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Move over, New Deal; Donald Trump is in his public works era, using tax dollars to give the American people a…chatbot and also what looks like a campaign ad for the president, even though he isn’t running for anything, can’t run again, and also can’t use tax dollars to buy ads for himself. Uh, masterful stroke, sir?

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.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A.I. large language models are prompt, attentive, positive and frictionless—in short, much easier to deal with than humans with their own needs, wants, and moods.
But, as long as humans aren’t social creatures by nature, this should be fine, right?

Guest: Sherry Turkle, licensed clinical psychologist and the founding director of MIT's Initiative on Technology and Self.

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

Paige Osburn is the senior supervising producer of What Next and What Next TBD.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, Emily Bazelon, David Plotz, and guest host David Leonhardt discuss the GOP's failed witch hunt against Jack Smith and bizarre moments from the hearing, the Supreme Court's decision to allow the Trump administration's cruel third-country deportations to continue for now and broader issues of immigration and asylum, and the mixed bag of a college sports bill that sidesteps the key question of whether college athletes count as employees.

Here are this week’s chatters:

Emily: A Woman's Work: Reclaiming the Radical History of Mothering by Elinor Cleghorn

David Plotz: Explore D.C.'s Secret Fort with David Plotz; Owen Gleiberman for Variety: ‘Heart of the Beast’ Review: Brad Pitt Is a Veteran Stranded With His Combat Dog in David Ayer’s Stirringly Crafted Survival-in-the-Wild Saga; Paramount Pictures on YouTube: Heart of the Beast | Official Trailer 2

David Leonhardt: ESPN: WNBA playoffs 2026: How the Liberty swept the Lynx and the Fever stayed alive; WNBA Playoffs News 2026

Listener chatter from Dileep Rao in Los Angeles, California: Annie Roth for The New York Times: What Did Jurassic Forests Sound Like? Like This.; J. Gu, F. Montealegre-Z, T. Jonsson, C. Woodrow, E. Celiker, M.N. Islam, J.B. Linde, F.A. Sarria-S, F. Shi, H. Song, D. Robert, & D. Ren, Reconstruction of an extinct soundscape reveals ultrasonic communication in the Jurassic, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 123 (36) e2615107123, https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2615107123 (2026).

For this week’s Slate Plus bonus episode, Emily, David, and guest host David Leonhardt discuss the viral story about the infighting over COVID-masking policy at a Massachusetts bar. They explore the long shadow of COVID overhang, hard tradeoffs and how to think about them, and the problematic impulse to eat your own on the left.

Gabfest is coming to Providence, RI on October 21st. Tickets available now!

In the latest Gabfest Reads, David Plotz talks with journalist Annie Lowrey about her new book, The Time Tax: How the Government Wastes Our Time - and How to Fix It, an investigation into the hours Americans lose to broken bureaucracy, from 12-hour tax filings to multiyear waits for housing vouchers and building permits.

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 Podcasts and Spotify. Or visit 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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@SlateGabfest on X / https://twitter.com/SlateGabfest
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Why the NAACP spoke out against the “Protect College Sports Act,” which was just passed by the US Senate—and why the bill is unlikely to get a vote in the House anytime soon.

Guest: Alex Kirshner, Slate contributing writer and co-host of the college football podcast Split Zone Duo.

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.

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.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Comment sections are dying. At least, when it comes to digital media. Platforms like Twitter have become the new place for discourse, and apps like TikTok are changing what the comment section is even for. Slate’s comments, however, are special. On today’s show, host Kate Lindsay is joined by staff writer Luke Winkie, who dove into the lore of Slate’s decades-old commenter community, and even called up his biggest hater to find out what keeps him coming back.

This podcast is produced by Vic Whitley-Berry, Daisy Rosario, and Kate Lindsay.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.