What Next | Daily News and Analysis

This week, DOGE set its sights  and scythe on the Department of Health and Human Services, with a goal of cutting 10,000 federal workers, once again raising the question: what’s their endgame here?

Guest: Makena Kelly, senior writer for WIRED

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Podcast production by Evan Campbell and Patrick Fort.
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Trump campaigned on deporting dangerous criminals, but in his administration’s haste to deliver on that promise, men with no criminal records or who are in the United States legally have been taken to a prison in El Salvador, which even the administration admits was a mistake.

Guests:
Jonathan Blitzer, staff writer at the New Yorker, author of Everyone Who Is Gone Is Here: The United States, Central America, and the Making of a Crisis.

Nick Miroff, staff writer for The Atlantic covering immigration.

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Podcast production by Elena Schwartz, Paige Osburn, Anna Phillips, Madeline Ducharme, Ethan Oberman, and Rob Gunther.

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On Wednesday, the Supreme Court is hearing oral arguments in Medina v. Planned Parenthood South Atlantic, a case that will determine whether South Carolina can cut Medicaid funding to Planned Parenthood.

But with clear legal precedent stating that they can’t, how did this case even end up before the Supreme Court? And, given how far the court has gone to accommodate the MAGA agenda, is the outcome of this case in doubt?

Guest: Ian Millhiser, senior correspondent at Vox. 


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Podcast production by Elena Schwartz, Paige Osburn, Anna Phillips, Madeline Ducharme, Ethan Oberman, and Rob Gunther.

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As video of federal agents stopping Tufts student Rumeysa Ozturk on the street and taking her away to be detained circulated on social media, people kept asking, “how could this happen here?” The answer involves organizations that claim to help the federal government identify and find activists, and victims whose rights to free speech and due process can be swiftly suspended.

Guest: Aymann Ismail, staff writer at Slate.

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Podcast production by Elena Schwartz, Paige Osburn, Anna Phillips, Madeline Ducharme, Ethan Oberman, and Rob Gunther.

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How an election to the Wisconsin Supreme Court has become a referendum on Elon Musk—and the most expensive state supreme court race ever.

Guest: John Nichols, associate editor at The Capital Times in Wisconsin, contributor on electoral politics and public policy for The Nation, and author of multiple books on media and politics.

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Podcast production by Elena Schwartz, Paige Osburn, Anna Phillips, Madeline Ducharme, Ethan Oberman, and Rob Gunther.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices