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Thanks for joining us during the holidays. While our team is taking a break, we want to share a podcast with you that we think you’ll love. It’s called The Bethlehem Project. It’s a special series from the Financial Times that looks at big political and economic issues through the lens of one city … Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.

Democrats are looking for a bit of a rebrand after losing the White House and both houses of Congress in 2024. They have an opportunity this November to test out some new types of candidates. In a critical swing district in Pennsylvania, the party establishment has coalesced around a progressive, blue collar candidate named Bob Brooks. The other frontrunner in the race, Ryan Crosswell, represents a very different vision for winning over swing voters. He’s a former Republican and former federal prosecutor, who’s more centrist.

Host Sonja Hutson travels to Bethlehem, Pennsylvania to interview the candidates and ask party activists where they fall in the electability debate.

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Listen to past episodes of The Bethlehem Project here.
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On this episode: Lucy Lopez, Elizabeth Newcamp, and Zak Rosen are talking all about the world of kids entertainment. And to help them out, they’re joined by non-other than the person responsible for some of the most iconic shows of your childhood—Blue’s Clues, Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood, and more! Angela Santomero is a children’s television creator in the grand tradition of Mister Roger and she has a lot of advice and thoughts on how to help kids learn and laugh.
Be sure to check out Angela’s new book and YouTube series: Princess Penelope’s Purse of Preposterous Things.
This week on the Plus Playground: Angela shares her favorite children’s entertainment.
Podcast production by Cheyna Roth. Video production by Micah Phillips.
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On today’s episode, host Kate Lindsay is joined by writer Daysia Tolentino to discuss whether influencers serve us at all in 2026. James Charles faced backlash for publicly mocking a recently laid-off woman who DMed him for support. And in response, some users are questioning why they even support influencers. While some creators offer niche content or services, many in the A-list are now simply famous for being famous. Meanwhile, the average American is struggling with the rising cost of living. Which begs the question: can we any longer be entertained by watching privileged people doing privileged things?

This podcast is produced by Vic Whitley-Berry, Daisy Rosario, and Kate Lindsay.
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Donald Trump's $1.8 billion "anti-weaponization" settlement fund has stunned legal experts—not just because it's corrupt, but because of how skillfully and transparently it is designed to protect the Trump Family and reward loyalists. On this week's Amicus, Dahlia Lithwick brings together two of the sharpest observers of Trump-era lawlessness to map exactly what this is and why it matters.
J.P. Cooney, a career federal prosecutor and former top deputy in Jack Smith's special counsel's office, explains how President Trump sued his own IRS as a private party, settled the case through attorneys who have also been his personal lawyers, and then secured an addendum—signed by acting Attorney General Todd Blanche—immunizing Trump and his family from any IRS audit or tax-enforcement proceeding. Cooney calls it "practiced, skillful corruption".
As Investigative journalist Andrea Bernstein, host of The Law According to Trump, author of American Oligarchs, and a veteran of five Trump trials, points out, this settlement enshrines Trumpian language— such as "unlawful raid at Mar-a-Lago" and "Russia collusion hoax"—in official U.S. government documents. Bernstein says it’s vital to be clear about who stands to receive payouts: people convicted of seditious conspiracy, assaulting Capitol police officers, and other crimes they admitted to in open court.
Cooney and Bernstein agree this fund doesn't just reward insurrection—it incentivizes future violence, chills legitimate dissent, and systematically erases the historical record of Jan. 6.
Later, Slate executive editor Susan Matthews joins to preview the new season of Slow Burn, Becoming Justice Gorsuch—and explain why the most anonymous justice on the court is so pivotal to understanding the power and the politics of the highest court in the land.

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This week: It was revealed that Donald Trump’s investment portfolio made a stunning 3,600 trades in one quarter. Felix Salmon, Elizabeth Spiers, and Emily Peck, discuss theories on why the hell anyone would do this and whether it’s just weird or actually sinister. Then, they’ll get into the question of if it’s actually possible to “vote with your dollars” in the wake of the news that the famously sustainable brand Everlane is likely being sold to fast fashion behemoth Shein. And finally, they examine the shift in the online media landscape and the rise of the clipping economy.

In the Slate Plus episode: SpaceX goes public.

Want to hear that discussion and hear more Slate Money? 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 Slate Money show page on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Or, visit slate.com/moneyplus to get access wherever you listen.

Podcast production by Jessamine Molli and Cheyna Roth.

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