Warning: this episode contains strong language. With Argentina again in the midst of an economic crisis, Argentine voters turned to Javier Milei, a far-right libertarian who has drawn comparisons to Donald J. Trump. Jack Nicas, who covers South America for The New York Times, discusses Argentina’s incoming president, and his radical plan to remake the country’s economy. Guest: Jack Nicas , the Brazil bureau chief for The New York Times. Background reading: Argentina’s incoming president is a lib...
Dec 11, 2023•21 min•Transcript available on Metacast As an incubator of life, Earth has a lot going for it, something we often fail to appreciate fully from within its nurturing bounds. Merely sending probes and rovers to the moon and Mars won’t do. For various reasons — adventure! apocalypse! commerce! — we insist upon taking our corporeal selves off-world too. Multiple private companies have announced plans to put hotels in space soon. NASA is aiming to 3-D-print lunar neighborhoods within a couple of decades. And while it will probably take lon...
Dec 10, 2023•39 min•Transcript available on Metacast As the cease-fire in Gaza has ended and the fierce fighting there has resumed, the United States has issued sharper warnings to Israel’s leaders that they have a responsibility to avoid civilian casualties. Peter Baker, The Times’s chief White House correspondent, discusses the public and private ways in which President Biden is trying to influence Israel’s conduct. Guest: Peter Baker , chief White House correspondent for The New York Times. Background reading: Analysis: Biden’s strategy faces a...
Dec 08, 2023•37 min•Transcript available on Metacast Over the last few months, Nikki Haley has gained enough in the polls to suggest she is on the verge of surpassing Ron DeSantis as the main threat to Donald J. Trump in the race to become the Republican candidate for 2024. Jazmine Ulloa, a national politics reporter for The Times; and Nate Cohn, The Times’s chief political analyst, discuss her building momentum and examine how far she might go. Guest: Jazmine Ulloa , a national politics reporter for The New York Times. Nate Cohn , The New York Ti...
Dec 07, 2023•30 min•Transcript available on Metacast The opioid epidemic has been one of the biggest public health disasters in generations. The drug company at the heart of the crisis, Purdue Pharma, maker of the prescription painkiller OxyContin, agreed to a multibillion-dollar deal to settle thousands of claims against it — but that agreement would also grant the family behind the company, the Sacklers, immunity from additional civil lawsuits. Justices are now set to rule whether that settlement was legal. Abbie VanSickle, who covers the Suprem...
Dec 06, 2023•24 min•Transcript available on Metacast As a racketeering trial begins in Atlanta, much of the focus is on the high-profile defendant, the best-selling rapper Young Thug. Joe Coscarelli, a culture reporter for The New York Times, explains why, in a sense, hip-hop itself is on trial. Guest: Joe Coscarelli , a culture reporter for The New York Times. Background reading: A judge ruled in November that at least 17 specific sets of lines from the Atlanta artist and his collaborators could be used by prosecutors in the racketeering trial of...
Dec 05, 2023•27 min•Transcript available on Metacast In the weeks since Hamas carried out its devastating terrorist attack in southern Israel, Times journalists have been trying to work out why the Israeli security services failed to prevent such a huge and deadly assault. Ronen Bergman, a correspondent for The New York Times, tells the story of one of the warnings that Israel ignored. Guest: Ronen Bergman , a staff writer for The New York Times Magazine. Background reading: A blueprint reviewed by The Times laid out the Oct. 7 attack in detail. I...
Dec 04, 2023•34 min•Transcript available on Metacast Tech billionaire Elon Musk has come to define innovation, but he can also be a lightning rod for controversy; he recently endorsed antisemitic remarks on X, formerly known as Twitter, which prompted companies to pull their advertising. In an interview recorded live at the DealBook Summit in New York with Times business reporter and columnist Andrew Ross Sorkin, Musk discusses his emotional state and why he has “no problem being hated.” To read more news about the event, visit https://www.nytimes...
Dec 03, 2023•2 hr 34 min•Transcript available on Metacast For many millennials, buying a home has become almost entirely out of reach. Average 30-year mortgage rates are hovering around 7 percent — the highest they’ve been since 2007 — largely because of the Federal Reserve’s efforts to tame inflation. David Leonhardt, a senior writer for The New York Times, discusses whether it is time to change how we think about buying vs. renting. Guest: David Leonhardt , a senior writer for The New York Times. He writes The Morning, The Times’s flagship daily news...
Dec 01, 2023•28 min•Transcript available on Metacast The American economy, by many measures, is doing better than it has done in years. But for many Americans, that is not how it feels. Their feelings point to an enduring mystery: Why do Americans feel so bad when the economy is so good? Jeanna Smialek, who covers the Federal Reserve and the U.S. economy for The Times, discusses a new way to understand the disconnect. Guest: Jeanna Smialek , a reporter covering the Federal Reserve and the U.S. economy for The New York Times. Background reading: Vi...
