The problem with the news right now? It’s everywhere. And each day, it can feel like we’re all just mindlessly scrolling. It’s why we created What Next. This short daily show is here to help you make sense of things. When the news feels overwhelming, we’re here to help you answer: What next? Look for new episodes every weekday morning. Get more of What Next with Slate Plus! Join for exclusive bonus episodes of What Next and ad-free listening on all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe from the What Next show page on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, or visit slate.com/whatnextplus for access wherever you listen. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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Position in the News chart (US), last 90 days.
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#54
all-time peak
27
days in the top 100 since Nov 2024
Latest episodes
Showing 20 · updated from the feed
The 9/11 Panopticon
America didn’t start down the path to a president who is unaccountable to even the Constitution under Trump. He’s the culmination of a change that dates back to September
Sep 10 32 min
Did ICE Drive Him to His Death?
Thousands of immigrants who were in America legally were suddenly rendered unemployable and subject to deportation after the Supreme Court ruled that the Department of Ho
Sep 9 30 min
Dems Can Beat MAGA. Here’s How.
The stage is set for the president’s party to take a real shellacking in this year’s midterm elections—that is, if the Democrats can put together a compelling pitch. What
Sep 8 35 min
Question Everything: The Sunscreen Paradox
While the What Next team enjoys the holiday, hear this episode from our friends at Question Everything. Mary will be back in the feed with a new episode of What Next tomo
Sep 7 20 min
Meta Settled. Is it a "Reckoning?"
Does Meta’s $17 billion (give or take) settlement address people’s concerns about social media and its impact on teenagers… or is it already too late?
Guest: Paresh Dave
Sep 4 27 min
ICE Allegedly Shot Someone. Texas Let Him Go
Extraditing someone who was arrested in one state for a crime committed in another state is an extremely routine process—or at least it was. But an ICE officer charged in
Sep 3 30 min
Is Scott Bessent in Over His Head?
Inflation is up, borrowing is up, debt is rising. If the bond market is offering a review of the new US Treasury Secretary, Scott Bessent, it seems to be saying “This guy
Sep 2 28 min
The WNBA's Caught in the Culture Wars
The WNBA is enjoying its most profitable and popular season in league history. At the same time, it’s become another front in the culture war.
Guest: Matreyi Anantharam
Sep 1 27 min
Can I Still Vote By Mail?
Donald Trump, Supreme Court justices, states, and even the Post Office are all trading legal salvos over mail-in voting. Where does it stand now? And what’s Trump’s end g
Aug 31 26 min
Off-the-Record: Friends Don’t Let Friends Ruin Vacation
The idea of a big ol’ group of friends taking a vacation sounds so fun…in theory. In practice, though, the museum friends and the beach friends are forming opposing facti
Aug 28 6 min
A.I. Enshittifies Everything (Still)
Through stealing your job or simply tanking the stock market—whichever comes first—the rise of artificial intelligence (companies) is a very futuristic sounding problem.
Aug 28 32 min
How to Lose Wars and Tank the Economy
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 th
Aug 27 26 min
The A.I. Populist
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
Aug 26 26 min
What Lindsay Clancy Truthers Are Missing
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 p
Aug 25 25 min
The Progressive Case for Midterms Optimism
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 say
Aug 24 25 min
Off the Record: We Don’t Talk About Natalie
Nobody objected to Jon Ossoff calling the president disinterested in doing his job. But an off-hand mention of Trump’s “human printer”? That, for some reason, took things
Aug 21 6 min
Can the Midterms Withstand Prediction Markets?
Hundreds of millions of dollars, desperation for insider info, fury and accusations of conspiracy when it doesn’t go your way—is this gambling or elections? Through the m
Aug 21 33 min
How Islamophobia Got Even Worse
Islamophobia has never gone away. And while it has been wielded as an electoral strategy against Zohran Mamdani, Abdul El-Sayed and even Barack Obama, the shameless natur
Aug 20 28 min
Is Tech Dismantling Democracy?
Our Silicon Valley overlords, as they’ll tell you, aren’t huge fans of liberal democracy—and their products that we’ve integrated into our lives reflect that. As we rely
Aug 19 31 min
The Nightmare on the USS Lincoln
The situation aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier is reportedly dire: broken toilets, shortages of water, rationed, lousy food, little access to laundry, or c
Aug 18 19 min
Chart positions
Where What Next | Daily News and Analysis ranks today in each Apple Podcasts chart (US, Sep 10, 2026).
A curated, balanced selection of Apple Podcasts reviews.
Covers current topics like The Daily, but digs much deeper for sources with a smart and empathic host/interviewer. If only I could get my NPR station to air this instead!!
Mikael_Ka · Nov 2024
I dont always love the topics that are chosen, but no matter what the topic is, you can be sure to gain a solid, basic, understanding of whatever is being discussed. Also, Mary Harris is perfect and I love listening to her voice. I’d pay her to tell me any bad news. One of my favorite podcasts and I listen to every show, sometimes multiple times.
jaycubyay · Oct 2024
i listen to a lot of news podcasts and mary harris is hands down the best interviewer in the podcast business. i really appreciate her pushing back with facts in the latest abortion episode
lindseym395 · Jun 2024
Wow, EXCELLENT, THOROUGH coverage of the gist of the many issues going on currently here in WI. I’m very involved with the Dems and essentially PRO DEMOCRACY efforts and organizations and my goodness-it’s hard to stay as current as possibly because things are so in flux right now….so, as an activist of sorts, I really appreciate this succinct reporting. Our state motto has been “Forward WI”, partly due to Gov. Bob “Fighting Bob” Lafollette and we have been woefully regressive over these last 10-15 yrs due to our previously VERY corrupt WI State Supreme Court. The GOP legislators are awful, highly corrupt and this current power grab they are attempting is one of the WORST actions done by any state legislature (& that’s saying a lot, given the state of things around the country) and certainly is THE WORST ever in the history of WI state politics. That is why we need an all hands on deck call for help to defend justice by going to DefendJustice.com and/or WisDems.org to sign up for a phone bank shift, canvas or all of the above! We are a swing battleground state and the situation that happens here can very well happen elsewhere around the country if we don’t fight back!!
Sagely Warrior ML · Sep 2023
The episode for the week of May 27th, which came out two days after Israel launched a missile attack that burned more than 30 displaced people living in tents alive in Rafah, features an interview with a young, sympathetic IDF reservist who casually drops lines like “They [Palestinians] started this, so why should I care?” She gets no *meaningful* pushback from Mary Harris, the host (someone who knows perfectly well what the Nakba is and when it happened).
You could do this interview if you were critical, called out the Hasbara, and also chose to platform Palestinian victims of genocide. But Mary Harris did none of that, which suggests to me she feels a connection to one side and not the other. I don’t want to keep listening to a podcast that supports settler colonialism and genocide.
Amadeo Bordiga · May 2024
I always looked forward to listening to this show, but was completely turned off by the Fani Willis episode. The dismissive way the host and guest discussed her experiences with racism left a bad taste in my mouth. As a Black woman, it’s always disappointing to hear those that are not act like it’s not a serious issue, and didn’t remotely come into play in this particular case. Usually Mary doesn’t seem to take a side, but this time was different. Won’t be listening as much as I used to.
Stinamarie84 · Feb 2024
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Here you find the Apple Podcasts chart positions of What Next | Daily News and Analysis, its latest episodes to listen to directly, and reviews from listeners. Rankings are updated daily for the United States.
