Shows / Radio Atlantic
Radio Atlantic
The Atlantic has long been known as an ideas-driven magazine. Now we’re bringing that same ethos to audio. Like the magazine, the show will “road test” the big ideas that both drive the news and shape our culture. Through conversations—and sometimes sharp debates—with the most insightful thinkers and writers on topics of the day, Radio Atlantic will complicate overly simplistic views. It will cut through the noise with clarifying, personal narratives. It will, hopefully, help listeners make up…
Episodes
Radio AtlanticThe Meaning of 'Melania'
The Melania movie is pitched as a documentary following the first lady of the United States in the lead-up to her husband’s second inauguration. But it’s…
Radio AtlanticHow Jeff Bezos Broke The Washington Post
In a dismal morning Zoom call on Wednesday, The Washington Post’s executive editor, Matt Murray, announced that they were laying off roughly a third of its…
Radio AtlanticTim Walz Fears a Fort Sumter Moment in Minneapolis
The Minnesota governor warns of a national unraveling and shares the view from his state. “ The way you win this is through nonviolence, that you cannot do…
Radio AtlanticAnother Death in Minneapolis
A second American was shot and killed by federal agents. The Atlantic staff writer Adam Serwer joins from Minneapolis to describe what he’s seen there in…
Radio AtlanticThe Discarded
Last year, there was a mass exodus of federal workers: Some were pushed out, while others left on their own. All in all, more than 300,000 Americans left…
Radio AtlanticDo ICE Officers Have 'Immunity'?
Tensions are high in Minneapolis this week. The Trump administration is sending more federal agents. Protesters are calling for justice for the killing of an…
Radio Atlantic'Aren't We Supposed to Be the Good Guys Here?'
President Donald Trump likely won’t listen to this podcast, but Senator Mark Kelly of Arizona has a warning for him: Any attempt to take Greenland using…
Radio AtlanticIs the U.S. Running Venezuela or Not?
After the Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro and his wife were captured by U.S. forces over the weekend, President Donald Trump announced that America would now…
Radio AtlanticNo Easy Fix | An Update on Evan
In July, we published a series of stories about San Francisco’s attempt to address a crisis unfolding on the city’s streets. We followed Evan, who had been…
Radio AtlanticNetflix vs. Paramount
It was a great year for Warner Bros. Discovery: Two of its movies (One Battle After Another and Sinners) are front-runners for the Academy Award for Best…
Radio AtlanticISIS Never Really Went Away
More than a decade after its peak, the Islamic State has changed, but it isn’t defeated. This past weekend, the jihadist group reemerged in connection with two…
Radio AtlanticHe's Undocumented. She's Not.
A young Chicago couple—one is an undocumented immigrant from Poland, and the other is a U.S. citizen—face a choice: stay in the place they’ve called home—or…
Radio AtlanticIs This the End of Kids on Social Media?
Australia is about to become the first country in the world to ban kids under 16 from having social-media accounts. Other countries have attempted partial…
Radio AtlanticHow Alison Roman Does Thanksgiving
In Alison Roman’s newest cookbook, “Something From Nothing,” her pantry is her primary inspiration. In this live conversation, we talk with Roman about her…
Radio AtlanticWhen Border Patrol Comes to Town
When the Trump administration promised a mass deportation campaign they initially relied on Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Disappointed with ICE’s pace…
Radio AtlanticWhat If AI Is a Bubble?
The money keeps coming. Global spending on artificial intelligence is projected to hit $375 billion this year. In 2026, the figure is supposed to approach half…
Radio AtlanticWill 2026 Be a Fair Fight?
