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Even factoring in late-breaking stories in Alaska and Michigan and a reflexive distrust—on both sides—of any polls that look good for Democrats, all signs are pointing to a big day for the opposition party. What’s at stake today—and how worried should everyone actually be?

And join Mary Harris and a team of Slatesters covering the election on Wednesday (11/4) at noon eastern time by signing up here.

Guests:

G. Elliott Morris, pollster, journalist, author of Strength in Numbers substack.

Alan Elrod, president & CEO of the Pulaski Institution, columnist and Contributing Editor at Liberal Currents

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Podcast production by Evan Campbell, Madeline Thames-Ducharme and Patrick Fort.

Paige Osburn is the senior supervising producer of What Next and What Next TBD.

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The hit movie of the fall is…a three-hour documentary about investor fraud? Technically yes, but there’s more to it than that.

Guest: Thomas Flight, media critic.

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Podcast production by Evan Campbell, Madeline Thames-Ducharme and Patrick Fort.

Paige Osburn is the senior supervising producer of What Next and What Next TBD.

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This Week: A.I. giant Anthropic, makers of Claude, filed to go public. Felix Salmon, Elizabeth Spiers, and Emily Peck discuss what the S-1 filing revealed about their finances and what this IPO means for Anthropic’s place in the A.I. race. Then, they look at why Weil, Gotshal & Mange, a top Wall Street law firm, is choosing to shut its doors and what that says about the industry. And finally, they take a look at how crypto exchange Binance is scrambling after a $6.3 billion Bitcoin heist.

In the Slate Plus episode: Is Cheesecake Factory Cheesy?

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Podcast production by Jessamine Molli and Cheyna Roth.

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The Trump administration has sued to potentially block certification of a Senate race in Alaska, threatened California election officials with jail time, and challenged the voter rolls in 30 states. They've lost almost all of those cases. So with a few days to go before the midterms, should we still be worried?

Dahlia is joined by Ari Berman, Mother Jones national voting rights correspondent and author of Minority Rule and Give Us the Ballot, to walk through the legal state of play heading into Election Day. They cover the Alaska Senate race lawsuit, the California ballot-segregation case, the threat of election-day ballot seizures and poll intimidation, and the Supreme Court's likely role if disputed elections land on its doorstep. They also discuss a source of hope: Black voters across the South are surging to the polls, driven by the Roberts Court’s attack on voting rights in its recent Callais decision, turning a ruling designed to suppress their votes into the most powerful mobilizing force of the cycle.

Plus, Amicus Plus members get a bonus episode with Madiba Dennie on this week’s Epstein file revelations, new GOP threats to judges who rule against Trump, and a major religious liberty case headed to SCOTUS.

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It’s the last Friday before the midterms and Democrats have every reason to finally stop panicking and start….merely fretting. This episode originally aired as a Slate Live on YouTube, produced in collaboration with Slate’s politics newsletter The Surge.

There’s going to be another one of these just for Slate Plus listeners next Wednesday (11/4) at 12P ET! To register, click here.

Guests:

Jim Newell, Slate’s senior politics writer.

Patrick Reis, Slate’s politics editor

Lizzie O’Leary, What Next: TBD host

This episode is member-exclusive. Listen to it now by subscribing to Slate Plus. By joining, not only will you unlock exclusive episodes of What Next —you’ll also access ad-free listening across all your 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 Evan Campbell, Madeline Thames-Ducharme and Patrick Fort.

Paige Osburn is the senior supervising producer of What Next and What Next TBD.

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What is AGI—and is it crazy to say it’s already here? Anthropic’s targeted IPO valuation indicates that many don’t think it’s far off.

Guest: Kevin Roose, author of “The AGI Chronicles”, former NYT host of “Hard Fork,” current host of NPR’s “Machine Gods.”

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Podcast production by Evan Campbell, Madeline Thames-Ducharme and Patrick Fort.

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This week, Emily Bazelon, John Dickerson, and David Plotz discuss what they're paying attention to and what to expect on Election Day next Tuesday, how to understand the complex results of Israel's elections with guest Ruth Margalit, and what Anthropic's highly anticipated IPO prospectus says about the promise and peril of AI.

Here are this week’s chatters:

Emily: Sam Levine for The Guardian: Justice department charges ex-FBI director James Comey for third time; Jordan Rubin for MS NOW: How the Trump DOJ can lose the new Comey case before it even starts; Michelle Spear for The Conversation: Do women have to pee more often? The answer is surprisingly complex

John: CBC Podcasts: Sea of Lies; BritBox: Ludwig

David: Hulu: Adults; Michael Johnston and Melissa de la Cruz for NPR: 'Spell'-Bound By A Goofy Book — And Later, United By It

Listener chatter from Bryan Bennett in Austin, Texas: Bryan Bennett for Walking Through the Data (Substack): Democrats Need to Confront the Length and Depth of Distrust in Government and Institutions

For this week’s Slate Plus bonus episode, Emily, John, and David discuss the spat between Obama and Trump over Trump's gilded Oval Office decor, consider which side emerges looking better, and ask whether dumb cultural moments like this really matter.

