Shows / What Next | Daily News and Analysis
What Next | Daily News and Analysis
The problem with the news right now? It’s everywhere. And each day, it can feel like we’re all just mindlessly scrolling. It’s why we created What Next. This short daily show is here to help you make sense of things. When the news feels overwhelming, we’re here to help you answer: What next? Look for new episodes every weekday morning. Get more of What Next with Slate Plus! Join for exclusive bonus episodes of What Next and ad-free listening on all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe from…
Episodes
What Next | Daily News and AnalysisDid DOGE Cause the Ebola Outbreak?
He’s treated Ebola; he’s had Ebola. Here’s what he thinks of the growing crisis in the Democratic Republic of the Congo—and how America can and should respond…
What Next | Daily News and AnalysisSchadenFriday: Is the Pope Girlbossing AI?
It’s a bit of an overstatement to say “the Pope came out as anti-A.I.” with last week’s encyclical—after all, Anthropic’s cofounder was there for the release…
What Next | Daily News and AnalysisGradu-AI-tion Day
It’s an awkward time to have a Department of Education that seems so disinterested in, uh, education. It’s leaving teachers to grapple with how to integrate…
What Next | Daily News and AnalysisDo the Dems Need More Graham Platners?
Graham Platner has a lot of things in his favor as he runs for a US Senate seat in Maine: it’s an off-election year, the president’s approval rating is…
What Next | Daily News and AnalysisThe Hunger Strike at Delaney Hall
It’s city vs. state vs. the feds at Delaney Hall, an ICE detention facility in Newark, New Jersey, where prisoners have gone on a hunger strike to protest the…
What Next | Daily News and AnalysisConcepts of an Iran Peace Plan
It’s the war that’s been won since it started; the ceasefire with ongoing strikes, and the peace deals that are done except for the points of disagreement…
What Next | Daily News and AnalysisNo Panic! at the DNC
Are the Dems in…array? Or at least, in less of a disarray than their opponents? Guest: Jonathan V. Last, editor at the Bulwark. Want more What Next? Subscribe…
What Next | Daily News and AnalysisTrump's Disney Shakedown
How the Trump administration has tried to put pressure on Disney for opinions expressed by Jimmy Kimmel and the hosts of The View—and how the Mouse is fighting…
What Next | Daily News and AnalysisThe Feds Won’t Touch Polymarket. She Will.
Minnesota’s state restrictions on predictions markets like Kalshi and Polymarket has gotten pushback from an unexpected source: the federal government. Guest…
What Next | Daily News and AnalysisDid Todd Blanche Try to Bribe the Senate?
Well, it wasn’t exactly “standing up to the president” but it’s telling that Congress decided to leave town rather than try to defend Trump’s $1.8 billion…
What Next | Daily News and AnalysisIt’s a Rich Man’s Disney World
Vacations to a Disney park were never cheap but now, in a reflection of American culture writ large, there are ever more-expensive tiers to pay to get into…
- What Next | Daily News and Analysis
The Bethlehem Project: Democrats battle over their party’s future
Thanks for joining us during the holidays. While our team is taking a break, we want to share a podcast with you that we think you’ll love. It’s called The…
What Next | Daily News and AnalysisCan Patreon Build a Better Internet?
The promise of an “internet for niche communities” and “the empowered independent creator” has been taking a beating as the web has become less open and…
What Next | Daily News and AnalysisIs FEMA Heading Towards Disaster?
When Cameron Hamilton testified to Congress that he did not believe “it is in the best interest of the American people to eliminate the Federal Emergency…
What Next | Daily News and AnalysisPour One Out for Stephen Colbert
The late-night show is a staple of network television—maybe even one that has held on past its era. Still, that doesn’t mean The Late Show with Stephen Colbert…
What Next | Daily News and AnalysisA Tale of Two Weenies
With his approval rating dropping to its lowest point yet this term, why are politicians still giving in to Donald Trump? As Senator Bill Cassidy found out…
What Next | Daily News and AnalysisICE Dragged Her from Her Car. She Says, See You In Court.
On her way to a doctor’s appointment in January, a Minneapolis woman was surrounded by ICE agents who smashed her car’s window, cut her seat belt and dragged…
What Next | Daily News and AnalysisTBD Tries…Roblox
Under fire for what critics say is inadequate protection of its young user base, Roblox nevertheless remains incredibly popular. Are the company’s new…
What Next | Daily News and AnalysisSchadenFriday: Ben Shapiro’s Short—as in Abrupt—Decline
Once a rising star of the New Right via New Media, Ben Shapiro and his Daily Wire have spent the second Trump administration in precipitous decline. Is it…
What Next | Daily News and AnalysisTrump Visits the First World
Between artificial intelligence, the Iran War, and the future of Taiwan, there’s a lot for the United States and China to hash out—not least of which being the…
What Next | Daily News and AnalysisHow "Tax the Rich" Went Mainstream
As wealth disparity continues to grow, politicians in New York and California have suggested raising revenue through taxes that are aimed at their wealthiest…
What Next | Daily News and AnalysisThe Case for Fighting Dirty
A redrawn Virginia electoral map looked like it could offset at least some red state gerrymandering—until the Virginia Supreme Court stepped in. But if…
What Next | Daily News and AnalysisShould I Be Freaking Out About Hantavirus?
The world is watching with a wary eye, as passengers leave the hantavirus-infected MV Hondius cruise ship and head to medical facilities or home. Is this the…
What Next | Daily News and AnalysisHas Trump Doomed the GOP?
How long can the MAGA faithful control the GOP? Will Trumpism last long after the big man is gone—or will it not even make it to the end of this term? Guest…
What Next | Daily News and AnalysisDoes Anyone Like A.I.?
