Matter of Opinion

By New York Times Opinion

Society & Culture

What's Matter of Opinion about?

Thoughts, aloud. Hosted by Michelle Cottle, Ross Douthat, Carlos Lozada and Lydia Polgreen. Every Friday, from New York Times Opinion.

Listen to this podcast in New York Times Audio, our new iOS app for news subscribers. Download now at nytimes.com/audioapp

4.2

4,943 ratings

Download our free app to listen on your phone

LAST EPISODE

Why Michelle Is Hot on ‘The...

11.24.2023

Though the “Matter of Opinion” crew is off this week, Michelle Cottle is eagerly awaiting the season finale of the first-ever “Golden Bachelor.” This older spin on the “Bachelor” franchise has proved to be a surprisingly apt funhouse mirror depiction ...

Matter of Opinion episodes:

11.24.2023 Why Michelle Is Hot on ‘The Golden Bachelor’ Though the “Matter of Opinion” crew is off this week, Michelle Cottle is eagerly awaiting the season finale of the first-ever “Golden Bachelor.” This older spin on the “Bachelor” franchise has proved to be a surprisingly apt funhouse mirror depiction ...
11.17.2023 ‘Get a Job, Get Married, Have Kids’: A Debate Over Youth Politics What’s your earliest political memory? That’s the question Professor Carlos Lozada puts to his co-hosts this week on “Matter of Opinion.” The hosts discuss the coups and presidential pinings of their youths before debating what political events may be shaping ...
11.08.2023 A Good Night for Democrats. A Bad Poll for Biden. The election results on Tuesday made it clear that voters support Democratic policies and state politicians — but new polling shows they don’t love the president. On this week’s episode of “Matter of Opinion,” the hosts share their takeaways from ...
11.03.2023 The Presidential Fantasy Draft America Needs The polls are clear: Neither Joe Biden nor Donald Trump has the full confidence of American voters. But is Biden’s latest competition, Democratic Representative Dean Phillips of Minnesota, the answer to voters’ malaise? Or perhaps an independent candidate like Robert ...
10.27.2023 Does Society Really Need More Elon Musks? Will technology — and the people who make it — lead us into a better future? Or a worse one? This week on “Matter of Opinion,” the hosts discuss Elon Musk, techno-optimism and the manifesto taking Silicon Valley by storm. ...
10.20.2023 Tom Friedman on Israel’s ‘Morally Impossible Situation’ This week, the Opinion columnist and former New York Times Jerusalem bureau chief Thomas L. Friedman joins the “Matter of Opinion” hosts to discuss the rapidly evolving situation in the Middle East and the mistakes that led to this moment ...
10.12.2023 From Israel to Ukraine: How Much Support Can the U.S. Sustain? On today’s episode of “Matter of Opinion,” the hosts discuss the global response to the war between Israel and Hamas. What domestic and international strings are attached to U.S. support in the region? And what will that support signal to ...
10.06.2023 Is the G.O.P. Governable? Now that Kevin McCarthy is no longer speaker, who’s in charge of the Republicans, and is this overthrow what voters actually want? Today on “Matter of Opinion,” the hosts discuss the future of a deeply divided G.O.P. and debate what ...
09.29.2023 We Need to Talk About Joe Biden In 2020, Joe Biden handily beat Donald Trump in a race that was never particularly close. But now that the twice-impeached and four-times-indicted former president may once again be the Republican nominee, polls suggest they might be even, at best. ...
09.22.2023 Work: ‘The American Disease’ Americans are sick of business as usual. This year alone, more than 275 strikes have broken out across the country, and last week, nearly 13,000 members of the United Auto Workers joined the picket line to demand a better deal ...
09.15.2023 ‘A Red State Strategy to Create a Blue State Crisis’ Hundreds of thousands of migrants, many seeking asylum, have arrived in the United States over the last year, overwhelming already-strained resources in cities and states across the country. Last week, in arguably one of the most immigration-friendly cities in the ...
09.07.2023 The Woke Burnout Is Real — and Politics Is Catching Up Classrooms have been a key battleground in the so-called woke wars for years now. But could the debate over how schools teach history, race, gender and sexuality be coming to an end? This week on “Matter of Opinion,” the hosts ...
08.31.2023 Is It Time to Negotiate With Putin? It’s been 18 months since Russia invaded Ukraine. No true negotiations have happened. As the stalemate continues, what role should the United States play in the fight? This week on “Matter of Opinion,” the hosts discuss how the war is ...
08.24.2023 Trump’s Plan: Skip the Debates, Win Iowa, Avoid Prison The first Republican primary debate of the 2024 election is over. Chris Christie wiggled his fingers. Nikki Haley took Vivek Ramaswamy to the woodshed. Tim Scott was a “nonentity.” And then there was that elephant decidedly not in the room, ...
08.16.2023 Trump’s Co-Defendants in Georgia Are in For ‘a World of Hurt’ It happened. A jury in Georgia indicted Donald Trump and 18 of his closest co-defendants. Which can only mean one thing: Michelle is thrilled. So even though Matter of Opinion is taking a break this week, Michelle grabbed Opinion colleague ...
