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Is the president falling into the very trap that launched him back into office by telling people the economy is actually great when they say it isn’t? Is this partially ballroom’d White House as chaotic as its detractors—and Trump’s chief of staff—say it is? 

Guest: Ben Jacobs, political reporter based in Washingon.

This episode is member-exclusive. Listen to it now by subscribing to Slate Plus. By joining, not only will you unlock exclusive episodes of What Next —you’ll also access ad-free listening across all your 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, and Rob Gunther.

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While the A.I. boom has created a data center boom, rich guys are turning their computing dreams to the skies. With its impending IPO, SpaceX stands to lead the extraterrestrial data center boom. Will it work out for Elon and company? 

Guest: Eric Berger, space reporter at Ars Technica

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.

Podcast production by Evan Campbell, and Patrick Fort.

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This week, Emily Bazelon, John Dickerson, and David Plotz discuss the vivid and impulsive portrait Susie Wiles paints of Trump’s White House in a revealing interview with Vanity Fair, what the new unemployment numbers say about the economy and how Americans are feeling about it, and why some studies show that young Americans are increasingly antisemitic.

For this week’s Slate Plus bonus episode, Emily, John, David, and special guest Stephen Colbert answer listeners’ conundrums of all kinds: the meaningful, the trivial, and the delightfully absurd.

In the latest Gabfest Reads, John talks with journalist and author Andrew Ross Sorkin about his new book, 1929: Inside the Greatest Crash in Wall Street History and How It Shattered a Nation — the story of speculation, debt, and the human drives that fueled the Wall Street crash that changed everything.

Email your chatters, questions, and comments to [email protected]. (Messages may be referenced by name unless the writer stipulates otherwise.)

Podcast production by Nina Porzucki

Research by Emily Ditto

You can find the full Political Gabfest show pages here.

Want more Political Gabfest? 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 Political Gabfest show page on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Or visit slate.com/gabfestplus to get access wherever you listen.

Find out more about David Plotz's monthly tours of Ft. DeRussy, the secret Civil War fort hidden in Rock Creek Park.  

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@SlateGabfest on X / https://twitter.com/SlateGabfestSlate Political Gabfest on Facebook / https://www.facebook.com/Gabfest/

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On this episode: Lucy Lopez, Elizabeth Newcamp, and Zak Rosen have been trying to stay on top of the news…but they’re getting bogged down and worried about it impacting their kids. Luckily What Next host Mary Harris’s literal job is keeping up on the news, and she’s got kids of her own. So, they all sit down to talk about how much to share with the kids, how to stay informed but still show up for the kids, ways to moderate your own anxiety, and so much more. 

But first, they share their latest triumphs and fails. Mary comes in with a win during the college admission process; Lucy almost crashes a birthday party (but she DOESN’T…so it’s a win); Zak takes his daughter to roller derby; and Elizabeth says yes to a choral concert. 

Podcast production by Cheyna Roth. Video production by Micah Phillips. 

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It’s not that antisemitism ever went away, but it’s still jarring to watch people spread its oldest and most vile tropes on social media in a way that would’ve been unthinkable ten years ago.

Guest:  Isaac Saul, politics reporter in Bucks County, Penn., author of the Tangle newsletter

Want more What Next? Subscribe to Slate Plus to access ad-free listening to the whole What Next family and across 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.

Podcast production by Elena Schwartz, Paige Osburn, Anna Phillips, Madeline Ducharme, and Rob Gunther.

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Hark, the holiday season is upon us—and with it the most solemn of festive traditions: a gift guide! In this video and podcast special, Slate hosts Dana Stevens, Chris Molanphy, and Willa Paskin beam-in from their collective hearths to deliver unto the internet their favorite gifts for culture lovers this holiday. In addition to sharing gifts, they also discuss the cultural artifact that is the “holiday gift guide,” and its history going back to the early 20th century, up to the modern day. See the entirety of the 1910 gift guide Our Special Holiday Gift-Book from Greenhut-Siegel Cooper, and Esquire’s ultra-mod gift guide from 1961.

Check out our gift recommendations below:

Dana Stevens’ Cozy Movie Night-In: 

• The Salbree Collapsible Silicone Microwave Popcorn Popper & Amish Country Popcorn

• L'agraty Chunky Knit Blanket Throw

• The Adventures of Antoine Doinel, The Criterion Collection Box Set

Chris Molanphy’s Hit Parade Collection: 

• The Beatles’ Revolver CD Box Set

• Mad Men Blu-Ray Box Set 

• Can't Slow Down: How 1984 Became Pop's Blockbuster Year, by Michaelangelo Matos

Willa Paskin’s Fruit-Themed Trompe-l'œil Housewares:

• Cantaloupe-shaped bowls in the style of Bordallo Pinheiro

• 4-Pack Orange-Shaped Candle Stocking Stuffer

• Cherry-Shaped Toilet Brush

The Slate Culture Gift Guide is produced for Slate Studios by Benjamin Frisch and Micah Phillips, with Meryl Bezrutczyk and Andrew Harding.

