Is Trump Running the Fugitive Slave Act Playbook?
A federal force—often defying local governance—coming to take people away without due process has happened before. What lessons can be drawn from parallels between a law that led to the Civil War and ...
8 Jul 202520min
The Spectacle of “Alligator Alcatraz” Is the Point
Built in just eight days, Donald Trump and Kristi Noem toured “Alligator Alcatraz,” a migrant detention facility built on a disused airstrip in the Florida Everglades. Even before Trump touched down i...
7 Jul 202523min
How A.I. Lost (and Won) the Big Beautiful Debate
As the One Big Beautiful Bill bounced around Congress, one provision—the 10-year moratorium on states making laws to regulate artificial intelligence—fell out. But AI-fans don’t need to worry, there’s...
6 Jul 202524min
Bonus: When the Internet Stopped Being Fun
Is anyone having fun on the internet anymore? Let’s all go touch grass.Guest: Scaachi Koul, Slate senior writer and author of “It’s Time to Log Off.”This episode is member-exclusive. Listen to it now ...
4 Jul 20254min
Rerun: Death of the Weather Forecast?
This episode was originally published on April 27, 2025. The Trump administration has already begun cutting the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which includes the U.S. National Weathe...
4 Jul 202523min
One Big Deeply Unpopular Bill
Trump wants his “One Big Beautiful Bill” passed by July 4. But the bill is so large and expensive—with deep tax cuts only partially offset by huge cuts to Medicaid and SNAP—there’s something in there ...
3 Jul 202525min
Is This the End of NPR and PBS?
The Trump administration’s plans to strip funding from PBS and NPR is the latest in a long line of Republican fights against public broadcasting. The House has already voted to take back over a billio...
2 Jul 202526min
We Need to Talk About the Supreme Court
Last week’s big Supreme Court decisions walked back rights for individuals and the powers of the lower courts—and in aggregate made it ever more difficult to believe the court is anything other than a...
1 Jul 202528min
