Slate Politics – Spoken Edition

By Slate

What's Slate Politics – Spoken Edition about?

Your daily politics update, brought to you by Slate. Hear more Slate articles at Slate.com/Voice. Want to hear a daily selection of the magazine’s best stories? Learn more at slate.com/voice A SpokenEdition transforms written content into human-read audio you can listen to anywhere. It's perfect for times when you can't read - while driving, at the gym, doing chores, etc. Find more at www.spokenedition.com

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Slate Politics – Spoken Edition episodes:

02.20.2019
The Democratic Primary Is About to Get a Center Lane
The early days of 2019—which is to say, the early days of the 2020 campaign—have been dominated by the Democratic Party’s left wing. Early big-name entrants Kamala Harris, Elizabeth Warren, Cory Booker, and Kirsten Gillibrand were all quick to plant...
02.19.2019
Trump’s Followers Believe His Lies About the Wall
On Monday night, President Donald Trump held a rally in El Paso, Texas. He chose the location based on his claim, delivered in last week’s State of the Union address, that a border wall had rescued the city from rampant...
02.18.2019
The Lesson Democrats Should Take From the Ilhan Omar Controversy
The day that began with a media furor around Rep. Ilhan Omar’s recent tweets did not end the way many on the left feared it would. While centrist Democrats and the party’s leadership predictably criticized the first-year congresswoman from Minnesota...
02.14.2019
Republicans Really Need to Sell Trump on This Border Deal
President Donald Trump is not a fan of the border deal that congressional negotiators struck Monday night, the one that he would need to sign by the end of the week to avoid the year’s second government shutdown. While he...
02.13.2019
The Alarming Message in Trump’s State of the Union
Three years ago, when Donald Trump emerged as the Republican presidential front-runner, critics decried his ruthlessness. Since then, they’ve grown numb to it. They think his State of the Union address on Tuesday night was long, trite, and boring. In...
02.12.2019
The Least Pro-Life President Ever
On Tuesday night, in his State of the Union address, President Donald Trump called for legislation to outlaw abortion after 20 weeks of pregnancy. “Let us work together to build a culture that cherishes innocent life,” said Trump. On Thursday,...
02.11.2019
The Ghosts of 2015
We’re still 368 days away from the Iowa Caucus (Feb. 3, 2020), 532 days from the end of the Democratic National Convention (July 16, 2020), and a whopping 642 from Election Day (Nov. 3, 2020). It is understandable if you...
02.08.2019
Democrats Should Not Think Twice About Canceling Racist, Sexist Politicians
In the days since a racist photo from his 1984 medical school yearbook was published, Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam has resisted calls for resignation from all corners of his party. The Democratic caucuses of both branches of the Virginia state...
02.07.2019
Ralph Northam Is Lying
Ralph Northam, the governor of Virginia, swears he’s telling the truth. On Friday, Northam confessed to appearing in a racist photo in a 1984 yearbook. On Saturday, after Democrats called on him to resign, he reversed himself and said it...
02.06.2019
Trump Keeps Bluffing About Americans Wanting a Wall
President Donald Trump says he has a mandate to build a border wall. “I was elected partially on this issue,” he declared at the White House on Thursday. Trump thinks that by claiming to have won the 2016 election based...
02.05.2019
It’s Both Difficult and Incredibly Important to Make the Case for Third-Trimester Abortions
Conservative politicians and right-wing activists have targeted a Virginia state legislator this week and in the process reignited a nationwide debate about third-trimester abortions. Delegate Kathy Tran’s bill, which was tabled by a House of Delegates subcommittee this week, would...
02.04.2019
The Nonsense Trump Spewed During the Shutdown Wasn’t Oblivious. It Was Tactical.
It was most likely the airports that finally broke the dam. Friday afternoon, as news reports of disrupted flights poured in and the shutdown hit Day 36, Donald Trump finally announced that he would cave completely—if temporarily—on his demands for...
02.01.2019
The Last Shutdown?
How long must a government shutdown go on before Congress decides it can’t risk another one? We may soon find out if 35 days was long enough. The longest government shutdown in history just concluded with the instigator, President Trump,...
01.31.2019
Republicans Are Ditching the Wall
President Donald Trump has yet to break ground on his great border wall, but already it’s proving to be a powerful deterrent. Republicans are running away from it. In TV interviews last weekend, Republican lawmakers bent over backward to avoid...
01.30.2019
Ed Case Shows How Not to Reach Out to Your Nonwhite Constituents
Hillary Clinton said that she kept hot sauce in her bag when she was interviewed on black talk radio in April 2016. Jeb Bush released a Spanish-language Cinco de Mayo ad to celebrate the holiday in 2015 and sold a...
01.29.2019
A Horrifying Ethical Dilemma
Last month, a 29-year-old woman who’s been in a persistent vegetative state since she was a toddler went into labor and gave birth. An employee of the Arizona health care facility where she’s resided for more than 26 years swears...
