Slate News
Daily news updates from across the Slate Podcast network.
Episodes
November 26, 2025 • 29 mins
With the release of Wicked: For Good, spectacle is back in theaters and back on the press circuit: Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo are again “holding space” along with each other’s individual fingers and other quirks they picked up along the way. This is, apparently, how movies are promoted now.
Guest: Michael Schulman, staff writer at The New Yorker and the author of Oscar Wars: A History of Hollywood in Gold, Sweat, and Tears.
...
Mark as Played
November 25, 2025 • 24 mins
The Trump administration has announced a 28-point plan to end the war in Ukraine that involves ceding territory, giving up on joining NATO and reducing its military—in essence an extremely, even suspiciously, friendly deal for Russia and Russian demands.
How does Ukraine play this without losing a powerful ally or the war?
Guest: Fred Kaplan, Slate’s War Stories correspondent.
Want more What Next? Subscribe to Slate Plus to acce...
Mark as Played
November 25, 2025 • 38 mins
In this Money Talks: The Wall Street Journal’s Heather Haddon joins Emily Peck to unpack her recent reporting on the fast food industry, including the reason we’re seeing the “Value Wars” play out at places like McDonalds and Chili’s, Starbuck’s strategies to revive sales, and the intense drive-thru operations research being done by Chik-fil-A.
Join Slate Plus to unlock weekly bonus episodes. Plus, you’ll access ad-free listening ...
Mark as Played
November 24, 2025 • 32 mins
Between the drastic budget cuts and provisions in the Big Beautiful Bill, the Trump administration has found a way to drain Planned Parenthood and other reproductive health centers and cut off access to abortion services—as well as any other health care those clinics provided.
Guests: Shefali Luthra, reproductive health reporter at The 19th, author of Undue Burden: Life and Death Decisions in Post-Roe America.
George Hill, Pres...
Mark as Played
November 23, 2025 • 31 mins
Tracking a license plate across the country has never been easier, which is good news if your car has been stolen, but in an era of ICE and Border Patrol raids, these warrantless searches feel increasingly invasive—and unconstitutional.
Guest: Joseph Cox, co-founder of 404 Media and host of the 404 Media podcast.
Want more What Next TBD? Subscribe to Slate Plus to access ad-free listening to the whole What Next family and all you...
Mark as Played
November 22, 2025 • 54 mins
This week: Larry Summers has stepped down from his public positions following the release of unsavory emails he exchanged with Jeffrey Epstein. Felix Salmon, Elizabeth Spiers, and Emily Peck discuss Summers’ correspondence with the infamous sex trafficker, the veracity of his “genius” reputation, and his beef with Felix. Then, Meta has won its anti-trust case, highlighting the current struggle to regulate Big Tech. The hosts examin...
Mark as Played
November 22, 2025 • 48 mins
On today’s episode host Kate Lindsay is joined by porn historian Noelle Perdue, author of the Porn World newsletter. OpenAI announced that they’d allow adult users to have erotic conversations with ChatGPT, just one more way AI and porn are becoming intertwined. As sex becomes more online, not only does it become more solitary, but also more surveilled. Both of these things are intended to divide us, but Noelle is confident that AI...
Mark as Played
November 22, 2025 • 59 mins
Dahlia Lithwick is joined by former federal prosecutor Mimi Rocah, who brings her extensive experience trying and supervising federal criminal cases to a discussion of what the survivors of Jeffrey Epstein’s sexual abuse can teach us about justice. She suggests that the Trump administration’s eleventh-hour switchback tactic of calling for investigations of only Democrats speaks volumes about how the Justice Department is functionin...
Mark as Played
November 21, 2025 • 24 mins
Trump promised to stop the “persecution” of the cryptocurrency industry. He did call off the SEC investigations that began under Biden, and pardoned Binance cofounder and ex-CEO Changpeng Zhao. But is the crypto industry ultimately better off because of that?
Guest: David Yaffe-Bellany, 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...
Mark as Played
November 20, 2025 • 62 mins
This week, Emily Bazelon, John Dickerson, and David Plotz discuss a new oral history of President Trump’s Department of Justice, the complex transactional nationalism of this week’s visit from Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman with guest Jake Sullivan, former National Security Advisor and co-host of the new podcast The Long Game, and what is likely to happen now that Trump has signed the bill to release the Justice Department’...
