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Radio Atlantic

The Atlantic

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 and writers on topics of the day, Radio Atlantic will complicate overly simplistic views. It will cut through the noise with clarifying, personal narratives. It will, hopefully, help listeners make up their own mind about certain ideas.

The national conversation right now can be chaotic, reckless, and stuck. Radio Atlantic aims to bring some order to our thinking—and encourage listeners to be purposeful about how they unstick their mind.

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36 episodes
a few times a week
Avg 29 min
English

Episodes 36

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#217
Saturday · 11 min
Egypt Warned Israel Before October 7
Less than two weeks before the October 7 attack, Egypt’s top spy flew to Israel with a warning about Gaza. In this special episode of Radio Atlantic, host Adam Harris talks to the Atlantic staff writer Vivian Salama about her reporting. - - - 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 TheAtlantic.com/Listener. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
#216
Thursday · 31 min
What the 'Godfather of AI' Thinks Humanity Should Do
Treat chatbots like pharmaceutical drugs, not nukes.
#215
September 21 · 31 min
Trump Battles Against an Economy of His Making
Chinese President Xi Jinping is coming to Washington this week amid a rapidly shifting global order. Entrenched wars, raging oil markets, and AI regulation will hang over the proceedings, as both the United States and China face economic headwinds. President Trump will also be huddling this week with world leaders at the United Nations General Assembly. “Radio Atlantic” host Adam Harris talks with the Atlantic writers Vivian Salama and Rogé Karma about the U.S.-China relationship, what is really going on in the AI race, and changing international alliances. - - - 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 TheAtlantic.com/Listener. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
#214
September 17 · 35 min
The Dark Side of Meditation
Could there really be such a thing as too much mindfulness?
#213
September 14 · 26 min
‘The Canadians Have Had Enough of This Nonsense’
President Trump insisted last week that Canada is “dying to make a deal” on tariffs with the United States. But dealmaking hasn’t been working out well for him lately. And even though many of AI’s chief architects are warning that something needs to be done about the technology, Trump doesn’t seem concerned about making any sort of deal on that front, either. Radio Atlantic host Adam Harris speaks with the Atlantic staff writers Ashley Parker and Tom Nichols about a secret Cabinet-official competition, whether we learned anything about Republicans’ strategy during their convention, and how hard it will be for Congress to act on technology it may not understand. - - - 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 TheAtlantic.com/Listener. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
#212
September 10 · 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 focus groups with voters and what it will take to beat MAGA. - - - 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 TheAtlantic.com/Listener. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
#211
September 7 · 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 Government Wastes Our Time—And How to Fix It,” Lowrey says reforms are possible but require political will, clearer accountability, and a focus on making government services simpler and more user-friendly. --- 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 TheAtlantic.com/Listener. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
#210
September 3 · 25 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 world. Atlantic subscribers also get access to exclusive subscriber audio in Apple Podcasts. Subscribe today at TheAtlantic.com/Listener. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
#209
August 31 · 28 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 staff writers Michael Scherer and Ashley Parker join me this week to discuss Congress, the economy, and the midterm elections. --- 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 TheAtlantic.com/Listener. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
#208
August 27 · 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 Hanna Rosin. “Anyone who analogizes AI as a technology to other technologies is missing that this time is different. And saying something is different, there’s a very high bar for that, but I’m staking whatever reputation I have [on] saying this time is different.” They have a wide-ranging conversation—also available on video—about his evolving views on AI and what he misjudged in his interactions with Jeffrey Epstein. - - - 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 TheAtlantic.com/Listener. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
#207
August 24 · 30 min
Where Do America’s Colleges Go From Here?
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 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 theAtlantic.com/listener. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
#206
August 20 · 24 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 TheAtlantic.com/Listener. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
#205
August 17 · 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 fired from the White House without explanation. She returned to the CIA and, over time, began to feel a lack of support at the agency in an administration that was openly hostile to transgender people. Julia left her dream job with the federal government earlier this year. This week on Radio Atlantic, she is telling her full story for the first time. --- 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 theAtlantic.com/listener. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
#204
August 13 · 39 min
Longing for a Time Before Smartphones
When it comes to technology, the answer to the future could come from the past.
#203
August 10 · 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 theAtlantic.com/listener. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
#202
August 6 · 29 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 fascinating explorations of our world. Atlantic subscribers also get access to exclusive subscriber audio in Apple Podcasts. Subscribe today at TheAtlantic.com/Listener. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
#201
August 3 · 24 min
What ‘America First’ Means for Global Health
Ebola is ravaging the eastern region of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, in what may soon become the worst outbreak of the disease ever recorded. This particularly deadly strain is spreading amid a weakened global-health infrastructure, including the Trump administration’s cuts to USAID. --- 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 theAtlantic.com/listener. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
#200
July 30 · 39 min
The Town That Wants a Data Center Next Door
Opposition to data-center construction is the bipartisan issue of the moment—70 percent of Americans are against construction in their communities. Recently, New York passed the country’s first statewide data-center-construction moratorium. Maine was supposed to have been the first. For this week’s episode of Radio Atlantic, the reporter Ethan Brooks traveled to Maine to understand why one tiny town killed what would have been America’s first data-center moratorium. - - - 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 TheAtlantic.com/Listener. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
#199
July 27 · 25 min
Can a Progressive Win a Purple State?
Nationwide attention and endorsements are flooding into Michigan as voters get ready to pick their Senate candidates Aug. 4. Why is everybody from President Trump to Bernie Sanders so interested? The path to win the Senate runs straight through this purple state, and that has Democrats battling over whether the progressive candidate Abdul El-Sayed or the more centrist U.S. Representative Haley Stevens is the right candidate to put forward. Host Adam Harris talks to Atlantic writer Russell Berman about why Michigan matters and what the outcome of this race could mean for the future of the Democratic Party and the Senate at large. --- 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 theAtlantic.com/listener. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
#198
July 23 · 30 min
Is the Age of Reading Over?
Rose Horowitch on her cover story and what happens when a society becomes “postliterate”

Showing 1–20 of 36 episodes