Trump has just about done it again—and the country’s largely swinging further to the right on down-ballot candidates and even some ballot initiatives. Why couldn’t the Harris campaign pull it off, and what do other key losses for the Democrats say about what Americans want?

Guest: David Faris, politics professor at Roosevelt University and contributing writer for Slate.

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

It’s been a strange election—Trump being shot at on stage; Biden dropping out—but also a very familiar one, with the same issues, same rhetoric, and same deadlocked, dysfunctional Congress waiting on the other side.

How long will the political Groundhog Day last—and what will it take to break this cycle?

Guests: Jamelle Bouie, New York Times opinion columnist.

Osita Nwanevu, contributing editor at the New Republic and columnist at The Guardian.

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

The worst part about the election being tomorrow is knowing that we (almost definitely) won’t know the results tomorrow.

Guests:

Ari Berman, voting rights reporter for Mother Jones

Kadia Goba, political reporter for Semafor

Isaac Saul, founder of the Tangle newsletter

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.

We want to hear from you! Submit your answers to our What Next listener survey at slate.com/WhatNextSurvey.

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

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Nearly half of states – 24 and Washington, D.C – have legalized recreational marijuana. As more people report regularly using it, physicians are seeing patients with alarming side effects related to their cannabis use.

On this week’s episode of Well, Now Kavita and Maya sit down with internist and pediatrician Dr. Brittany Tayler to better understand these conditions and who could most likely get them.

If you liked this episode, check out: Psychedelics’ Long Strange Trip to the Doctor’s Office

Well, Now is hosted by registered dietitian nutritionist Maya Feller and Dr. Kavita Patel.

Podcast production by Vic Whitley-Berry with editorial oversight by Alicia Montgomery.

Send your comments and recommendations on what to cover to wellnow@slate.com.

Want to listen to Well, Now uninterrupted? Subscribe to Slate Plus to immediately unlock ad-free listening to Well, Now and all your other favorite Slate podcasts. 

Subscribe now on Apple Podcasts by clicking “Try Free” at the top of our show page. Or, visit slate.com/wellnowplus to get access wherever you listen.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Voters in swing states are being subjected to constant political messages—on billboards, commercials and, increasingly, via text messages. But are dozens of “make a plan to vote” texts you’re receiving going to make a difference?

Guest: Jacob Neiheisel, political science professor at the University at Buffalo 

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.

Disclosure in Podcast Description: A Bond Account is a self-directed brokerage account with Public Investing, member FINRA/SIPC. Deposits into this account are used to purchase 10 investment-grade and high-yield bonds. As of 9/26/24, the average, annualized yield to worst (YTW) across the Bond Account is greater than 6%. A bond’s yield is a function of its market price, which can fluctuate; therefore, a bond’s YTW is not “locked in” until the bond is purchased, and your yield at time of purchase may be different from the yield shown here. The “locked in” YTW is not guaranteed; you may receive less than the YTW of the bonds in the Bond Account if you sell any of the bonds before maturity or if the issuer defaults on the bond. Public Investing charges a markup on each bond trade. See our Fee Schedule. Bond Accounts are not recommendations of individual bonds or default allocations. The bonds in the Bond Account have not been selected based on your needs or risk profile. See https://public.com/disclosures/bond-account to learn more.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Neil deGrasse Tyson’s life-long love of science led him to astrophysics and a career as the nation’s premiere voice on making science accessible for all. On today’s episode of A Word, he joins host Jason Johnson for a conversation about the new edition of his book, Merlin’s Tour of the Universe, Revised and Updated for the Twenty-First Century: A Traveler’s Guide to Blue Moons and Black Holes, Mars, Stars, and Everything Far. They also discuss the science in pop culture, the political history of space flight, and why he’s still proud to have led the effort to remove Pluto’s status as a planet.

Guest: Astrophysicist and author Neil deGrasse Tyson

Podcast production by Kristie Taiwo-Makanjuola

Want more A Word? Subscribe to Slate Plus to immediately access ad-free listening across all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe today on Apple Podcasts by clicking “Try Free” at the top of our show page. Or, visit slate.com/awordplus to get access wherever you listen.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week: Readers aren’t buying Jeff Bezos’ claim that killing the Washington Posts’ presidential endorsement wasn’t from his own business interests. Emily Peck, Elizabeth Spiers, and Anna Szymanski weigh in on how the move may or may not help Bezos and what the WaPo boycott can actually accomplish. Also: How would a trump victory affect the economy? Badly, economists say. Finally: Facebook laid off two dozen workers for abusing their free GrubHub vouchers as companies crack down on perk abuse.

In the Plus segment: The New York Times took a executives-parents.html">sympathetic look at the parents of Sam Bankman-Fried and other jailed FTX execs. Our hosts found it to be pandering to the anxieties of the paper’s white, suburban readers. How much sympathy do the parents of 30-something corporate crooks really deserve? 

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 Jared Downing and Cheyna Roth.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week’s show is unapologetically long, deep, and hopeful. Dahlia Lithwick is joined by Yale history professor Timothy Snyder to talk about his new book, On Freedom, and to have the audacity to re-imagine freedom on the precipice of an election that could turn the United States hard right into tyranny. Next, Dahlia is joined by Rick Hasen, Director of the Safeguarding Democracy Project at UCLA Law School, for a gut-check about how the election might go, legally speaking, and a reminder that “too early to call” is a pro-democracy posture on election night—even as the former guy almost certainly claims victory before the clock strikes midnight—regardless of the actual results. 

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

How did Elon Musk go from a poster to someone pumping millions of dollars towards Donald Trump? And what’s he hoping to get for doing so?

Guest: Max Chafkin, Bloomberg Businessweek columnist. 

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.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week, Emily Bazelon, John Dickerson, and David Plotz discuss the final week of the presidential campaign; the threats to election integrity; and the consequences of not endorsing. Join us on December 4 for Political Gabfest Live in Brooklyn! Tickets are on sale now. And send us your Conundrums at slate.com/conundrum.

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

Podcast production by Cheyna Roth

Research by Julie Huygen

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.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

They believe they are the law. They believe the 2020 election was stolen from Donald Trump. They’re determined not to let it happen again. Meet the constitutional sheriffs.

Guest: David Gilbert, reports on disinformation, online extremism and election hucksters for WIRED.

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.

We want to hear from you! Submit your answers to our What Next listener survey at slate.com/WhatNextSurvey.

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

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It’s gone to Trump once and Biden once. Now, there’s a slight but very real chance that the entire election will turn based on how Nebraska’s second congressional district—with its singular electoral college vote—goes.

Guest: Paul Kane, congressional reporter at the Washington Post.

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

On September 14th 2024, thousands of people joined the Gender Liberation March in Washington D.C. to join the call to protect reproductive health, bodily autonomy, and comprehensive healthcare access. In this episode, Jules Gill-Peterson sits down with lead organizers Raquel Willis and Eliel Cruz to talk about the march and movement building during an election year. Raquel and Eliel share into their intersectional approach to organizing and how gender liberation frees us all. 

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The hardest-to-reach portion of the electorate remains “undecided” at this point of the election cycle, but the outcome depends on which campaign can convince them to join their side.

Guest: Michael Podhorzer, Senior Fellow at the Center for American Progress (CAP) and author of the substack Weekend Reading.

We want to hear from you! Submit your answers to our What Next listener survey at slate.com/WhatNextSurvey.

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

Hosts Alex Kirshner, Lindsay Gibbs, and Ben Lindbergh examine the notable silence from major sports stars on this year’s presidential election. They also discuss Michael Jordan's legal battle against NASCAR, plus the first week of the NBA regular season. In the Bonus episode exclusively for Slate Plus subscribers, the panel reflects on the life and legacy of Fernando Valenzuela and his impact on the Dodgers.

A lack of political endorsements (2:48): LeBron remains quiet with one week remaining until the election.

MJ vs. NASCAR (21:35): The implications of Michael Jordan’s legal case against Big Race Car.

NBA (36:01): Bronny’s first few minutes.

(Note: time codes are only accurate for Slate Plus members, who listen ad free.)

Want more Hang Up and Listen? Subscribe to Slate Plus to immediately unlock weekly bonus episodes. Plus, you’ll access ad-free listening across all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe now on Apple Podcasts by clicking “Try Free” at the top of our show page, or visit slate.com/hangupplus to get access wherever you listen.

Disclosure in Podcast Description: A Bond Account is a self-directed brokerage account with Public Investing, member FINRA/SIPC. Deposits into this account are used to purchase 10 investment-grade and high-yield bonds. As of 9/26/24, the average, annualized yield to worst (YTW) across the Bond Account is greater than 6%. A bond’s yield is a function of its market price, which can fluctuate; therefore, a bond’s YTW is not “locked in” until the bond is purchased, and your yield at time of purchase may be different from the yield shown here. The “locked in” YTW is not guaranteed; you may receive less than the YTW of the bonds in the Bond Account if you sell any of the bonds before maturity or if the issuer defaults on the bond. Public Investing charges a markup on each bond trade. See our Fee Schedule. Bond Accounts are not recommendations of individual bonds or default allocations. The bonds in the Bond Account have not been selected based on your needs or risk profile. See https://public.com/disclosures/bond-account to learn more.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In a presidential race as tight as this one, a few thousand votes—in the right states—could be the difference. Is the Green Party candidate Jill Stein set up to be that difference, like so many Democrats believe she was in 2016?

