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
The UnitedHealth CEO shooting
Gothamist’s Brittany Kriegstein explains who police just arrested. STAT News’s Bob Herman explains the anger resonating against UnitedHealthcare.
22 min
2
Target misses the mark
As Target struggles to retain its customers, rivals like Walmart are making gains. The Wall Street Journal’s Sarah Nassauer explains what’s behind this retail shift.
22 min
3
The truth about Y2K
Kyle Mooney dreams up a New Year’s Eve 1999 apocalypse. Historian Zachary Loeb explains why the real Y2K wasn't one.
23 min
4
Reigniting Syria's civil war
A rebel group changed the course of Syria's long civil war when it seized Aleppo this past weekend. The Syria Report's Jihad Yazigi tells us what motivates the group's canny and mysterious leader.
23 min
5
Can DOGE cut $2 trillion?
Elon, Vivek and the Department of Government Efficiency want to cut $2 trillion from the federal budget. A libertarian says the only way to do it is to eliminate aid programs altogether.
22 min
6
The Hunter becomes the pardoned
On Saturday, future President Donald Trump announced Kash Patel would lead the FBI. On Sunday, current President Joe Biden pardoned his son Hunter. Coincidence? The Washington Post’s Matt Viser and The Atlantic’s Elaina Plott Calabro explain.
24 min
7
Wrestling with the Education Department
Trump has named wrestling tycoon Linda McMahon to be his secretary of education. She’ll be tasked with his campaign promise of … closing the department she’ll run. Is it a good idea?
22 min
8
How Abercrombie made a comeback
Fast Company’s senior fashion writer Elizabeth Segran explains how the company overcame a problematic history to pull off a renaissance in this rebroadcast of our episode from July.
23 min
9
Why volunteering is worth it
Many of us think our individual actions can’t combat systemic problems. Vox's Rachel Cohen and Bowling Alone author Robert Putnam explain why volunteer work, no matter how small, can make a difference for you and for us all.
23 min
10
Handing off a war
Two American presidents are trying to shape the future of the war in Ukraine at the same time.
22 min
11
The Democrat who won in Trump country
US Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez was one of the few Democrats to win a swing district in the 2024 election. She explains what lessons Democrats can learn from her win and what she hopes to accomplish, even as a minority, in the 119th Congress.
23 min
12
Breaking up with your parents
Writer Emi Nietfeld says she felt relief when she cut her mom out of her life. Clinical psychologist Joshua Coleman explains why family estrangement is on the rise.
23 min
13
Robert Fluoride Kennedy Jr.
If RFK Jr. leads the Department of Health and Human Services, he could radically reshape public health priorities in America, from vaccines to fluoride in the water.
22 min
14
The kids aren't reading all right
College students in 2024 are less willing and able to read full books. Today, Explained asks whether that matters.
22 min
15
Deportation nation
President-elect Donald Trump has promised mass deportations. "Operation Wetback" from the Eisenhower days is serving as inspiration.
22 min
16
Team America
President-elect Donald Trump has nominated some unconventional people to his Cabinet, including Fox News host Pete Hegseth as secretary of defense. Washington Post Pentagon reporter Dan Lamothe and military researcher Katherine Kuzminski explain what the picks say about Trump's national security agenda.
22 min
17
When docs cry
Prince is the subject of a new film from one of the greatest living documentarians, but it might never come out and almost no one’s seen it. We talk to someone who did: editor and writer Sasha Weiss. Meanwhile, the rise in pop star docs can be a good hang for fans, but when a film is a glorified press release, we miss out on a lot, says journalist Matthew Belloni.
23 min
18
There's a new tariff in town
Trump’s tariffs could remake world trade. The Wall Street Journal’s Greg Ip explains the president-elect’s plan and how the world is preparing.
23 min
19
The Bro Brogan presidency
An air of musky manliness settled over the 2024 presidential campaign and brought the bros to the polls. But a second Trump term has some women swearing off men — forever.
22 min
20
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
21
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
22
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
23
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
24
Trump country
Donald Trump won. Vox’s Andrew Prokop explains how and Semafor’s Shelby Talcott explains what comes next.
22 min
25
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