The Opinions

The Opinion contributing writer Megan Stack has a gift for high school graduates who struggled academically or who feel like life is passing them by. In this audio essay, Stack lays out an optimistic vision for the late bloomers and poor performers, arguing that this stage of life doesn’t have to define a person’s future and that there are many paths to happiness and success.

This episode originally aired on June 19, 2024. 

Thoughts? Email us at [email protected].

This episode of “The Opinions” was produced by Jillian Weinberger. It was edited by Kaari Pitkin and Alison Bruzek. The rest of the show's production team includes Derek Arthur, Vishakha Darbha and Kristina Samulewski. Mixing by Pat McCusker. Original music by Carole Sabouraud, Sonia Herrero and Pat McCusker. Fact-checking by Mary Marge Locker. Audience strategy by Shannon Busta and Kristina Samulewski. Our executive producer is Annie-Rose Strasser.

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Who knew what when? Two new books paint a damning portrait of the Democratic Party and what some of its members knew about President Joe Biden’s deteriorating health during the 2024 campaign. On “The Opinions,” the Times editor at large Aaron Retica is joined by the columnist Carlos Lozada to discuss “Original Sin” by Jake Tapper and Alex Thompson and “Fight: Inside the Wildest Battle for the White House” by Jonathan Allen and Amy Parnes. Retica and Lozada explore the books’ shared themes and where the beleaguered party goes from here.

Thoughts? Email us at [email protected].

This episode of “The Opinions” was produced by Vishakha Darbha. The rest of the show's production team includes Derek Arthur, Kristina Samulewski and Jillian Weinberger. It was edited by Alison Bruzek and Kaari Pitkin. Mixing by Carole Sabouraud. Original music by Pat McCusker and Carole Sabouraud. Fact-checking by Mary Marge Locker. Audience strategy by Kristina Samulewski and Shannon Busta. The director of Opinion Audio is Annie-Rose Strasser.

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In this episode, David Leonhardt, the editorial director of the editorial board, asks the Opinion columnist Michelle Goldberg what Democrats are doing right, what they’re doing wrong and what they should consider doing next.

Thoughts? Email us at [email protected].

This episode of “The Opinions” was produced by Jillian Weinberger. It was edited by Alison Bruzek and Kaari Pitkin. The rest of the show's production team includes Derek Arthur and Vishakha Darbha. Mixing by Isaac Jones. Original music by Pat McCusker and Carole Sabouraud. Fact-checking by Mary Marge Locker. Audience strategy by Shannon Busta and Kristina Samulewski. The director of Opinion Audio is Annie-Rose Strasser.

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With President Trump meeting with heads of state in the Middle East this week, the Times Opinion senior international editor Krista Mahr sat down with the columnists Lydia Polgreen and Nick Kristof to talk about how the president is emboldening leaders of all kinds worldwide, and what relationships they’re most worried about.

Thoughts? Email us at [email protected].

This episode of “The Opinions” was produced by Derek Arthur. It was edited by Alison Bruzek and Kaari Pitkin. The rest of the show's production team includes Vishakha Darbha and Jillian Weinberger. Mixing by Carole Sabouraud. Original music by Sonia Herrero, Pat McCusker and Carole Sabouraud. Fact-checking by Mary Marge Locker and Kate Sinclair. Audience strategy by Shannon Busta and Kristina Samulewski. The director of Opinion Audio is Annie-Rose Strasser.

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The Trump administration’s crackdown on illegal immigration is leading to unexpected scrutiny for those who came to the United States through legal channels. As a result, many green card and long-term visa holders are questioning their place in a country that once welcomed them.

In this episode of “The Opinions,” the producer Vishakha Darbha interviews four documented immigrants about their concerns for the future. “What they told me felt like a warning,” Darbha says. “This country doesn’t feel like a place to come to anymore, which might just change the very idea that America has of itself.”

