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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 AnalysisThe Discourse | TikTok Ban: The Final Loop?
TikTok—which was supposed to be banned again on Wednesday but, again, isn’t—may be legal once more. The Trump administration says it’s meeting with Xi Jinping…
What Next | Daily News and AnalysisA Very Online Shooter
As the Charlie Kirk murder demonstrated, law enforcement, the government, and media all need more internet fluency. But their reactions in the wake of the…
What Next | Daily News and AnalysisTrump’s Getting His Economy. Yikes.
Donald Trump has been calling for the Fed to cut rates to bolster the economy, and yesterday, they announced they would. The bad news is that’s because the…
What Next | Daily News and AnalysisCan Kash Patel Survive This?
What happens to an organization when it purges much of its leadership and ranks irrespective of ability, and hires for sycophantic loyalty instead? The FBI is…
What Next | Daily News and AnalysisWho’s Winning the War on Higher Education?
Conservatives have decried higher education as a center of liberal indoctrination for decades, and under the second Trump administration, colleges and…
What Next | Daily News and AnalysisHasan Piker Knew Charlie Kirk
Hasan Piker was scheduled to debate Charlie Kirk at Dartmouth College later this month, a left-vs-right, Vidal-vs-Buckley for the streaming age. In the wake of…
What Next | Daily News and AnalysisHer Daughter Killed Herself. Then She Saw the ChatGPT logs.
After their daughter committed suicide, they found her ChatGPT log—and where artificial intelligence helped her write her suicide note. Guest: Laura Reiley…
What Next | Daily News and AnalysisBonus: “We Got Him”
On Friday, authorities announced they had a suspect – and they sure seemed confident they “got him” (to quote Utah Governor Spencer Cox). Mary and Slatester…
What Next | Daily News and AnalysisYou Can't Escape the Charlie Kirk Video
Graphic, violent videos like the shooting of right-wing pundit Charlie Kirk circulate across social media moments after they happen, finding an audience even…
What Next | Daily News and AnalysisHow the Supreme Court Legalized Racial Profiling
How a Supreme Court decision from the shadow docket opens the door to racial profiling, creates a nightmare for millions of Latino Americans, and drains…
What Next | Daily News and AnalysisTrump Blew Up 11 People. Is That Legal?
Last week, Donald Trump announced the military had blown up what he said was a drug-smuggling boat. This week, we still don’t know why he believes the boat was…
What Next | Daily News and AnalysisThe Democrats Have Leverage. Will They Use It?
With Republicans holding both houses of Congress and the White House, Democrats don’t have a lot of ways to stall Donald Trump’s agenda—except for refusing to…
What Next | Daily News and AnalysisCan You Get a COVID Vaccine?
Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s tenure as HHS Secretary has meant turmoil for the CDC: thousands of employees have either been let go, or are unclear on their…
What Next | Daily News and AnalysisEnd of an Electric Avenue
An Inflation Reduction Act subsidy for electric vehicles is being shut down by the Trump administration at the end of September, and automakers are preparing…
What Next | Daily News and AnalysisIs the A.I. Bubble Bursting?
We’ve been told that artificial intelligence can write, code, generate images—it can do everything…except feasibly turn a profit. But investing in A.I. has…
What Next | Daily News and AnalysisDecorator-In-Chief
From the gold accents going up in the White House, to his orders to bring back classical design to federal buildings, Donald Trump is a president with a very…
What Next | Daily News and AnalysisCan Congress Stop Trump's Takeover?
Donald Trump has been working to expand his presidential influence into places that are supposed to operate independently, like the Bureau of Labor Statistics…
What Next | Daily News and AnalysisPresidency for Sale
From selling hats, NFTs and cryptocurrency, to stock boosts, swaps and golf-course deals made abroad, the Trumps are taking this presidency to the bank—for…
What Next | Daily News and AnalysisICYMI | The Great Girlboss Comeback
While the What Next team celebrates Labor Day, please enjoy this episode from our colleagues at ICYMI, Slate’s internet culture podcast. Mary will be back with…
What Next | Daily News and AnalysisA24 Meets A.I.