Guest: Matt Flegenheimer, correspondent for the New York Times specializing in long-form profiles of political figures.

We want to hear from you! Submit your answers to our What Next listener survey at slate.com/WhatNextSurvey.

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

Puberty is changing, and we’re not talking about developing Adam’s apples and growing hair in new places.

It starts earlier and lasts longer.

Regardless of when this necessary stage of life starts, youth and their adults need support going through it.

On this week’s episode of Well, Now puberty expert Vanessa Kroll Bennett discusses the biggest ways puberty has changed for today’s youth and how best to navigate it. 

She’s co-host of the podcast This Is So Awkward with Dr. Cara Natterson and co-author of This Is So Awkward: Modern Puberty Explained.

If you liked this episode, check out: Can Kids Be Healthy at Any Size? 

Well, Now is hosted by registered dietitian nutritionist Maya Feller and Dr. Kavita Patel.

Podcast production by Vic Whitley-Berry with editorial oversight by Alicia Montgomery.

Send your comments and recommendations on what to cover to wellnow@slate.com.

Want to listen to Well, Now uninterrupted? 

Subscribe to Slate Plus to immediately unlock ad-free listening to Well, Now and all your other favorite Slate podcasts. 

Subscribe now on Apple Podcasts by clicking “Try Free” at the top of our show page. 

Or, visit slate.com/wellplus to get access wherever you listen.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

He didn’t find his grandfather. But traveling to, photographing, and uploading his grandfather’s memorial stone gave him something else. 

Guest: Tony Tran, senior tech editor at Slate and author of the feature “a-grave-ancestry-family-grandfather-controversy.html">My Weekends with the Dead.”

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.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week: How do you buy an election? Throw a sweepstakes! Emily Peck, Elizabeth Spiers, and Rueters’ Anna Szymanski (filling in for Felix Salmon) discuss Elon Musk’s scheme to get potential Trump voters to the ballot box and the maneuverings of the campaign finance industrial complex. Next, they discuss a French gambler whose massive bet on the election may affect Trump’s real-world odds. Finally: Many Americans report living “paycheck to paycheck,” even though they have savings and splurge on luxuries.

In the Plus bonus mini-episode: Keurig Dr. Pepper plans to spend more than a billion dollars on the Ghost energy drink company. The hosts discuss what’s powering the energy drink renaissance and how some hyper-caffeinated, sugary beverages are managing to brand themselves as health and fitness drinks — and what it’s doing to the Gen Zs swallowing the bait.

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 Jared Downing and Cheyna Roth.

Disclosure: A Bond Account is a self-directed brokerage account with Public Investing, member FINRA/SIPC. Deposits into this account are used to purchase 10 investment-grade and high-yield bonds. As of 9/26/24, the average, annualized yield to worst (YTW) across the Bond Account is greater than 6%. A bond’s yield is a function of its market price, which can fluctuate; therefore, a bond’s YTW is not “locked in” until the bond is purchased, and your yield at time of purchase may be different from the yield shown here. The “locked in” YTW is not guaranteed; you may receive less than the YTW of the bonds in the Bond Account if you sell any of the bonds before maturity or if the issuer defaults on the bond. Public Investing charges a markup on each bond trade. See our Fee Schedule. Bond Accounts are not recommendations of individual bonds or default allocations. The bonds in the Bond Account have not been selected based on your needs or risk profile. See https://public.com/disclosures/bond-account to learn more.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It’s easy to dismiss nativist rhetoric as mere Trumpy “locker room talk.” But when it comes to immigration, deportation and even detention, rhetoric about foreigners and violent invaders is actually a legal long game. Toward the end of the summer of 2023, Katherine Yon Ebright, counsel in the Brennan Center’s Liberty and National Security Program, noticed that rightwing anti immigration groups and the Trump campaign had started talking in earnest about using a very old law with a very dark history, in order to do very chilling things to immigrants. She started researching the Alien Enemies Act of 1798, the sole operative part of the notorious Alien and Sedition Acts. By October 2024, Donald Trump was invoking the statute in most of his stump speeches, saying he intends to use it to carry out the mass deportations of non-citizens, without due process and with domestic law enforcement deployed to full effect. We are already seeing Texas trying to use the language of “foreign invasion” to achieve exactly these ends. On this week’s Amicus podcast, Dahlia Lithwick asks Katherine Yon Ebright to help the rest of us catch up with her deep dive on this dangerous law, and to explain why we should take the threats to use it literally and seriously.

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

This election cycle, TikTok has evolved into a news-and-politics delivery mechanism. Will it make a difference?

Guest: Sapna Maheshwari, reporting on TikTok and other tech for the New York Times.

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.

Disclosure in Podcast Description: A Bond Account is a self-directed brokerage account with Public Investing, member FINRA/SIPC. Deposits into this account are used to purchase 10 investment-grade and high-yield bonds. As of 9/26/24, the average, annualized yield to worst (YTW) across the Bond Account is greater than 6%. A bond’s yield is a function of its market price, which can fluctuate; therefore, a bond’s YTW is not “locked in” until the bond is purchased, and your yield at time of purchase may be different from the yield shown here. The “locked in” YTW is not guaranteed; you may receive less than the YTW of the bonds in the Bond Account if you sell any of the bonds before maturity or if the issuer defaults on the bond. Public Investing charges a markup on each bond trade. See our Fee Schedule. Bond Accounts are not recommendations of individual bonds or default allocations. The bonds in the Bond Account have not been selected based on your needs or risk profile. See https://public.com/disclosures/bond-account to learn more.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As the race for the White House remains deadlocked, there have been growing Democratic concerns about whether Black male voters are solid in their support for Kamala Harris. On today’s episode of A Word, Jason Johnson is joined by Brandon Tensley, national political reporter for Capital B News. They dissect the truths and myths surrounding Black male voters and the upcoming election. 

Guest: Brandon Tensley, national political reporter for Capital B News

Podcast production by Kristie Taiwo-Makanjuola

Want more A Word? Subscribe to Slate Plus to immediately access ad-free listening across all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe today on Apple Podcasts by clicking “Try Free” at the top of our show page. Or, visit slate.com/awordplus to get access wherever you listen.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week, Emily Bazelon, John Dickerson, and David Plotz discuss Donald Trump’s fascism, disinhibition, and age; the state of young men in America with Rachel Simmons; and Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at the University of Michigan with Nicholas Confessore of The New York Times. Join us on December 4 for Political Gabfest Live in Brooklyn! Tickets are on sale now. And send us your Conundrums at slate.com/conundrum.

For this week’s Slate Plus bonus episode, Emily, John, and David talk about Elon Musk following Donald Trump. 

In the latest Gabfest Reads, John talks with Dan Harris about his book, 10% Happier 10th Anniversary Edition: How I Tamed the Voice in My Head, Reduced Stress Without Losing My Edge, and Found Self-Help That Actually Works – A True Story. 

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

Podcast production by Cheyna Roth

Research by Julie Huygen

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.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

When put to the voters, abortion rights have been winning over stricter restrictions even in places like deeply red Kansas. But Florida Republicans are working hard to defeat a ballot measure that would roll back the state’s six-week abortion ban—and they might have found a formula to win.

Guest: Grace Panetta, political reporter at The 19th. 

We want to hear from you! Submit your answers to our What Next listener survey at slate.com/WhatNextSurvey.

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

In a very special election season Money Talks: Trump was never that good at business. How did he fake it till he made it? New York Times reporters Russ Buettner and Susanne Craig explain in their book Lucky Loser: How Donald Trump Squandered His Father’s Fortune and Created the Illusion of Success. They speak with host Emily Peck to discuss Trump’s early business missteps, the right-place-right-time happenstances that made him a reality star, and whether or not he might actually have talent…if only for deception and scams. 

Podcast production by Jared Downing and Cheyna Roth.

Want 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.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Donald Trump’s most consistent policy message has been anti-immigration, but according to surveys, more than a quarter of Kamala Harris supporters also support mass deportations. How did American opinions on immigration sour across the political spectrum so quickly?

Guest: Rogé Karma, staff writer at 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

The 2004 presidential race would be the first fully Fox News election—a contest that was framed by Fox, and fought on its terms. But the fight over Fox News was about more than just partisan politics. It also launched covert ops against reporters and let loose a secret army of online trolls. And when a Fox producer made serious allegations against Bill O’Reilly, the network showed just how far it would go to defend its biggest star—no matter the cost.

To read our full reporting on the most recent legal actions between Bill O'Reilly and Andrea Mackris, and learn more about how a non-disclosure agreement from two decades ago has kept Mackris silent, go to slate.com/foxnda.

Want more from Slow Burn? Join Slate Plus to unlock full access to all seasons, including members-only bonus episodes from The Rise of Fox News. You'll also enjoy ad-free listening to all of your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe now by clicking "Try Free" at the top of the Slow Burn show page on Apple Podcasts. Or, visit slate.com/slowburnplus to get access wherever you listen.

Season 10 of Slow Burn was written and reported by Josh Levin. It was executive produced by Lizzie Jacobs.

Slow Burn is produced by Sophie Summergrad, Joel Meyer, and Rosie Belson with help from Patrick Fort, Jacob Fenston, and Julia Russo. 

Derek John is Slate’s executive producer of narrative podcasts.