Go ahead, Democrats. Enjoy your victory parties. But after that, brace yourselves, because Republicans may not be playing by the same rules a year from now…
Radio AtlanticStrike First, Explain Never
So far, the U.S. has blown up 14 boats in the Caribbean and the Pacific, killing at least 57 people. In the two months since the strikes began, the…
Radio Atlantic18 Minutes From Nuclear Annihilation
In Kathryn Bigelow’s new movie, A House of Dynamite, the clock is ticking. The film’s fictional president of the United States has less than 20 minutes and…
Radio AtlanticIf the Voting Rights Act Falls
This week, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments about the last remaining section of the Voting Rights Act, a civil rights law designed to ensure that states…
Radio AtlanticSaudi Arabia Gets the Last Laugh
The Riyadh Comedy Festival in Saudi Arabia concludes this week, but the outrage (from comedians who didn’t go) and self-justification (from comedians who did)…
Radio AtlanticWeaponizing the Justice Department
President Donald Trump is using the Department of Justice to try to punish his political enemies. How much can the president bend the DOJ, an institution built…
Radio AtlanticAn American Education | 2. Testing Teachers for 'Wokeness'
Hanna Rosin sits down with Oklahoma State Superintendent Ryan Walters to ask him about a purity test for teachers and a nearly scandalous incident that…
Radio AtlanticLive from The Atlantic Festival: ‘2026 Is the Battlefield’
A live conversation about authoritarian forces in America with Anne Applebaum, an Atlantic staff writer, and Garry Kasparov, the former world chess champion…
Radio AtlanticDavid Letterman on the Threats to Late-Night Hosts
Yesterday, Jimmy Kimmel’s late-night show was suspended indefinitely. It’s a shocking moment for free speech, given the order in which events unfolded. Earlier…
Radio AtlanticAn American Education | 1. Is Oklahoma Breaking Public Schools?
American public education is changing. And, in many ways, Oklahoma State Superintendent Ryan Walters is at the center of it, trying to push for Bibles in…
Radio AtlanticRupert Murdoch Gets His Succession Finale
He was, after all, the eldest boy. The family drama that inspired HBO’s Succession ended this week with a settlement that ensures Rupert Murdoch’s conservative…
Radio AtlanticWelcome to the Vaccine Free-for-All
As Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. works to dismantle the national vaccine infrastructure, states have started going their own way…
Radio AtlanticA Blueprint for Military Takeovers
President Donald Trump recently deployed the National Guard to Washington, D.C., and has talked about federalizing the Guard in other cities across the…
Radio AtlanticPeace in Ukraine Is Not a Real-Estate Deal
There was so much symbolism in President Donald Trump’s two most recent international summits—in Alaska last week with Russian President Vladimir Putin, and…
Radio AtlanticNo Easy Fix | 3. A Golden Opportunity
In July, President Donald Trump issued an executive order calling for an expansion of involuntary commitment—forcing people into treatment facilities—in…
Radio AtlanticNo Easy Fix | 2. Tolerance
At the onset of the AIDS crisis in the early 1980s, U.S. cities began trying new ways to stop the spread of infection among drug users. Ideas that were first…
Radio AtlanticNo Easy Fix | 1. Vanishing Point
For the past five years, American cities have tried—and often failed—to meaningfully address worsening homelessness and addiction. In San Francisco, a city…
Radio AtlanticA New Kind of Family Separation
The Trump administration is again going after undocumented minors—but their approach is different than it was during his first presidency. – – – Read more from…
Radio AtlanticEpstein Conspiracy, or Epstein Conspiracy Theory?
Donald Trump and his Department of Justice kicked the conspiracy-theory beehive last week when they rescinded previous promises to make public the government’s…
Radio AtlanticShould You Be Having More Babies?
In the United States and many other Western countries, the decision to have children or not is sometimes framed as a political affiliation: You’re either in…
Radio AtlanticThe Patriotic Punk
The Atlantic’s editor in chief Jeffrey Goldberg talks to Ken Casey, frontman for the Celtic punk band Dropkick Murphys, about the time he called out a fan in…
Radio AtlanticWho Could Rule Iran Next?