01.28.2019
The MAGA Teen News Cycle and Our Toxic Era of “Event Politics”
I’d naively hoped that America would spend the anniversary of Roe v. Wade talking about what the future holds for the tired and embattled women of this country, some of whom have finally won a little political power. Instead (and...
01.25.2019
The Next Step in #MeToo Is for Men to Reckon With Their Male Fragility
These are devastating times for survivors of sexual assault. It is devastating to live through the constant barrage of new accusations, and it is devastating to have witnessed a credibly accused man like Brett Kavanaugh elevated to the Supreme Court....
01.24.2019
The Possibility of a Shutdown Agreement Plunged Toward Absolute Zero This Week
What does it look like for a legislative stalemate of four weeks, during which time zero progress has been made toward a conclusion, to actually begin getting worse? It looks much like the two central players in the stalemate trolling...
01.23.2019
Trump’s Rhetoric Is Raising the Risk of Right-Wing Terrorism
Politics quickly eclipsed horror after Robert Bowers allegedly gunned down 11 worshipers at a Pittsburgh synagogue in October. The shooting, the worst anti-Semitic attack in American history, almost immediately became intertwined with Donald Trump’s divisive presidency.
01.22.2019
The Leaders of the Women’s March Are Not the Women’s Movement
When I attended the Women’s March convention in October 2017, I expected to witness little more than a three-day pep rally. Women with the financial capacity to take time off work, travel to Detroit, and abide the business-casual dress code...
01.21.2019
Four Questions for Trump About His Contacts With Russia
In the last week, we’ve learned several new things about past and ongoing contacts between President Donald Trump, his aides, and Russia. These revelations cast doubt on the president’s denials of collusion. Trump and his surrogates dismiss these stories, but...
01.18.2019
“All Sizzle but No Steak”
In all the noise surrounding Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, much of the attention centered on her has been hostile or leering, racist or white-knighty or paparazzish—and predictably focused on her looks. While the left certainly isn’t exempt, the response from the right...
01.17.2019
The Limits of Tucker Carlson’s Anti–Free Market Vision
In a monologue that aired on Tucker Carlson’s nightly Fox News show on Jan. 2, the right-wing pundit did something out of character: He leveled a radical critique of policies supported by Donald Trump and the Republican Party. A prominent...
01.16.2019
“If She Can’t Get Him to Back Off, I Don’t Know How Anybody Can”
The dynamics of workplace sexual harassment are often easy to understand. Typically, the harasser is in a position of power, making it difficult for his or her victims to resist or to report sexual advances without risking their careers.
01.15.2019
There Is No Terrorism Crisis at the Border
Taken at face value, rhetoric from the White House and the Department of Homeland Security would lead Americans to believe that the United States is facing a terrorism crisis at our southern border. The picture being painted is one in...
01.14.2019
The Shutdown to End All Shutdowns
As we enter the 20th day of federal workers being unable to go to their jobs, contractors being unable to get paid, and those reliant on federal services being unable to access them, all because the president is unyielding in...
01.11.2019
The Department of Defense Cannot Build a Border Wall, Emergency or Not
As the shutdown stretches on, the Trump administration is beginning to realize theseverity of its consequencesfor millions of Americans and is desperately searching for a way out. While President Donald Trump did notdeclare a national emergencyduring his speech on Tuesday...
01.10.2019
A Mueller Court Filing Reveals James Comey’s Arrogance
Last month, special counsel Robert Mueller revealed something disturbing about former FBI Director James Comey. Here’s what Mueller disclosed: In January 2017, when Comey sent FBI agents to interview then–national security adviser Michael Flynn, Comey bypassed his own boss, Acting...
01.09.2019
Why Men Find the New Congresswomen So Frightening
There’s an extraordinary scene in the new Ruth Bader Ginsburg biopic, On the Basis of Sex,in which crusading civil rights attorney Ginsburg takes her rebellious teenage daughter Jane to a rundown street somewhere in Manhattan sometime in the ’70s to...
01.07.2019
We Had to Shut Down the Government Because Mexico Is Paying for the Wall
To: Congressional Republicans From: The White House Re: Talking points on the shutdown Over the past two weeks, we’ve noticed that many of you are having trouble articulating where our party stands in the present impasse. You seem confused about...
01.04.2019
Leggo My Pay-Go
House Democratic leaders made public on Tuesday night one of the first big pieces of legislation they would vote on: the rules governing the 116th Congress. The package makes substantial changes to the rules under which House Republicans had governed...
01.03.2019
What the Democrats’ 2020 Field Looks Like Now