This season was edited by Susan Matthews and Hillary Frey.

Merritt Jacob is our senior technical director. Mix and sound design by Joe Plourde. 

Our theme music was composed by Alexis Cuadrado. Derreck Johnson created the artwork for this season. Episode artwork by Ivylise Simones.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On December 4th, the Supreme Court will hear arguments for U.S. v. Skrmetti, a case that could decide the fate of gender-affirming care for trans people across the country. Outward’s own Jules Gill Peterson contributed to an amicus brief for the case, a document that provides expertise and historical context to assist the court in making it’s decision. In this episode, Bryan and Christina reunite with Jules to break down her contributions to the document and dive into the history of transition and the powerful voices of trans youth from across time.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Does the death of Yahya Sinwar finally make a ceasefire in Gaza possible? 

Guests: history.huji.ac.il/people/jonathan-dekel-chen">Jonathan Dekel-Chen, professor of Soviet and East European Jewry at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and father of Sagui Dekel-Chen, one of the hostages held by Hamas. 

Gregg Carlstrom, Middle East correspondent for the Economist.

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.

Disclosure in Podcast Description: A Bond Account is a self-directed brokerage account with Public Investing, member FINRA/SIPC. Deposits into this account are used to purchase 10 investment-grade and high-yield bonds. As of 9/26/24, the average, annualized yield to worst (YTW) across the Bond Account is greater than 6%. A bond’s yield is a function of its market price, which can fluctuate; therefore, a bond’s YTW is not “locked in” until the bond is purchased, and your yield at time of purchase may be different from the yield shown here. The “locked in” YTW is not guaranteed; you may receive less than the YTW of the bonds in the Bond Account if you sell any of the bonds before maturity or if the issuer defaults on the bond. Public Investing charges a markup on each bond trade. See our Fee Schedule. Bond Accounts are not recommendations of individual bonds or default allocations. The bonds in the Bond Account have not been selected based on your needs or risk profile. See https://public.com/disclosures/bond-account to learn more.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Alex Kirshner, Lindsay Gibbs, and Ben Lindbergh talk about the New York Liberty’s victory over the Minnesota Lynx in the WNBA Finals. They also get into Tom Brady’s controversial new ownership stake in the Las Vegas Raiders, and the World Series picture. In the Bonus episode exclusively for Slate Plus subscribers, the panel discusses University of Virginia men’s basketball coach Tony Bennett’s retirement announcement.

WNBA Finals (10:02): The Liberty bring home the glory

Tom Brady (32:38): The broadcaster and now team owner

World Series (47:04): Clash of the evil empires

(Note: time codes are only accurate for Slate Plus members, who listen ad free.)

Want more Hang Up and Listen? Subscribe to Slate Plus to immediately unlock weekly bonus episodes. Plus, you’ll access ad-free listening across all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe now on Apple Podcasts by clicking “Try Free” at the top of our show page, or visit slate.com/hangupplus to get access wherever you listen.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Why this closed case from 1989 is suddenly back in the news—and why the brothers may yet be freed.

Guest: Brian Buckmire, ABC Legal Contributor with a segment on GMA3, “Better Call Brian.” 

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

We live in a weight-obsessed world, and children are not immune.

From the moment a child is born, their weight and height are tracked and recorded. Then throughout their development, these metrics are used as one of the main factors to determine their health.

But as the Health at Every Size (HAES) philosophy continues to gain traction for some adults, is there use for it as a part of growing children’s well-being, too?

On this week’s episode of Well, Now Maya and Kavita speak with pediatric dietitian Jill Castle and her approach to children’s health, which marries the traditional medical approach with a body-postive, HAES model.

Her latest book is Kids Thrive At Every Size: How to Nourish Your Big, Small, or In-Between Child for a Lifetime of Health and Happiness.

If you liked this episode, check out: Eating for Health

Well, Now is hosted by registered dietitian nutritionist Maya Feller and Dr. Kavita Patel.

Podcast production by Vic Whitley-Berry with editorial oversight by Alicia Montgomery.

Send your comments and recommendations on what to cover to wellnow@slate.com

Want to listen to Well, Now uninterrupted? Subscribe to Slate Plus to immediately unlock ad-free listening to Well, Now and all your other favorite Slate podcasts. 

Subscribe now on Apple Podcasts by clicking “Try Free” at the top of our show page. Or, visit slate.com/wellplus to get access wherever you listen.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

America’s head of cybersecurity isn’t worried about the election being hacked or the results being tampered with. But this election cycle does have her worried for our democracy.

Guest: Jen Easterly, Director of Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency 

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.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week: Big trouble in not-so-little China as the second-largest economy tries to get out of its post-COVID funk. Emily Peck, Elizabeth Spiers, and Rueters’ Anna Szymanski (filling in for Felix Salmon) discuss China’s new economic stimulus measures, which might be too-little, too late. They also discuss the head-owners-listeria-outbreak.html">secretive family behind Boar’s Head and a Sherwood piece about a mysterious $7 billion estate tax. Finally, Josh Levine joins to discuss the new season of Slow Burn, which explores how Fox News hijacked American politics.

In the Plus bonus mini-episode: Starbucks wanted to be a classy Italian espresso house, but it became a modern milkshake shop for teens to loiter and flirt. Are its sugar and caffeine-packed drinks bad for otherwise upstanding youths? Or is it good they’re hanging at the ‘Bucks rather than seedier haunts?

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 Jared Downing and Cheyna Roth.

Disclosure in Podcast Description: A Bond Account is a self-directed brokerage account with Public Investing, member FINRA/SIPC. Deposits into this account are used to purchase 10 investment-grade and high-yield bonds. As of 9/26/24, the average, annualized yield to worst (YTW) across the Bond Account is greater than 6%. A bond’s yield is a function of its market price, which can fluctuate; therefore, a bond’s YTW is not “locked in” until the bond is purchased, and your yield at time of purchase may be different from the yield shown here. The “locked in” YTW is not guaranteed; you may receive less than the YTW of the bonds in the Bond Account if you sell any of the bonds before maturity or if the issuer defaults on the bond. Public Investing charges a markup on each bond trade. See our Fee Schedule. Bond Accounts are not recommendations of individual bonds or default allocations. The bonds in the Bond Account have not been selected based on your needs or risk profile. See https://public.com/disclosures/bond-account to learn more.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

You’re nervous. We’re nervous. As we stop for gas with almost two weeks to go before November 5th, we’re kicking the tires of American democracy to see if it’s roadworthy. On this week’s show, Dahlia Lithwick is joined by Matthew Seligman, one of the authors of How to Steal a Presidential Election, to examine the legal avenues available to Donald J Trump and his band of merry lawyers to subvert the presidential election. Seligman answers Amicus listeners’ most common election question: Can MAGA electors refuse to certify the election if they disagree with the outcome?

Next, Dahlia talks to retired respected conservative federal judge J Michal Luttig, who is raising the alarm about the Supreme Court’s willful ignorance when it comes to defending democracy from Donald J Trump. Judge Luttig says part of the blame for the January 6th insurrection lies with the Supreme Court, and warns the court’s majority is poised to tip the scale for Trump this time around.

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

While conservatives win elections, the popularity of their policies on abortion access, LGBTQ rights, and racial equity remains low in many parts of the country. But conservative political leaders are finding ways to enforce those laws, and encouraging ordinary citizens to inform on each other is a major tactic. On today’s episode of A Word, Jason Johnson is joined by Adam Serwer, the award-winning political essayist at The Atlantic, about how he explored the phenomenon in his recent article “The Rise of the Right Wing Tattletale." 

Guest: Adam Serwer, staff writer for The Atlantic and author of The Cruelty is the Point: The Past, Present, and Future of Trump’s America. 

Podcast production by Kristie Taiwo-Makanjuola

Want more A Word? Subscribe to Slate Plus to immediately access ad-free listening across all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe today on Apple Podcasts by clicking “Try Free” at the top of our show page. Or, visit slate.com/awordplus to get access wherever you listen.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Elon Musk went from voting for Hillary to supporting Trump so hard that he may have broken election laws. And with Musk influencing both on X and in campaign finance, Democrats are kicking themselves for letting him go. What will his political and financial support actually amount to this election season? 

Guest: Teddy Schleifer, New York Times reporter covering campaign finance and billionaire influence on American politics.

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.

Podcast production by Evan Campbell, Patrick Fort, and Cheyna Roth.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week, Emily Bazelon, John Dickerson, and David Plotz discuss Kamala Harris’s voter outreach to black and Hispanic men; the close races for Republican senators in Nebraska, Texas, and Florida; and the conspiracy theories that endanger FEMA and aid for hurricane victims. And it’s never too early to send us your Conundrums at slate.com/conundrum.

For this week’s Slate Plus bonus episode, Emily, John, and David talk about Glossip v. Oklahoma, the recent death-penalty case argued before the U.S. Supreme Court. 

In the latest Gabfest Reads, David talks with Elizabeth Strout about her new book, Tell Me Everything: A Novel. 

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

Podcast production by Cheyna Roth

Research by Julie Huygen

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.

