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4.4 (478)
NEWS COMMENTARY
UPDATED DAILY

Daily news updates from across the Slate Podcast network.

4 HRS AGO

What Next | The Jan 6ers: Where Are They Now?

The investigation into the 2021 attack on the Capitol was the largest in FBI history. Then Trump came back into office—and started undoing it. Guest: Ryan Reilly, reporter covering the Justice Department and federal law enforcement for NBC News, author of Sedition Hunters: How January 6th Broke the Justice System. 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 Elena Schwartz, Paige Osburn, Anna Phillips, Madeline Ducharme, and Rob Gunther. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

29 min
4 HRS AGO

Slate Money | Money Talks: Barbie’s Dirty Laundry

In this Money Talks: Journalist and author Tarpley Hitt joins Emily Peck to discuss her new book Barbieland: The Unauthorized History which reveals the shady history behind the super-star doll. They’ll get into inventor Ruth Handler’s so-called "inspiration" by a popular German doll, Mattel’s industry spies and many, many lawsuits, and how Handler single-handedly prevented Nixon-era maternity leave policies. 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 and Cheyna Roth. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

36 min
1D AGO

What Next | Don’t Call It a Regime Change

The Trump administration has a handful of answers to the question “Why did the United States pluck Nicolás Maduro from Venezuela?”—it was for narcoterrorism, or payback, or just oil. They’re even less clear about what’s going to happen with the country now. Guest: Shane Harris, staff writer covering national security and intelligence for the Atlantic. 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 Elena Schwartz, Paige Osburn, Anna Phillips, Madeline Ducharme, and Rob Gunther. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

30 min
2D AGO

What Next: TBD | Are We Over the Moon?

The Trump administration wants NASA to land astronauts on the moon by 2027. They also want them to do it with their budget slashed, a leadership carousel and competing views that Mars is more important. Guest: Joel Achenbach, freelance journalist and author of Moondoggle If you want to support more of this reporting, in 2026 and beyond, consider signing up for Slate Plus. You’ll enjoy ad-free listening across the Slate network, early access to tickets for live events, and you’ll never hit the paywall on the site. Visit Slate.com/whatnextplus to sign up. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

37 min
3D AGO

Slate Money | Schrödinger’s Equities

This week: 2025 ended on high for the US stock market but no one seems too pleased with its performance. Felix Salmon, Elizabeth Spiers, and Emily Peck, unpack the story of the US markets in 2025, why it was outperformed internationally, and the role AI has played. Then, the hosts discuss how, amid the uncertainty and chaos of Trump’s trade war, Mexico has found a way to come out on top. And finally, 2025 saw a boom for dealmaking with $2.4 trillion in global mergers and acquisitions. Meanwhile, old fashioned conglomerate Berkshire-Hathaway is changing hands with Warren Buffett stepping down at the age of 95. Will the new CEO keep with Buffett’s conservative investment strategy? In the Slate Plus episode: Food52 & Saks Run Out of Cash 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 and Cheyna Roth. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

52 min
3D AGO

ICYMI | Twitter Is Dead (Really, We Mean It)

On today’s episode, host Kate Lindsay is joined by The Atlantic staff writer and host of the Galaxy Brain podcast, Charlie Warzel. Charlie has been following the demise of Twitter, now called X, since Elon Musk took over in 2022. While many of Musk’s decisions have prompted people to declare the end of the app, the introduction of a new location feature undermines almost all of what was left of its relevance. Can we finally call it? Is this Twitter’s official time of death? This podcast is produced by Daisy Rosario, Vic Whitley-Berry, and Kate Lindsay. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

52 min
3D AGO

Amicus | The Fast Track To Autocracy

In a special new year retrospective, Amicus host Dahlia Lithwick revisits an important episode from early 2025. Back at the beginning of February, Kim Lane Scheppele, the Laurance S. Rockefeller Professor of Sociology and International affairs at Princeton University, pointed to the speed and viciousness of the very opening legal gambits in Trump 2.0 as evidence that America had already switched over to the fast track for autocracy on January 20th, 2025. An expert in the law of autocracy, Scheppele has seen firsthand what happened to constitutional courts, the media, the academy and the democratic norms that protected them in Russia and Hungary. In this interview, Scheppelle explains how Trump’s executive orders on everything from government funding to transgender people in the military reveal a familiar global playbook that has chillingly familiar endpoints. 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. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

1 hr
4D AGO

What Next: TBD | 2025: Dystopian Tech of the Year

Artificial intelligence boosters spent the year wedging the tech into our lives – whether we wanted it or not. But one new product brought A.I. from every app and website into the meatspace, forcing you to face it eye-to-eye. Guest: Nitish Pahwa, staff writer at Slate covering business and technology 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/tbdplus to get access wherever you listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

28 min

See All (2K)

Anna Sale explores the big questions and hard choices that are often left out of polite conversation. Get more Death, Sex & Money with Slate Plus! Join for exclusive bonus episodes of DSM and ad-free listening on all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe from the Death, Sex & Money show page on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Or, visit slate.com/dsmplus to get access wherever you listen.

