Author: Slate Podcasts

Schools in Oklahoma are preparing to reopen, but special education teacher Nancy Shively won’t be among the teachers going back to school. Shively, who has pre-existing medical conditions, has been forced to choose between her own health and the education of her students. She says President Trump’s response to the coronavirus has led her to question her support for him and the Republican Party. 

Guest: Nancy Shively, a teacher from Skiatook, Oklahoma 

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Tuesday’s Kansas Senate primary has Republican party leadership concerned. Polls show that Barbara Bollier, a former Republican turned Democrat, stands a chance in the general election against one of the leading Republicans in the primary, Kris Kobach. So much so in fact that a pro-Democrat super PAC has been running ads in favor of Kobach, hoping to face off against him in November. How would a Kobach win on Tuesday upend the battle for control of the Senate? And what are Republicans doing to stop him?

Guest: Dave Weigel covers politics for the Washington Post.

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The past couple of weeks have seen some alarming developments in the U.S.-China relationship. Among them is how the United States plans to deal with the wildly popular Chinese social media app TikTok. The debate over the social giant has reached the White House and discussions of what to do about it have ranged from an outright ban to Microsoft acquiring U.S. operations of the app.

What makes TikTok a threat to national security? And what does this whole episode say about where U.S.-China relations are heading?

Guest: Bethany Allen-Ebrahimian, reporter for Axios and author of the Axios China newsletter. 

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For the last four months, federal and state eviction moratoria have kept Americans in their apartments, even if they couldn’t pay rent. Now, with financial relief in question, and moratoria set to expire, the first of the month might look very different for millions of Americans.

Guests:

Emily, a resident of Chicago’s Northwest Side

Mark Durakovic, principal at Kass Management

Peter Hepburn, analyst at Princeton’s Eviction Lab

Host

Henry Grabar

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At the height of New York City’s “hot-spot” status during the coronavirus pandemic, Governor Andrew Cuomo made absentee ballots available to a wider array of voters than ever before. But state and federal agencies weren’t remotely ready for the deluge of ballots that would be mailed in. 

Guest: Washington Post reporter Jada Yuan. 

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Arizona largely avoided the coronavirus when it first reached the U.S., but after a rapid reopening of the state by Governor Doug Ducey, new cases in the state exploded. Arizona now has well over 165,000 COVID cases and more than three thousand deaths. It was briefly the state with the highest coronavirus death rate in the country. Wendy Smith-Reeve left her role as Director of Arizona’s Division for Emergency Management in late March, accusing Governor Ducey of mismanaging the crisis. She says Arizona’s summer surge could have been avoided. 

Guest: Wendy Smith-Reeve, former Director of Arizona’s Division for Emergency Management

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The Department of Homeland Security was built to protect the country from terrorists. But its mission was always expansive. After the bizarre detainments in Portland, we’re seeing a reckoning with what this super-agency does. 

Guest: Jonathan Blitzer, staff writer for the New Yorker. 

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Back in May, when House Democrats were teeing up additional coronavirus relief legislation, the Senate majority made a bet. Republicans waited to see if viral spread would diminish, making additional federal aid unnecessary. Instead, U.S. COVID-19 cases spiked. And economic problems mounted. Now, Senate Republicans are far from a consensus on a relief bill, even as coronavirus-related unemployment benefits run out. 

Guest: Jim Newell, Slate’s senior politics writer. Sign up for his excellent newsletter, The Surge. 

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