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.
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176
TBD | Influencer vs. Influencer
When everyone’s aiming for the same target, some convergence seems inevitable.
27 min
177
Plus | A Karaoke Holiday With What Next
For Slate Plus subscribers, Mary Harris and Death, Sex & Money host Anna Sale chat about the catharsis of grabbing the mic during a time of great uncertainty.
4 min
178
TBD | Drones!??!!!?!!!
Everyone please calm down.
19 min
179
Can More Grocery Stores Fix Food Deserts?
If you build it, they still might not come.
22 min
180
How Trump Got ABC to Pay Up
With Disney’s backing they could’ve fought this—so why didn’t they?
26 min
181
How Shaboozey Broke the Mold
His hit “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” is both trap-country and an old-fashioned radio hit.
25 min
182
Make Hollywood Great Again
The Daily Wire isn’t content to just fester on YouTube anymore—and major movie studios are watching their success.
25 min
183
TBD | The Surveillance State Trump Is Inheriting
Expanding surveillance under the guise of security is a bipartisan issue. Who will defend our rights?
21 min
184
TBD | Elon Musk and Trump’s Shadow Transition Team
Rich tech guys are finally having a say in how the world works.
23 min
185
Who Can Save the Democrats?
The race to become DNC chair is heating up after a brutal loss.
23 min
186
How Daniel Penny Walked Free
What a “non-guilty” verdict reveals about New York, the law, and the idea of public safety.
26 min
187
Why United Healthcare Is Easy to Hate
Many Americans responded with scorn, not sympathy, to CEO Brian Thompson’s death.
23 min
188
The End of Assad in Syria
Rebel forces have taken Damascus, and the country’s dictator has fled to Moscow. Now what?
26 min
189
TBD | Spotify Trapped
How to unwrap your musical taste from the algorithm
23 min
190
TBD | The Influencer Administration
Trump is packing his administration with social media stars who are selling products, promoting brands and communicating with the public in unprecedented ways.
25 min
191
Even Trump Loyalists Are Scared Of Kash Patel
Members of the last Trump administration cringed at the idea of Patel helping to lead the FBI or the CIA—but there’s no one to say no this time.
24 min
192
Martial Law (Briefly) in South Korea
The declaration barely lasted a few hours, but could have lasting effects on the nation’s democracy.
21 min
193
Did Biden Break the Presidential Pardon?
If he wasn’t Hunter Biden, he wouldn’t be pardoned. But if he wasn’t Hunter Biden, would he have been tried in the first place?
20 min
194
The House’s Gift to Trump
Under an unimpeachable name, the “Stop Terror-Financing and Tax Penalties on American Hostages Act” hides something pernicious.
23 min
195
TBD | When Your Flight’s GPS Gets Spoofed
Drone warfare is commonplace. Commercial planes are collateral damage.
22 min
196
TBD | The Post-Election Social Media Wars
Is this the end of having one, shared “digital public square”?
24 min
197
Decoder Ring | If You Give a Mouse a Cookie…Wil...
How a popular children’s book got caught up in the culture wars.
33 min
198
Which Came First, the Bird Flu or the Egg?
Bird flu has made the leap to mammals and the impact is already at the grocery store.
21 min
199
A New Strategy for Banning Abortion
The latest attempt to ban medication for abortions uses some old, ugly arguments in a new, ugly way.
20 min
200
When Jesus Is on the Curriculum
The Texas State Board of Education takes a particular—and potentially unconstitutional—point of view of religion and history.
22 min