Slate News

This week, John Dickerson, David Plotz, and guest host Juliette Kayyem discuss this week's Supreme Court ruling allowing the Trump administration to move forward for now with his order restricting mail-in voting, the likely effects of trade wars with Canada and Iran, and what we humans can do about safety as A.I. models rapidly get more sophisticated and autonomous.

For this week’s Slate Plus bonus episode, John, David, and guest host Juliette Kayyem discuss the newest drama enveloping semi-royals Prince Harry and Meghan after they announced an impending move back to the UK.

In the latest Gabfest Reads, David Plotz talks with John Lanchester about his new novel, Look What You Made Me Do, a darkly funny psychological thriller about two couples in modern-day London whose lives collide in a story of infidelity, obsession, and revenge. The book explores the performance of niceness, class, intergenerational frictions and how technology makes vengeance not just possible but almost exceedingly easy in the modern age.

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

Podcast production by Kevin Bendis

Research by Emily Ditto

You can find the full Political Gabfest show pages here.

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Find out more about David Plotz's monthly tours of Ft. DeRussy, the secret Civil War fort hidden in Rock Creek Park.

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From the trade war with Canada to the literal war with Iran, US foreign policy seems to have become “flail at whatever Trump says to flail at, no matter the cost.” But the American people are the ones left holding that bill—and it’s adding up.

Guest: Adam Kinzinger, former Republican congressman and an Air Force veteran, host of The Kinzinger Report, writes about news, politics, and Trump on adamkinzinger.com.

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 Rob Gunther, Evan Campbell, Madeline Thames-Ducharme and Patrick Fort.

Paige Osburn is the senior supervising producer of What Next and What Next TBD.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Intertwined with many Americans’ contempt for data centers is their suspicion of artificial intelligence itself, which is being used to spy on you, being forced on anyone who still has a job, and will eventually, we’re promised, put them out of it. Seems like the Democrats easily could stake a claim as the party that won’t let A.I. wreck the economy—alas, there’s a lot of money in looking the other way.

Guest: Greg Casar, US Representative for Texas’s 35th congressional 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 of our show page. Sign up now at slate.com/whatnextplus to get access wherever you listen.

Podcast production by Rob Gunther, Evan Campbell, Madeline Thames-Ducharme and Patrick Fort.

Paige Osburn is the senior supervising producer of What Next and What Next TBD.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

As the trial of Lindsay Clancy over the murder of her three children goes into closing arguments this week, the reactions to the case reveal just how little the general public understands about postpartum psychosis.

Guest: Meghan Cliffel, writer, mindfulness teacher, postpartum psychosis survivor and maternal mental health advocate.

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 Rob Gunther, Evan Campbell, Madeline Thames-Ducharme and Patrick Fort.

Paige Osburn is the senior supervising producer of What Next and What Next TBD.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Since losing the 2024 presidential election, Democrats have been doing a lot of finger pointing. But with the midterms this fall, it’s time to stop pointing and start saying what you actually believe and why people should vote for you.

Guest: Amanda Litman, author of “When We’re in Charge” and head of Run for Something.

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 Rob Gunther, Evan Campbell, Madeline Thames-Ducharme and Patrick Fort.

Paige Osburn is the senior supervising producer of What Next and What Next TBD.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.