In the latest Gabfest Reads, John Dickerson interviews Angela Duckworth about her new book, Situated: Find the People and Places That Bring Out Your Best. This new book argues that the most successful people don’t just grind harder; they reshape their circumstances to make success feel automatic.

Email your chatters, questions, and comments to gabfest@slate.com. (Messages may be referenced by name unless the writer stipulates otherwise.)

Podcast production by Nina Porzucki

Research by Emily Ditto

You can find the full Political Gabfest show pages here.

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Find out more about David Plotz's monthly tours of Ft. DeRussy, the secret Civil War fort hidden in Rock Creek Park.

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@SlateGabfest on X / https://twitter.com/SlateGabfest

Slate Political Gabfest on Facebook / https://www.facebook.com/Gabfest/

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Why did House Judiciary Democrats wait until this week to release a report outlining Donald Trump’s appearances and behavior alleged in the Epstein files?

Guest: Rep. Jamie Raskin (Maryland-D), ranking member of House Committee on the Judiciary, former head of Oversight committee.

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Podcast production by Evan Campbell, Madeline Thames-Ducharme and Patrick Fort.

Paige Osburn is the senior supervising producer of What Next and What Next TBD.

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Turn on a TV just about anywhere in America and get ready to see some of the most unhinged political ads of your life. But with more money being spent on ad buys than ever before, it’s worth asking: do they make any difference?

Guest: Molly Jong-Fast, host of the Fast Politics podcast.

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Podcast production by Evan Campbell, Madeline Thames-Ducharme and Patrick Fort.

Paige Osburn is the senior supervising producer of What Next and What Next TBD.

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Even as anxiety rises over the price of gas, Americans still have the capacity to worry about their health care costs. This is one issue the Democrats have the public’s trust on—and it’s an area where they could make a big difference from Congress.

Guests:

Jonathan Cohn, senior national correspondent at The Bulwark

Julie Rovner, Chief Washington Correspondent for Kaiser Health News

Fill out our listener survey here.

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Podcast production by Evan Campbell, Madeline Thames-Ducharme and Patrick Fort.

Paige Osburn is the senior supervising producer of What Next and What Next TBD.

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Investment in artificial intelligence is driving our economy and the markets but it’s also doing something else … scaring the hell out of people. On this episode of Money Talks, host Emily Peck sits down with Axios reporters Sam Sabin and Maria Curieto talk about what threats are real and what threats are alarmist when it comes to AI, and how lawmakers are dealing with a fast moving situation that they don’t seem to understand.

Podcast production by Cheyna Roth and Jessamine Molli.

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Arizona’s 6th congressional district has been one of the most hotly contested races for several election cycles. JoAnna Mendoza, a former marine, is running as a Ddemocrat and could be part of the blue wave polls are predicting.

Guest: JoAnna Mendoza, Democrat running for congress in Arizona’s 6th district.

Take our listener survey at https://slate.com/whatnextsurvey

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Podcast production by Evan Campbell, Madeline Thames-Ducharme and Patrick Fort.

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This week: Meta struck a deal to keep Mark Zuckerberg in California despite the proposed “billionaire tax”.

First up, hostsFelix Salmon,Emily Peck, andElizabeth Spiers explain the how the new stock issuance works and why Meta’s board’s hands were tied. Then, after Elon Musk floated a Tesla/SpaceX merger, they discuss what he and the companies would stand to gain and who might be able to stand in his way. Finally, Airbnb doesn't want guests doing chores. Where’s the line between being a reasonable guest in a home and in a hotel?

Mentioned in the episode: ‘

‘How Mark Zuckerberg went to war with his own board of directors over pay and power.’ From the Washington Post

‘Kevin Bacon’ from The Pudding

In the Slate Plus episode: The Regretful Ex-Pats

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Let’s say Democrats gain control of the House and Senate in a couple of weeks, with a majority of Americans demanding accountability, and an airtight list of high crimes and misdemeanors as long as your arm. Should Democrats impeach Trump on Day One? Frank Bowman is an expert in both the law and politics of the impeachment process who has analyzed the first two efforts to impeach and remove President Trump during his first term. But in the wake of an extensive study of our current moment, Professor Bowman tells Dahlia Lithwick that the president’s crimes are definitely impeachable—but acute polarization and tribalism may be insurmountable obstacles to Congress actually using the Framers’ last-ditch check against an autocratic president.

Read Frank Bowman’s series for Slate Try, Try Again? https://slate.com/tag/try-try-again

His forthcoming book, Great and Dangerous Offences: The Case for (and Against) Impeaching Trump a Third Time, is available for preorder now.

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Want more Amicus? Join Slate Plus to unlock weekly bonus episodes with exclusive legal analysis. Plus, you’ll access ad-free listening across all your favorite Slate podcasts. You can subscribe directly from the Amicus show page on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Or, visit slate.com/amicusplus to get access wherever you listen.

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Live from Virginia Public Media in Richmond, Mary Harris sat down with Reveal's Al Letson and On the Media's Micah Loewinger to discuss contentious interviews, Pentagon influencers, sifting through the Trump news cycle, and the journalism cliches they love to hate.