Nov 30, 2023•22 min•Transcript available on Metacast From the moment that Roe v. Wade was overturned, the question was just how much the change would reduce abortions across the United States. Now, more than a year later, the numbers are in. Margot Sanger-Katz, who writes about health care for The Upshot, explains why the results are not what anyone had expected. Guest: Margot Sanger-Katz , a domestic correspondent for The New York Times. Background reading: The first estimate of births since Dobbs found that almost a quarter of women who would ha...
Nov 29, 2023•22 min•Transcript available on Metacast Hostages are at the heart of the fragile cease-fire between Israel and Hamas, now in its fifth day. As of Monday night, 50 Israeli hostages had been released, as had 150 Palestinian prisoners. More releases were expected on Tuesday, under what Qatari mediators said was a deal to extend the cease-fire by two days. Isabel Kershner, a Jerusalem-based reporter for The New York Times, explains how a grass-roots movement managed to pause the war, and what it will mean for the rest of the conflict. Gue...
Nov 28, 2023•30 min•Transcript available on Metacast Only five members of the U.S. House of Representatives have ever been expelled from the institution. This week, Representative George Santos, Republican of New York, could become the sixth. In a damning ethics report, House investigators found that the congressman spent tens of thousands of dollars in political contributions on Botox, Ferragamo goods and vacations. Grace Ashford, who covers New York State politics and government for The Times, explains why, after a year in office, so many of Mr....
Nov 27, 2023•29 min•Transcript available on Metacast It was a head-spinning week in the tech world with the abrupt firing and rehiring of OpenAI’s chief executive, Sam Altman. The hosts of “Hard Fork,” Kevin Roose and Casey Newton, interviewed Altman only two days before he was fired. Over the course of their conversation, Altman laid out his worldview and his vision for the future of A.I. Today, we’re bringing you that interview to shed light on how Altman has quickly come to be seen as a figure of controversy inside the company he co-founded. “H...
Nov 24, 2023•59 min•Transcript available on Metacast Polls suggest that they are – and that Black voters’ support for former President Donald J. Trump, especially among men, is rising. Astead W. Herndon, host of "The Run-Up," convened a special Thanksgiving focus group to explore what might be behind those numbers. He spoke with family, friends and parishioners from his father’s church, community members and people he grew up with. It’s a lively conversation with real implications for what might happen if the 2024 presidential race is a Biden-Trum...
Nov 23, 2023•55 min•Transcript available on Metacast The board of OpenAI, the maker of the ChatGPT chatbot and one of the world’s highest-profile artificial intelligence companies, reversed course late last night and brought back Sam Altman as chief executive. Cade Metz, a technology reporter for The Times, discusses a whirlwind five days at the company and analyzes what the fallout could mean for the future of the transformational technology. Guest: Cade Metz , a technology reporter for The New York Times. Background reading: With Mr. Altman’s re...
Nov 22, 2023•28 min•Transcript available on Metacast As the war against Hamas enters a seventh week, Israel finds itself under intense pressure to justify its actions in Gaza, including the raid of Al-Shifa Hospital, which it says is a center of Hamas activity. Hamas and hospital officials deny the accusation. Patrick Kingsley, the Jerusalem bureau chief for The Times, was one of the reporters invited by the Israeli military on an escorted trip into the enclave. Guest: Patrick Kingsley , Jerusalem bureau chief for The New York Times. Background re...
Nov 21, 2023•40 min•Transcript available on Metacast By working with Democrats to avert a government shutdown this past week, Speaker Mike Johnson seemed to put himself on the same path that doomed his predecessor. Or did he? Catie Edmondson, who covers Congress for The Times, explains why things could be different this time. Guest: Catie Edmondson , a reporter in the Washington bureau of The New York Times. Background reading: Congress prevented a shutdown, but the spending fight is far from over . Almost all Democrats and a majority of Republica...
Nov 20, 2023•28 min•Transcript available on Metacast The Space Force, the sixth and newest branch of the U.S. military, was authorized by Congress and signed into law by President Donald Trump in December 2019. The initiative had been shaped within the armed forces and Congress over the previous 25 years, based on the premise that as satellite and space technologies evolved, America’s military organizations had to change as well. From the start, the Space Force had detractors. Air Force officials wondered if it was necessary, while some political ...
Nov 19, 2023•35 min•Transcript available on Metacast One of the most highly anticipated diplomatic events of the year took place this week in a mansion outside San Francisco. President Biden and Xi Jinping, China’s top leader, met to repair their countries’ relations, which had sunk to one of their lowest points in decades. Edward Wong, a diplomatic correspondent for The New York Times, discusses the effort to bring the relationship back from the brink. Guest: Edward Wong , a diplomatic correspondent for The New York Times. Background reading: Bot...
