During the Trump administration’s winter immigration surge, high-level officials assured ICE agents that they could act with impunity. But two different legal cases from Minnesota and Maine are finding ways to challenge the immunity they assumed they had as federal officers. Guest: Mark Joseph Stern , senior staff writer at Slate covering courts and the law cohost of Amicus . Want more What Next? Subscribe to Slate Plus to access ad-free listening to the whole What Next family and across all you...
Apr 21, 2026•27 min
From bombing fishing boats in the Caribbean, to kidnapping Nicolás Maduro, to the Iran War, the Trump administration seems to operate like it has just as much immunity from international law as John Roberts says it has domestically. They’re probably not wrong. Guest: Philippe Sands, professor of law at University College London, 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 Ap...
Apr 20, 2026•26 min
This very online administration is facing push back from Iran in their own home territory: the world of insipid memes, A.I. videos, and online mockery. Guest: Ali Breland , staff writer for the Atlantic. 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 ...
Apr 19, 2026•27 min
Back in the depths of the pandemic, what was an actor to do? Ben McKenzie started looking into cryptocurrency—and his research yielded both a book and a new documentary. The works are both non-fiction, which is more than McKenzie can say for crypto. Guest: Ben McKenzie, actor, director of the documentary Everyone Is Lying to You for Money , and co-author of Easy Money: Cryptocurrency, Casino Capitalism, and the Golden Age of Fraud . Want more What Next TBD? Subscribe to Slate Plus to access ad-f...
Apr 17, 2026•35 min
In Pope Leo XIV, Donald Trump has finally run into someone he can’t silence, threaten, or sully. He’s not taking it gracefully. Guest: Christopher Hale, author of the “Letters from Leo” Substack , “a chronicle of how Pope Leo XIV’s papacy intersects with American politics, faith, and the digital age during the presidency of Donald Trump.” 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 t...
Apr 16, 2026•28 min
In a single weekend, JD Vance managed to flunk out of peace talks with Iran and hitch the Trump wagon to Victor Orban’s star just in time for it to implode. Like Kamala Harris before him, the vice president is getting all the hard, unpopular assignments – and also like Harris, it could cost him his political future. Guest: Asawin Suebsaeng, senior political correspondent with Zeteo , co-author of “ Sinking in the Swamp: How Trump's Minions and Misfits Poisoned Washington. ” Want more What Next? ...
Apr 15, 2026•24 min
The U.S. and Iran began (and ended) negotiations under a shaky ceasefire, and are now at the stage where America is threatening to also blockade the Strait of Hormuz. Meanwhile, Israel and Lebanon have begun negotiating over Hezbollah, with conspicuously no ceasefire in place. Guest: Gregg Carlstrom, Middle East correspondent for The Economist. 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 14, 2026•28 min
Lurking behind—and sometimes explicitly out in front of — the Trump administration’s ire for DEI, its crackdowns on immigration, and its rhetoric about what kind of country America is, is “the Great Replacement theory.” But it’s not an exclusively American problem. Guest: Ibram X Kendi , author of “How To Be An Antiracist,” “Stamped From The Beginning” and his latest, “Chain of Ideas: The Origins of Our Authoritarian Age.” Want more What Next? Subscribe to Slate Plus to access ad-free listening ...
Apr 13, 2026•34 min
If you had as much trouble getting along with other humans as Sam Altman does, you too might be eager to issue in the artificial intelligence revolution. Guest: Andrew Marantz , staff writer for 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 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...
Apr 12, 2026•31 min
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