Mark as Played
November 20, 2025 • 25 mins
People have been talking about how the penny is more trouble than it’s worth for 50 years—so why drop it now? And—other than having nothing to put in our loafers—will it be missed?
Guest: Caity Weaver, writer at 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” a...
Mark as Played
November 19, 2025 • 29 mins
Ongoing civil war in Sudan has left tens of thousands dead, with millions displaced. A country of great natural resources, regional foreign governments have chosen sides—but foreign aid from the US that had mitigated some of the war’s damage is gone.
Guest: David Miliband, president and CEO of the International Rescue Committee, former UK foreign secretary 2007-2010.
Want more What Next? Subscribe to Slate Plus to access ad-free...
Mark as Played
November 18, 2025 • 30 mins
You can’t really blame Donald Trump for thinking he could just handwave away the Epstein Files. But for the first time in what feels like forever, his base, the GOP, and his own desires don’t quite align.
Guest: Will Sommer, senior reporter at 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 Slate podcasts. Subscribe today on Apple P...
Mark as Played
November 17, 2025 • 28 mins
Trump can’t seem to decide if the National Guard is needed in American cities to stop violent crime, or to assist ICE deportations, or something else entirely. And the lack of a clear and present crisis is starting to make some Guard members uncomfortable.
Guest: Kat Lonsdorf, news reporter for National Public Radio.
Want more What Next? Subscribe to Slate Plus to access ad-free listening to the whole What Next family and across...
Mark as Played
November 16, 2025 • 32 mins
The parent company of Facebook and Instagram, Meta, doesn’t (just) have a scam problem—with 10 percent of its revenue coming from scam ads, and a third of all successful scams in America using a Meta platform at some point, it’s more an interdependence with scammers.
Guest: Jeff Horwitz, tech reporter for Reuters.
Want more What Next TBD? Subscribe to Slate Plus to access ad-free listening to the whole What Next family and all yo...
Mark as Played
November 15, 2025 • 49 mins
This week: FHFA director Bill Pulte convinced Trump to back 50-year mortgages with some posterboard and a photo of FDR. Felix Salmon, Elizabeth Spiers, and Emily Peck, discuss why Trump’s post about 50-year mortgages angered conservatives – officials and voters alike – and why they’re more of a hindrance than a solution to the housing crisis. Then, the White House is considering limiting the power of proxy advisers and index-fund ...
Mark as Played
November 15, 2025 • 80 mins
Dahlia Lithwick welcomes retired federal judge Mark Wolf for his first ever podcast interview. The Reagan-appointed jurist made headlines last week with his searing indictment of the threat posed to the rule of law and democracy by the current administration. Judge Wolf opens up about his decision to leave the bench after decades of public service and the challenges faced by judges in the face of a president and a Justice Departmen...
Mark as Played
November 14, 2025 • 25 mins
They don’t cut cleanly along party lines, but data centers, and where they get built, became an election issue in Virginia. With so many more data centers to build, are we looking at a new trend?
Guest: Margaret Barthel, reporter covering northern Virginia for WAMU.
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 ...
Mark as Played
November 13, 2025 • 61 mins
This week, Emily Bazelon, John Dickerson, and David Plotz discuss why Democrats caved to end the government shutdown and what comes next, the affordability crisis with guest and editorial director for New York Times Opinion David Leonhardt, and the importance of this week’s spectacle of competing Epstein document drops.
For this week’s Slate Plus bonus episode, Emily, John, and David discuss the consequential career and historic...
Mark as Played
November 13, 2025 • 26 mins
Why would Elon Musk attempt to replace Wikipedia—which is already quite futuristic, utopian and accurate—with a faulty, hallucinatory A.I.-powered “Grokipedia”? Well, see, he called it “Wokepedia…”
Guest: Stephen Harrison, writer, tech lawyer, author of “Why Editing Wikipedia Is Becoming More Dangerous” for Slate and The Editors, a novel about Wikipedia.
Want more What Next? Subscribe to Slate Plus to access ad-free listening to ...
Mark as Played
Popular Podcasts
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Ding dong! Join your culture consultants, Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang, on an unforgettable journey into the beating heart of CULTURE. Alongside sizzling special guests, they GET INTO the hottest pop-culture moments of the day and the formative cultural experiences that turned them into Culturistas. Produced by the Big Money Players Network and iHeartRadio.
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.
The World's Most Dangerous Morning Show, The Breakfast Club, With DJ Envy, Jess Hilarious, And Charlamagne Tha God!
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com