The Opinions

Maureen Dowd and Carlos Lozada on 100 Days of Trump’s ‘Fake Reality’

30 Apr 2025

Contributed by Lukas

In this episode, the Opinion deputy editor Patrick Healy is joined by the columnists Maureen Dowd and Carlos Lozada to dissect the first 100 days of P...

Tariffs Could Ruin My Small Business

28 Apr 2025

Contributed by Lukas

President Trump’s back and forth on tariffs is causing instability and uncertainty across industries, and some of the hardest hit have been small bu...

Lydia Polgreen on What’s Missing in Our Conversation About Immigration

24 Apr 2025

Contributed by Lukas

In this episode, the deputy Opinion editor Patrick Healy talks to the columnist Lydia Polgreen about the global panic around migration, and what Presi...

After Pope Francis: A Round Table With David French

23 Apr 2025

Contributed by Lukas

In this episode, the Opinion columnist David French speaks with the writers and Catholics David Gibson and Leah Libresco Sargeant about the legacy of ...

Welcome to Trump’s Mafia State

21 Apr 2025

Contributed by Lukas

In this episode, the columnist M. Gessen argues that when it comes to America’s institutions, President Trump is taking a page out of a Soviet-style...

The Trump Administration Is Disappearing People Like the Soviet Union

18 Apr 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Last week, the Supreme Court ordered the Trump administration to “facilitate” the return of Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran man deporte...

Bret Stephens on What Trump Gets Right, Wrong and Really, Really Wrong

17 Apr 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this First 100 Days episode, the deputy Opinion editor, Patrick Healy, and the columnist Bret Stephens discuss the nuance of being a conservative a...

Larry Summers on Trump: ‘The First Rule of Holes Is Stop Digging’

14 Apr 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode, the former president of Harvard University and former U.S. Treasury secretary explains the dangers of President Trump’s economic po...

‘They're Coming After All of Us. So You Might As Well Tell the Truth.’

10 Apr 2025

Contributed by Lukas

In this episode, the New York Times Opinion columnist Lydia Polgreen speaks to the author and activist Sarah Schulman on resistance and solidarity dur...

‘We’re Playing With Fire’: The Risks of Trump’s Tariffs on China

09 Apr 2025

Contributed by Lukas

In this episode, the deputy Opinion editor, Patrick Healy, talks to Binyamin Appelbaum about the goals of President Trump’s tariffs and the risks th...

How to Survive in Politically Volatile Times

07 Apr 2025

Contributed by Lukas

In this episode, the columnist David French and Rory Stewart explore how small-c conservatives can keep hope alive in the midst of a populist onslaugh...

Steve Rattner on Just How Bad Things Will Get Under Trump’s Tariffs

04 Apr 2025

Contributed by Lukas

In this episode of “The Opinions,” the deputy Opinion editor Patrick Healy and contributing Opinion writer, investor and economic analyst Steven R...

To Save Democracy, Here’s a Playbook That Works

02 Apr 2025

Contributed by Lukas

In this episode, the Times Opinion columnist David French explores how Poland managed to turn the tide against right-wing populism and restore constit...

Obama’s Not Going to Save Democrats, but This Might

31 Mar 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The Opinion writer Michelle Cottle and contributing Opinion writer Ben Rhodes discuss why the Democratic Party hasn’t launched an effective oppositi...

A Jewish Comedian Walks Into a Theater in Minnesota

29 Mar 2025

Contributed by Lukas

In his HBO special, “Just for Us,” the comedian Alex Edelman explores his Jewish identity and whiteness in an unusual way: attending a neo-Nazi me...

David Leonhardt: 'By the Time Trump Comes for Your University, It's Probably Too Late'

27 Mar 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode, Patrick Healy and David Leonhardt discuss President Trump’s attempts to remake higher education and argue that higher education sho...

The Worst Part of Pete Hegseth’s Group Chat Debacle

26 Mar 2025

Contributed by Lukas

In this episode, the New York Times Opinion columnist David French breaks down the security concerns behind the Trump administration’s military disc...

The Claim Trump Is Making That ‘Could Break the American System’

24 Mar 2025

Contributed by Lukas

More than two months into his second term, President Donald Trump is testing the limits of the U.S. Constitution. But which of his executive actions a...