Disclosure in Podcast Description: A Bond Account is a self-directed brokerage account with Public Investing, member FINRA/SIPC. Deposits into this account are used to purchase 10 investment-grade and high-yield bonds. As of 9/26/24, the average, annualized yield to worst (YTW) across the Bond Account is greater than 6%. A bond’s yield is a function of its market price, which can fluctuate; therefore, a bond’s YTW is not “locked in” until the bond is purchased, and your yield at time of purchase may be different from the yield shown here. The “locked in” YTW is not guaranteed; you may receive less than the YTW of the bonds in the Bond Account if you sell any of the bonds before maturity or if the issuer defaults on the bond. Public Investing charges a markup on each bond trade. See our Fee Schedule. Bond Accounts are not recommendations of individual bonds or default allocations. The bonds in the Bond Account have not been selected based on your needs or risk profile. See https://public.com/disclosures/bond-account to learn more.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Though Black voters remain a dependable bloc for the Democrats, the Trump campaign has been attempting to make in-roads with Black men. Can Kamala Harris shore up her coalition in this tight race?

Guest: Kadia Goba, political reporter at Semafor.

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

According to a new CDC report, the number of overdoses in America is finally dropping after rising for years. What’s behind this rare good news in the ongoing opioid crisis?

Guest: David Ovalle, reporter covering opioids and addiction at the Washington Post

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

In this episode long-time friend of the show and longtime WNBA fan Daisy Rosario sits down with queer sports reporter Frankie de la Cretaz to chat about the historic 2024 WNBA season. In this episode, they dig into the celebration and tension as the WNBA’s queer roots meet mainstream success. Can the league stay true to its queer community while taking on big-time sponsors and new fans? 

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As Fox News gathered strength, progressive activists turned to comedian Al Franken and fledgling online communities to punch back. But could the left put up a real fight without a Fox News of its own? And what did Fox’s critics miss when they focused only on its politics?

Want more from Slow Burn? Join Slate Plus to unlock full access to all seasons, including members-only bonus episodes from The Rise of Fox News. You'll also enjoy ad-free listening to all of your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe now by clicking "Try Free" at the top of the Slow Burn show page on Apple Podcasts. Or, visit slate.com/slowburnplus to get access wherever you listen.

Season 10 of Slow Burn was written and reported by Josh Levin. It was executive produced by Lizzie Jacobs.

Slow Burn is produced by Sophie Summergrad, Joel Meyer, and Rosie Belson with help from Patrick Fort, Jacob Fenston, and Julia Russo. 

Derek John is Slate’s executive producer of narrative podcasts.

This season was edited by Susan Matthews and Hillary Frey.

Merritt Jacob is our senior technical director. Mix and sound design by Joe Plourde. 

Our theme music was composed by Alexis Cuadrado. Derreck Johnson created the artwork for this season. Episode artwork by Ivylise Simones.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Forget polls—are gambling websites the real way to predict politics?

Guest: Nitish Pahwa, business and tech writer at Slate

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

Misinformation in the wake of disasters isn’t new, but the media environment today—rife with A.I. images, light on moderation, and eager to point fingers—seems more vulnerable to it than ever.

Guest: Will Oremus, technology writer for the Washington Post.

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

Go to the supplement aisle at the grocery store, and the options are endless. Scroll through any Instagram or TikTok feed, and you’re bound to see videos of people claiming their latest supplement is life-changing. 

Supplements can be used for health and wellness, but it’s important to know the facts before buying the next trendy capsule, pill, tincture, or gummy.

On this week’s episode of Well, Now Maya and Kavita give you helpful tools to decide what supplements are worth the hype and which are just out to get your money.

If you liked this episode, check out – Gut Check: How to Master Your Microbiome

Well, Now is hosted by registered dietitian nutritionist Maya Feller and Dr. Kavita Patel.

Podcast production by Vic Whitley-Berry with editorial oversight by Alicia Montgomery.

Send your comments and recommendations on what to cover to wellnow@slate.com

Want to listen to Well, Now uninterrupted? Subscribe to Slate Plus to immediately unlock ad-free listening to Well, Now and all your other favorite Slate podcasts. 

Subscribe now on Apple Podcasts by clicking “Try Free” at the top of our show page. Or, visit slate.com/wellplus to get access wherever you listen.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

How did 23andMe go from the peak of the double-helix to a death spiral? And if it goes under, is all of the genetic data it collected at risk? 

Guest: Kristen V. Brown, staff writer covering health for The Atlantic.

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.

Podcast production by Evan Campbell, Patrick Fort, and Cheyna Roth.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week: Big storms are the new norm, and they’re costing America big time. Felix Salmon, Emily Peck, and Elizabeth Spiers discuss the economic toll and surging insurance coasts of climate change. They also examine the curious case of a Canadian carpenter who made and lost a fortune on Tesla options, and Felix reveals what he’ll be up to on his upcoming sabbatical. In the Numbers Round, Emily discusses a Subtack that charts the most well-connected actors.

In the Plus bonus mini-episode: WordPress is a nonprofit foundation that supports around 40% of the internet, but its for-profit arm has locked horns with a major competitor. The hosts join Slate’s Nitish Pawah to wpengine-matt-mullenweg-drama-explained.html">discuss the battle between Automattic and WP Engine with the fate of a chunk of the web in the balance.

Want more Slate Money? Subscribe to Slate Plus to unlock weekly bonus episodes. Plus, you’ll access ad-free listening across all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe now on Apple Podcasts by clicking “Try Free” at the top of the Slate Money show page. Or, visit slate.com/moneyplus to get access wherever you listen.

Podcast production by Jared Downing and Cheyna Roth.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“Prosecutors elicited perjury and a man's gonna go to his death. We can't allow that to happen.” – Paul Clement, October 9th, 2024. 

This week the US Supreme Court heard arguments in the latest chapter in the glossip-supreme-court-wrongful-convictions-prosecutors.html">complex and prolonged legal battle involving Richard Glossip, who has been on Oklahoma's death row since his conviction for a 1997 murder-for-hire. Following two independent investigations into allegations of thomas-kill-richard-glossip-supreme-court-arguments.html">prosecutorial misconduct, suppression of material evidence, and a history of inadequate defense counsel, Oklahoma’s Attorney General took the bold step of confessing to constitutional error in the case and supporting a new trial. But oklahoma-supreme-court-innocence-executions.html">Oklahoma’s State Supreme Court is pressing on with Glossip’s execution, and so, on Wednesday morning, the High Court heard a case long on the appearance of process and short on actual justice. Don Knight, Richard Glossip’s attorney of almost 10 years, provides insights into the flawed process, and the shocking revelations from newly discovered evidence boxes. This case highlights broader questions about court-wrong-richard-glossip-execution-oklahoma.html">justice, fairness, and trust in the American legal system…. Leading us to an update from the latest inductee to the Lady Justice Hall of Fame – Amicus listener Barbara Hausman-Smith, and her one-woman protest at One First Street. Listen to the end of the show to find out what links this 76-year-old grandmother from Maine to the late bader-ginsburg-on-gay-marriage-a-constitutional-necessity.html">Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg and SCOTUS’s landmark decision to legalize equal marriage in Obergefell in 2015. 

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

The crypto project “World Liberty Financial,” which was announced on X by Donald Trump, isn’t a cryptocurrency, nor a crypto-exchange, nor is it actually run by any Trumps. The truth is even stranger. 

Guest: David Yaffe-Bellany, New York Times reporter

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.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The New York Liberty face the Minnesota Lynx for the championship in what has been a remarkable year for the WNBA. Attendance, attention and viewership skyrocketed. But throughout the season, superstar players Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese were dogged by toxic fans and coverage that was often sexist, racist, and just plain wrong from male sports journalists who knew little about the sport. On today’s episode of A Word, Jason Johnson discusses the issues with sports writer David Dennis Jr. of Andscape. They talk about how the action on the court was often overshadowed by off-the-court drama, and what the league can do better next season. 

Guest: David Dennis Jr., senior writer for Andscape and author of The Movement Made Us: A Father, a Son, and the Legacy of a Freedom Ride.

Podcast production by Kristie Taiwo-Makanjuola

Want more A Word? Subscribe to Slate Plus to immediately access ad-free listening across all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe today on Apple Podcasts by clicking “Try Free” at the top of our show page. Or, visit slate.com/awordplus to get access wherever you listen.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week, Emily Bazelon, John Dickerson, and David Plotz discuss the close race between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump; justice-department-rivals.html">Why Legal Experts Are Worried About a Second Trump Presidency; and Hurricanes Helene and Milton and climate change. And it’s never too early to send us your Conundrums at slate.com/conundrum.

For this week’s Slate Plus bonus episode, Emily, John, and David talk about media endorsements of political candidates. 

In the latest Gabfest Reads, David talks with Elizabeth Strout about her new book, Tell Me Everything: A Novel. 

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

Podcast production by Cheyna Roth 

Research by Julie Huygen

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On this episode: Jamilah, Zak and Elizabeth share what’s in their emergency kits and talk about their approaches to disaster preparedness. We’ll also share a dispatch from our Florida correspondent — whose family is, fortunately, safe and well. 

If you want to help Floridians recover from hurricanes Milton and Helene, check out the Florida Disaster Fund.

For more on disaster preparedness: ready.gov

We’ll also circle up for a round of triumphs and fails.

Join us on Facebook and email us at careandfeedingpod@slate.com to ask us new questions, tell us what you thought of today’s show, and give us ideas about what we should talk about in future episodes. You can also call our phone line: (646) 357-9318.