Nov 17, 2023•26 min•Transcript available on Metacast A little over a year ago, at President Biden’s urging, congressional democrats passed a sweeping plan to supercharge the production and sale of electric vehicles. Jim Tankersley, who covers economic policy for The Times, explains whether the law is actually working. Guest: Jim Tankersley , an economic policy correspondent for The New York Times. Background reading: President Biden’s 2022 climate act spurred big investments in U.S. battery factories, but it has not similarly boosted E.V. sales . ...
Nov 16, 2023•25 min•Transcript available on Metacast A historic set of new lawsuits, filed by more than three dozen states, accuses Meta, the country’s largest social media company, of illegally luring children onto its platforms and hooking them on its products. Natasha Singer, who covers technology, business and society for The New York Times, has been reviewing the states’ evidence and trying to understand the long-term strategy behind these lawsuits. Guest: Natasha Singer , a reporter covering technology, business and society for The New York ...
Nov 15, 2023•34 min•Transcript available on Metacast To much of the outside world, Hamas’s decision to murder hundreds of Israelis and trigger a war that has since killed many thousands of its own people looks like a historic miscalculation — one that could soon result in the destruction of Hamas itself. Hamas’s leaders, however, say that it was the result of a deliberate calculation. Ben Hubbard, the Istanbul bureau chief for The New York Times, has been reporting on their decision, and what went into it. Guest: Ben Hubbard , the Istanbul bureau ...
Nov 14, 2023•35 min•Transcript available on Metacast Warning: This episode contains descriptions of injuries and death. As Israel’s war on Hamas enters its sixth week, hospitals in Gaza have found themselves on the front lines. Hospitals have become a refuge for the growing number of civilians fleeing the violence, but one that has become increasingly dangerous as Israel’s military targets what it says are Hamas fighters hiding inside and beneath them. Today, three doctors working in the Gaza Strip describe what the war looks like from inside thei...
Nov 13, 2023•38 min•Transcript available on Metacast In April 2016, 11 Black schoolchildren, some as young as 8 years old, were arrested in Rutherford County, Tenn. The reason? They didn’t stop a fight between some other kids. What happened in the wake of those arrests would expose a juvenile justice system that was playing by its own rules. For years, this county had arrested and illegally jailed hundreds, maybe thousands, of children. Why was this happening – and what would it take to stop it? From Serial Productions and The New York Times, in p...
Nov 12, 2023•29 min•Transcript available on Metacast Warning: this episode contains some explicit language. When Adidas terminated its multibillion-dollar partnership with Kanye West over his antisemitic and other offensive public remarks, it seemed like a straightforward story of a celebrity’s suddenly imploding. But a New York Times examination has found that, behind the scenes, the collaboration was fraught from the start. Megan Twohey, an investigative reporter for The Times, talks about what she discovered when she delved into the meltdown. G...
Nov 10, 2023•45 min•Transcript available on Metacast A critical gun case was argued before the Supreme Court this week. But instead of opening further freedoms for gun owners — as the court, with its conservative supermajority, did in a blockbuster decision last year — justices seemed ready to rule that the government may disarm people under restraining orders for domestic violence. Adam Liptak, who covers the Supreme Court for The Times, explains why. Guest: Adam Liptak , who covers the Supreme Court for The New York Times and writes Sidebar, a c...
Nov 09, 2023•27 min•Transcript available on Metacast Of all the legal cases that former President Donald J. Trump is facing, perhaps the most personal is playing out in a courtroom in Manhattan: a civil fraud trial that could result in him losing control of his best-known buildings and paying hundreds of millions of dollars in fines. In recent days, Mr. Trump and some of his children have taken the stand, defending the family business and the former president’s reputation as a real-estate mogul. Jonah E. Bromwich, who covers justice in New York fo...
Nov 08, 2023•25 min•Transcript available on Metacast It’s been one month since the attack on Israel, but Washington has yet to deliver an aid package to its closest ally. The reason has to do with a different ally, in a different war: Speaker Mike Johnson has opposed continued funding for Ukraine, and wants the issue separated from aid to Israel, setting up a clash between the House and Senate. Catie Edmondson, who covers Congress for The Times, discusses the battle within the Republican Party over whether to keep funding Ukraine. Guest: Catie Edm...
Nov 07, 2023•26 min•Transcript available on Metacast In a major new campaign poll from The New York Times and Siena College, former President Donald J. Trump leads President Biden in five of the six battleground states likeliest to decide the 2024 presidential race. Widespread discontent with the state of the country and growing doubts about Biden’s ability to perform his job as president threaten to unravel the diverse coalition that elected him in 2020. Nate Cohn, The Times’s chief political analyst, explains why the results are less a reflectio...
Nov 06, 2023•30 min•Transcript available on Metacast 
