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What Next - Is Tech Dismantling Democracy? Aug 19, 2026

Show notes

Our Silicon Valley overlords, as they’ll tell you, aren’t huge fans of liberal democracy—and their products that we’ve integrated into our lives reflect that. As we rely on them more and more, this tension is only going to get worse.

Guest: Jill Lepore, author of “The Rise and Fall of the Artificial State”, professor of American History at Harvard, staff writer for The New Yorker.

Want more What Next? Subscribe to Slate Plus to access ad-free listening to the whole What Next family and across all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe today on Apple Podcasts by clicking “Try Free” at the top of our show page. Sign up now at slate.com/whatnextplus to get access wherever you listen.

Podcast production by Rob Gunther, Evan Campbell, Madeline Thames-Ducharme and Patrick Fort.

Paige Osburn is the senior supervising producer of What Next and What Next TBD.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Slate Money - Money Talks: Do Childcare Subsidies Pay Off? Aug 18, 2026

Show notes

In this Money Talks: Martha Gimble, the Executive Director of the Budget Lab at Yale, joins Elizabeth Spiers to explain their recent report on early childhood education and care policies and how federal subsidies could realistically work to make these things affordable.

Join Slate Plus to unlock weekly bonus episodes. Plus, you’ll access ad-free listening across all your favorite Slate podcasts. You can subscribe directly from the Slate Money show page on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Or, visit slate.com/moneyplus to get access wherever you listen.

Podcast production by Jessamine Molli.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What Next - The Nightmare on the USS Lincoln Aug 18, 2026

Show notes

The situation aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier is reportedly dire: broken toilets, shortages of water, rationed, lousy food, little access to laundry, or communication with their families, all while engaged with Iran and its proxies. It’s bad enough that at least two crew members have tried jumping overboard.

But even though this deployment has been three months longer than usual, over the weekend President Trump said it wasn’t “nearly long enough.”

Guest: Ian Prasad Philbrick, Slate politics writer and writer of The Slatest newsletter.

Podcast production by Rob Gunther, Evan Campbell, Madeline Thames-Ducharme and Patrick Fort.

Paige Osburn is the senior supervising producer of What Next and What Next TBD.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What Next - They Stood Their Ground. Was It Murder? Aug 17, 2026

Show notes

A stranger approaching and aiming a gun at you seems like the exact scenario that “Stand Your Ground” laws were made to address. But a case in Florida where the armed strangers were white and the people “standing their ground” were Black demonstrates that the law’s’ protections and application fall along familiar and unequal lines.

Guest: Caroline Light, Senior Lecturer and the Director of Undergraduate Studies in WGS at Harvard, author of Stand Your Ground: A History of America’s Love Affair with Lethal Self-Defense.

Podcast production by Rob Gunther, Evan Campbell, Madeline Thames-Ducharme and Patrick Fort.

Paige Osburn is the senior supervising producer of What Next and What Next TBD.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Slate Money - What the Shell? Aug 15, 2026

Show notes

This week: The Treasury Department announced it’s killing an anti-corruption measure that requires shell companies to identify their beneficiaries. Felix Salmon, Elizabeth Spiers, and Emily Peck explain how a key aspect of the bipartisan Corporate Transparency Act ended up on the chopping block—and what lobbyists and the Trump administration stand to gain from its elimination. Then, the hosts discuss the billionaires who are buying themselves fun little treats like the L.A. Lakers and Broadway theaters. And later: how Italian bank vaults full of Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese are dealing with the extreme heat.

In the Slate Plus episode: What’s $6 Million Between Friends?

Want to hear that discussion and hear more Slate Money? Join Slate Plus to unlock weekly bonus episodes. Plus, you’ll access ad-free listening across all your favorite Slate podcasts. You can subscribe directly from the Slate Money show page on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Or, visit slate.com/moneyplus to get access wherever you listen.

Podcast production by Jessamine Molli.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Amicus With Dahlia Lithwick | Law, justice, and the courts - Becoming Justice Gorsuch | 1. Man With a Plan Aug 15, 2026

Show notes

Our friends over at the Slate podcast Slow Burn are good at taking events that we think are settled history, then unlocking a new understanding of those stories through interviews, archives, and fresh analysis. They’ve reexamined Supreme Court history several times in recent years, including a new season about Neil Gorsuch we’re featuring on Amicus for the next three weeks.

Becoming Justice Gorsuch explores the early years of Donald Trump’s first high-court appointee and his precedent-shattering path to power. It’s a must-listen if you want to understand this 6-3 Roberts court, how it came to be, and where it’s headed.

