For years, Silicon Valley has felt like a liberal enclave.. This election, a handful of powerful voices like Elon Musk and Peter Thiel are expressing support for the Trump-Vance ticket. Is this a shift in ideologies in Silicon Valley, or just a few of the loudest voices?  Guest: Nitish Pahwa, associate writer for business and tech at Slate. 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...

Before announcing his exit, Joe Biden expressed interest in reforming the Supreme Court. But, in the spirit of re-balancing the three branches of government, isn’t that a job for Congress? Guest: Stephen Vladeck, professor at the Georgetown University Law Center and an expert on the federal courts and constitutional 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...

Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle resigned after the catastrophic security breakdown during a Trump rally in Butler, Penn. But the assassination attempt was only the latest Secret Service disaster, and the agency’s problems won’t be solved by a simple change in leadership. Guest: Abdallah Fayyad, policy correspondent at Vox. 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...

And just like that, it’s (almost definitely) Kamala. Her rise has fueled a whole species of internet memes—but the questions about her platform are serious. Guest: Scaachi Koul, Slate senior 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...

Just over three weeks ago, Joe Biden was heading to the stage to debate Donald Trump. Now, he’s out.  Guest: David Faris, Slate contributor, associate professor of political science at Roosevelt University and author of It’s Time to Fight Dirty: How Democrats Can Build a Lasting Majority in American Politics.  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...

In the hours after the assassination attempt on Donald Trump, conspiracy theories started circulating all over social media, often amplified by powerful voices on both sides of the aisle. It shows a complete breakdown of trust in institutions during a critical election.  Guest: Drew Harwell, technology reporter at the Washington Post.  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...

The biggest companies in the world are now tech companies, which is why the biggest antitrust, anti-monopoly fights in recent memory are centered around Silicon Valley.  Guest:  Jonathan Kanter, Assistant Attorney General, Antitrust Division, U.S. Department of Justice 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...

With the presidential ticket set and the platform announced, the GOP of 2024 isn’t defined by fiscal conservatism and fighting to end abortion—although those issues are holding on, further down on the list.  So what are Republicans fighting for now?  Guest: Paul Farrow, county executive for Waukesha County, delegate at the RNC, former chair of the Wisconsin GOP. Want more What Next? Subscribe to Slate Plus to access ad-free listening to the whole What Next family and across all your...

A perennial presidential battleground state, Wisconsin became a warning—or blueprint—for how one party can subvert democracy and keep power without winning more votes.  Does the Badger State hold any lessons about how to walk back a gerrymandered, minority rule?  Guest: Ari Berman, Mother Jones’ national voting rights correspondent and 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...

J.D. Vance, the Yale Law School graduate once hailed by the media as a white working class-whisperer, has been selected as Donald Trump’s running mate. But not too long ago, he was one of the former president’s critics. The former-Marine and San Francisco venture capitalist won over Trump with the hardline, America-first policies he championed in the Senate—and some serious groveling.  Guest: Jim Newell, Slate’s senior politics writer Want more What Next? Subscribe to Slate Plus to access...

Former president Donald Trump survived an assassination attempt Saturday during a campaign rally in Pennsylvania. While the gunman has been identified, law enforcement have not offered a potential motivation for the attack. The incident comes at a time of heightened political violence, when more Americans think such acts are justifiable. Guests: Isaac Arnsdorf, national political reporter for The Washington Post, and David Graham, staff writer at The Atlantic. Want more What Next? Subscribe...

“Home diagnostics” are a $5 billion industry—and growing. Spurred by social media, people are buying into at-home health tests, without input from their doctors, and often, not even the FDA.   Guest:  Elizabeth Dwoskin, reporter for the Washington Post 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...

Boeing just pled guilty to felony charges of defrauding the federal government, leading to millions of dollars in fines, and new, external oversight. Is this how the company finally turns it around? Guest: Oriana Pawlyk, POLITICO’s aviation 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...

Air-conditioning can feel like the only way to get through increasingly hot summers, but it’s an expensive, power-hungry way to keep cool.  How necessary is it? And how necessary is it to raise our thermostats up from 72 degrees? Guest: Adam Clark Estes, senior technology correspondent at Vox. 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...

Should Joe Biden still be the Democratic nominee in this presidential race? Elected Democrats have almost all said Biden is still the man. But Rep. Mike Quigley put his misgivings on the record. Guest: Rep. Mike Quigley, Democratic representative for Illinois’ fifth district.  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...

France’s far-right looked ready to take control of the National Assembly after the first round of snap elections. But when the dust settled after the second round, the left and center had held.  Though French progressives are celebrating for now, the right-wing National Rally party still took more parliament seats than it’s ever held before.  Guest: Harrison Stetler, freelance journalist based in Paris.  Want more What Next? Subscribe to Slate Plus to access ad-free listening to the whole...

What the fight against the “Briggs Initiative” in 1970s California tells us about the fight for gay rights—and the fight to keep those victories in place. Guest: Christina Cauterucci, senior writer at Slate and host of Slow Burn Season 9: Gays Against Briggs. 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....

The downsides of the streaming era are coming into focus for movie fans—uncontrollable, changing libraries; lower fidelity; lack of extras and features. Can all of these be solved with a return to physical media?  Guest: Ash Nelson, journalist and author of “The Lost Art of the DVD Extra” for Slate.  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...

The world’s population has never been bigger, and it’s still growing. but there’s a movement of “pronatalists” who see the slowing birth rate in wealthy, educated populations as a doomsday scenario in the making—and they’ve found their spokesman in one Elon Musk. Guest: Sophie Alexander, reporter for Bloomberg 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...

Last week the Supreme Court ruled a $6 billion settlement between Purdue Pharma and victims of the opioid crisis could not move forward, because it granted immunity to the Sackler family, the principal owners of Purdue. For one of the litigants, a mother who has lost two sons to overdoses, the decision felt like “a sucker punch.” Guest: Cheryl Juaire, part of the bankruptcy settlement with Purdue Pharma and founder of the non-profit organization Team Sharing, a support group for parents who...

When Roe v. Wade was overturned, a near-total abortion ban was triggered in Idaho, allowing for health exceptions only when “necessary to prevent the death of the pregnant woman.” But a case that found the ban in conflict with a federal law known as “EMTALA” went all the way to the Supreme Court, before being sent back to lower courts—neither overturning nor upholding Idaho’s ban.  Guest: Dr. Stacy Seyb, a maternal-fetal medicine specialist in Boise, Idaho.  Want more What Next? Subscribe...

The Supreme Court has ruled that presidents enjoy “substantial immunity” from prosecution for crimes committed while in office, which includes absolute immunity for “core constitutional duties” and “presumptive immunity” for “official acts.”  All good news for one Donald J. Trump. How bad is it for the rest of us?  Guest: Richard Hasen, law professor at UCLA and director of UCLA Law’s Safeguarding Democracy Project. Want more What Next? Subscribe to Slate Plus to access ad-free listening...

If you’re questioning the choice of Joe Biden as the Democratic presidential nominee after his debate, uh, performance last week, you’re not alone. But how do you swap candidates this late in the calendar—and who do the Democrats even have as an option? Guest: David Faris, associate professor of political science at Roosevelt University and author of The Kids Are All Left and It’s Time to Fight Dirty. Want more What Next? Subscribe to Slate Plus to access ad-free listening to the whole What...

The story of IUDs is a story of technology, reproductive rights, shortcomings in communication about women’s health, and politics.  Guest: Mia Armstrong-Lopez, managing editor at ASU Media Enterprise and author of a recent piece on IUDs for Slate.  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...