Tom Friedman: Trump Is a ‘Small Man in a Big Time’

20 Mar 2025

Contributed by Lukas

President Trump has been operating with complete impunity and disregard for American institutions. In this episode, the Times Opinion deputy editor Pa...

Musk Said No One Has Died Since Aid Was Cut. That Isn’t True.

19 Mar 2025

Contributed by Lukas

What does it look like when some of the world’s richest men withdraw assistance for the world’s poorest women and children? After Elon Musk claime...

Measles, MAHA Moms and Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

17 Mar 2025

Contributed by Lukas

A measles outbreak in West Texas has claimed two lives, and President Trump’s secretary of health and human services, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., is spre...

They Saved Taxpayers Billions. Trump Fired Them Anyway.

13 Mar 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Inspectors general are our government watchdogs. They root out corruption and check for fraud and inefficiencies — all things President Trump has cl...

'Is the Destruction the Point?': Three Opinion Writers on Trump's First 50 Days

12 Mar 2025

Contributed by Lukas

President Donald Trump is about halfway through his first 100 days in office. In this episode of The Opinions, Patrick Healy talks with the columnist ...

I’m a Transgender Colonel. Trump Wants Me Out.

10 Mar 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Time is running out for transgender service members in the U.S. military. The Trump administration has put in motion plans to identify and remove tran...

David Brooks on Why the Democrats Are Losing to Trump

06 Mar 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The columnist David Brooks joins Patrick Healy to take stock of President Trump’s fifth address to Congress, to analyze the Democrats’ response, a...

Elon Musk and the Useless Spending-Cut Theater of DOGE

05 Mar 2025

Contributed by Lukas

As a fiscal conservative, the columnist David French would normally be excited about a Department of Government Efficiency and the opportunity to rein...

What Man's Man Politics Is Doing to America

03 Mar 2025

Contributed by Lukas

President Trump’s outsize performance of masculinity has won him attention, elections and the support of manosphere influencers like Andrew Tate and...

The Most Important Lesson in Sex Ed Isn’t Actually Sex

27 Feb 2025

Contributed by Lukas

When Hillary Frank took her middle-school-age daughter to see “Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret.,” she was surprised to learn that the ficti...

What an F.B.I. Under Patel and Bongino Might Mean for America

26 Feb 2025

Contributed by Lukas

President Trump has appointed Dan Bongino — a former U.S. Secret Service agent, right-wing podcaster and an outspoken critic of the F.B.I. — as th...

Trump’s Bargain With Putin Is ‘Shameful’

24 Feb 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Turning our back on Ukraine would only weaken America.The Trump administration may be considering negotiating a peace deal with Russia that would end ...

Thomas Friedman Has Given Up on Politics — but Not on the World

20 Feb 2025

Contributed by Lukas

President Trump appears ready to cut a deal that could end Russia’s war in Ukraine without ever consulting Ukraine. In this episode, the deputy Opin...

Trump and Musk, the ‘Co-Presidents’

19 Feb 2025

Contributed by Lukas

In this episode, the Opinion editor Aaron Retica and the columnist Jamelle Bouie discuss how President Trump, Elon Musk and their supporters are tryin...

My Values ‘Can’t Be Nullified by an Executive Order’

17 Feb 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Kirk Wallace Johnson served with U.S.A.I.D. in Baghdad and Fallujah. When he returned to the United States, he spent much of his career helping thousa...

Please, Don't Buy Flowers for Valentine's Day

14 Feb 2025

Contributed by Lukas

It’s Valentine’s Day, and if you celebrate, the chances of giving or receiving a bouquet of flowers is high. But have you considered the environme...

There’s a Reason Even ‘Smart’ People Surrender to Trump

13 Feb 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The deputy editor of Opinion, Patrick Healy, speaks with the columnist M. Gessen about why so many people and institutions, including Democrats, have ...

I Survived a Kidnapping in Mexico. Now I Tell the Stories of Those Who Didn’t.

12 Feb 2025

Contributed by Lukas

In June 2020, Manuel Bayo Gisbert, a visual anthropologist and artist, was abducted by members of a drug cartel outside of Mexico City. He was beaten,...

This Supreme Court Philosophy Could Constrain Trump

10 Feb 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The biggest challenge to President Trump’s executive orders may be the American judicial system. In this episode, the Times Opinion columnist David ...

Trump Is Failing the Marshmallow Test. Again.