It’s officially 2019, which means it’s time to talk about 2020—or more specifically, who could win the Democratic nomination and the right to take on Donald Trump in the general election. Several dozen Democrats have already emerged as potential challengers,...
12.31.2018
Claire McCaskill’s Bitter Farewell
Since she lost her bid for a third term as a U.S. senator from Missouri, Claire McCaskill has been trashing the left to anyone who’ll listen. She’s insulted Democrats who wanted her to be a more vocal critic of the...
12.28.2018
In a Year Full of Heinous Men, Jeffrey Epstein Still Managed to Be Shocking
If it surprised you when Sen.
12.27.2018
The Path to the Presidency Could Be Harder for White Democrats in 2020
Before Barack Obama’s election in 2008, the relationship between white racial views and partisanship wasn’t as clear-cut as one might think. Yes, Republicans won the large majority of white voters who believed black disadvantage could be attributed to a lack...
12.25.2018
House Republicans Got Away With It—Again
In 2009, House Republicans went hat-in-hand to the American people begging for a another chance. After squandering their majority status in the George W. Bush years and getting creamed at the polls in 2006 and 2008, they promised voters that...
12.24.2018
Impeach Trump? Not So Fast
Twenty years ago, a sharply divided House of Representatives voted to impeach President Clinton, against the wishes of a majority of the American people. Now that President Trump has been publicly implicated in serious criminal conduct, the question of whether...
12.21.2018
The Worst Offense in Trump World Is Proving the President Lied
President Donald Trump and his lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, claim that the men around the president have betrayed him. First these “rats” turned on Trump. Then they lied about him. Then they did the dirtiest thing of all: They produced evidence.
12.19.2018
Nancy Pelosi Will Be Speaker. That Doesn’t Mean Her Antagonists Lost.
Nancy Pelosi has at last put down the rebellion against her and will now have the votes she needs to return to the speakership after eight years in the House minority. She did it, though, by negotiating on the one...
12.18.2018
The Weekly Standard’s Dismantling Is Terrible News for Conservatism and Journalism
The Weekly Standard shut down on Friday after 23 years of publication. In an unceremonious execution, MediaDC, the magazine’s owner, instructed staff to clear out their desks by the end of the day. According to co-founder John Podhoretz, MediaDC chose...
12.17.2018
Trump Won’t Win a Shutdown Over the Border Wall
President Trump thinks he’ll win a fight with Democrats over paying for a wall on the Mexican border. “If we don’t get what we want … I will shut down the government,” Trump told Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer and...
12.14.2018
Why Nancy Pelosi’s Quiet Trump Burn Was Uniquely Satisfying
Americans may never rid ourselves of our collective need to narrate political conflict in military terms. Everything must be understood as a pitched battle between two clear opposing sides. This is not an especially illuminating way of looking at things—nor...
12.13.2018
Supreme Court Hands Small Victory to Planned Parenthood in Defunding Cases
The Supreme Court declined to hear two Planned Parenthood–related cases on Monday, leaving in place two lower court opinions that favor the health care organization. Those opinions held that states violate federal law when they cut Planned Parenthood affiliates out...
12.12.2018
The Lame-Duck Power Grab
In 2012, North Carolina Republicans won a “trifecta” of legislative and executive power. They used their newfound power to aggressively gerrymander the electoral map and impose new restrictions on voting. In 2016, Democrats reversed those gains, narrowly toppling incumbent Gov....
12.11.2018
The GOP Sees Rural Voters as More Legitimate Than Urban Voters
On Tuesday, Wisconsin Republicans escalated their lame-duck power grab, confirming 82 appointees from outgoing Gov. Scott Walker after passing bills to lock in conservative policy and keep incoming Democratic Gov.-elect Tony Evers from exercising meaningful power over state government. The...
12.10.2018
Bari Weiss and Eve Peyser’s Secret to Cross-Political Friendship
Just in time for the holidays, the New York Times has published a heartwarming tale of Twitter enemies who learned to be friends. In the piece, Bari Weiss, the Intellectual Dark Web–fetishizing Times opinion writer, and Vice politics writer Eve...
12.07.2018
It’s the Democrats Who Have a Freedom Agenda Now
It feels much longer than 14 years since President George W. Bush declared that the U.S. should have “the ultimate goal of ending tyranny in our world … by force of arms when necessary” in his second inaugural address.
12.06.2018
Trump Is More Loyal to Dictators Than to the U.S.
When the CIA catches dictators doing bad things, the dictators often pay lobbyists to lie about what’s been discovered. Now the dictators can save their money because President Donald Trump is doing their hatchet work against the CIA for free....
12.05.2018
There Will Never Be an Honest Conversation About Nancy Pelosi as a Political Leader
Nancy Pelosi cleared the first hurdle to regaining her former position as speaker of the House on Wednesday, earning 203 yes votes and 32 noes from her fellow Democrats. To get the gig, she has to turn 15 of those...