If you enjoy this show, please consider signing up for Slate Plus. Slate Plus members get an ad-free experience across the network and exclusive content on many shows—you’ll also be supporting the work we do here on Care and Feeding. Sign up now at slate.com/careplus to help support our work.

Podcast produced by Maura Currie.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

How the State Department is evacuating Americans from Beirut—and how the war is influencing Lebanese-American voters living in a swing state.

Guest:

Amy Fallas, PhD candidate studying history in Beirut for the last year.

Alabas Farhat, Michigan State Representative. 

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

The accusations against Sean “Diddy” Combs have grown in both number and grimness. Is this the music industry’s moment of reckoning? 

Guest: Nadira Goffe, associate culture writer at Slate.

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

In this episode long-time friend of the show June Thomas sits down with the editor of The Queer Arab Glossary, Marwan Kaboour. The glossary is the first published collection of Arabic LGBTQ+ slang and covers a wide range of dialects across the arab world. Marwan details how he decided to organize the glossary and what the words reveal about queer culture. 

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

After 9/11, the Fox News Channel rallied a huge portion of the country around the Bush administration’s vision of the world. But as the U.S. marched to war in the Middle East, journalists, liberal watchdogs, and comedians began pushing back. Could The Daily Show, Fox News’ own liberal pundits, or an employee-turned-whistleblower take Fox down a peg?

Want more from Slow Burn? Join Slate Plus to unlock full access to all seasons, including members-only bonus episodes from The Rise of Fox News. You'll also enjoy ad-free listening to all of your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe now by clicking "Try Free" at the top of the Slow Burn show page on Apple Podcasts. Or, visit slate.com/slowburnplus to get access wherever you listen.

Season 10 of Slow Burn was written and reported by Josh Levin. It was executive produced by Lizzie Jacobs.

Slow Burn is produced by Sophie Summergrad, Joel Meyer, and Rosie Belson with help from Patrick Fort, Jacob Fenston, and Julia Russo. 

Derek John is Slate’s executive producer of narrative podcasts.

This season was edited by Susan Matthews and Hillary Frey.

Merritt Jacob is our senior technical director. Mix and sound design by Joe Plourde. 

Our theme music was composed by Alexis Cuadrado. Derreck Johnson created the artwork for this season. Episode artwork by Ivylise Simones.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Supreme Court term’s kicked off this week, and the cases in front of the nine justices could reshape American life in public, at home, and in the doctor’s office, for wide swaths of the country. The election, too, could be at the hands of the Court. 

Guest: Mark Joseph Stern, Slate senior writer covering courts and the law.

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

Split Zone Duo’s Alex Kirshner, Power Plays’ Lindsay Gibbs, and the Ringer’s Ben Lindbergh chat about the NFL Players Association’s calls to revoke media access to locker rooms, the controversy surrounding a transgender volleyball player at San Jose State, and the wild week in college football. On the Bonus episode, exclusively for Slate Plus members, the hosts discuss Pete Rose’s historic and sordid legacy. 

NFL Locker Rooms (2:35): Media access vs. player privacy

San Jose State Volleyball (23:53): The drama surrounding a transgender player

CFB (46:30): Vanderbilt beats Alabama

(Note: time codes are only accurate for Slate Plus members, who listen ad free.)

Want more Hang Up and Listen? Subscribe to Slate Plus to immediately unlock weekly bonus episodes. Plus, you’ll access ad-free listening across all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe now on Apple Podcasts by clicking “Try Free” at the top of our show page, or visit slate.com/hangupplus to get access wherever you listen.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A year after the initial Hamas attack on Israel, tens of thousands are dead, bombs are still falling, a regional war is expanding, and there’s no end in sight. Two writers reflect on the destruction, loss, and death.

Guests: Peter Beinart is the Editor-at-Large at Jewish Currents and the author of “The Beinart Notebook” on Substack.

Mohammed R. Mhawish is Palestinian journalist who was evacuated from Rafah to Egypt in May. 

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

GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic, WeGovy, Mounjaro and others revolutionized weight loss and chronic weight management. But what does it feel like for the patients who take them?

On this week’s episode of Well, Now Kavita and Maya talk with journalist and author Johann Hari. Over the course of a year, Johann dived into the research and history behind GLP-1 drugs and how they became the latest and most effective way to lose weight. All the while, he was also taking Ozempic himself. 

His latest book Magic Pill: The Extraordinary Benefits and Disturbing Risks of the New Weight-Loss Drugs takes a personal and research-based look at the revolutionary, controversial rise of GLP-1 drugs for weight management.

If you liked this episode, check out: The Full Truth About Ozempic and Doctors Agree: Obesity is a Disease. The Public Needs to Catch Up.

Well, Now is hosted by registered dietitian nutritionist Maya Feller and Dr. Kavita Patel.

Podcast production by Vic Whitley-Berry with editorial oversight by Alicia Montgomery.

Send your comments and recommendations on what to cover to wellnow@slate.com

Want to listen to Well, Now uninterrupted? Subscribe to Slate Plus to immediately unlock ad-free listening to Well, Now and all your other favorite Slate podcasts. 

Subscribe now on Apple Podcasts by clicking “Try Free” at the top of our show page. Or, visit slate.com/wellplus to get access wherever you listen.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Outward hosts Bryan Lowder and Christina Cauterucci sit down with reporter and author Nico Lang to chat about their new book ‘American Teenager: How Trans Kids Are Surviving Hate and Finding Joy in a Turbulent Era’. Nico’s book is a vivid and moving portrait of eight trans and nonbinary teenagers across the country, following their daily triumphs, struggles, and all that encompasses growing up trans in America today. 

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Decades ago, Three Mile Island was shut down after a near catastrophic nuclear meltdown. So why is Microsoft paying over a billion dollars to open it back up? 

Guest: Matt Reynolds, senior writer at Wired

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.

Disclosure in Podcast Description: A Bond Account is a self-directed brokerage account with Public Investing, member FINRA/SIPC. Deposits into this account are used to purchase 10 investment-grade and high-yield bonds. As of 9/26/24, the average, annualized yield to worst (YTW) across the Bond Account is greater than 6%. A bond’s yield is a function of its market price, which can fluctuate; therefore, a bond’s YTW is not “locked in” until the bond is purchased, and your yield at time of purchase may be different from the yield shown here. The “locked in” YTW is not guaranteed; you may receive less than the YTW of the bonds in the Bond Account if you sell any of the bonds before maturity or if the issuer defaults on the bond. Public Investing charges a markup on each bond trade. See our Fee Schedule. Bond Accounts are not recommendations of individual bonds or default allocations. The bonds in the Bond Account have not been selected based on your needs or risk profile. See https://public.com/disclosures/bond-account to learn more.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week: the Longshoremen’s strike is over, and economic disaster has been averted. Felix Salmon, Emily Peck, and Elizabeth Spiers discuss the strike, sketchy union leader Harold Daggett, and how the White House put its thumb on the scales to help cut a deal. Also: OpenAI just had a $6.6 billion investment round, but the company is bleeding losses. Then: Dish Network wants to buy DirecTV for $1, but the bondholders who own its billions in debt might kill the deal.

In the Plus bonus mini-episode: It's a chicken tender world, and we’re just livin’ in it. The hosts discuss how chicken tenders (and nuggets and fingers) came to dominate American dining. (Even if Felix never eats at those sorts of places.) Then — bonus within the bonus — Felix and Emily get into a debate about Long Island pizza vs. Manhattan pizza.

Want more Slate Money? Subscribe to Slate Plus to unlock weekly bonus episodes. Plus, you’ll access ad-free listening across all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe now on Apple Podcasts by clicking “Try Free” at the top of the Slate Money show page. Or, visit slate.com/moneyplus to get access wherever you listen.

Podcast production by Jared Downing and Cheyna Roth.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Democracy had a pretty rough ride at the Supreme Court last term. Presidents have criminal immunity now! Agency experts aren’t the experts anymore! Sure, you can convert that rifle into an automatic weapon! And guess what? More horrors await us this term. 

But we are not going to spend this last episode before the start of a new term dispassionately picking over a smattering of cases for a lawyerly preview, or helplessly doom spiraling. Instead, we will hear from two women who refuse to blithely accept what the High Court is handing down—two women who have decided to do something, in very different ways. 

You’re going to find out why one of these women will head to SCOTUS on Monday in the suit she wore to argue before the High Court 44 years ago. Dahlia Lithwick will ask the other woman, Skye Perryman of Democracy Forward, about the legal theories, doctrine tracking, and litigation strategies her organization is deploying to fight for democracy in the courts –– even (and especially) in courthouses and cases far from One First Street, where until now, the conservative legal movement has had almost free reign. Because any honest preview of the new Supreme Court term needs to look wider and deeper than the handful of cases docketed for the coming weeks. 

Want more Amicus? Subscribe to Slate Plus to immediately unlock exclusive SCOTUS analysis and weekly extended episodes. Plus, you’ll access ad-free listening across all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe today on Apple Podcasts by clicking “Try Free” at the top of our show page. Or, visit slate.com/amicusplus to get access wherever you listen.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In the aftermath of Hurricane Helene, the idea of a climate haven has been upended. And as the climate change gets worse every year, fewer places will be safe from its devastation.

Guest: Sarah Kaplan, Washington Post climate reporter covering humanity's response to a warming world.