06 Feb 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The New York Times Opinion writer Binyamin Appelbaum has been writing and thinking about President Trump’s economic policy since his first term in o...

A.I. Isn’t Coming for Moe the Bartender. Not Yet, Anyway.

04 Feb 2025

Contributed by Lukas

In this episode, the actor Hank Azaria, known in part for his numerous roles on “The Simpsons,” confronts how A.I. is already shaking up the vocal...

There’s a Reason Trump Is Going After Birthright Citizenship

03 Feb 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On his first day back in office, President Trump signed an executive order to end unconditional birthright citizenship. Lawsuits immediately began pou...

Kash Patel as F.B.I. Director Could ‘Destabilize the Whole System’

31 Jan 2025

Contributed by Lukas

President Trump’s pick for F.B.I. director, Kash Patel, is no stranger to controversy. And despite a vigorous Senate hearing on Thursday, he appears...

Maureen Dowd on Trump the Narcissist, Act II

30 Jan 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Maureen Dowd got her start in journalism during the Nixon era. Over her decades in Washington, she’s developed a keen understanding of how president...

Make America 1897 Again

28 Jan 2025

Contributed by Lukas

What can the 1890s tell us about 21st-century problems and a second Trump administration? According to the Opinion columnist Jamelle Bouie, quite a lo...

My Sister’s Murder Isn’t for Your Entertainment

27 Jan 2025

Contributed by Lukas

In 1993, Polly Klaas was kidnapped and murdered at the age of 12. Following her death, Polly’s tragic story became a plotline in true crime podcasts...

'Destabilize, Destabilize, Destabilize': What Trump Is Really Up To

23 Jan 2025

Contributed by Lukas

President Trump has declared that his second term will begin with the “most extraordinary first 100 days of any presidency in American history.” T...

Trump’s First Day: He is Exploiting ‘Civic Ignorance’

21 Jan 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Opinion's deputy editor, Patrick Healy, was joined by the columnists David French and Michelle Goldberg to makes sense of President Trump’s first da...

Thomas Friedman: The Global Challenges Facing Trump

21 Jan 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Times columnist Thomas Friedman says this is a rare moment in the Middle East when “everything is in play and everything is possible." In this episo...

Trump Won’t Change the Fact That America Needs Immigrants

20 Jan 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Donald Trump has promised to severely curtail legal and illegal immigration as he takes office for the second time. In this episode of “The Opinions...

This Jail in Rural Maine Is a Model for Treating Opioid Addiction

16 Jan 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Maine has one of the highest rates of opioid use disorder in the nation. But a program at a rural Maine jail initiated by an addiction medicine specia...

The Home Insurance L.A. — and America — Needs

15 Jan 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The Los Angeles wildfires offer a stark reminder that we no longer live in an era of reliable home insurance. An exodus of insurance companies from di...

How Trump’s ‘Favorite President’ Can Prepare Us for His Next Term

14 Jan 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Argentina’s head of state, Javier Milei, is the latest inspiration for Donald Trump and his supporters, including Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy. As ...

David French on the Case for Banning TikTok

13 Jan 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The Supreme Court seems ready to uphold the law that would ban TikTok unless the app’s Chinese parent company, ByteDance, sells it to a U.S. buyer. ...

When We Face the End of Life, ‘It’s Not Sadness We Should Fear. It’s Regret.’

09 Jan 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Sarah Wildman lost her 14-year-old daughter, Orli, to cancer in March 2023. Before she died, Orli had questions about the end of her life, but as Wild...

A Deceptively Simple Way to Rebuild Trust in Scary Times

08 Jan 2025

Contributed by Lukas

As the world grows increasingly fractured, taking the time to engage with strangers has become even more important. The artist and graphic journalist ...

There’s More to Wine Than Just a Cancer Warning

07 Jan 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Vivek Murthy, the surgeon general, recently recommended that cancer warnings be included on all alcohol products. The author and wine enthusiast Boris...

Trump’s Attack on D.E.I. Will Cost Us All

06 Jan 2025

Contributed by Lukas

In two weeks, the Biden administration will step down, and with it, the most diverse cabinet in American history. In this episode, The Times’s edito...

This Diet Buzzword Is Misleading

02 Jan 2025

Contributed by Lukas

President-elect Trump’s pick for secretary of health and human services, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., has been critical of ultraprocessed foods. But how b...

