Author: Slate Podcasts

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is the most unpopular senator in the country. Yet, he has represented the state of Kentucky for over 25 years, defeating an array of opponents along the way. Will his challenger in 2020 suffer the same fate as the rest?

Guest: Ryland Barton, Capitol Bureau Chief at Kentucky Public Radio.

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Over the weekend President Trump's timeline filled with racist comments directed at members of the so-called "Squad." This includes Alexandria Ocasio Cortez, Ilhan Omar, Rashida Tlaib, and Ayanna Pressley. In a press conference on Monday, the president defended his racist rant while at the same time trying to deepen divisions between House Democrats -- divisions that are very real and have become very public. How did the conflict between House Democrats make its way to the President Trump’s timeline?

Guest: Ryan Grim, DC Bureau Chief at The Intercept and author of We’ve Got People: From Jesse Jackson to AOC, the End of Big Money and the Rise of a Movement.

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Why not go by they/them? Would a gender-neutral world be better? And what would it look like?

Guest: Farhad Manjoo, New York Times op-ed columnist. Read their latest, “Call Me ‘They.’”

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This week, an appellate court in New Orleans heard oral arguments on the constitutionality of the ACA. The argument? That Obamacare is more coercive without a tax penalty. 

This position - one that has lawyers on both sides of the isle scratching their heads - may end up at the Supreme Court. Could this bad legal argument spell the end of the line for Obamacare?

Podcast production by Mary Wilson, Jayson De Leon, and Ethan Brooks.

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The intriguing story of a British ambassador’s hasty resignation, and why it perfectly encapsulates our current geopolitical moment. This story has everything: leaked confidential reports, world trade implications, and a reference to the movie The Terminator.

Guest: Slate’s Josh Keating, international editor.

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Is there something fishy about the way Hunter Biden made money while his father was serving as vice president? One reporter looked into it. But he didn’t find corruption. He found something far more complicated -- and commonplace.

Guest: Adam Entous, staff writer for the New Yorker. Read his piece on Hunter Biden. 

Podcast production by Mary Wilson, Jayson De Leon, and Ethan Brooks.

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Over the weekend, multimillionaire Jeffrey Epstein was arrested on charges of sex trafficking. But back in 2003, journalist Vicky Ward had the inside scoop on Epstein: She interviewed two of his victims and wrote up the story for Vanity Fair. And then, her editor spiked the allegations from the story. This is the story of how Epstein used his connections to evade scrutiny... again and again.

Guest: Journalist Vicky Ward. Her latest book is Kushner, Inc. 

Podcast production by Mary Wilson, Jayson De Leon, and Ethan Brooks.

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At a prison in southern Mississippi, guards can’t do basic population counts. They can’t keep cellphones, drugs, and weapons out of the building. They are at the mercy of gang leaders to control the inmates. Is this just what happens when you try to do corrections on the cheap?

Guests: Joseph Neff and Alysia Santo, staff writers for the Marshall Project. Read their story on Wilkinson County Correctional Facility. 

Podcast production by Mary Wilson, Jayson De Leon, and Ethan Brooks.

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Jumaane Williams has been an activist, a city councilman, and is currently New York City’s public advocate. However, before that, he was a student in New York City’s public education system. As a product of the system, Williams is thinking about ways to address the segregation that exists among public schools in New York City today.

This show was recorded live at Slate Day 2019.

Guest: Jumaane Williams, public advocate for New York City.

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