What's Slate Politics – Spoken Edition about?

Download our free app to listen on your phone

Slate Politics – Spoken Edition episodes:

The Democratic Primary Is About to Get a Center Lane

Trump’s Followers Believe His Lies About the Wall

The Lesson Democrats Should Take From the Ilhan Omar Controversy

Republicans Really Need to Sell Trump on This Border Deal

The Alarming Message in Trump’s State of the Union

The Least Pro-Life President Ever

The Ghosts of 2015

Democrats Should Not Think Twice About Canceling Racist, Sexist Politicians

Ralph Northam Is Lying

Trump Keeps Bluffing About Americans Wanting a Wall

It’s Both Difficult and Incredibly Important to Make the Case for Third-Trimester Abortions

The Nonsense Trump Spewed During the Shutdown Wasn’t Oblivious. It Was Tactical.

The Last Shutdown?

Republicans Are Ditching the Wall

Ed Case Shows How Not to Reach Out to Your Nonwhite Constituents

A Horrifying Ethical Dilemma

The MAGA Teen News Cycle and Our Toxic Era of “Event Politics”

The Next Step in #MeToo Is for Men to Reckon With Their Male Fragility

The Possibility of a Shutdown Agreement Plunged Toward Absolute Zero This Week

Trump’s Rhetoric Is Raising the Risk of Right-Wing Terrorism

The Leaders of the Women’s March Are Not the Women’s Movement

Four Questions for Trump About His Contacts With Russia

“All Sizzle but No Steak”

The Limits of Tucker Carlson’s Anti–Free Market Vision

“If She Can’t Get Him to Back Off, I Don’t Know How Anybody Can”

There Is No Terrorism Crisis at the Border

The Shutdown to End All Shutdowns

The Department of Defense Cannot Build a Border Wall, Emergency or Not

A Mueller Court Filing Reveals James Comey’s Arrogance

Why Men Find the New Congresswomen So Frightening

We Had to Shut Down the Government Because Mexico Is Paying for the Wall

Leggo My Pay-Go

What the Democrats’ 2020 Field Looks Like Now

Claire McCaskill’s Bitter Farewell

In a Year Full of Heinous Men, Jeffrey Epstein Still Managed to Be Shocking

The Path to the Presidency Could Be Harder for White Democrats in 2020

House Republicans Got Away With It—Again

Impeach Trump? Not So Fast

The Worst Offense in Trump World Is Proving the President Lied

Nancy Pelosi Will Be Speaker. That Doesn’t Mean Her Antagonists Lost.

The Weekly Standard’s Dismantling Is Terrible News for Conservatism and Journalism

Trump Won’t Win a Shutdown Over the Border Wall

Why Nancy Pelosi’s Quiet Trump Burn Was Uniquely Satisfying

Supreme Court Hands Small Victory to Planned Parenthood in Defunding Cases

The Lame-Duck Power Grab

The GOP Sees Rural Voters as More Legitimate Than Urban Voters

Bari Weiss and Eve Peyser’s Secret to Cross-Political Friendship

It’s the Democrats Who Have a Freedom Agenda Now

Trump Is More Loyal to Dictators Than to the U.S.

There Will Never Be an Honest Conversation About Nancy Pelosi as a Political Leader