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Decoder Ring listeners write in with some excellent mysteries, and for our last episode of the year we’re solving three of them. Why do children play in boxes full of sand? Why do rock bands pretend like the show is over when everybody knows they’re coming back for an encore? And what was up with those school assemblies where you’d get to skip class to learn about…yo-yos?

The voices you’ll hear in this episode include yo-yo masters ”Dazzling Dave” Schulte and Dale Oliver, children’s book author Rob Peñas, Pulitzer Prize-winning design critic Alexandra Lange, and music journalists Brian Wise, Michael Walker, and Travis Andrews. 

You can find all the music from the segment about encores in this YouTube playlist.

This episode was produced by Max Freedman, Katie Shepherd, and Evan Chung, Decoder Ring’s supervising producer. Merritt Jacob is Senior Technical Director. We had additional production from Joel Meyer.

If you have any cultural mysteries you want us to decode, email us at [email protected] or leave a message on our hotline at (347) 460-7281.

Get more of Decoder Ring with Slate Plus! Join for exclusive bonus episodes of Decoder Ring and ad-free listening on all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe from the Decoder Ring show page on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Or, visit slate.com/decoderplus for access wherever you listen.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Decoder Ring listeners write in with some excellent mysteries, and for our last episode of the year we’re solving three of them. Why do children play in boxes full of sand? Why do rock bands pretend like the show is over when everybody knows they’re coming back for an encore? And what was up with those school assemblies where you’d get to skip class to learn about…yo-yos?

The voices you’ll hear in this episode include yo-yo masters ”Dazzling Dave” Schulte and Dale Oliver, children’s book author Rob Peñas, Pulitzer Prize-winning design critic Alexandra Lange, and music journalists Brian Wise, Michael Walker, and Travis Andrews. 

You can find all the music from the segment about encores in this YouTube playlist.

This episode was produced by Max Freedman, Katie Shepherd, and Evan Chung, Decoder Ring’s supervising producer. Merritt Jacob is Senior Technical Director. We had additional production from Joel Meyer.

If you have any cultural mysteries you want us to decode, email us at [email protected] or leave a message on our hotline at (347) 460-7281.

Get more of Decoder Ring with Slate Plus! Join for exclusive bonus episodes of Decoder Ring and ad-free listening on all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe from the Decoder Ring show page on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Or, visit slate.com/decoderplus for access wherever you listen.

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On this week’s show, Dana and Steve are joined by guest host Rebecca Onion for a Gabfest first: a segment about something from the sprawling Taylor Sheridan television universe. They strap on their cowboy boots and hop in the pickup for a conversation on season 2 of Landman which stars a rangy and world-weary Billy Bob Thornton as an oil industry fixer.

Next, they turn north of the border for some good, old fashioned, Canadian gay hockey romance. They discuss HBO’s surprise—and surprisingly graphic—hit Heated Rivalry. The series sure is steamy, but does it feature enough hockey? 

Finally, they mourn the passing of legendary filmmaker and Hollywood omnipresence Rob Reiner. They share their favorite moments from his films. Given those films include Stand By Me, When Harry Met Sally, Misery, The Princess Bride, and many more indelible classics, there’s much to share.

Endorsements

Rebecca: The podcast Posting Through It featuring hosts Jared Holt and Michael Edison Hayden discussing the ins and outs of rightwing infighting and the recipe Holiday Rocky Road by Sohla el-Waylly in New York Times Cooking.

Steve: For more melancholic Christmas music, Duke Ellington's Nutcracker Suite. Also, the Booker Prize short-listed novel The Rest of Our Lives by Ben Markovits, who Steve will be in conversation with at an event on January 5, 2026 at the Upper West Side Barnes & Noble— details here.

Dana: The Rob Reiner-directed documentary Defending My Life about his childhood friend Albert Brooks and this brilliant clip of Rob Reiner at his 2000 Friar's Club Roast reading from Roger Ebert's legendary pan of Reiner's film North .

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As When We All Get to Heaven wraps up, Christina sits down with series host Lynne Gerber and producer Siri Colom. They discuss how the church has changed, the value of fleeting queer spaces, and what a decade or more spent working on this story has meant to—and taught—them.

Get more Outward with Slate Plus! Join for weekly bonus episodes of Outward and ad-free listening on all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe from the Outward show page on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, or visit slate.com/outwardplus for access wherever you listen.

Produced by Palace Shaw and Merritt Jacob.

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