Off the Record: Taylor’s Version
What Next | Daily News and Analysis
Slate Podcasts
4.3 • 2.4K Ratings
🗓️ 26 June 2026
⏱️ 4 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Across the nation, we’re getting ready for July 4, 2026: Taylor Swift’s wedding weekend. Also Donald Trump is either dying or dying to be thin, JD Vance is vying to seem human, and Bill Cassidy is determined to go out in a blaze of obsequiousness.
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Podcast production by Rob Gunther, Evan Campbell, Madeline Thames-Ducharme and Patrick Fort.
Paige Osburn is the senior supervising producer of What Next and What Next TBD.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Happy Friday Slatersters. This is the time when Lizzie and I get to go off the record just for you, Slate Plus friends and neighbors. |
| 0:07.8 | We spend our weeks grinding along, getting answers from experts on the biggest stories out there. |
| 0:13.1 | But sometimes you see a story and there's just a whole lot of questions. |
| 0:18.5 | What's up, Lizzie? |
| 0:19.3 | That's when we bring those questions to the number one world experts, ourselves. |
| 0:28.3 | If you've ever got questions you want answers to, just know. |
| 0:30.8 | This segment is all about you too. |
| 0:32.5 | You can always let us know what you want to know more about. |
| 0:34.8 | Our email is what next at slate.com. |
| 0:36.9 | But I'm going to get right into it. |
| 0:39.2 | We've each come with a couple of stories that left us with more questions and answers. |
| 0:45.2 | I'm going to start. |
| 0:46.1 | I am going to talk about the fact that stat news had an amazing story this week about a mystery person who seems to have gotten exclusive access to a weight loss drug. |
| 0:59.2 | And of course, the question is, is this person Donald J. Trump? |
| 1:02.9 | I'm just going to, like, say the story if you did not find it. |
| 1:06.1 | This is the story that Luke Winky, our colleague, called his favorite scoop of the year. |
| 1:09.3 | According to the report, drug maker Eli Lilly granted one compassionate use of its highly experimental weight loss drug. |
| 1:18.3 | Yes, you can do it. |
| 1:21.1 | Reta Trutide. |
| 1:22.4 | Retta Trutide. |
| 1:23.7 | To one 79-year-old person, man, sometime this year. |
| 1:28.2 | We all know who turned 80 in June, and it was Donald J. Trump. |
... |
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