Donald Trump suffered a huge blow Friday when the Supreme Court struck down the centerpiece of his economic policy: his vast system of tariffs. So, what happens now? Harvard’s Jason Furman explains the implications for the U.S. economy, consumers, global trade, and Trump’s strategy of centralizing power in the executive branch and using trade policy as a means of wringing concessions out of other counties.

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If you have questions, observations, or ideas for future episodes, email us at [email protected].

Host: Derek Thompson
Guest: Jason Furman
Producer: Devon Baroldi

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In the mid-20th century, a group of media and communications scholars proposed that the shift from spoken to written language—from orality to literacy—transformed our politics, our media, our social relations, and even our sense of consciousness. Today we’re undergoing another shift: from a literate culture to something stranger—a post-literate world awash in social media and digital communications in which oral traditions are making a comeback. Bloomberg’s Joe Weisenthal, the cohost of the Odd Lots podcast, has called this one of the most important trends in the world. Today he explains how he got hooked on orality theory and why it’s the skeleton key that unlocks so many oddities of the modern world.

Subscribe to our YouTube channel here: https://www.youtube.com/@PlainEnglishwithDerekThompson

If you have questions, observations, or ideas for future episodes, email us at [email protected].

Host: Derek Thompson

Guest: Joe Weisenthal

Producer: Devon Baroldi

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In his epic cover story for The Atlantic this month, staff writer Josh Tyrangiel spoke to dozens of economists, workers, tech CEOs, and AI experts about the danger that artificial intelligence might pose to the labor force. Is AI developing the capacity to automate and even replace millions of white-collar jobs, as many technologists and some economists predict? Or is this a normal technology that, like previous generations of technology, will have a much slower effect on the workforce? We cover several scenarios before asking: Why does it seem like nobody in politics is paying close enough attention to this story?

Links: https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/2026/03/ai-economy-labor-market-transformation/685731/

Subscribe to our YouTube channel here: https://www.youtube.com/@PlainEnglishwithDerekThompson

If you have questions, observations, or ideas for future episodes, email us at [email protected].

Host: Derek Thompson

Guest: Josh Tyrangiel

Producer: Devon Baroldi

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Hello! I’m back from paternity leave just in time to talk about the biggest media earthquake of the year (so far): the Washington Post meltdown. For decades, the Post was a journalistic gem with superior coverage of politics. Last week, billionaire owner Jeff Bezos decided to gut roughly a third of the staff after the paper lost hundreds of millions of dollars in the last few years.

Today’s guest is Jim VandeHei, the cofounder of Politico and Axios and a former Post reporter. We talk about the decades-long rise and fall of the Post before zooming out to talk about the most important changes in news media over the past 20 years, the secret of 21st-century media success, and the coming storm of AI.

To read more about Derek’s opening comments on how the future of the news industry is going back to past, check out his Atlantic article on the subject here: https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2018/12/post-advertising-future-media/578917/

Subscribe to our YouTube channel here: https://www.youtube.com/@PlainEnglishwithDerekThompson

If you have questions, observations, or ideas for future episodes, email us at [email protected].

Host: Derek Thompson

Guest: Jim VandeHei

Producer: Devon Baroldi

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Throughout December and January, we’ve been re-airing some of our favorite episodes of the past year and beyond, and today's episode marks the end of our "best of" series for this year! This list includes interviews that really stuck with me and some others that you guys had tons of feedback and thoughts on … including this one!
“What’s the Matter With America’s Food?” originally aired September 26, 2025.
If you have questions, observations, or ideas for future episodes, email us at [email protected].
Host: Derek Thompson
Guests: Julia Belluz and Kevin Hall
Producer: Devon Baroldi

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Throughout December and January, we’re going to be re-airing some of our favorite episodes of the past year and beyond. This list includes interviews that really stuck with me and some others that you guys had tons of feedback and thoughts on … including this one!

“This Is How the AI Bubble Could Burst” originally aired September 23, 2025.

If you have questions, observations, or ideas for future episodes, email us at [email protected].

Host: Derek Thompson
Guest: Paul Kedrosky
Producer: Devon Baroldi

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Throughout December and January, we’re going to be re-airing some of our favorite episodes of the past year and beyond. This list includes interviews that really stuck with me and some others that you guys had tons of feedback and thoughts on … including this one!

“The Healthiest "Super-Agers" Have One Thing in Common, According to a 25-Year Study” originally aired August 27th, 2025.

If you have questions, observations, or ideas for future episodes, email us at [email protected].

Host: Derek Thompson
Guest: Dr. Sandra Weintraub
Producer: Devon Baroldi

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Throughout December and January, we’re going to be re-airing some of our favorite episodes of the past year and beyond. This list includes interviews that really stuck with me and some others that you guys had tons of feedback and thoughts on … including this one!

“The Modern World Is Changing America’s Personality for the Worse” originally aired August 13, 2025.

If you have questions, observations, or ideas for future episodes, email us at [email protected].

Host: Derek Thompson
Guest: John Burn-Murdoch
Producer: Devon Baroldi

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Throughout December and January, we’re going to be re-airing some of our favorite episodes of the past year and beyond. This list includes interviews that really stuck with me and some others that you guys had tons of feedback and thoughts on … including this one!

“If GLP-1 Drugs Are Good for Everything, Should We All Be on Them?” originally aired September 16, 2025.If you have questions, observations, or ideas for future episodes, email us at [email protected].

Host: Derek Thompson
Guests: David D’Alessio and Randy Seeley
Producer: Devon Baroldi

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Throughout December and January, we’re going to be re-airing some of our favorite episodes of the past year and beyond. This list includes interviews that really stuck with me and some others that you guys had tons of feedback and thoughts on … including this one!

“What Experts Really Think About Smartphones and Mental Health” originally aired June 4th, 2025.

If you have questions, observations, or ideas for future episodes, email us at [email protected].

Host: Derek Thompson
Guest: Jay Van Bavel
Producer: Devon Baroldi

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