Everyone would probably hate A.I. less if we could just see some upside to it. But despite all the investment—into the companies, into infrastructure like data…
What Next | Daily News and AnalysisBuy Your Flights Now
The not-always-beloved-but-indisputably-useful Spirit Airlines has given up the ghost. What does this mean for the airline industry and your summer travel…
What Next | Daily News and AnalysisLook Upon Trump’s Works, Ye Mighty
Donald Trump is spending his second term trying to cement his legacy, but he still hasn’t zeroed in on what that should be: Is it his name on monuments? A…
What Next | Daily News and AnalysisSenate Dems: “So You’re Saying There’s A Chance?”
Even with all that Democrats having going for them—mid-term elections typically favoring the out-of-power party, Trump’s sinking approval rates, even rising…
What Next | Daily News and AnalysisHer Life’s Work Became a Scapegoat. Now What?
“Intersectionality” was one of those “DEI terms” that the Trump administration and Project 2025 were eager to do away with once they got back into power. But…
What Next | Daily News and AnalysisCan This Ex-Republican Win As a Democrat?
Can a Republican Lieutenant Governor be reborn as a Democratic Governor? After failing to create a GOP 2.0, and being harried by Trump for admitting Biden won…
What Next | Daily News and AnalysisBig Tech’s Climate Fight…on Pause?
In the early 2020s, Microsoft committed to buying 75 million tons of carbon removal—somewhere between 70 and 90 percent of the entire carbon removal market…
What Next | Daily News and AnalysisPlus: Amy Goodman of Democracy Now—More than Ever
One of independent journalism’s success stories and most charismatic advocates stops by to answer the question: “If journalism is so great, how did all of THIS…
What Next | Daily News and AnalysisMusk v. Altman
This week marks the beginning of the jury trial between Elon Musk and Sam Altman. There are massive implications for the A.I. industry here, but at the end of…
What Next | Daily News and AnalysisThe Death of the Voting Rights Act
How Wednesday’s Supreme Court decision in Louisiana v. Callais ran contrary to the Voting Rights Act—both as written by Congress and as previously interpreted…
What Next | Daily News and AnalysisA ‘Michigan Mamdani’?
Democrats are starting to let themselves feel a little optimistic about the fall midterms, which is just about time for the fight between the centrists and the…
What Next | Daily News and AnalysisWhy So Many Believe the WHCD Shooting Was Staged
Presidential assassinations have been spawning conspiracy theories since Lincoln. But Saturday’s attempted assassination seems about as straightforward as…
What Next | Daily News and AnalysisMichael Jackson: Too Big to Fail
The biopic “Michael” solves the third-act problem of Michael Jackson’s life by simply ending before the 1993 lawsuit that alleged child sex abuse, and before…
What Next | Daily News and AnalysisHow Mark Zuckerberg Finds Your Perfect Pair of Shoes
The era of ads following you around the internet via cookies might be coming to an end. What’s replacing it? Guest: Sara Fisher, Axios' media correspondent…
What Next | Daily News and AnalysisSchadenFriday: Cabinet Crashouts
The Trump administration is, let’s say, experiencing a bit of turnover this spring. Secretary of Labor Lori Chavez-DeRemer is out and Kash Patel has reached…
What Next | Daily News and AnalysisMAGA's A.I. Schism
Is artificial intelligence a blessing to all humanity, or a demon sent to lead us astray from God’s path? MAGA is choosing between two extremes. Guest: Kiera…
What Next | Daily News and AnalysisCongress’s Purge Era
Representatives Eric Swalwell, Tony Gonzales, and now Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick are out; Virginia is redistricting and Republicans are bracing for a tsunami…
What Next | Daily News and AnalysisWhere’s MY Tariff Refund?
The government is getting ready to pay $166 billion in tariff refunds to American businesses. But the consumers who had to foot the bill for the higher costs?…
What Next | Daily News and AnalysisTaking ICE to Court
During the Trump administration’s winter immigration surge, high-level officials assured ICE agents that they could act with impunity. But two different legal…
What Next | Daily News and AnalysisWhy International Law Can’t Stop Trump
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…
What Next | Daily News and AnalysisIran's Memes Are Winning
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…
What Next | Daily News and AnalysisEveryone Is Lying to You For Money
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…
What Next | Daily News and AnalysisYou Come at the Pope, You Best Not Miss
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…
What Next | Daily News and AnalysisDoes JD Vance Have the Juice?
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…
What Next | Daily News and AnalysisWhat If the US and Iran Are Both Losing?
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…
What Next | Daily News and AnalysisThey Came For Ibram X Kendi. He’s Still Here.
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…
What Next | Daily News and AnalysisWho is Sam Altman Anyway?
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…
What Next | Daily News and AnalysisSchadenFriday: Washington Gets TMZ’d
With Congress again out for recess—instead of, say, working to end the partial government shutdown or doing something, anything, when the president threatens…
What Next | Daily News and AnalysisWhy OpenAI Bought a Talk Show
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…
What Next | Daily News and AnalysisHe Made 2026's "Most Controversial Film"
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…
What Next | Daily News and AnalysisWhat Can a Senator Do to Stop Trump?
Where was Congress while the president threatened that “a whole civilization will die tonight”? Guest: Senator Mark Warner, U.S. Senator from Virginia…
What Next | Daily News and AnalysisTrump’s Threatening War Crimes. Will Anyone Stop Him?
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…
What Next | Daily News and AnalysisTrump Vs The Pope
American Catholicism finds itself at a crossroads—split between its prominent conservative representatives in the Trump administration and in the priesthood…
What Next | Daily News and AnalysisTBD Tries... Vibe Coding
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?…
What Next | Daily News and AnalysisWhy Everyone Is Freaking Out About Private Credit
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…
What Next | Daily News and AnalysisTrump Went to Court—But Left Early
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…