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Political Gabfest - Republicans vs. the Big Beautiful Bill Jun 05, 2025

Show notes

This week, Emily Bazelon, John Dickerson, and David Plotz discuss Elon Musk’s dramatic entrance into the fight between Republican factions over details of the Big Beautiful Bill, whether an independent judiciary can survive in the face of new threats, and the implications of Trump’s cruel new travel bans.

Here are this week’s chatters:

Emily: Chris Cameron for the New York Times: Trump Orders Investigation of Biden and His Aides; Matt Brown and Chris Megerian for the Associated Press: Trump orders investigation into Biden’s actions as president, ratcheting up targeting of predecessor; Amanda Seitz and Geoff Mulvihill for the Associated Press: Trump administration revokes guidance requiring hospitals to provide emergency abortions; Reva B. Siegel and Mary Ziegler in Virginia Law Review: Abortion’s New Criminalization – A History-and-Tradition Right to Health-Care Access After Dobbs.

John: The Economist: How to prevent drunken punch-ups; Maya Goldman for Axios: Seniors’ marijuana use reaches new high; Benjamin H. Han, Kevin H. Yang, Charles M. Cleland, et al. in JAMA: Trends in Past-Month Cannabis Use Among Older Adults.

David: Ian Austen for the New York Times: A 355-Year-Old Company That Once Owned One-Third of Canada Is Shutting Down; Heather Whiteside for The Conversation: More than a department store: The long, complicated legacy behind Hudson’s Bay Company; Terina Ria for City Cast Salt Lake: How Julia Reagan Became a Billboard Icon; City Cast Salt Lake Podcast: The Julia Reagan Billboard Debate, Permanent Farmers Market, MomTok Parody (audio 32:00).

Listener chatter from Sam Rutledge in Eugene, Oregon: 2021 Telephone Game; Artist Application for 2025 Telephone Game

For this week’s Slate Plus bonus episode, Emily, John, and David discuss whether the term “TACO” (“Trump Always Chickens Out”) is a useful way of understanding Trump, and what else might be driving his unpredictable and impulsive actions.

In the latest Gabfest Reads, Emily talks with author Susan Dominus about her new book, The Family Dynamic: A Journey into the Mystery of Sibling Success.

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

Podcast production by Kevin Bendis

Research by Emily Ditto

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.

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Amicus With Dahlia Lithwick | Law, justice, and the courts - Sneak Preview: Unanimous Opinions Out Front, Desperate Dealmaking Out Back Jun 05, 2025

Show notes

This is part of ⁠Opinionpalooza⁠, Slate’s coverage of the major decisions from the Supreme Court this June. The best way to support our work is by joining ⁠Slate Plus⁠. (If you are already a member, consider a ⁠donation⁠ or ⁠merch⁠!)Also! Sign up for ⁠Slate’s Legal Brief:⁠ the latest coverage of the courts and the law straight to your inbox. Delivered every Tuesday.

Dahlia Lithwick hosts an 'Opinionpalooza' special of Amicus, covering Thursday’s decisions from the Supreme Court. She and Mark Joseph Stern dive into Ames vs. Ohio Youth Department, discussing Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson’s opinion on reverse discrimination, Justice Sonia Sotomayor’s refreshing nod to the establishment clause in the Catholic Charities case, and Justice Kagan’s narrow decision in Mexico’s lawsuit against US gun sellers; a decision that was not the win the gun lobby hoped for. Together, they reveal the strategy emerging from the court’s liberals this term. The episode wraps up with a deep dive into an uptick in dismissed cases and its potential link to audacious former Supreme Court clerks.

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.

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What Next - She Was Tortured. America Shut Her Out. Jun 05, 2025

Show notes

Since January, the Trump administration has suspended the right to claim asylum at the southern border. One narrower form of protection—for those who had been tortured by their governments—was supposed to remain. But lawyers have realized that even that appears to be gone.

Guest: Mark Betancourt, freelance reporter covering immigration from DC, who wrote “This Ethiopian Woman Was Tortured by Her Government. The US is Sending Her Home Anyway” for KQED.

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 Ethan Oberman, Elena Schwartz, Paige Osburn, Anna Phillips, Madeline Ducharme, Isabel Angell, and Rob Gunther.

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What Next - Can Zionism Survive This War? Jun 04, 2025

Show notes

After 20 months of war, with violence erupting far from the Middle East, where is the future of Zionism headed?