Keith Campbell, managing editor at the Asheville Watchdog

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.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The majority of Latino voters have historically backed Democrats. But former President Donald Trump has polled very strongly around Latino Americans, despite villifying immigrants from Latin America. And several high profile leaders of the American far right are Latino. On today’s episode of A Word, Jason Johnson discusses the issue with Paola Ramos. She is an award-winning journalist, political analyst, and the author of Defectors: The Rise of the Latino Far Right and What It Means for America.

Guest: Paola Ramos, journalist and author of Defectors: The Rise of the Latino Far Right and What It Means for America.

Podcast production by Kristie Taiwo-Makanjuola

Want more A Word? Subscribe to Slate Plus to immediately access ad-free listening across all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe today on Apple Podcasts by clicking “Try Free” at the top of our show page. Or, visit slate.com/awordplus to get access wherever you listen.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

 This week, Jamelle Bouie of The New York Times joins John Dickerson and David Plotz to discuss the vice-presidential debate between Gov. Tim Walz and Sen. JD Vance; the deadly conflict between Israel and Iran with Nathan Guttman of Israeli public television; and the federal indictment of New York City Mayor Eric Adams. 

For this week’s Slate Plus bonus episode, Jamelle, John, and David talk with WyoFile’s Maya Shimizu Harris about the fight between the Wyoming Freedom Caucus and traditional Wyoming Republicans. 

In the latest Gabfest Reads, David talks with Elizabeth Strout about her new book, Tell Me Everything: A Novel. 

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

 Podcast production by Cheyna Roth

 Research by Julie Huygen

Disclosure in Podcast Description: A Bond Account is a self-directed brokerage account with Public Investing, member FINRA/SIPC. Deposits into this account are used to purchase 10 investment-grade and high-yield bonds. As of 9/26/24, the average, annualized yield to worst (YTW) across the Bond Account is greater than 6%. A bond’s yield is a function of its market price, which can fluctuate; therefore, a bond’s YTW is not “locked in” until the bond is purchased, and your yield at time of purchase may be different from the yield shown here. The “locked in” YTW is not guaranteed; you may receive less than the YTW of the bonds in the Bond Account if you sell any of the bonds before maturity or if the issuer defaults on the bond. Public Investing charges a markup on each bond trade. See our Fee Schedule. Bond Accounts are not recommendations of individual bonds or default allocations. The bonds in the Bond Account have not been selected based on your needs or risk profile. See https://public.com/disclosures/bond-account to learn more.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On this episode: Zak and Elizabeth are joined by Rachel Riskind, a longtime listener and mom to three Jewish kids. Together, they’ll commemorate Rosh Hashanah by reflecting on how to raise Jewish kids in the complicated world of 2024. Our community had a ton of questions and stories to share on everything from Gaza to fasting to how to explain to teachers that Hanukkah isn't that important.

We’re excited to do more interfaith conversations soon, and we want to know what you think: so, email us at careandfeedingpod@slate.com to ask us new questions, tell us what you thought of today’s show, and give us ideas about what we should talk about. You can also call our phone line: (646) 357-9318.

If you enjoy this show, please consider signing up for Slate Plus. Slate Plus members get an ad-free experience across the network and exclusive content on many shows—you’ll also be supporting the work we do here on Care and Feeding. Sign up now at slate.com/careplus to help support our work.

Podcast produced by Maura Currie.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

With Israel sending airstrikes on Lebanon and deflecting missiles from Iran, the war has become what experts feared: a regional conflict. How much more will the fighting spread?

Guest: Shane Harris, intelligence and national security reporter for the Washington Post. 

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

State Supreme Courts are vital to the functioning of American democracy. They are also where voting rights are enforced or eviscerated. This is especially true of North Carolina’s State Supreme Court, a battleground court in a battleground state. On a special bonus episode of Amicus, Dahlia Lithwick and Mark Stern (your Amicus Plus dream team) are joined by Justice Allison Riggs of North Carolina’s State Supreme Court for an in-depth interview on what’s at stake in North Carolina this year, and the path forward for progressive priorities and jurists in state courthouses.

This episode is member- exclusive. Listen to it now by subscribing to Slate Plus. By joining, not only will you unlock exclusive SCOTUS analysis and weekly extended episodes of Amicus, but you’ll also access ad-free listening across all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe today on Apple Podcasts by clicking “Try Free” at the top of our show page. Or, visit slate.com/amicusplus to get access wherever you listen.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

For a decade and a half, CNN was peerless and ambitious, and it understood its place in the world. At least, it thought it did—until Fox News burst onto television screens. Could CNN save itself by becoming conservative or by going tabloid? And how would CNN and Fox respond when September 11 made the news more important than ever?

Want more from Slow Burn? Join Slate Plus to unlock full access to all seasons, including members-only bonus episodes from The Rise of Fox News. You'll also enjoy ad-free listening to all of your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe now by clicking "Try Free" at the top of the Slow Burn show page on Apple Podcasts. Or, visit slate.com/slowburnplus to get access wherever you listen.

Season 10 of Slow Burn was written and reported by Josh Levin. It was executive produced by Lizzie Jacobs.

Slow Burn is produced by Sophie Summergrad, Joel Meyer, and Rosie Belson with help from Patrick Fort, Jacob Fenston, and Julia Russo. 

Derek John is Slate’s executive producer of narrative podcasts.

This season was edited by Susan Matthews and Hillary Frey.

Merritt Jacob is our senior technical director. Mix and sound design by Joe Plourde. 

Our theme music was composed by Alexis Cuadrado. Derreck Johnson created the artwork for this season. Episode artwork by Ivylise Simones.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The second, and likely final, debate of this presidential election was between JD Vance and Tim Walz, two Midwestern men with two very different visions of what government should do—and perhaps what America is.

Guest: David Faris, politics professor at Roosevelt University and contributing writer for Slate. 

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

How Tim Ryan looks back on debating JD Vance in the 2022 Ohio Senate race—and how he would coach Tim Walz to win.

Guest: Tim Ryan, former representative from Ohio who lost a Senate race to JD Vance in 2022.

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.

Disclosure in Podcast Description: A Bond Account is a self-directed brokerage account with Public Investing, member FINRA/SIPC. Deposits into this account are used to purchase 10 investment-grade and high-yield bonds. As of 9/26/24, the average, annualized yield to worst (YTW) across the Bond Account is greater than 6%. A bond’s yield is a function of its market price, which can fluctuate; therefore, a bond’s YTW is not “locked in” until the bond is purchased, and your yield at time of purchase may be different from the yield shown here. The “locked in” YTW is not guaranteed; you may receive less than the YTW of the bonds in the Bond Account if you sell any of the bonds before maturity or if the issuer defaults on the bond. Public Investing charges a markup on each bond trade. See our Fee Schedule. Bond Accounts are not recommendations of individual bonds or default allocations. The bonds in the Bond Account have not been selected based on your needs or risk profile. See https://public.com/disclosures/bond-account to learn more.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The federal indictment of Eric Adams is just the latest in a long line of embarrassing blow-ups, scandals, and unforced errors by the New York Democrats. Can they pull themselves together and deliver for the national party this time?

Guest: Ross Barkan, journalist, essayist, and contributing writer to many places, including Slate, the Nation, and the New York Times Magazine. 

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

Modern IUDs have been used for decades to prevent unwanted pregnancy and have been extremely effective at doing so.

But they’re not without side effects. With few places to turn, many patients have resorted to TikTok to describe their experiences of painful insertion and removal as well as cramping, changes in menstruation, and mood shifts.

But patients don’t have to be left in the dark. If there was more research into how different bodies react to IUDs, there’s a chance patients can get the care they need without as drastic of side effects.

On this week’s episode of Well, Now Maya and Kavita talk with Dr. Kavita Nanda, the Director of Medical Research for FHI360, on why there is so little research into IUDs, what we do know about them, and how you or a loved one can prepare for a conversation with your doctor about them.

If you liked this episode, check out: Michelle Obama Gets Health Advice From This Gyno. Now You Can, Too.

Further Reading: control-hormonal-side-effects-iud-dalkon-shield.html">Why Is It So Hard to Get a Basic Question Answered About My IUD

Well, Now is hosted by registered dietitian nutritionist Maya Feller and Dr. Kavita Patel.

Podcast production by Vic Whitley-Berry with help from Kristie Taiwo-Makanjuola. Editorial oversight by Alicia Montgomery.

Send your comments and recommendations on what to cover to wellnow@slate.com

Want to listen to Well, Now uninterrupted? Subscribe to Slate Plus to immediately unlock ad-free listening to Well, Now and all your other favorite Slate podcasts. 

Subscribe now on Apple Podcasts by clicking “Try Free” at the top of our show page. Or, visit slate.com/wellplus to get access wherever you listen.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Silicon Valley is a place where big ideas are transformed into thriving businesses and multi-billion dollar fortunes. But it has also built a reputation for being a boys club, with limited opportunities, harassment, and sometimes open hostility to women in its workforce. Women of color remain severely underrepresented in the world of Big Tech, with just an estimated 3% of industry jobs held by Black women. So what’s the path ahead for African Americans in Big Tech, and is the prize worth the fight?

On today’s episode of A Word, Jason Johnson discusses the issue with Bari Williams. She’s a lawyer, a tech entrepreneur, and the author of Seen Yet Unseen: A Black Woman Crashes The Tech Fraternity. 

