Episode notes
This back-to-school season, higher education finds itself at a crossroads. Amid rising costs, pressures from the Trump administration over admissions and ideological diversity, and AI, a debate is raging about what college is actually for. Radio Atlantic host Adam Harris speaks with Jack Stripling of The Chronicle of Higher Education about new challenges that colleges and universities are facing from the Department of Education, and what purpose higher education serves in the Trump era. --- Get more from your favorite Atlantic voices when you subscribe. You’ll enjoy unlimited access to…
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The Atlantic has long been known as an ideas-driven magazine. Now we’re bringing that same ethos to audio. Like the magazine, the show will “road test” the big ideas that both drive the news and shape our culture. Through conversations—and sometimes sharp debates—with the most insightful thinkers an
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E212 · 10 Sep 2026 · 32 min
Sarah Longwell's Playbook for Defeating MAGA
Despite his message at the first-ever Republican midterm convention this week, President Trump’s brand is weak. His approval rating is hanging at about 35 percent, and even die-hard MAGA Republicans are frustrated by his war with Iran, gas prices, and tariffs. There’s an opportunity here for Democrats. The question is whether they’ll be able to seize it. Sarah Longwell is the publisher of “The Bulwark,” and she has some candid advice for Democrats in her new book, “How to Eat an Elephant: One Voter at a Time.” Longwell joins the show to explain what she’s learned from conducting hundreds of…
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E211 · 7 Sep 2026 · 30 min
How the Government Wastes Our Time
Long DMV lines, endless tax forms, and paperwork-heavy safety-net programs aren’t just annoyances—they’re “time taxes,” the administrative burdens that waste people’s time and can keep eligible families from getting help. On this episode of “Radio Atlantic,” Atlantic staff writer Annie Lowrey tells host Adam Harris that these burdens are often harsher for people with less social status and have long been used as tools of social control, such as Jim Crow voting rules and restrictive SNAP and TANF requirements designed to police behavior and deter use. In her new book, “The Time Tax: How the…
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E210 · 3 Sep 2026 · 26 min
Creating the Perfect Female Monster
The breakout crime drama “Furious,” which had its series finale this week, centers around a female serial killer who is exacting revenge on the men who abused her. We talk with the Atlantic staff writer Sophie Gilbert about what the show reveals about society in the post-MeToo era, and with the show’s creator, Liz Meriwether, about what it means to humanize a psychopath. - - - Get more from your favorite Atlantic voices when you subscribe. You’ll enjoy unlimited access to Pulitzer-winning journalism, from clear-eyed analysis and insight on breaking news to fascinating explorations of our…
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E209 · 31 Aug 2026 · 29 min
Trump’s Economy Goes to the Polls
Midterm elections are almost always referendums on the policies of the party in power; President Trump is hoping that Republicans steer into the skid. Last week, my colleagues reported that the president—dogged by the war in Iran, the trade war with Canada, and an economy that has Americans dipping into their savings for groceries and daily expenses—hopes that Republicans seeking to win reelection or gain seats will use his time in office to sway voters. But that strategy could play directly into the hands of Democrats hoping to take back both chambers of Congress. My colleagues the Atlantic…
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E208 · 27 Aug 2026 · 35 min
Bill Gates on the Dangers of AI
Bill Gates has generally been an AI optimist. Three years ago, he wrote that AI had downsides, but the risks were “manageable.” This week, Gates wrote a new memo, headlined: “The Turbulent AI Era Is Here. The Choices We Make Now Are Critical.” He joins the show to raise the alarm about the dangers he sees in artificial intelligence—economic upheaval, social unrest, cyberattacks, bioterrorism—and most crucial, what he sees as a failure of experts and governments to take these threats seriously enough. “The lack of dialogue with all parts of society is kind of deafening silence,” he tells…
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E206 · 20 Aug 2026 · 25 min
Secrets of a Jeopardy Champion
What does it take to win Jeopardy? Drew Goins—an Atlantic staff writer, a Jeopardy champion, and the creator of The Atlantic’s new trivia game, Rabbithole—shares his secrets on winning at Jeopardy and cultivating a very particular brand of curiosity. - - - Get more from your favorite Atlantic voices when you subscribe. You’ll enjoy unlimited access to Pulitzer-winning journalism, from clear-eyed analysis and insight on breaking news to fascinating explorations of our world. Atlantic subscribers also get access to exclusive subscriber audio in Apple Podcasts. Subscribe today at…
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E205 · 17 Aug 2026 · 38 min
The Trump Administration Wanted Her Expertise, Just Not Her
In 2013, Julia Curlee became the first CIA officer to transition openly and keep serving the agency.She felt more effective at her job living as the person she always believed she was—and years ago she wrote about her experience under a pseudonym in The Atlantic. Her performance proved her effectiveness: She became the daily intelligence briefer for Vice President Pence during the first Trump administration and a director on the National Security Council in both the Biden administration and the second Trump term. Less than 70 days after the president returned to office in 2025, Julia was…
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E204 · 13 Aug 2026 · 39 min
Longing for a Time Before Smartphones
Gen Z has romanticized the technology of the ’90s—or the era’s lack of it. Young long for a time when people were looking at each other instead of their phones. But could that nostalgia for a smartphone-free society actually help guide the future? That’s one of the driving questions from the latest season of How to Touch Grass, co-hosted by Julie Beck and Natalie Brennan. This week on Radio Atlantic, we’re sharing the first episode, with an introduction by Hanna Rosin. --- Get more from your favorite Atlantic voices when you subscribe. You’ll enjoy unlimited access to Pulitzer-winning…
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E203 · 10 Aug 2026 · 18 min
Never Trump, Still a Republican
Radio Atlantic host Adam Harris speaks with former Republican U.S. Senator and former U.S. Ambassador Jeff Flake about his recent endorsement of Democratic Senator Jon Ossoff in the Georgia Senate race and why character in politics still matters. --- Get more from your favorite Atlantic voices when you subscribe. You’ll enjoy unlimited access to Pulitzer-winning journalism, from clear-eyed analysis and insight on breaking news to fascinating explorations of our world. Atlantic subscribers also get access to exclusive subscriber audio in Apple Podcasts. Subscribe today at…
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E202 · 6 Aug 2026 · 30 min
The Death of Romance
We’ve entered the era of the great romance slump. Fewer people are moving in together and getting married, and a shrinking number of young adults say they have experience in a committed relationship—all this despite people saying that they want to find love. So why aren’t they getting it? The Atlantic’s staff writer Faith Hill explains what’s driving the romance decline and reports on life inside the slump. --- Get more from your favorite Atlantic voices when you subscribe. You’ll enjoy unlimited access to Pulitzer-winning journalism, from clear-eyed analysis and insight on breaking news to…
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