08.10.2023 How to Beat Trump in a World Where Indictments Actually Help Him Donald Trump was impeached twice. He has been indicted three times. He lost the 2020 election. And yet he’s the clear Republican front-runner for 2024. Today on “Matter of Opinion,” Michelle Cottle, Ross Douthat and Carlos Lozada explore how Trump ...
08.03.2023 ‘I Don’t Think Harvard Was Good for My Soul’ Elite colleges are facing a reckoning over their admissions practices. But is there a case for upholding policies that give preferential treatment to some students? On this episode of “Matter of Opinion,” the hosts examine whether it really matters if ...
07.26.2023 ‘Oppenheimer’ and the Siren Song of World-Ending Technology Christopher Nolan’s blockbuster hit “Oppenheimer” tells the story of the father of the atomic bomb and the invention he hoped would end all wars. (Spoiler alert: It did not.) On “Matter of Opinion,” the hosts discuss how history should view ...
07.20.2023 33 Reading Recommendations for Your Summer Vacation On this week’s “Matter of Opinion,” Michelle, Ross, Carlos and Lydia offer their recommendations for your summer reading and lay out what they’re excited to dive into themselves. Plus, listener book picks.
07.13.2023 ‘Elon Musk Is Doing for Zuckerberg What Trump Did for George W. Bush’ In just one week, more than 100 million people have signed up for Meta’s new Threads app. On “Matter of Opinion,” the hosts ask why so many people are joining, given how much we love to hate on social media, ...
07.06.2023 America, Shall I Compare Thee to a Chevy Volt? It’s as American as … “Survivor”? This week on “Matter of Opinion,” our hosts each bring a piece of pop culture that they think defines America, and make the case for why grifters, connivers and Tennessee’s finest explain the United ...
06.29.2023 Wait, Are There Actually Aliens? It’s an age-old question in America: Is the government lying to us? According to David Grusch, a former intelligence official who recently alleged that the U.S. government is secretly storing alien spacecraft, the answer is yes. He is, of course, ...
06.22.2023 What Happens When You Stop Being a Superpower? As authoritarian nations like China and Russia try to assert their power, President Biden has said the United States is fighting a global battle to save democracy. So why is America building relationships with countries that are far from democratic ...
06.13.2023 Just When You Thought There Was Nothing New to Learn About Donald Trump For the second time in recent months, Donald Trump has been indicted. This time, the charges were filed by the special counsel appointed to investigate accusations that the former president took classified documents from the White House and repeatedly resisted ...
06.08.2023 We Have Age Minimums. Why Not Age Maximums? The median age of senators is 65. We’re heading into a presidential contest that might find candidates who are 78 and 82 facing off on Election Day. Our government, people have argued, is a gerontocracy. But is that a bad ...
06.01.2023 What Biden Understands About Negotiating That Obama Never Did Time is running out for Congress to pass legislation lifting the debt ceiling. The United States is just days away from defaulting on its obligations, which would cause global economic chaos. A deal seems likely to pass, but given that ...
05.29.2023 A Eulogy for 'Succession' As HBO’s hit series comes to a close, was everything foretold in Episode 1?
05.25.2023 What Does Healthy Masculinity Look Like? American men and boys are struggling — in education, employment, relationships and mental health. But just bringing up how to address the “crisis of masculinity” is politically polarized dynamite. In light of that, is there any hope for solutions? On ...
05.18.2023 If DeSantis Can’t Beat Trump, Can Ramaswamy? It’s 77 weeks before Election Day and over half a dozen people have already thrown their hats into the G.O.P race. On our new podcast, “Matter of Opinion,” Michelle Cottle, Ross Douthat, Carlos Lozada and Lydia Polgreen take a tour ...
05.11.2023 What If We Just Paid Clarence Thomas $1 Million? On the inaugural episode of “Matter of Opinion,” a new podcast from New York Times Opinion, our hosts discuss the recent revelations about Clarence Thomas, their impact on the Supreme Court and how, or whether, to fix this increasingly unpopular ...
05.10.2023 Introducing 'Matter of Opinion' Thoughts, aloud. A new weekly podcast, every Thursday from New York Times Opinion.
12.14.2022 Is It Time to Break Up With Your Political Party? In her two years hosting “The Argument,” Jane Coaston has changed her mind about many things — from court packing to police reform (though not on whether we should contact alien life). But this year, she has changed her political ...
12.07.2022 Should America Intervene in Haiti? ‘Go to Hell’ and Other Views The United States has a long history of military intervention in other countries. Today, Haiti is in crisis. The country is facing gang violence, extreme hunger and intense political turmoil, sparked largely by the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse last ...