Guest: Bari Williams, attorney and author of Seen Yet Unseen: A Black Woman Crashes The Tech Fraternity

Podcast production by Kristie Taiwo-Makanjuola

Want more A Word? Subscribe to Slate Plus to immediately access ad-free listening across all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe today on Apple Podcasts by clicking “Try Free” at the top of our show page. Or, visit slate.com/awordplus to get access wherever you listen.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

America is caught in a vicious cycle of trying to alleviate traffic by expanding and building more highways, only for them to clog right up with more cars. How do you beat the traffic?

Guest: David Zipper, Senior Fellow at the MIT Mobility Initiative who writes about transportation policy.

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.

Public.com+Public Investing: All investing involves risk. Brokerage services for US listed securities, options and bonds in a self-directed brokerage account are offered by Public Investing, member FINRA & SIPC. Not investment advice. Public Investing offers a High-Yield Cash Account where funds from this account are automatically deposited into partner banks where they earn interest and are eligible for FDIC insurance; Public Investing is not a bank.Cryptocurrency trading services are offered by Bakkt Crypto Solutions, LLC (NMLS ID 1828849), which is licensed to engage in virtual currency business activity by the NYSDFS. Cryptocurrency is highly speculative, involves a high degree of risk, and has the potential for loss of the entire amount of an investment. Cryptocurrency holdings are not protected by the FDIC or SIPC. . See public.com/#disclosures-main for more information.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week: the tragic tale of Nike, Foot Locker, and Bed Bath and Beyond. Bloomberg’s Kim Bhasin joins Felix Salmon, Emily Peck, and Elizabeth Spiers to discuss his recent piece on the downfall of the Nike brand and the peril of direct-to-consumer marketing. Then, they discuss Kim’s other feature on Jamie Salter, the man who made a fortune buying up mall “zombie brands” like Izod and Brook’s Brothers. Finally: The DOJ is suing Visa for monopolistic practices, but will it mean anything or ordinary consumers?

In the Plus bonus mini-episode: Three Mile Island is back, baby! The hosts discuss Mincrosoft’s power purchase agreement that involves switching on the defunct nuclear plant and Americans’ troubled relationship with nuclear in general.

Want more Slate Money? Subscribe to Slate Plus to unlock weekly bonus episodes. Plus, you’ll access ad-free listening across all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe now on Apple Podcasts by clicking “Try Free” at the top of the Slate Money show page. Or, visit slate.com/moneyplus to get access wherever you listen.

Podcast production by Jared Downing and Cheyna Roth.

Public.com+Public Investing Disclosure: All investing involves risk. Brokerage services for US listed securities, options and bonds in a self-directed brokerage account are offered by Public Investing, member FINRA & SIPC. Not investment advice. Public Investing offers a High-Yield Cash Account where funds from this account are automatically deposited into partner banks where they earn interest and are eligible for FDIC insurance; Public Investing is not a bank.Cryptocurrency trading services are offered by Bakkt Crypto Solutions, LLC (NMLS ID 1828849), which is licensed to engage in virtual currency business activity by the NYSDFS. Cryptocurrency is highly speculative, involves a high degree of risk, and has the potential for loss of the entire amount of an investment. Cryptocurrency holdings are not protected by the FDIC or SIPC. . See public.com/#disclosures-main for more information.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this week's Amicus, Mark Joseph Stern steps in for Dahlia Lithwick to preview the upcoming Supreme Court term and dive into the high-stakes case of Garland v. VanDerStok. This critical case examines the legality of 'ghost guns'—untraceable firearms that can be assembled at home from kits bought online. Stern talks with Eric Tirschwell, executive director and chief litigation counsel of Everytown Law, the litigation arm of Everytown for Gun Safety. Stern and Tirschwell discuss the profound public safety implications of this case and the dramatic decrease in ghost gun-related crimes following the Biden administration’s introduction of the rule at the heart of the case. They also uncover the role of dark money in funding lawsuits aimed at eroding gun safety laws, and how it compares to the anti-abortion legal strategies of the Christian right.

Want more Amicus? Subscribe to Slate Plus to immediately unlock exclusive SCOTUS analysis and weekly extended episodes. Plus, you’ll access ad-free listening across all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe today on Apple Podcasts by clicking “Try Free” at the top of our show page. Or, visit slate.com/amicusplus to get access wherever you listen.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Over the last decade, the European Union has been the vanguard regulating Big Tech, and the push has been led by Margrethe Vestager. As she steps down, Vestager is looking both back at the battles she’s fought, and how the fight will continue. 

Guest: Margrethe Vestager, European Commissioner for Competition. the European Commission’s Executive Vice President on a Europe Fit for the Digital Age.

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.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week, Emily Bazelon, John Dickerson, and David Plotz discuss what’s happening with the Kamala Harris v. Donald Trump race, what to expect with the Tim Walz v. JD Vance debate, how crazy Mark Robinson’s gubernatorial campaign in North Carolina has become, and whether college can survive careerism. 

For this week’s Slate Plus bonus episode, David, Emily, and John discuss the all-important Electoral College vote of Nebraska’s 2ndcongressional district. 

In the latest Gabfest Reads, David talks with Elizabeth Strout about her new book, Tell Me Everything: A Novel. 

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

Podcast production by Cheyna Roth

Research by Julie Huygen

Public.com+Public Investing Disclosure: Public Investing offers a High-Yield Cash Account where funds from this account are automatically deposited into partner banks where they earn interest and are eligible for FDIC insurance; Public Investing is not a bank. See public.com/#disclosures-main for more information.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Winning North Carolina would make Kamala Harris’s path to the White House much easier. And to judge from the huge campaign push, Democrats think the state is in play. Can a strong ground game—and a major Republican scandal—sink Donald Trump’s re-election bid?

Guest: Michael Bitzer, professor of politics and history at Catawba College

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.

Public.com+Public Investing Disclosure: Public Investing offers a High-Yield Cash Account where funds from this account are automatically deposited into partner banks where they earn interest and are eligible for FDIC insurance; Public Investing is not a bank. See public.com/#disclosures-main for more information.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Why are more liberals taking up arms? And how could the trend change the conversation about guns in America? 

Guest: Cameron McWhirter, national affairs reporter for The Wall Street Journal covering mass shootings, violent protests, and natural disasters across the South and co-author of American Gun: the True Story of the AR-15 with Zusha Elinson.

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

Before he ran Fox News, Roger Ailes launched a very different kind of channel. America’s Talking was his vision of the future of television: a strange, slapdash, mostly apolitical cable network. When that dream got snatched away from him, Ailes went on a revenge mission—and made a connection with Rupert Murdoch.

Want more from Slow Burn? Join Slate Plus to unlock full access to all seasons, including members-only bonus episodes from The Rise of Fox News. You'll also enjoy ad-free listening to all of your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe now by clicking "Try Free" at the top of the Slow Burn show page on Apple Podcasts. Or, visit slate.com/slowburnplus to get access wherever you listen.

Season 10 of Slow Burn was written and reported by Josh Levin. It was executive produced by Lizzie Jacobs.

Slow Burn is produced by Sophie Summergrad, Joel Meyer, and Rosie Belson with help from Patrick Fort, Jacob Fenston, and Julia Russo. 

Derek John is Slate’s executive producer of narrative podcasts.

This season was edited by Susan Matthews and Hillary Frey.

Merritt Jacob is our senior technical director. Mix and sound design by Joe Plourde. 

Our theme music was composed by Alexis Cuadrado. Derreck Johnson created the artwork for this season. Episode artwork by Ivylise Simones.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode, Outward hosts Jules Gill-Peterson, Bryan Lowder, and Christina Cauterucci sit down with non-binary marathoner Cal Calamia to talk about their journey into competitive racing. Cal shares how they first got into running and how their experiences as a non-binary, trans-masculine athlete have shaped their advocacy. From battling outdated USADA regulations on hormone therapy to pushing for non-binary categories in major marathons, Cal gives insight into the work they do to make competitive racing gender-inclusive.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

How universities and colleges are trying to keep student protests under control—or embracing a raucously political campus.

Guests: 

Sophie Hurwitz, politics and social movements reporter at Mother Jones.

president-campus-political.html">Michael S. Roth is the president of Wesleyan University.

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

What message was Israel sending to Hezbollah, its backers, and the population of Lebanon, by blowing up pagers and walkie-talkies last week? And does the international community view this act as a violation of the laws of armed conflict?

Guest: Shane Harris, intelligence and national security reporter at the Washington Post. 

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

Yvette Nicole Brown spent years working in Hollywood before she got her big break. Then she rose to fame with her comedic turns in Community and Drake & Josh. But her latest –and perhaps most important– role is as caregiver to her father. That experience is at the heart of her storytelling as host of the new podcast Squeezed, focused on the millions of Americans who find themselves balancing caregiving with careers. On today’s episode of A Word, Yvette Nicole Brown speaks with Jason Johnson about the caregivers who shared their stories on Squeezed, and what the rest of the nation –from neighbors, to friends, to political leaders– can do to support caregiving. 

Guest: Yvette Nicole Brown, actress and podcast host of Squeezed.

