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 the What Next show page on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, or visit slate.com/whatnextplus for access wherever you listen.
126
Was Democracy Voted Out?
Is America still a democracy? Was it ever?
22 min
127
TBD | The A.I. Data Center Push That Wasn't
The Trump administration touted Stargate as a 500 billion dollar investment in American data centers. So far, it hasn't panned out.
24 min
128
Bonus: When the French Bombed Greenpeace
What we can learn from the violent measures taken to suppress protest in 1986.
5 min
129
TBD | The Death of an Online Whisper Network
Your safety? There isn’t an app for that.
25 min
130
How Elon Musk Colonized NASA
They used to go to the moon. Now they rely on contractors.
28 min
131
Why Are So Many Institutions Caving to Trump?
Jerome Powell can stay and fight, or take the road of less resistance and quit.
25 min
132
Trans and Shut Out in Trump’s America
Clinics for trans youth are closing, incorrect passports have been issued, and trans people are having to make emergency health care plans, even in blue states.
25 min
133
Why The Shelves Aren't Empty (Yet)
It doesn’t mean the economy’s doing all that great.
27 min
134
TBD | Dupes!
Is your skincare/skirt/vacation island as good as the real thing?
29 min
135
TBD | A Colbert Report
How Trump did (and didn't) get Stephen Colbert cancelled.
21 min
136
He Says Gaza Is a Genocide
Why an Israeli-American Holocaust scholar felt he had to speak up.
28 min
137
How Dead Is the Department of Education?
The federal agency can’t be abolished with the stroke of a pen. But it can be put on the austerity path to oblivion.
21 min
138
On Epstein, Democrats Go Low
It’s time to get in the muck.
27 min
139
Getting Anti-Vaxxers To Roll Up Their Sleeves
Those who won’t listen to health officials did listen to their neighbors and classmates.
27 min
140
TBD | When Bots Go Nazi
Grok’s antisemitic posting spree was a glimpse of an unregulated AI future.
25 min
141
Bonus: A Muslim, a Dad, an American
Aymann Ismail stops in to talk about his new book—and a certain mayoral race.
3 min
142
TBD | How The Epstein Files Blew Up MAGAworld
Live by the conspiracy, die by the conspiracy.
25 min
143
Can Trump Bully Russia?
Elon Musk isn’t the only one to fall from Trump’s good graces.
22 min
144
Deported—To a Country You've Never Been To
The Trump administration is using a group of immigrants with criminal convictions as a test case to erode basic rights for everyone.
24 min
145
Behind the Democrats’ Losing Strategy
The opposition party needs to shake off the old campaign plans—and the strategists—of the 90s.
25 min
146
Who Is Trump Promoting For Life?
The rush to stock the federal judiciary with MAGA loyalists.
24 min
147
TBD | When A.I. is Sycophantic
Chatbots want to please - but it’s pushing some into dark places.
19 min
148
TBD | Hot Measles Summer
Why the next few months are crucial for containing the outbreak.
23 min
149
Stage Managing Sex in Hollywood
The position has experienced a boom in the years after #MeToo—but have they really changed Hollywood?
27 min
150
Was the Flash Flooding in Texas Preventable?
The world we’ve been building for isn’t the world we’ll be living in.
21 min