Bernie Sanders is 84, has spent more than three decades in Congress, and can still pack a rally with people half his age. On this episode of Next Question, Katie Couric talks with the senator about his new book Fight Oligarchy and why he thinks America is at a tipping point. From Trump and the billionaire class to AI, Gaza, and the future of the Democratic Party, Bernie is as blunt, consistent, and unflinching as ever. He even has a few questions for Katie!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We all know the date. But what really happened in October 1929? New York Times financial columnist and DealBook founder Andrew Ross Sorkin joins Katie to discuss his new book, 1929, which demystifies one of the most famous (and infamous) chapters in American History. Through extensive research into letters and diaries of the era’s biggest players, Sorkin reconstructs the chaos and conviction of a world on the brink. How the bankers, politicians, and investors thought they were saving the system even as they helped its unraveling. It’s a conversation about how good intentions can spiral into catastrophe—and why the real lesson of 1929 is not to dance while the music plays, but to remember that, at some point, it always stops.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Our nation’s founders built a system to guard against human ego and corruption. In 2025, that system is under siege. Katie talks with Atlantic editor-in-chief (and SignalGate-veteran) Jeffrey Goldberg about the magazine’s monumental new issue, The Unfinished Revolution, which asks whether the American experiment can survive its latest stress test: Donald Trump. It’s a conversation about history repeating itself, the precious fragility of democracy, and why the people who established this nation might be horrified by where it’s headed.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Katie sits down with David Frum, Atlantic writer and host of an eponymous podcast, to take stock of a dizzying news cycle: a government shutdown framed around false claims about healthcare for immigrants, a surreal Quantico meeting where military leaders were treated as political props, and Donald Trump’s vow to punish his opponents through prosecutions. Frum explains how the U.S. budgeting system turned into a "failure machine,” what’s happening to Supreme Court neutrality, and what it means when Trump spreads vulgar AI videos of his opponents. Frum’s bottom line? This might be a fire hose of news, but it's our duty as citizens to keep up, not tune out.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

When someone finishes a cancer treatment, it can feel like the end of the story. For many, it may just be the beginning–risk of recurrence looms, long-term medications (and their side effects) begin, and it’s hard to get your bearings. What do you really need to know?

In this candid conversation, Katie sits down with Dr. Lillian Smyth, Senior Vice President and Global Development Head for Breast Cancer at Eli Lilly and Company, and LaShae Rolle, a breast cancer survivor, public health researcher, and powerlifter. Together, they explore what life after breast cancer treatment really looks like: from follow-up care and managing side effects to navigating fears about recurrence and finding strength in advocacy.

This episode—created in partnership with Eli Lilly—is about more than medicine. It’s about empowerment: knowing your “normal,” asking the right questions, and embracing life following cancer treatment.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The murder of George Floyd and the protests of 2020 sparked a nationwide movement for racial justice and reckoning. Just a few years later, many of those hard-won conversations are being rolled back. Bryan Stevenson, founder and executive director of the Equal Justice Initiative, joins Katie to ask: is the movement truly over, or are we now in the midst of the harder, but essential, struggle to make it endure? He shares why learning is itself an act of resistance, what each of us can do to push back against false narratives, and how history can inspire courage for the battles ahead.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

When Bruce Willis was diagnosed with frontotemporal dementia, Emma Heming Willis’s life changed overnight. In this intimate conversation, she tells Katie about the early whispers of the disease, why getting a diagnosis was both a blessing and a curse, and how she’s helping their two young daughters navigate this “long goodbye.” Emma opens up about the guilt of taking a family trip without Bruce, the stigma caregivers face when making impossible decisions, and why she believes asking for help is a sign of strength, not weakness. Along the way, she shares lessons from her new book The Unexpected Journey—practical tools, expert insights, and the emotional wisdom she wishes she’d had in the early days.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The headlines aren’t slowing down. Politics is a firehose, and most days it feels like we’re drinking straight from it. This season on Next Question, we’re turning velocity into clarity.

Each episode breaks down the headline overload so we can process–and commiserate–together. You’ll hear from people who actually know: reporters on the ground, legal scholars, policy pros, and bold faced names, so you get context, not chaos. 

No outrage Olympics. No performative punditry. Just news separated from the noise, with a little humanity, and even humor along the way.

Listen to Season 12 of Next Question with Katie Couric, on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

End your summer with the most fun you’ll have on a podcast! Impressionist and comedian Matt Friend joins Katie for a star-studded tour of celebrity voices from Hollywood to the White House, from Barack Obama to Timothee Chalamet to Jennifer Coolidge. There’s even some singing! And, yes, he does his Trump impression–which is so good it might make you squirm. In between it all Matt shares what it’s been like to break out online during the pandemic, and end up taking the stage at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner. It’s a trip!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

When Dr. Geoffrey Hinton left Google in 2023, it wasn’t because he’d lost faith in AI. It was because he wanted to speak freely about its dangers (and because, at 75, he says programming is “annoying”). The Nobel laureate joins Katie to unpack some of the riskiest aspects of this new technology: why government regulation lags behind innovation; why jobs are at risk and whether countries can work together to prevent an AI arms race. . But Hinton also sees a path forward: if we design AI that genuinely supports and protects humanity,  coexistence might be possible. This episode wrestles with the urgent question on everyone’s mind: will AI’s breathtaking potential transform our lives or threaten our very survival?

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.