What Next | On Epstein, Democrats Go Low

This week: Trump isn’t happy with Fed chair Jay Powell’s take on his tariffs. Felix Salmon, Elizabeth Spiers and guest host Cardiff Garcia discuss the economic reasoning for why Powell is resisting the president’s demands to lower rates and what would happen if Trump finds a legal way to fire him. Then, the Trump administration is both gutting the IRS and potentially weaponizing it against Harvard. The hosts discuss the consequences of politicizing the agency. Finally, Trump’s trade war keeps escalating as China refuses to back down. Is there any chance for a good outcome? In the Slate Plus episode: Elon Musk’s Baby Brood 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 Jessamine Molli. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

19 Apr 51min

Ever since March 15, when three flights carrying hundreds of men who had been afforded zero due process left United States airspace and landed in El Salvador, American democracy has been hurtling toward an internal conflict that the federal judiciary would very much prefer to avoid, but just keeps getting more unavoidable. On this week’s Amicus podcast, Mark Joseph Stern is joined by Leah Litman for the first half of the show. They discuss how, faced with a Trump administration that claims the ability to rewrite the Constitution on the fly, denies the ability to follow court orders, and dangles the possibility of extending its lawlessness to renditioning American citizens to a foreign prison, the federal judiciary this week did what the Supreme Court failed to do last week: explicitly call out the regime’s lawless actions. Aptly, Leah’s new book, Lawless: How the Supreme Court Runs on Conservative Grievance, Fringe Theories, and Bad Vibes, comes out on May 13 and they discuss how the highest court’s enabling of Trump and MAGA more broadly has brought us to the constitutional precipice.  Next: In the six months since the re-election of Donald Trump, abortion and reproductive rights have been squished way below the fold, news-wise, obscured by an ever-mounting pile of terrifying headlines. But outside of the public glare, the legal landscape of reproductive rights has been shifting. Dahlia Lithwick talks to Mary Ziegler about her book Personhood: The New Civil War Over Reproduction.   Together, they examine how notions of fetal and embryonic personhood are fueling punitive actions against women, physicians, and those who provide or seek healthcare related to reproduction. 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

19 Apr 1h 15min

This week, the FTC and Meta began a trial to determine if—by adding Instagram and WhatsApp to its portfolio with Facebook over a decade ago—the company became a monopoly in social media. If Meta loses, it could be forced to split up, losing Instagram—and its substantial ad revenue. Guest: Paresh Dave, 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. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

18 Apr 24min

This week, Emily Bazelon, John Dickerson, and David Plotz discuss the Trump administration’s ramped up attacks on Harvard and international students, the courts flirting with findings of contempt after the administration ignores and mocks court orders, and the ways the Trump tariffs and exemptions invite corruption and “swampiness.” For this week’s Slate Plus bonus episode, Emily, John, and David discuss the implications of the White House cutting the wire services seat from the press pool to explicitly punish the Associated Press.   In the latest Gabfest Reads, David talks with author Adam Higginbotham about his new book, Challenger: A True Story of Heroism and Disaster on the Edge of Space.   Email your chatters, questions, and comments to gabfest@slate.com. (Messages may be referenced by name unless the writer stipulates otherwise.)   Research by Emily Ditto Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

17 Apr 1h 7min

In an ongoing opioid epidemic, hospitals drug testing new mothers and their babies has an intuitive logic. But applied unequally, rife with false positives, and prone to disrupting those important early weeks, is it a best practice? Guest: Shoshana Walter, investigative reporter for The Marshall Project Want more What Next? Join Slate Plus to unlock full, ad-free access to What Next and all your  other favorite Slate podcasts. You can subscribe directly from the What Next show page on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Or, visit slate.com/whatnextplus to get access wherever you listen. Podcast production by Elena Schwartz, Paige Osburn, Anna Phillips, Madeline Ducharme, Ethan Oberman, and Rob Gunther. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

17 Apr 28min

In February, Donald Trump and Maine Governor Janet Mills got into a spat over Trump’s executive order on trans athletes, that ended with both parties tersely agreeing to meet in court. Since then, the Trump administration seems to be trying to make an example of the state—cutting off federal funding where it can.  Guest: Callie Ferguson, investigative reporter for the Bangor Daily News. Want more What Next? Join Slate Plus to unlock full, ad-free access to What Next and all your  other favorite Slate podcasts. You can subscribe directly from the What Next show page on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Or, visit slate.com/whatnextplus to get access wherever you listen. Podcast production by Elena Schwartz, Paige Osburn, Anna Phillips, Madeline Ducharme, Ethan Oberman, and Rob Gunther.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

16 Apr 27min

In this Money Talks: The federal student loan program was meant to help students seeking a route to a better life – so why is it putting so many of them into crippling debt instead? Journalist Jillian Berman, author of Sunk Cost: Who’s to Blame for the Nation’s Broken Student Loan System and How to Fix, joins Emily Peck to unpack the fraught history of the national student debt system and discuss where it stands now.  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 Jessamine Molli and Cheyna Roth. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

15 Apr 36min

On April 7, the Treasury Department and Department of Homeland Security reached an agreement to allow ICE to use confidential tax information to locate undocumented immigrants. Though this group generally pays taxes at a higher rate than comparable U.S. citizens, advocates warn that the IRS-ICE team-up could have a chilling effect. They say it’s likely to endanger the $66 billion in federal tax revenue undocumented immigrants are estimated to contribute, and add to a climate of fear in communities nationwide. Guest: Francine Lipman, law professor at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Want more What Next? Join Slate Plus to unlock full, ad-free access to What Next and all your  other favorite Slate podcasts. You can subscribe directly from the What Next show page on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Or, visit slate.com/whatnextplus to get access wherever you listen. Podcast production by Elena Schwartz, Paige Osburn, Anna Phillips, Madeline Ducharme, Ethan Oberman, and Rob Gunther. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

15 Apr 28min