316 episodes

A feed from the Slate podcast network featuring episodes with enlightening conversations, opposing views, and plenty of healthy disputes. You'll get a curated selection of episodes from programs like What Next, The Waves, and the Political Gabfest, with deep discussions that go beyond point-counterpoint and shed light on the issues that matter most.

Slate Debates Slate Podcasts

    • Society & Culture
    • 4.6 • 217 Ratings

Listen on Apple Podcasts
Requires subscription and macOS 11.4 or higher

A feed from the Slate podcast network featuring episodes with enlightening conversations, opposing views, and plenty of healthy disputes. You'll get a curated selection of episodes from programs like What Next, The Waves, and the Political Gabfest, with deep discussions that go beyond point-counterpoint and shed light on the issues that matter most.

Listen on Apple Podcasts
Requires subscription and macOS 11.4 or higher

    Anti-Vaxers Aren’t Just Extremists

    Anti-Vaxers Aren’t Just Extremists

    On today’s episode of Hear Me Out: getting the jab.

    Vaccine hesitancy is not a new phenomenon in the United States, but it is a growing one… particularly in conservative Evangelical circles. 

    At the same time, there’s a lot for all of us to dislike, and distrust, about the American healthcare system. So, for those of us who have a hard time working up any sympathy for the vaccine-skeptical crowd, it’s worth asking: what if this is a symptom of the problems we’re all experiencing?

    Johanna Richlin of the University of Maine joins us.

    If you have thoughts you want to share, or an idea for a topic we should tackle, you can email the show: hearmeout@slate.com

    Podcast production by Maura Currie.

    You can skip all the ads in Hear Me Out by joining Slate Plus! Sign up now at slate.com/hearmeoutplus for just $15 a month for your first three months.
    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

    • 35 min
    You Probably Don’t Need Therapy Forever

    You Probably Don’t Need Therapy Forever

    On today’s episode of Hear Me Out: talk it out.

    Talking about therapy isn’t taboo anymore — and that’s great, because everyone deserves help when they need it. The question is… do you really need it?

    Dr. Richard Friedman of Weill Cornell Medicine wrote a piece for The Atlantic last month, headlined ”Plenty of People Could Quit Therapy Right Now.” So why is that the case… and what are the consequences of getting therapy when you don’t need it? 

    Dr. Friedman joins us to discuss.

    If you have thoughts you want to share, or an idea for a topic we should tackle, you can email the show: hearmeout@slate.com

    Podcast production by Maura Currie.

    You can skip all the ads in Hear Me Out by joining Slate Plus! Sign up now at slate.com/hearmeoutplus for just $15 a month for your first three months.
    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

    • 44 min
    Purity Is Poisoning the Progressive Movement

    Purity Is Poisoning the Progressive Movement

    On today’s episode of Hear Me Out: the purity test.

    Purity, in political science, doesn’t have anything to do with morality. It has to do with whether your policy aligns with your principles. 

    From “Bernie Bros” to the uncommitted vote against Biden, we’ve seen progressives protect ideological purity… and punish stances that don’t align. An all-or-nothing stance on issues like universal healthcare and student loan forgiveness might sound appealing to voters. But does it doom progress, practically, if an increment isn’t good enough?

    Shaniqua McClendon, VP of Politics for Crooked Media, joins us to argue against progressive purity politics.

    If you have thoughts you want to share, or an idea for a topic we should tackle, you can email the show: hearmeout@slate.com

    Podcast production by Maura Currie.

    You can skip all the ads in Hear Me Out by joining Slate Plus! Sign up now at slate.com/hearmeoutplus for just $15 a month for your first three months.
    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

    • 37 min
    The House Should Elect The President

    The House Should Elect The President

    On today’s episode of Hear Me Out… Parliamentary America?

    It’s Super Tuesday, and the process by which we elect a president is on full display (warts and all). Americans on both sides of the aisle agree that the electoral college has to go. But what should replace it? 

    Maxwell Stearns, author of Parliamentary America: The Least Radical Means of Radically Repairing Our Broken Democracy (out 3/5/2024), presents his case for restructuring American government to look more like a parliamentary system — and, in the process, to take presidential elections out of the hands of voters and conventions and into the hands of elected coalitions.


    If you have thoughts you want to share, or an idea for a topic we should tackle, you can email the show: hearmeout@slate.com

    Podcast production by Maura Currie.

    You can skip all the ads in Hear Me Out by joining Slate Plus! Sign up now at slate.com/hearmeoutplus for just $15 a month for your first three months.
    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

    • 44 min
    Horse Race Journalism Is Good, Actually

    Horse Race Journalism Is Good, Actually

    On today’s episode of Hear Me Out… are journalists killing democracy?

    Mainstream news outlets are starting to move away from horse race election coverage and toward policy substance. Though it’s a slow change, it’s heralded by much of the news industry as a good one. But what if the horse race was never really the problem? 

    Journalist and writer Chris Cillizza joins us to defend the horse race.


    If you have thoughts you want to share, or an idea for a topic we should tackle, you can email the show: hearmeout@slate.com

    Podcast production by Maura Currie.

    You can skip all the ads in Hear Me Out by joining Slate Plus! Sign up now at slate.com/hearmeoutplus for just $15 a month for your first three months.
    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

    • 44 min
    Un-Cancel Woodrow Wilson

    Un-Cancel Woodrow Wilson

    On today’s episode of Hear Me Out… making (fourteen) points. 

    A piece in this month’s issue of the Atlantic argues that it’s time to re-evaluate the presidency of Woodrow Wilson. President Wilson was indisputably a productive president — but he’s now reviled by the left as a racist and the right as a tyrant. Is there room to meet somewhere in the middle?

    David Frum of the Atlantic joins us to argue that, yes: it’s time to un-cancel Woodrow Wilson. 

    If you have thoughts you want to share, or an idea for a topic we should tackle, you can email the show: hearmeout@slate.com

    Podcast production by Maura Currie.

    You can skip all the ads in Hear Me Out by joining Slate Plus! Sign up now at slate.com/hearmeoutplus for just $15 a month for your first three months.
    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

    • 44 min

Customer Reviews

4.6 out of 5
217 Ratings

217 Ratings

Brett Reynolds ,

Spectacular show

Holliday and Zimmer are deeply knowledgable about the topics and their presentation is entertaining.

andyparfait ,

Very Collegiate Sounding

It’s nice to hear the new host tryout different formats and segments. Good energy! As is, it sounds to me a bit too much like a academic workshop-roundtable: chummy and lively, but not really for outsiders. Needs more detailed explanations or at least less speed through jargon terms if you want a general audience to follow along.

Also, despite saying they are in the “pro language-variation choir”, they start one episode by literally laughing at a regional variation.

AvenSarah ,

Love the new show!

The new show with Nicole & Ben is wonderful—a great mix of knowledgeable and academically informed discussion and fun word games. It’s great to have their thoughtful and progressive voices in this space.

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