4.7 (778)

RELATIONSHIPS
Decoder Ring is the show about cracking cultural mysteries. In each episode, host Willa Paskin takes a cultural question, object, or habit; examines its history; and tries to figure out what it means and why it matters. Get more of Decoder Ring with Slate Plus! Join for exclusive bonus episodes of Decoder Ring and ad-free listening on all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe from the Decoder Ring show page on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Or, visit slate.com/decoderplus for access wherever you listen.

4.6 (267)

DOCUMENTARY
Voted “Favorite Political Podcast” by Apple Podcasts listeners. Stephen Colbert says "Everybody should listen to the Slate Political Gabfest." The Gabfest, featuring Emily Bazelon, John Dickerson, and David Plotz, is the kind of informal and irreverent discussion Washington journalists have after hours over drinks. 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.

4.5 (489)

POLITICS
Slow Burn illuminates America’s most consequential moments, making sense of the past to better understand the present. Through archival tape and first-person interviews, the series uncovers the surprising events and little-known characters lurking within the biggest stories of our time. Want more Slow Burn? Join Slate Plus to unlock full, ad-free access to Slow Burn and your other favorite Slate podcasts. You can subscribe directly from the Slow Burn show page on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Or, visit slate.com/slowburnplus to get access wherever you listen. Season 10: The Rise of Fox News How a cable news channel became a cultural and political force—and how a whole bunch of people rose up to try and stop it. Season 9: Gays Against Briggs A nationwide moral panic, a California legislator who rode the anti-gay wave, and the LGBTQ+ people who stepped up and came out to try and stop him. Season 8: Becoming Justice Thomas Where Clarence Thomas came from, how he rose to power, and how he’s brought the rest of us along with him, whether we like it or not. Winner of the Podcast of the Year at the 2024 Ambies Awards. Season 7: Roe v. Wade The women who fought for legal abortion, the activists who pushed back, and the justices who thought they could solve the issue for good. Winner of Apple Podcasts Show of the Year in 2022. Season 6: The L.A. Riots How decades of police brutality, a broken justice system, and a video tape set off six days of unrest in Los Angeles. Season 5: The Road to the Iraq War Eighteen months after 9/11, the United States invaded a country that had nothing to do with the attacks. Who’s to blame? And was there any way to stop it? Season 4: David Duke America’s most famous white supremacist came within a runoff of controlling Louisiana. How did David Duke rise to power? And what did it take to stop him? Season 3: Biggie and Tupac How is it that two of the most famous performers in the world were murdered within a year of each other—and their killings were never solved? Season 2: The Clinton Impeachment A reexamination of the scandals that nearly destroyed the 42nd president and forever changed the life of a former White House intern. Season 1: Watergate What did it feel like to live through the scandal that brought down President Nixon?

4.6 (1235)

HISTORY
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.

4.4 (121)

DAILY NEWS
What makes a song a smash? Talent? Luck? Timing? All that—and more. Chris Molanphy, pop-chart analyst and author of Slate’s “Why Is This Song No. 1?” series, tells tales from a half-century of chart history. Through storytelling, trivia and song snippets, Chris dissects how that song you love—or hate—dominated the airwaves, made its way to the top of the charts and shaped your memories forever. Get more Hit Parade with Slate Plus! Join for monthly early-access episodes, bonus episodes of "The Bridge," and ad-free listening across all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe directly from the Hit Parade show page on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Or, visit slate.com/hitparadeplus to get access wherever you listen.

4.8 (195)

MUSIC HISTORY

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Emily Bazelon

Host
David Plotz

Host
John Dickerson

Host
León Krauze

Host
Virginia Heffernan

Host
Yascha Mounk

Host

4.4

out of 5

478 Ratings

Worst impersonation of Trump

2020-01-10

CAJ8585

I was enjoying this podcast until some guy came out of nowhere and did the worst Trump impersonation I have ever heard. It would be fine if this was an isolated short imperssonation I could handle it, but It went on and on. Deepest respect and i am sure you are great at many things. Trump impersonator is not one of them.
Kathy Griffin

2020-12-28

Southampton Guy

Thanks Virginia. Nice to hear from Kath. They tried to make her go to rehab ...she said No No No. One more term and it would have been re education camp.
Favourite podcast of all

2020-10-31

xifgtd

I I look forward to this every week. I’m a Canadian who is trying to understand “why??” and this podcast helps. I especially enjoy the vivid way that Virginia speaks, and has really exceptional guests with whom she has rigorous dialogue. I really appreciate this podcast, although I hope it ends soon. I will be following Virginia’s work, whatever happens.
Masterfully...

2020-10-30

JRreview

...therapeutic at voicing our innermost fears, affirming that we are sane .