A24 rose from “small budget indie movie studio” to “one of the most respected brands in cinema” on a reputation for treating filmmakers like auteurs. But as…
What Next | Daily News and AnalysisBonus: I’ll Gav What She’s Gavin
California Governor Gavin Newsom, presumably as a precursor to a run for the presidency, has been getting attention for a very Trump-influenced style of, uh…
What Next | Daily News and AnalysisThe Great Celebrity Spotify Playlist Hack
The playlists of dozens of high-level government officials and tech executives were suddenly broadcast to the world on a website called “the Panama Playlists.”…
What Next | Daily News and AnalysisCould Artificial Blood Save Lives?
Blood has a very short shelf life, even under the best of conditions—and you can picture the less-than-ideal conditions where blood is frequently needed—which…
What Next | Daily News and AnalysisWhat the John Bolton Raid Means
John Bolton isn’t exactly beloved by the right or the left. But sending the FBI to raid his house fits a pattern: Either tell the president what he wants to…
What Next | Daily News and AnalysisThe Man Behind Trump’s Firing of Lisa Cook
Federal Housing Finance Agency director Bill Pulte has led investigations into Senator Adam Schiff, New York Attorney General Leititia James, and the Federal…
What Next | Daily News and AnalysisThe Womanosphere Wants To Make America Hot Again
Katie Miller, whose husband Stephen Miller is Trump’s right-hand man, launched a new podcast to join the growing ranks of content made specifically for…
What Next | Daily News and AnalysisTrump Vs. Cancer Research
President Trump has proposed cutting $2.5 billion from the National Cancer Institute, which in addition to cuts to the National Institutes of Health and…
What Next | Daily News and AnalysisThe CDC Under Fire
Two weeks ago, a gunman fired over 500 bullets at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention building in Atlanta. Between the anti-public health rhetoric…
What Next | Daily News and AnalysisD.C’s Senator Knew This Would Happen
Donald Trump was able to take over the Metropolitan Police Department and send in National Guard troops and federal agents to patrol the streets due to…
What Next | Daily News and AnalysisCan Trump Kill Mail-In Ballots?
Donald Trump returned from his meeting with Vladimir Putin convinced that mail-in voting is how he was cheated from winning the 2020 election. Though he’s come…
What Next | Daily News and AnalysisZelensky Brings a Posse to Washington
After visiting with Vladimir Putin, Volodymyr Zelensky, and European leaders, where does Donald Trump stand on the Ukraine-Russia war—and where does that leave…
What Next | Daily News and AnalysisHow Trump Brought Home a Murderer
Characteristic of this administration’s over-the-top but never-thought-out immigration enforcement, Trump traded more than 250 Venezuelans who had been…
- What Next | Daily News and Analysis
TBD | Down the Text-Scam Rabbit Hole
The scam du jour arrives via a text message, offering you a job. What happens when you accept? Guest: Alex Sammon, Slate features writer. Want more What Next…
What Next | Daily News and AnalysisDown the Text-Scam Rabbit Hole
The scam du jour arrives via a text message, offering you a job. What happens when you accept? Guest: Alex Sammon, Slate features writer. Want more What Next…
What Next | Daily News and AnalysisBonus: Kill Tony, Alive and Thriving
A patron and perhaps foremost practitioner of “anti-woke comedy,” Tony Hinchcliffe sits atop his own thriving comedy kingdom in Austin. And when you’re on top…
What Next | Daily News and AnalysisTrump Dips into NVIDIA’s Chips
Jensen Huang, cofounder of NVIDIA, finds himself president of a $4 trillion company, at the forefront of A.I. technology, and, consequently, something of an…
What Next | Daily News and AnalysisIn Gaza, Journalism Is a Death Sentence
On Sunday, Al-Jazeera’s entire team in Gaza City were killed by an airstrike. Almost immediately, Israel said it targeted one of them on purpose – Anas…
What Next | Daily News and AnalysisWhy Washington, D.C.