Podcast production by Kristie Taiwo-Makanjuola

Want more A Word? Subscribe to Slate Plus to immediately access ad-free listening across all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe today on Apple Podcasts by clicking “Try Free” at the top of our show page. Or, visit slate.com/awordplus to get access wherever you listen.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Given Laura Loomer’s history of saying outright offensive and often bewildering things, how did she get into the Trump campaign’s inner circle?  

Guest: Ken Bensinger, New York Times politics reporter.

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.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Nearly half of healthcare workers are at a breaking point, describing that they often or very often feel burnt out on the job.

Most of us have heard the phrase “Put on your oxygen mask before helping others,” but rarely does that happen especially for those who work as caregivers.

Psychiatrist Dr. Jessi Gold knows this firsthand when her mental overload caused her to make an unthinkable mistake with a patient. This error forced her to step back and reassess her relationship with the healthcare industry as a whole. 

On this week’s episode of Well, Now Maya and Kavita speak with Dr. Gold about her latest book How Do You Feel?, and how by looking at the healthcare system through the eyes of her caregiver patients, she began to see the shared struggle many healthcare workers have to find the humanity in their work again.

If you liked this episode, check out: How Nick Cannon Got Celebrities to Open Up About Their Mental Health

Well, Now is hosted by registered dietitian nutritionist Maya Feller and Dr. Kavita Patel.

Podcast production by Vic Whitley-Berry with editorial oversight by Alicia Montgomery.

Send your comments and recommendations on what to cover to wellnow@slate.com 

Want to listen to Well, Now uninterrupted? Subscribe to Slate Plus to immediately unlock ad-free listening to Well, Now and all your other favorite Slate podcasts. 

Subscribe now on Apple Podcasts by clicking “Try Free” at the top of our show page. Or, visit slate.com/wellplus to get access wherever you listen.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Mortgage rates are down! Inflation is less inflation-y! Felix Salmon, Emily Peck, and Elizabeth Spiers discuss what the Fed’s interest rate cut means for the American economy — and American voters. Also: Trump is promising tax cuts like there’s no tomorrow, but are any of them good ideas? And Axel Springer is spinning off its media empire in yet another news business shakeup.

In the Plus bonus mini-episode: Tupperware is bankrupt, but it shall live on in the underground communist container-sharing network.

Here’s a link to the Yukiko Morita bread lamps Emily mentioned in the numbers round.

Want more Slate Money? Subscribe to Slate Plus to unlock weekly bonus episodes. Plus, you’ll access ad-free listening across all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe now on Apple Podcasts by clicking “Try Free” at the top of the Slate Money show page. Or, visit slate.com/moneyplus to get access wherever you listen.

Podcast production by Jared Downing and Cheyna Roth.

Public.com+Public Investing Disclosure: Public Investing offers a High-Yield Cash Account where funds from this account are automatically deposited into partner banks where they earn interest and are eligible for FDIC insurance; Public Investing is not a bank. See public.com/#disclosures-main for more information.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Chief Justice John Roberts has been labeled by some as the serious centrist at the court, and he seemed to embrace and internalize that. But the New York Times’ revelations about behind-the-scenes maneuvers favoring Trump in last term's insurrection cases shattered that illusion once and for all. The Chief’s stance in these cases surprised the Roberts-as-twinkly-eyed-institutionalist brigade, but did not, apparently, shock this week’s guest, Linda Greenhouse. Greenhouse was the New York Times Supreme Court correspondent for 30 years, and is the author of Justice on the Brink: A Requiem for the Supreme Court. 

As we head into another pivotal Supreme Court term, Dahlia Lithwick and Greenhouse turn their expert SCOTUS watching lens on how the High Court got so leaky, why the Chief was so unprepared for the public backlash to his decision in the immunity case, and whether the Chief is so much Team Trump that we should worry about the election cases inevitably headed his way. 

Want more Amicus? Subscribe to Slate Plus to immediately unlock exclusive SCOTUS analysis 

and weekly extended episodes. Plus, you’ll access ad-free listening across all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe today on Apple Podcasts by clicking “Try Free” at the top of our show page. Or, visit slate.com/amicusplus to get access wherever you listen.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week, Emily Bazelon, John Dickerson, and David Plotz discuss political violence and its consequences; the state of the presidential race; and The Rise of Fox News with Slow Burn’s Josh Levin. 

Podcast production by Cheyna Roth

Research by Julie Huygen

Public.com+Public Investing: All investing involves risk. Brokerage services for US listed securities, options and bonds in a self-directed brokerage account are offered by Public Investing, member FINRA & SIPC. Not investment advice. Public Investing offers a High-Yield Cash Account where funds from this account are automatically deposited into partner banks where they earn interest and are eligible for FDIC insurance; Public Investing is not a bank.Cryptocurrency trading services are offered by Bakkt Crypto Solutions, LLC (NMLS ID 1828849), which is licensed to engage in virtual currency business activity by the NYSDFS. Cryptocurrency is highly speculative, involves a high degree of risk, and has the potential for loss of the entire amount of an investment. Cryptocurrency holdings are not protected by the FDIC or SIPC. . See public.com/#disclosures-main for more information.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Scores of Jews from around the world are visiting Israel to tour the grounds of the Nova music festival and burned out kibbutzim, bearing witness and reflecting on the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks. The trips are shoring up Israel’s tourism industry after the war brought it to an abrupt halt—but critics say the narrow focus on this tragedy pushes the suffering of Gazans to the periphery, even as bombs drop less than 10 miles away from the tourists.

Guest: Maya Rosen, Israel/Palestine Fellow at Jewish Currents

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.

Public.com+Public Investing: All investing involves risk. Brokerage services for US listed securities, options and bonds in a self-directed brokerage account are offered by Public Investing, member FINRA & SIPC. Not investment advice. Public Investing offers a High-Yield Cash Account where funds from this account are automatically deposited into partner banks where they earn interest and are eligible for FDIC insurance; Public Investing is not a bank.Cryptocurrency trading services are offered by Bakkt Crypto Solutions, LLC (NMLS ID 1828849), which is licensed to engage in virtual currency business activity by the NYSDFS. Cryptocurrency is highly speculative, involves a high degree of risk, and has the potential for loss of the entire amount of an investment. Cryptocurrency holdings are not protected by the FDIC or SIPC. . See public.com/#disclosures-main for more information.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode, guest host Daisy Rosario talks to ‘What’s Next’ producer Madeline Ducharme about her experience at the DNC. They break down the queerest moments and examine the Democratic party’s queer agenda.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The story of Springfield, Ohio—as told by the people who live there—is nothing like the one heard from the debate stage. 

Guest: Aymann Ismail, Slate staff writer.

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

When the Fox News Channel launched in 1996, critics called it disorganized, incompetent, and laughably inept. But it wouldn’t be a joke for long. During the 2000 election, Fox News would captivate the nation – and just maybe change the fate of American democracy.

Want more from Slow Burn? Join Slate Plus to unlock full access to all seasons, including members-only bonus episodes from The Rise of Fox News. You'll also enjoy ad-free listening to all of your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe now by clicking "Try Free" at the top of the Slow Burn show page on Apple Podcasts. Or, visit slate.com/slowburnplus to get access wherever you listen.

Season 10 of Slow Burn was written and reported by Josh Levin. It was executive produced by Lizzie Jacobs.

Slow Burn is produced by Sophie Summergrad, Joel Meyer, and Rosie Belson with help from Patrick Fort, Jacob Fenston, and Julia Russo. 

Derek John is Slate’s executive producer of narrative podcasts.

This season was edited by Susan Matthews and Hillary Frey.

Merritt Jacob is our senior technical director. Mix and sound design by Joe Plourde. 

Our theme music was composed by Alexis Cuadrado. Derreck Johnson created the artwork for this season. Episode artwork by Ivylise Simones.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Law enforcement units looking to prevent voter fraud are popping up from Texas to Virginia—but are they trying to solve a problem that doesn’t exist—or simply targeting groups they’d prefer didn’t vote?

Guest: Ari Berman, national voting rights correspondent for Mother Jones, author of “Minority Rule: The Right Wing Attack on the Will of the People and the Fight to Resist It.”

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

Split Zone Duo’s Alex Kirshner, Power Plays’ Lindsay Gibbs, and the Ringer’s Ben Lindbergh reunite to talk about the U.S. women’s first victory at the Solheim Cup in eight years. They also discuss the Oakland Athletics’ move to Sacramento, and Tua Tagovailoa’s latest frightening concussion. On the bonus episode, Slate Plus members can hear chat about A’ja Wilson’s historic WNBA season.

LPGA (2:12): The U.S. beats Europe at the Solheim Cup.

Oakland A’s (28:07): The Athletics are on to Sacramento, but then where?

Tua Tagovailoa (46:20): The Dolphins quarterback's head injury and future.

(Note: time codes are only accurate for Slate Plus members, who listen ad free.)

Want more Hang Up and Listen? Subscribe to Slate Plus to immediately unlock weekly bonus episodes. Plus, you’ll access ad-free listening across all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe now on Apple Podcasts by clicking “Try Free” at the top of our show page, or visit slate.com/hangupplus to get access wherever you listen.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

When Taylor Swift stated she was voting for Kamala Harris, a large segment of Swifties breathed a sigh of relief. How did Swift’s politics become so important—and will her endorsement make a difference in November?  

Guest: Brian Donovan, professor of sociology at the University of Kansas who teaches a college course called “The Sociology of Taylor Swift.” 

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