New York Times Opinion
105 episodes listed below
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Thoughts, aloud. Hosted by Michelle Cottle, Ross Douthat and Carlos Lozada. Every Friday, from New York Times Opinion. Unlock full access to New York Times podcasts and explore everything from politics to pop culture. Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.
Based on 6 episodes we listened to · September 2026
Matter of Opinion tests political arguments against their institutional and cultural consequences without draining the conversation of personality.
Matter of Opinion makes political disagreement productive by asking where a position leads once its slogans meet institutions, incentives and competing principles.
Ross Douthat hears 'deconstruct the administrative state' and asks the question on your tongue: 'For what?'
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Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.
A sharp, measured look at the politics behind the DEI rollback.
The episode treats the anti-DEI backlash as a coordinated political shift with real consequences inside institutions. It is strongest when it stays close to power: the Trump White House pushing to erase DDI programs, companies like Google, Walmart, Paramount, and Bank of America…
A careful discussion of faith, pluralism, and whether secular ease is as stable as it seems.
Matter of Opinion turns to religious faith through Ross Douthat's book Believe, Why Everyone Should Be Religious. The panel asks a hard question: in the U.S., does less religion actually leave people with less stability, or just a different kind of strain?
A careful argument about Trump, court power, and what presidential limits still mean.
Matter of Opinion takes a familiar Trump headline and uses it to ask a harder question: how much presidential restraint still matters when the system keeps moving anyway.
A clear look at the Trump-world split between populist classic and the newer tech right.
Matter of Opinion frames Steve Bannon as a useful stress test for Trumpism: the older populist and nationalist wing that helped bring Trump to power, set against the newer tech right already in view with Mark Andreessen.
A sharp look at how Silicon Valley's political self-image shifted.
Ross Douthat uses a conversation with Mark Andreessen to examine how an industry long aligned with Democrats came to sit within the tech right. The episode works best when it treats that shift as a matter of culture and institutions, not just money.
A sharp look at how politics shows up in art and ideas, from Disney villains to Hamilton and identity talk.
Matter of Opinion moves from recent election talk into the way politics keeps surfacing in culture. It treats Disney villains, Hamilton, Glee, and the language around Robin DiAngelo and Ibram Kendi as more than references; they become tools for asking how representation,…
Cabinet picks become an argument about executive power, not just scandal.
This episode uses Matt Gaetz, Tulsi Gabbard, and the broader set of Trump's picks to frame a tighter argument about how much control a president should have over the executive branch, and how much an attorney general should answer to loyalty versus law.
Moral questions with consequences for minds, machines, and power.
WSJ reporters unpack the Epstein files, surrogacy industry abuses, and true-crime court battles.
Dan Carlin's solo essays connecting executive power, historical collapse, and American democracy.
Matter of Opinion’s “Three Opinion Writers on Trump’s First 50 Days” examines Donald Trump’s use of executive orders, January 6th pardons, tariff policy, and institutional pressure.
New York Times Opinion hosts interview Christopher Ruffo, the activist who successfully framed the national debate around critical race theory and DEI.
Matter of Opinion closes its nearly two-year, 90-plus-episode run with listener questions and a new project from Ross focused on Trumpism, conservatism, and political uncertainty.
Matter of Opinion discusses Douthat book Believe arguing secular modernity reached its limits and there are rational reasons for religious faith.
The hosts and guests debate whether Trump's actions constitute a constitutional crisis, analyzing his attempts to expand executive power, Congress's abdication of responsibility, and potential reforms to the U.S.
Ross Douthat interviews Steve Bannon in a one-on-one about the origins of Trumpian populism, his contempt for the tech oligarchs now courting MAGA, and his warning that transhumanism poses an existential threat to humanity.
Ross Douthat interviews venture capitalist Mark Andreessen about Silicon Valley's political evolution from Democratic ally to Trump supporter.
The hosts of Matter of Opinion analyze how the Trump era has influenced culture, discussing artifacts like The Shape of Water, Yellowstone, and White Fragility as symbols of oppositional and red-state themes.
Ross Douthat and David French analyze Donald Trump's controversial cabinet appointments, including Matt Gaetz for Attorney General and Tulsi Gabbard for Director of National Intelligence, discussing their qualifications, implications for governance, and what these picks reveal about Trump's second-term strategy.