We talk with the writer Arash Azizi about what kinds of seismic changes could be coming for his home country of Iran, and whether he thinks they could make…
Radio AtlanticChange Your Personality
A few years ago, Olga Khazan, author of Me, But Better, set out to change her personality, which even she found unpleasant. After consulting with experts on…
Radio AtlanticThe Real Problem With Trump's Parade
In this bonus episode of Radio Atlantic, we talk with staff writer Tom Nichols about how all the pieces fit together: the military parade, the president’s…
Radio AtlanticElon and the Genius Trap
Explaining how Musk tanked his reputation has many ways: First, he alienated environmentalists by teaming up with Trump, and then he alienated Trump fans by…
Radio AtlanticMossad’s Former Chief Calls the War in Gaza ‘Useless’
In April, 250 former Israeli intelligence officers signed their names to an open letter of protest asking Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu not to proceed with…
Radio AtlanticWhy Pilots Don't Get Therapy
The Atlantic’s Jocelyn Frank reports on the detailed system that may be unintentionally leading pilots to avoid the mental-health care that they need, and…
Radio AtlanticWhat RFK Jr. Doesn’t Understand About Autism
We talk with Eric Garcia, author of We’re Not Broken: Changing the Autism Conversation and a political reporter at the Independent, about the myths spreading…
Radio AtlanticTrump and the Crown Prince
Lavender carpets. Golden swords. Arabian horses. President Trump arrived in the Gulf to a royal welcome. Both sides seem delighted about what they’re getting…
Radio AtlanticThe Art of the Doll
Recently, Donald Trump mused that “maybe the children will have two dolls instead of 30 dolls, you know?” We talk with a doll manufacturer and a policy analyst…
Radio AtlanticWhy Is Trump So Into Crypto?
In the past few years, Donald Trump has changed his mind about cryptocurrency. He’s gone from believing it was “based on thin air” to wanting the U.S. to…
Radio AtlanticTrump Is Enjoying Himself
Why would President Donald Trump invite The Atlantic’s editor in chief, Jeffrey Goldberg, whom Trump has attacked as a “total sleazebag,” to meet with him in…
Radio AtlanticElon Musk's Luck Runs Out
For a while, it seemed as if DOGE Elon and Tesla Elon could exist in the same space-time continuum. One of them carried out Donald Trump’s ruthless…
Radio AtlanticSarah McBride Is Used to the Hate
Sarah McBride made models of the White House when she was 6. Her childhood dream, as a Delawarean, was to meet Joe Biden. Then last November, one of her…
Radio AtlanticTariffs Are Paused. Uncertainty Isn't.
The stock market has been tanking since President Donald Trump announced sweeping tariffs a week ago. Then Wednesday mid-afternoon—after Trump reversed course…
Radio AtlanticWhy Trump Wants to Control Universities
If the Trump administration’s actions and rhetoric against universities sound vaguely familiar, that may be because they’ve already happened elsewhere. Over…
Radio AtlanticClassified, or Not Classified?
The Atlantic’s editor in chief, Jeffrey Goldberg, and staff writer Shane Harris published more details from a Signal chat between President Donald Trump’s top…
Radio AtlanticThe Trump Administration Accidentally Texted Our Editor Their War Plans
The Atlantic’s editor in chief, Jeffrey Goldberg, received a connection request on Signal from a “Michael Waltz,” which is the name of President Donald Trump’s…
Radio AtlanticThe Bird-Flu Tipping Point
It’s been five years since the start of the coronavirus pandemic. But there may be another potential pandemic on the horizon: bird flu. Against the backdrop of…
Radio AtlanticWater Is Not Political
How has the cease-fire changed water access in Gaza? And what does it mean when the people in charge of keeping the water flowing are displaced? Host Hanna…
Radio AtlanticThe Mind Readers
How far would a parent go to understand their child? How much might a parent believe? A popular new podcast claims that some nonspeaking kids with autism can…
Radio AtlanticWhat Does a Robot With a Soul Sound Like?
The sound designer Randy Thom was faced with a challenge: What does a robot sound like? And what if that robot learns to love? Get more from your favorite…
Radio AtlanticThe Five Eyes Have Noticed
We talk with staff writer Anne Applebaum about what she calls the “end of the post–World War II order.” We also talk with staff writer Shane Harris, who covers…
Radio AtlanticAmericans Are Stuck. Who's to Blame?
Americans used to move all the time to better their lives. Then they stopped. Why? Read Yoni Appelbaum’s cover story on The Atlantic here. Get more from your…