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Using state power to enforce social orthodoxy is always a recipe for disaster. Radical Republican governments in the post-war South attempted to do just that, sowing seeds of hatred and discord in the process.
Original article: Lessons from Reconstruction
While people who “prep” for disaster (called preppers) are ridiculed by political elites and their media, their actions are perfectly rational. In this article, economist Mark Thornton explains why prepping for natural disasters makes economic sense.
Original article: The Economics of Prepping
The political theorist Anthony de Jasay takes on the left‘s ideas of equality, and David Gordon is there to agree—and disagree. Jasay likens the left‘s view of equality to the Indian Rope Trick.
Original article: The Indian Rope Trick
Modern progressives are obsessed with collective guilt, demanding that Americans pay reparations for slavery even though it ended in the US 160 years ago. However, by employing collective guilt and collective punishment, those seeking reparations violate natural law.
Original article: Slavery and Collective Guilt
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President-elect Donald Trump’s picks to staff his next administration have been…questionable. His selection over the weekend of Kash Patel to lead the FBI fits into that mold: Patel is a MAGA enthusiast, a 2020 election denier, and a conspiracy theorist who says he’s ready to go after Trump’s political enemies! Ken Klippenstein, a national security reporter, helps us dig into how Patel could help Trump reshape the agency and its mission.
And in headlines: Republicans and Democrats blasted Biden for pardoning his son Hunter, a New Yorker article details more damning allegations against Trump’s Defense Secretary pick Pete Hegseth, and the Supreme Court looks poised to side with the FDA in a case around vaping.
Show Notes:
How problematic is it for Joe Biden to pardon his son Hunter after promising, again and again, that he wouldn’t?
Guest: Ankush Khardori, senior writer for POLITICO and a former federal prosecutor at the Department of Justice.
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Podcast production by Elena Schwartz, Paige Osburn, Anna Phillips, Madeline Ducharme and Rob Gunther.
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With fewer than 50 days until Inauguration Day, President-elect Donald Trump spent the long holiday weekend inviting more people to join his administration. But for Democrats, the conversation is still very much backward looking, as the party litigates why it lost the 2024 election despite delivering on a lot of its promises from four years ago. Matt Yglesias, who writes the Substack newsletter ‘Slow Boring,’ explains why ‘deliverism’ didn’t deliver for Democrats in 2024.
And in headlines: President Biden pardoned his son Hunter, a new drug to seek authorization to fight the AIDS epidemic, and The UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees suspended deliveries into Gaza through a key crossing.
Show Notes:
The House already voted to pass the “The Stop Terror-Financing and Tax Penalties on American Hostages Act.” But with Donald Trump returning to the White House next year, some Democrats are viewing the power that the bill gives the executive branch—to label non-profit organizations as “funding terrorism” and strip them of their non-profit status—in a new light.
But is it too late?
Guest: Emily Tamkin, global affairs journalist and the author of The Influence of Soros and Bad Jews.
Want more What Next? Join Slate Plus to unlock full, ad-free access to What Next and all your other favorite Slate podcasts. You can subscribe directly from the What Next show page on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Or, visit slate.com/whatnextplus to get access wherever you listen.
Podcast production by Elena Schwartz, Paige Osburn, Anna Phillips, Madeline Ducharme and Rob Gunther.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices