What Next - The Department of War…From Within
Slate News
Slate Podcasts
4.5 • 6K Ratings
🗓️ 1 October 2025
⏱️ 32 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth summoned the military’s top brass from all over the world for a meeting to announce…they need to shave and get in shape? And then Trump followed with a speech about how he wants to deploy them in American cities and also Joe Biden sucks. Good talk, everybody.
Guest: Idrees Ali, national security correspondent for Reuters.
Want more What Next? Subscribe to Slate Plus to access ad-free listening to the whole What Next family and across all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe today on Apple Podcasts by clicking “Try Free” at the top of our show page. Sign up now at slate.com/whatnextplus to get access wherever you listen.
Podcast production by Elena Schwartz, Paige Osburn, Anna Phillips, Madeline Ducharme, and Rob Gunther.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | How much do you know about the scandal that got Bill Clinton impeached? |
| 0:03.5 | Monica Lewinsky is under the microscope. |
| 0:05.7 | Bill Clinton is under siege and the White House is trying to contain the damage. |
| 0:10.3 | Maybe you know the basics, that Clinton's presidency came to a screeching halt |
| 0:13.9 | amid a storm of accusations involving sex, power, and partisan warfare. |
| 0:18.3 | If it turns out to be true, it could be the end of Clinton's presidency. |
| 0:21.5 | Congress is rushing to overthrow the commander-in-chief. What determines who we believe and whose side |
| 0:27.9 | we take in a political fight? Tripped and secretly tape Monica Lewinsky. Go down the radio shack and buy a |
| 0:33.4 | tape recorder and plug it into your phone. What does it mean to abuse one's power? |
| 0:41.8 | I did not have sexual relations with that woman. |
| 0:46.0 | It is absolutely staggering that the fate of the most powerful man on the planet is in the hands of a completely unknown 23-year-old intern. |
| 0:50.0 | Subscribe to Slow Burn and Apple Podcasts. |
| 1:09.5 | Yesterday, on the eve of a government shutdown, President Trump had a message for the American people. |
| 1:14.8 | This message was not about what services we might expect to lose in the coming days. |
| 1:18.5 | It wasn't an announcement of some bipartisan compromise either. |
| 1:20.6 | It was something else entirely. |
| 1:32.2 | So ladies and gentlemen, join me in welcoming the 45th and 47th President of the United States, our commander-in-chief, Donald J. Trump. |
| 1:40.2 | The president was speaking in front of a room full of generals and admirals in full dress uniform. |
| 1:44.6 | Secretary of Defense Pete Higgseth was his warm-up act. And when Trump took the stage, everyone stood, but almost no one clapped. |
| 1:50.2 | I've never walked into a room so silent before. |
| 1:52.9 | This is very, don't laugh. Don't laugh. Don't laugh. You're not allowed to do that. |
| 1:57.4 | You know, I just have a good time. |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Slate Podcasts, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of Slate Podcasts and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.