In Episode 1, you’ll hear how Gorsuch’s worldview was shaped by his iconoclastic mother, his reaction to life on a liberal college campus, and young conservative movements of the 1980s. You’ll also hear a familiar voice, with Slow Burn host Susan Matthews interviewing Amicus co-host Mark Joseph Stern.

Want more Amicus? Join Slate Plus to unlock weekly bonus episodes with exclusive legal analysis. Plus, you’ll access ad-free listening across all your favorite Slate podcasts. You can subscribe directly from the Amicus show page on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Or, visit slate.com/amicusplus to get access wherever you listen.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Political Gabfest - Gabfest Reads | Look What You Made Me Do Aug 15, 2026

Show notes

David Plotz interviews John Lanchester about his new novel Look What You Made Me Do, a darkly funny psychological thriller about two couples in modern-day London whose lives collide in a story of infidelity, obsession, and revenge. The book explores the performance of niceness, class, intergenerational frictions and how technology makes vengeance not just possible but almost exceedingly easy in the modern age. The novel's real pleasure lies in its voice and humor, including a legendary dinner party scene where a character launches into a scathing riff on the ubiquity of Yotam Ottolenghi's cooking in contemporary British life. The result is simultaneously a thriller, a comedy, and a dark meditation on niceness in an age when everyone is watching everyone else.

Tweet us your questions @SlateGabfest or email us at gabfest@slate.com. (Messages could be quoted by name unless the writer stipulates otherwise.)

Podcast production by Nina Porzucki.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What Next - Off the Record: Air Farce One Aug 14, 2026

Show notes

How much should we know about our politicians? This week we found out that even two of the most scrutinized people in America still have their secrets—be it how our president gets where he’s going, or if a certain House member is, in fact, not engaged and is actually...single?

This episode is member-exclusive. Listen to it now by subscribing to Slate Plus. By joining, not only will you unlock exclusive episodes of What Next —you’ll also access ad-free listening across all your favorite Slate podcasts. You can subscribe directly from the What Next show page on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Or, visit slate.com/whatnextplus to get access wherever you listen.

Podcast production by Rob Gunther, Evan Campbell, Madeline Thames-Ducharme and Patrick Fort.

Paige Osburn is the senior supervising producer of What Next and What Next TBD.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What Next: TBD | Tech, power, and the future - Are Flock Cameras Watching You? Aug 14, 2026

Show notes

In a world where everyone is carrying smartphones and setting up Ring cameras, you could be forgiven for thinking the war is over and the surveillance state won. But Flock cameras being denounced in town halls and smashed on the street have become a place for people to channel their heretofore unseen rage.

Guest: Joseph Cox, reporter for 404 Media

Want more What Next TBD? Subscribe to Slate Plus to access ad-free listening to the whole What Next family and across all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe today on Apple Podcasts by clicking “Try Free” at the top of our show page. Sign up now at slate.com/whatnextplus to get access wherever you listen.

Podcast production by Rob Gunther, Evan Campbell, Madeline Thames-Ducharme and Patrick Fort.

Paige Osburn is the senior supervising producer of What Next and What Next TBD.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Political Gabfest - Air Faux One Aug 13, 2026

Show notes

This week, Emily Bazelon, David Plotz, and guest host Juliette Kayyem discuss the security calculations behind Trump’s plane switch operation; the White House’s attempts to circumvent Supreme Court rulings in its continued obsession with ‘birth tourism’; and whether ‘burritogate’ reveals the extent of today’s economic anxiety or that young Americans simply aren’t learning to cook anymore.

For this week’s Slate Plus bonus episode, Emily, David, and guest host Juliette Kayyem discuss whether the benefits of the Flock surveillance network are worth its tradeoffs. Flock cameras help police solve crimes, but cases of officers abusing their access to the technology for stalking raise concerns about privacy violations.

In the latest Gabfest Reads, John Dickerson interviews Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan about their new book Regime Change: Inside the Imperial Presidency of Donald Trump. Drawing on extensive reporting from inside the White House, they explore how Trump’s second term differs radically from his first, from his decision-making process to the people surrounding him and his relationship with power, money, and the presidency itself.

Email your chatters, questions, and comments to gabfest@slate.com. (Messages may be referenced by name unless the writer stipulates otherwise.)

Podcast production by Jay Cockburn

Research by Nora Moses

You can find the full Political Gabfest show pages here.

Want more Political Gabfest? Join Slate Plus to unlock weekly bonus episodes. Plus, you’ll access ad-free listening across all your favorite Slate podcasts. You can subscribe directly from the Political Gabfest show page on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Or visit slate.com/gabfestplus to get access wherever you listen.

Find out more about David Plotz's monthly tours of Ft. DeRussy, the secret Civil War fort hidden in Rock Creek Park.

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