Going on Joe Rogan’s podcast didn’t fit into Kamala Harris’s last month of campaigning, which consisted of a careful diet of traditional media and specifically selected appearances. It came up short against Donald Trump’s “get on mic with that guy and his big following” strategy. 

Guest: Makena Kelly, senior writer at Wired.

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People praise Saturday Night Live for its political satire…in spite of how toothless a lot of that satire is. Is the show equipped to take on Donald Trump, a former SNL host whose own absurdity often defies parody?

Guest: Sam Adams, senior editor and writer for Slate.

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

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What does Donald Trump’s reelection mean for the wars in Ukraine and Gaza? 

Guest: Fred Kaplan, Slate’s “War Stories” correspondent, author of the new novel A Capital Calamity and The Bomb: Presidents, Generals, and the Secret History of Nuclear War.

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

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Donald Trump’s position on abortion was opaque enough that even states that passed protections for abortion rights still voted for him by a large margin. But even if a national abortion ban—something JD Vance has spoken in favor of—is probably untenable politically, how else could the incoming administration restrict access to abortion across the country? 

Guest: Caroline Kitchener, national reporter covering abortion for the Washington Post. 

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

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How are politicians and civil society leaders preparing to meet the challenges of President Trump’s second term? For starters, they’re gaming out the worst-case scenarios.

Guest: Barton Gellman, senior advisor at the Brennan Center.

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

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Many folks were surprised at how soundly Donald Trump defeated Kamala Harris in the election, especially since they thought the polls made it seem like a coin flip. The problem is, that’s not quite what the polls were saying.

Guest: Tatishe M. Nteta, Provost Professor of Political Science, Director of UMass Poll

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As Elon Musk channeled his considerable resources towards Donald Trump’s campaign, there was talk about what his role in the new Trump administration would be. If his stint leading Twitter is any indication, the federal government could be in for a bumpy ride.

Guest: Zoë Schiffer, incoming director of business and industry at Wired, author of Extremely Hardcore: Inside Elon Musk’s Twitter.

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Podcast production by Evan Campbell, Patrick Fort, Cheyna Roth and Alyssa Jeong Perry.

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It’s not 2016 all over again. With a party now shaped in his image, and a Supreme Court that already gave him immunity, how will a vengeful Donald Trump’s second term go down?

Guest: David A. Graham, staff writer at the Atlantic who wrote “What Trump Understood, and Harris Did Not.”

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

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Trump has just about done it again—and the country’s largely swinging further to the right on down-ballot candidates and even some ballot initiatives. Why couldn’t the Harris campaign pull it off, and what do other key losses for the Democrats say about what Americans want?

Guest: David Faris, politics professor at Roosevelt University and contributing writer for Slate.

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

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It’s been a strange election—Trump being shot at on stage; Biden dropping out—but also a very familiar one, with the same issues, same rhetoric, and same deadlocked, dysfunctional Congress waiting on the other side.

How long will the political Groundhog Day last—and what will it take to break this cycle?

Guests: Osita Nwanevu, contributing editor at the New Republic and columnist at The Guardian.

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

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The worst part about the election being tomorrow is knowing that we (almost definitely) won’t know the results tomorrow.

Guests:

Ari Berman, voting rights reporter for Mother Jones

Kadia Goba, political reporter for Semafor

Isaac Saul, founder 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.

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

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