Guests: Al Letson, host of Reveal

Micah Loewinger, co-host of On the Media

This episode is a Slate Plus exclusive. 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 athttp://slate.com/whatnextplus to get access wherever you listen.

Podcast and live show production by Madeline Thames-Ducharme.

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Everyone wants A.I. to be regulated—including the major A.I. companies like Anthropic and OpenAI. There’s just one problem… they want to have a say in what regulation looks like for their industry. Doesn’t that defeat the whole point?

Guests: Cal Newport, Full Professor of Computer Science at Georgetown University

Take our listener survey at https://slate.com/whatnextsurvey

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Podcast production by Evan Campbell, Madeline Thames-Ducharme, Patrick Fort and Micah Peters.

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This week, Emily Bazelon, John Dickerson, and David Plotz discuss whether Trump is as unpopular as polls suggest and what this means for the midterms, the causes and consequences of the riots in France with Paris-based journalist Rachel Donadio, and how a seemingly trivial courtroom fight over the fate of the East Potomac Golf Links in Washington, D.C. is an important illustration of the lawlessness that defines Trumpism.

Here are this week’s chatters:

Emily: Owen Dahlkamp for Politico: Exclusive: Anthropic quietly pitches its own AI safety bill to lawmakers; Sophie Hurwitz for Mother Jones: Anthropic’s AI Safety Bill Has an Alarming Threshold for Government Action

John: Erica Pandey for Axios: The dad who gave 22 kids a home

David: Alex Horton and Dan Lamothe for The Washington Post: Exclusive: Hegseth wanted Eisenhower’s globe for his office. His staff broke it.

Listener chatter from Aaron Tax in Washington, D.C.: Jason Fuller, Christopher Intagliata, and Patrick Jarenwattananon for NPR: 'The 101 Plays Itself': This computer program treats the interstate into music; The 101 Plays Itself

For this week’s Slate Plus bonus episode, Emily, John, and David discuss investigative journalist Bob Woodward's upcoming memoir, Secrets: A Reporter’s Memoir, excerpted in The New Yorker this week. They explore how Woodward's relationship with friend and key source Dick Darman collapsed, journalistic ethics, and whether reporters can really be friends with sources.

In the latest Gabfest Reads, John Dickerson interviews Angela Duckworth about her new book, Situated: Find the People and Places That Bring Out Your Best. This new book argues that the most successful people don’t just grind harder; they reshape their circumstances to make success feel automatic.

Email your chatters, questions, and comments to gabfest@slate.com. (Messages may be referenced by name unless the writer stipulates otherwise.)

Podcast production by Nina Porzucki

Research by Emily Ditto

You can find the full Political Gabfest show pages here.

Want more Political Gabfest? Join Slate Plus to unlock weekly bonus episodes. Plus, you’ll access ad-free listening across all your favorite Slate podcasts. You can subscribe directly from the Political Gabfest show page on Apple Podcastsand Spotify. Or visit http://slate.com/gabfestplus to get access wherever you listen.

Find out more about David Plotz's monthly tours of Ft. DeRussy, the secret Civil War fort hidden in Rock Creek Park.

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The sexual assault allegations against seven Cornell fraternity members has sparked a debate about the role of Greek life on college campuses. But maybe the solution is to get rid of it, full stop?

Guests: Susan Matthews, executive editor at Slate.

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Fill out our listener survey at slate.com/whatnextsurvey

Podcast production by Evan Campbell, Madeline Thames-Ducharme and Patrick Fort.

Paige Osburn is the senior supervising producer of What Next and What Next TBD.

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Trump has long harbored resentment towards Ukraine. But his latest olive branch to Putin marks a turning point in how he views the region—and how Ukrainians view us.

Guests: Romeo Kokriatski, managing editor of New Voice of Ukraine

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Fill out our listener survey at slate.com/whatnextsurvey

Podcast production by Evan Campbell, Madeline Thames-Ducharme and Patrick Fort.

Paige Osburn is the senior supervising producer of What Next and What Next TBD.

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Stacey Abrams, Ilyse Hogue, and Daphna Renan join Dahlia Lithwick in conversation for a live By The People finale.

This is part five of our series on popular constitutionalism, the idea that the Constitution belongs to the people—and not just to nine justices. Our listeners showed up with stories: a 62-year-old heading to law school, an 8th-grade teacher emailing her senators, an artist drawing the court, and a woman literally knitting the Constitution. They also came with questions for our guests: What about court expansion? What about term limits? Is it just too late? Abrams argues we're not cooked, but “things are just really hot.” Renan walks us through the tools Congress has used throughout U.S. history to rein in judicial supremacy. And, Hogue shares the story she’s hearing at town halls across the country: Americans of all stripes still believe in the Constitution's promise—they just don't know how to claim it.

Later: Our panelists offer clear and concrete steps for reclaiming the constitution.

• Stacey Abrams’ 10 Steps Campaign can be found here: https://10stepscampaign.org/
• Read about Ilyse Hogue’s work on her Substack: https://theallamerican.substack.com/
• Check out Daphna Renan and Niko Bowie’s new book, Supremacy: How Rule by the Court Replaced Government by the People

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