11.30.2022 The One Thing Democrats Can Control — and How They Should Do It Are the Democrats, finally, in array? They’ve just had the best midterms by a sitting president’s party in about 20 years, and passed significant legislation in 2022. And now House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is stepping down after nearly two decades ...
11.23.2022 Best of: Is the News Media Setting Trump Up for Another Win? This week, we're bringing you an episode from our archives that's more relevant than ever. After former President Donald Trump’s recent announcement of his 2024 White House bid — and his reinstatement on Twitter — there’s the matter of the ...
11.16.2022 Has Donald Trump Lost His Grip on the Republican Party? Donald Trump is running for president — again. Yet the results of last week’s midterms and the red wave that wasn’t signaled that perhaps Trump’s hold on the Republican Party isn’t so strong after all. But now that he’s back ...
11.09.2022 Donald Trump Was the Midterm’s Biggest Loser As midterm election results continue to trickle in, one thing is clear: There’s no predicting American voters. After an unexpected showing for Democrats in tight races across the country, Jane Coaston speaks with the Times editorial board member Michelle Cottle ...
11.02.2022 The Price of $5 Donations: Is Small-Dollar Fund-Raising Doing More Harm Than Good? As midterm frenzy reaches its peak, your inbox might be full of imploring fund-raising emails with increasingly desperate headlines: “Just $3 can make all the difference.” “Can you chip in today?” “Ultimately, it’s up to you.” In theory, the small-dollar ...
10.26.2022 ‘Maybe Gen Z Is Just Kinder’: How America’s Youngest Voters are Shaping Politics Members of Gen Z (Americans under 26 years old) have come of age during the Trump presidency and a pandemic, in an era of protests over police violence, attacks on reproductive rights, rising economic inequality, and frequent school shootings. These ...
10.19.2022 Has Polling Broken Politics? Election Day is just three weeks away — and that means it’s peak polling season. For political hobbyists, polling is the new sports betting: gamifying elections to predict outcomes that haven’t always proven accurate. If the 2016 election revealed anything, ...
10.12.2022 Is America Headed for Another Civil War? America is divided and battling many different internal “wars” — over politics, culture, language, religion. Is it possible all this internal division could culminate in a civil war? Today’s episode of “The Argument” brings together Jamelle Bouie and Tim Alberta ...
10.05.2022 Are You ‘Third-Party-Curious’? Andrew Yang and David Jolly Would Like a Word. For years, hopeful reformers have touted the promise of third parties as an antidote to our political polarization. But when so many of the issues that voters care about most — like abortion, or climate change, or guns — are ...
09.28.2022 After Dobbs: What Is Feminist Sex? What is good sex? It’s a complicated question that feminists have wrestled with for decades. From destigmatizing premarital sex to embracing no-strings-attached hookup culture of more recent decades, feminism has often focused winning sexual freedoms for women. But some feminists ...
09.21.2022 After Dobbs: Feminism Beyond the Gender Binary As the feminist movement has regrouped in the wake of the Supreme Court decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, one of the more surprising debates that has emerged has been one about semantics. Some feminists argue that using ...
09.14.2022 After Dobbs: Does ‘Big Tent’ Feminism Exist? Should It? For decades, the story of the American feminist movement seemed like a progression of hard-won gains: Title IX, Roe v. Wade, the Violence Against Women Act, #MeToo. But in a post-“lean in” and post-Roe America, the momentum seems to have ...
09.07.2022 What Should High Schoolers Read? Book banning has surged in America’s classrooms. The free speech advocacy organization PEN America has compiled a list of more than 1,500 reported instances of books being banned in public schools and libraries in less than a year. As students ...
08.31.2022 Best of: Does the Supreme Court Need More Justices? Today, we're re-airing one of our most timely debates from earlier this year: Reforming the Supreme Court. This episode originally aired before the Dobbs decision was released this summer. 2022 is a big year for supporters of Supreme Court reform. ...
08.24.2022 Best of: Cancel America's Student Loan Debt! But How? Today, with the Biden Administration weighing whether to extend the federal student loan payment freeze, we're re-airing one of our most timely debates from last year: Canceling student loan debt. The problem of student loan debt has reached crisis proportions. ...
08.17.2022 Trump, Dr. Oz and Our Political Cult of Celebrity Celebrities. They are ubiquitous in American culture and now, ever increasingly, in our politics. From Donald Trump to Dr. Oz, the memeification of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg and President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine — the power of celebrity has gripped ...
08.10.2022 Your Blue State Won’t Save You: Why State Politics Is National Politics Last week, Kansans voted in overwhelming numbers to protect abortion rights in their State Constitution — the first instance since the overruling of Roe v. Wade in which voters have been able to weigh in on the issue directly. But ...

Older episodes