What Next | Daily News and AnalysisDaily News

What Next | Daily News and Analysis


What Next | Daily News and Analysis

TBD | Ready for Chatbot Canvassers?

Fri, 12 Dec 2025
The good news is voters are more persuaded by factual claims than emotional appeals or appeals to fear. But the bad news is that A.I. chatbots, trying to convince you, will keep making factual claims long after it runs out of actual facts.



Guest: David Rand, professor of information science, marketing and psychology at Cornell University



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

His Mom Got Deported. Then He Went Viral.

Thu, 11 Dec 2025
Today’s TikTok influencers share every aspect of their lives: from their morning routines, to getting ready to go out, to their parents being detained and eventually deported by ICE.

Guest:  Tony Vara, TikTok creator @itonyvara

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 Fight Over The Future of Movies

Wed, 10 Dec 2025
Last Friday, Netflix announced that they would be acquiring Warner Bros. Discovery, a massive megamerger that would let the number one streaming service acquire the third biggest streamer (HBO Max), the entire Warner Bros. film catalog, its cable channels, and the Discovery+ streaming service. But before any shareholders could celebrate, Paramount Skydance, the megaconglomerate led by the Trump-favored Ellison family, launched a hostile takeover. Which company will emerge victorious here…will the biggest loser be the cinephile consumer?

Guest: Nitish Pahwa, Slate staff writer covering business and tech.

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

Healthcare Is Expensive. It’s About To Get Worse.

Tue, 09 Dec 2025
This week, Senate Democrats will hold a vote on extending expiring Affordable Care Act tax credits to try to prevent health insurance premiums from skyrocketing for millions of Americans. That vote is basically guaranteed to fail.



Where did these credits come from, and what’s likely to happen when they (almost) inevitably lapse?



Guest: Julie Rovner, chief Washington correspondent for KFF Health News and host of the podcast “What the Health?”



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 the Alt-Right’s GOP Now

Mon, 08 Dec 2025
Ten years ago, the alt-right’s talking points about immigration used to be too toxic to even post on the internet under your own name. So how did they turn into something President Trump regularly fires off on social media?

Guest: Zack Beauchamp, senior correspondent for 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 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

Send Message to What Next | Daily News and Analysis

Unverified Podcast
Is this your Podcast? Claim It!

Podcaster File What Next | Daily News and Analysis

Reviews for What Next | Daily News and Analysis