As recent demonstrations showed, a sizable segment of the Iranian people already opposes the regime. But when President Trump told them to “take over your government,” it seems unlikely he considered how the regime responded to those protests, or other movements for a more open Iranian society.

Guest:  Kian Tajbakhsh, visiting assistant professor at New York University, lecturer at Columbia University, who works on the Committee on Global Thought and in the School of International and Public Affairs.

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

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

How the attention economy, distrust of all authority, and an actual crime turned a suburban Arizona street into the place to be for certain content creators.

Guest: Luke Winkie, Slate staff writer, author of the piece “The Haunting American Scene Unfolding Outside Nancy Guthrie’s House.”

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

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

After a Democrat flipped a state senate seat for a district that Trump had won by a large margin, both parties are closely watching today’s Texas primaries. What are they looking for, and what can the results tell us about the midterm elections this fall?

Guest: Bayliss Wagner, Texas politics reporter.

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

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

Over the weekend, in the middle of the night, the Trump administration brought the United States into yet another Middle East war. 

Guest: Shane Harris, staff writer at The Atlantic covering national security and intelligence

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.

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

How much would it change your life and approach to health if you had instant access to your quantified biometrics? RFK Jr. and the Department of Health and Human Services have bet the difference would be huge, and loosened regulation on them—leaving TBD no choice but to strap in and give ‘em a try. 

Guests: 

Nadira Goffe, Slate staff writer.

Mario Aguliar, health tech correspondent for Stat News

Dr. Sandeep Kishore, associate professor at the University of California San Francisco

Dr. Jordana Cohen, associate professor of medicine and epidemiology at University of Pennsylvania.

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Podcast production by Evan Campbell, and Patrick Fort.

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Training for the Olympics is a Sisyphean task, but if you’re a curler, pushing a rock is kind of your thing. And who knows? Your big break might come in your 50s.

Guest: Rich Ruohonen, Minnesota curler (and lawyer) who represented the US in the 2026 Winter Olympics. 

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

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

The Pentagon wants Anthropic to hand over its A.I. with no strings attached. Anthropic doesn’t want its products used to surveil Americans or create autonomous machines of war. 

Naturally, the Pentagon is mad - so mad, they’re threatening to invoke the Defense Production Act against them. But who has more leverage here? 

Guest: Sheera Frenkel, reporter for the New York Times 

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Podcast production by Evan Campbell, and Patrick Fort.

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

The gay romance show Heated Rivalry brought an influx of attention to hockey, and gold-medal winning performances from both the women’s and men’s American teams seemed to be priming the NHL for a fresh, diverse group of fans. Then Kash Patel showed up in the men’s locker room.

Guest:  Frankie de la Cretaz, writer at the intersection of sports, gender, culture, and queerness, author of Hail Mary: the Rise and Fall of the National Women’s Football League and Out of Your League newsletter.

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

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

With President Trump’s urging and support from CIA drones, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum’s more confrontational approach to the drug cartels culminated in the death of “El Mencho,” the most wanted man in both Mexico and the United States. 

Guest: León Krauze, Mexican journalist and author covering politics and the cartels. 

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

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

Why a number of Congressional Democrats are skipping tonight’s State of the Union address—and why some are still going.

Guest:  Congresswoman Veronica Escobar, representing Texas's 16th Congressional District in El Paso.

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

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