Today, Explained

Today, Explained is Vox's daily news explainer podcast. Hosts Sean Rameswaram and Noel King will guide you through the most important stories of the day.


Part of the Vox Media Podcast Network.

News
Daily News
Politics
1
A live-forever diet?
The quest to live forever has taken us from diet fads to geographic fantasies like Blue Zones. But none of these ideas are based in reality, according to Washington Post health columnist Anahad O'Connor and Saul Justin Newman, a researcher on aging.
22 min
2
Does #Resist still exist?
It looks like Donald Trump will arrive in Washington without much of a movement in place to challenge him. Politico’s Melanie Mason and Vox’s Christian Paz explain how the left is bracing for Trump.
22 min
3
The world Trump inherits
Vox’s Joshua Keating explains how Trump’s foreign policy will influence some of the world’s biggest conflicts.
23 min
4
Pin the fail on the donkey
Democrats lost big on Election Day: the presidency, the Senate, and maybe the House too. Vox's Eric Levitz explains what went wrong, and political strategist Jeff Weaver imagines what comes next for the party.
22 min
5
Trump country
Donald Trump won. Vox’s Andrew Prokop explains how and Semafor’s Shelby Talcott explains what comes next.
22 min
6
The most important “most important election”?
It seems as though every election is “the most important election of our lifetime." Historian Jeffrey Engel and political scientist Julia Azari assess whether this is really the one.
22 min
7
How Gaza could decide the election
The key battleground state of Michigan could be decided by Arab American voters disappointed with Democrats' handling of the war in Gaza. Detroit Free Press opinion editor Khalil AlHajal and Michigan State University political scientist Matt Grossmann explain the stakes.
22 min
8
Why everybody's running marathons now
Marathon participation is surging, fueled in large part by 20-somethings who’ve embraced distance running as a way to deal with their quarter-life crises. Journalist Maggie Mertens and researcher Kevin Masters break down the state of the race.
23 min
9
Did the Dodgers save baseball?
Dodger Blue Dream podcast host Richard Parks III looks back on a cinematic season. The Wall Street Journal’s Jared Diamond explains whether it was enough to revive ratings.
24 min
10
Polar opposites
Florida is looking to turn one of its last apolitical offices into yet another partisan job. It's the latest example of political polarization making its way into nearly every aspect of American life.
22 min
11
How Trump could steal the election
Donald Trump doesn't want to let losing the election stop him from taking the White House. Politico's Kyle Cheney details the Trump plan to overturn a Harris win and explains what it would take to stop that from happening.
24 min
12
It's the economy, stupid
Economic concerns are shaping this year’s election, especially in Nevada. As candidates promise no taxes on you-name-it, it’s a glimpse into how each would reshape American taxes while in office.
22 min
13
Why do I keep getting these weird fundraising t...
In this special feed drop of the new Vox podcast Explain It to Me, we answer some of the questions you have asked Vox about the election, like why you’re getting so many urgent texts asking for money.
49 min
14
Is there a Dr Pepper in the house?
Dr Pepper has overtaken Pepsi as the second-bestselling soda in the US. Its rise helps explain dirty sodas, healthy sodas, and the overall explosion of the beverage market.
23 min
15
Musk’s million dollar giveaway
Elon Musk has become Trump’s most important fundraiser and his hands-on approach is breaking political norms, according to Tim Higgins and Dana Mattioli of the Wall Street Journal.
22 min
16
Demographics aren't destiny
Latinos and other groups that typically vote for Democrats are showing weaker support for Kamala Harris. Vox's Christian Paz and Cook Political Report's Amy Walter explain how that's shaking up this election.
22 min
17
The battle for Congress
Republicans are projected to take the Senate in November, but Democrats have a fighting chance to win the House — if they can turn out a broad anti-Trump coalition.
22 min
18
Category 2024
WFAE’s Steve Harrison explains how North Carolina is readying itself for Election Day after Hurricane Helene. And CNN’s Sara Murray says other states have their own issues, too.
22 min
19
Reconsidering the Menendez brothers
A new documentary and a Ryan Murphy drama have Lyle and Erik Menendez back in the news. Vox's Aja Romano explains how new evidence and new attitudes about abuse survivors might help free the brothers.
22 min
20
Is Trump for real?
Donald Trump talked over the weekend about deploying the military against an "enemy from within." The Washington Post's Isaac Arnsdorf explains how Trump's comments fit into a broader pattern of alarming campaign promises, and New York Times reporter Shawn McCreesh explains whether Republican voters even take this sort of talk seriously.
22 min
21
The minds behind MAGA
Vox's Andrew Prokop and Zack Beauchamp explain the right-wing thinkers whose ideas could dominate Trump's next term.
22 min
22
Can Democrats win back rural voters?
Wisconsin wasn’t always a battleground state, but following Trump’s victory there in 2016, Democrats are trying to regain their footing among rural voters.
22 min
23
Pennies don’t make cents
Pennies cost more than a cent to make — and no one spends them. The New York Times Magazine’s Caity Weaver explains why we can’t get rid of them.
22 min
24
A hurricane of misinformation
Lies about disaster relief are spreading like never before this hurricane season, and it’s making FEMA’s job harder. Juliette Kayyem, author of The Devil Never Sleeps: Learning to Live in an Age of Disasters, explains.
22 min
25
Mysterious Melania
Book critic Martin Pengelly read MELANIA so you don’t have to. Intelligencer’s Margaret Hartmann says the book is the latest in a long line of Trump grifts.
23 min