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Jason Furman, an economist who was an adviser to President Barack Obama, believes that trade is an unmitigated good — a rarely heard opinion on the right or the left these days. In this episode of “The Opinions,” David Leonhardt, the director of the Times editorial board, pushes Furman on the downsides of trade and asks him to explain its benefits — for both Americans and the rest of the world.

Thoughts? Email us at [email protected].

This episode of “The Opinions” was produced by Jillian Weinberger. It was edited by Alison Bruzek and Kaari Pitkin. The rest of the show's production team includes Derek Arthur and Vishakha Darbha. Mixing by Efim Shapiro. Original music by Pat McCusker and Isaac Jones. Fact-checking by Mary Marge Locker. Audience strategy by Shannon Busta and Kristina Samulewski. The director of Opinion Audio is Annie-Rose Strasser.

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In the late 1980s, the Democratic Party was trying to figure out how to how to remake itself after having lost four of the five previous presidential elections. That’s when an upstart group of Democratic strategists decided the party needed to tack to the center, with a young, charismatic leader named Bill Clinton.

Today, the party faces similar challenges. Three strategists from Clinton’s 1992 presidential campaign, Bill Galston, Elaine Kamarck and Will Marshall, join the deputy Opinion editor Patrick Healy to discuss what Democrats can learn from Clinton’s success in 1992, and how the party should move forward.

A full transcript of the original round table conversation is here.

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From done-up hair to heavily applied makeup, conservative women — particularly those in President Trump’s orbit — deploy a specific aesthetic to signify their politics. Women like Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and Representative Nancy Mace of South Carolina are exemplars of this beauty trend, showing off a hyperfeminine look that is at odds with how they wield their power. In this episode,” Meher Ahmad, an editor for Times Opinion, and the Opinion writer Jessica Grose discuss why this aesthetic is tailored for social media’s algorithm — and what it’s really selling.

Thoughts? Email us at [email protected].

This episode of “The Opinions” was produced by Vishakha Darbha. It was edited by Alison Bruzek and Kaari Pitkin. The rest of the show's production team includes Derek Arthur and Jillian Weinberger. Mixing by Carole Sabouraud. Original music by Pat McCusker and Carole Sabouraud. Fact-checking by Mary Marge Locker and Michelle Harris. Audience strategy by Kristina Samulewski and Shannon Busta. The director of Opinion Audio is Annie-Rose Strasser.

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The Conversation has been a staple of The Times’s Opinion pages since 2017. But after eight years, the weekly dialogue between the liberal columnist Gail Collins and her conservative colleague Bret Stephens has come to an end. The editor Aaron Retica joins Gail and Bret to answer reader questions and discuss how they’ve managed years of civil conversations — for the first and last time in audio.

Thoughts? Email us at [email protected].

This episode of “The Opinions” was produced by Derek Arthur. It was edited by Alison Bruzek and Kaari Pitkin. The rest of the show's production team includes Vishakha Darbha and Jillian Weinberger. Mixing by Pat McCusker. Original music by Isaac Jones, Pat McCusker and Carole Sabouraud. Fact-checking by Mary Marge Locker. Audience strategy by Shannon Busta and Kristina Samulewski. The director of Opinion Audio is Annie-Rose Strasser.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

In a live event recorded at the Brooklyn Public Library on Tuesday, Opinion’s deputy editor, Patrick Healy, was joined by the columnists Michelle Goldberg, M. Gessen and Bret Stephens to discuss how President Trump’s second term has reshaped America in just 100 days.

Thoughts? Email us at [email protected].

This episode of “The Opinions” was produced by Alison Bruzek. It was edited by Kaari Pitkin and Alison Bruzek. The rest of the show's production team includes Derek Arthur and Vishkaha Darbha. Mixing by Sonia Herrero. Original music by Carole Sabouraud, Aman Sahota and Pat McCusker. Fact-checking by Mary Marge Locker and Kate Sinclair. Audience strategy by Shannon Busta and Kristina Samulewski. The director of Opinion Audio is Annie-Rose Strasser. Special thanks to Gregg Richards and the staff of the Brooklyn Public Library.

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