graeme Wood , staff writer at The Atlantic and a lecturer in political science at Yale . 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 you listen. Podcas...
Mar 11, 2026•24 min
Nominated for Best International Feature Film at this year’s Academy Awards, The Voice of Hind Rajab uses audio from the actual emergency call with a five-year-old girl in Gaza who was killed by Israeli forces in January 2024. Guest: Kaouther Ben Hania , director of the Oscar-nominated film, The Voice of Hind Rajab . 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...
Mar 10, 2026•22 min