Jimmy Carter sent his daughter to its public schools; pictures of Obama still grace businesses’ walls; and now Trump has taken an interest in Washington…
What Next | Daily News and AnalysisSouth Park Understands the Assignment
After using a Trump-stand-in during his first administration, South Park has come back from hiatus as vulgar and confrontational as ever, with its aiming…
What Next | Daily News and AnalysisGutting Our National Parks
From the Statue of Liberty to the Golden Gate Bridge, and places in between like Yellowstone and the site of the Battle of Gettysburg, the National Park…
What Next | Daily News and AnalysisHere Comes the A.I. Music Slop
It’s hard to make money in the music industry. But if you could flood every streamer with hundreds of “original” songs without having to, you know, write or…
What Next | Daily News and AnalysisWhat Happened After Meta Fired Its Fact-Checkers
In January, Mark Zuckerberg announced that Meta was moving from employing professional fact-checkers to letting its users fact-check each other. If you’ve…
What Next | Daily News and AnalysisDonald Trump Vs. Reality Itself
Donald Trump’s never been all that committed to the truth. But experts are warning that by firing the head of the Bureau of Labor Statistics and appointing…
What Next | Daily News and AnalysisA Rabbi’s Plea for Peace
More than a thousand rabbis and Jewish leaders have signed a letter calling for Israel to end “the use and threat of starvation as a weapon of war.” This New…
What Next | Daily News and AnalysisDon’t Mess With Texas’s Election Maps
How Texas redrawing its election maps could set off a gerrymandering arms race across the country—a race the Republicans are likely to win. Guest: Ari Berman…
What Next | Daily News and AnalysisWas Democracy Voted Out?
Belief in democracy was, until quite recently, taken for granted in America. But what if democracy is less a static noun, and more of a dynamic ideal we (could…
What Next | Daily News and AnalysisThe A.I. Data Center Push That Wasn't
OpenAI’s Sam Altman, flanked by President Trump and Softbank’s Masayoshi Son, announced a hugely ambitious investment in data centers across America to support…
What Next | Daily News and AnalysisBonus: When the French Bombed Greenpeace
Some disputes resist an easy “good vs. evil” dynamic, but when one side calls their plans “Operation Satanique,” it’s not too hard to figure who “the baddies”…
What Next | Daily News and AnalysisThe Death of an Online Whisper Network
A shadow app for the dating world had its data hacked and exposed, and it laid bare the perils of creating safe spaces for women online — and of relying on…
What Next | Daily News and AnalysisHow Elon Musk Colonized NASA
How an Obama-era decision to invest in space capitalism handed Elon Musk a monopoly on space. Guest: Franklin Foer, staff writer at the Atlantic, author of…
What Next | Daily News and AnalysisWhy Are So Many Institutions Caving to Trump?
As Trump came back to the presidency, one of the first warnings liberals began repeating was “Do not obey in advance.” But from government-agency heads to…
What Next | Daily News and AnalysisTrans and Shut Out in Trump’s America
Trans rights and access to health care have been under attack on the state level for years, but the second Trump administration and the Supreme Court have…
What Next | Daily News and AnalysisWhy The Shelves Aren't Empty (Yet)
In May, after Trump announced a thorough regime of tariffs, supply chain experts warned that Americans would be looking at empty shelves by the end of June…
What Next | Daily News and AnalysisDupes!
There’s an entire economy devoted to seeing what products are trending—clothing, skin care, even Greek Islands—and delivering you a cheaper knock-off to buy…
What Next | Daily News and AnalysisA Colbert Report
Was the Late Show too unprofitable, or too political? Guest: Eric Deggans, NPR TV critic and media analyst, Knight Chair, Journalism and Media Ethics…
What Next | Daily News and AnalysisHe Says Gaza Is a Genocide
What does it change to call Israel’s assault on Gaza a “genocide”? Guest: Omer Bartov, Dean's Professor of Holocaust and Genocide Studies at Brown University…
What Next | Daily News and AnalysisHow Dead Is the Department of Education?
If Trump follows through and successfully shuts down the Department of Education, what does America stand to lose? Guest: Laura Meckler, national education…
What Next | Daily News and AnalysisOn Epstein, Democrats Go Low
Why the Epstein scandal—more than any of Trump’s other, lengthy list of scandals—is so damaging that even the Democrats can wield it effectively. Guest: Brian…
What Next | Daily News and AnalysisGetting Anti-Vaxxers To Roll Up Their Sleeves
Their son was immunocompromised and couldn’t get the measles vaccines. So his dad asked if everyone going to his school would get vaccinated. And the thing…
What Next | Daily News and AnalysisWhen Bots Go Nazi
It’s kind of strange that Grok, Elon Musk’s chatbot, went full Nazi a few weeks ago, and is just…still out there. But, then again, how are you supposed to hold…