Guest: Isaac Saul, Tangle executive editor and author of “I think I’m leaving Zionism, or Zionism is leaving me.”

Podcast production by Ethan Oberman, Elena Schwartz, Paige Osburn, Anna Phillips, Madeline Ducharme, Isabel Angell, and Rob Gunther.

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What Next - George Floyd Square, Five Years Later Jun 03, 2025

Show notes

Five years after George Floyd’s murder sparked nationwide protests, the legacy of that movement is still being written in Minneapolis and America writ large—even as some attempt to erase it.

Guest:

Marcia Howard, president of the teacher chapter of Minneapolis Federation of Teachers

Brandt Williams, senior editor covering race, class and communities for MPR News. 

Podcast production by Ethan Oberman, Elena Schwartz, Paige Osburn, Anna Phillips, Madeline Ducharme, Isabel Angell, and Rob Gunther.

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What Next - Can the U.S. Learn from the U.K.'s Post-Brexit Mess? Jun 02, 2025

Show notes

Stop me if you’ve heard this one before: voter discontentment at the two major parties is creating an opening for a far-right populist with an anti-immigration, protectionist agenda that economic experts warn would be devastating.

With a Trump trade deal in hand, can Keir Starmer and Labour give British voters something to vote for, rather than just against?

Guest: Anand Menon, professor of European Politics and Foreign Affairs at Kings College London.

Podcast production by Ethan Oberman, Elena Schwartz, Paige Osburn, Anna Phillips, Madeline Ducharme, Isabel Angell, and Rob Gunther.

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Slate Money - The Perfect Vacation Length Jun 02, 2025

Show notes

In this special episode of Slate Money, Felix Salmon, Elizabeth Spiers, and Emily Peck discuss how long is too long for a vacation. They dig into how time zones should factor into travel plans, how much recovery time you need on the back end of a vacation, and why you should sometimes plan a trip to do absolutely nothing.

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 Cheyna Roth.

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What Next: TBD | Tech, power, and the future - So Long, Elon Jun 01, 2025

Show notes

His time in Washington was brief, but we’ll be picking up the pieces for a long time. What Elon’s exit signals for the future of DOGE, and Musk’s political career.

Guest: Kate Conger, reporter for the New York Times covering X and other technology companies.

Want more What Next TBD? Subscribe to Slate Plus to access ad-free listening to the whole What Next family and 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.

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Slate Money - Pay Offs & Lay Offs May 31, 2025

Show notes

This week: Felix Salmon left Axios. He, Emily Peck and Elizabeth Spiers discuss the opaque language and politics around parting ways with an employer and the motivation behind giving severance packages. Then, it seems the threat of AI taking over jobs is becoming real as the hosts examine the role state of AI in tech and other industries and its effect on the job market. Finally, major stablecoin issuer Circle is going public. So what is a stablecoin and why do people want them?

In the Slate Plus episode: Donald Trump’s Rococo Share

Podcast production by Jessamine Molli and Cheyna Roth.

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Amicus With Dahlia Lithwick | Law, justice, and the courts - This End Of Term At SCOTUS Is Unlike Any Other in History May 31, 2025

Show notes

The end (of the Supreme Court term) is nigh. This week, Amicus goes into June Opinionpalooza mode with some meta-analysis of what to look out for as the Supreme Court delivers dozens of decisions over the next month or so. Dahlia Lithwick and Mark Joseph Stern say this is a term-ending unlike any other, partly because the number of cases pinging onto the high court’s shadow docket means the term may never really, truly, actually, end. And even when the shadow docket cases are decided, there is no real law that emerges, just a few lines of unsigned chicken scratch. Beyond the big merits cases concerning everything from birthright citizenship to healthcare for trans minors to racial gerrymandering to defunding Planned Parenthood, and beyond the brief, unbriefed, unargued emergency docket cases, the Supreme Court’s conservatives are in a power struggle with the very president they crowned quasi-king.

In a conversation recorded live on Friday at the WBUR Festival in Boston, Mark is joined by Professor Jed Shugerman of Boston University Law School, where they discuss the bad originalism and poor judgment that led to the Roberts’ court’s embrace of a little something called unitary executive theory that has become the Trump administration’s carte blanche.

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.

Get Slate’s latest coverage of the courts and the law straight to your inbox. Delivered every Tuesday. https://slate.com/legalbrief

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