Dead Squirrels, TikTok Bops and Raw Milk: The Internet Slop of 2024

01 Jan 2025

Contributed by Lukas

In a time when the internet is teeming with content and hyperfragmented, how do you determine which memes, viral videos and ideas actually matter? The...

See Ya, 2024. Here’s What We Loved.

31 Dec 2024

Contributed by Lukas

As the year comes to an end, Times Opinion staff members — and our listeners — shared the things from 2024 they wanted to take with them into the ...

What the World Gets Wrong About Jimmy Carter’s Legacy

29 Dec 2024

Contributed by Lukas

President Jimmy Carter had a rich legacy, often marred by misunderstandings. Despite lasting only one term, his work post-presidency stands tall in it...

The Secrets of the World’s Favorite Smell

26 Dec 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The scent of vanilla is instantly recognizable — it’s also in danger of disappearing. In this ode to the vanilla bean, writer Aimee Nezhukumatathi...

David Brooks: I Found Faith in a Crowded Subway Car

24 Dec 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Over the past decade, the Times columnist David Brooks has gone from agnostic to deeply religious. In this episode he explores the evolving role of fa...

Bird Flu, Pneumonia: It's Time For Weekly Virus Reports

23 Dec 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Flu season has arrived again, and we still lack mainstream communication systems about risk levels and how to protect ourselves from seasonal viruses ...

Thomas Friedman on Syria, the U.S. and Trump

19 Dec 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The New York Times Opinion columnist Thomas Friedman and the Opinion editor Daniel Wakin discuss how and why the United States should use its influenc...

What If Our Democracy Can’t Survive Without Christianity?

18 Dec 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The New York Times Opinion columnist David French, a lifelong evangelical, speaks to Jonathan Rauch, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution and ...

Paul Krugman: After 25 Years, My Parting Words to Readers

17 Dec 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The columnist reflects on a quarter century of contrarian opinions at The Times.

Why I’m Not Dreading Holiday Chores This Season

16 Dec 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Holidays often mean more work. Here’s how to view that work differently.

Tell Us What Brought You Joy In 2024

13 Dec 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Is there a movie, a book, a meme, a memory, a hobby you took up or a vice you quit that stayed with you this year, or helped you unwind and forget abo...

What the Glorification of Luigi Mangione Reveals About America

12 Dec 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The political scientist Robert A. Pape has studied political violence for the past 30 years. In this episode of “The Opinions,” he describes what ...

The One Thing the U.S. Can Do to Help Syria Now

11 Dec 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In this episode of The Opinions, Farah Stockman, a member of the Times’s editorial board, argues that letting U.S. sanctions against Syria expire, w...

The Security Threat Hundreds of Miles Above Our Heads

10 Dec 2024

Contributed by Lukas

What would happen if a nuclear weapon detonated in space, destroying the satellites that make so much of our digital existence — and our national se...

The Power Struggle Behind Trans Youth Health Care

09 Dec 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In this episode, the New York Times Opinion columnists Lydia Polgreen and M. Gessen discuss the historic Supreme Court case United States v. Skrmetti,...

How a Book From 1981 Anticipated This Political Moment

06 Dec 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In this conversation, the New York Times Opinion columnists Carlos Lozada, a former book critic, and Pamela Paul, previously the editor of The Times’...

The Secret to Enjoying Awkward Holiday Parties

04 Dec 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The holiday season is known for bringing dreaded cocktail party small talk. But your conversations with colleagues, friends or family need not be awkw...

Five Opinion Writers on What Biden Should Do in His Final Days as President

03 Dec 2024

Contributed by Lukas

President Biden has about six weeks left in office, and with Republicans set to control both houses of Congress and the presidency next year, his fina...

David Brooks on Staying Humane in Inhumane Times

02 Dec 2024

Contributed by Lukas

These are cruel and challenging times. How did previous generations hold on to their sanity — and humanity — in the face of violence and instabili...

Can Learning to Love Beans Help Save the Planet?

28 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In a nation filled with meat lovers, how can we persuade Americans to stop eating animals and help save the planet? The food writer Bee Wilson believe...

Thomas Friedman: Trump’s Path to a Nobel Peace Prize?

27 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The Israel-Gaza war poses multiple challenges for President-elect Donald Trump’s new administration. But the former president has proposed a plan fo...

Nicholas Kristof: Consider Skipping Meat This Thanksgiving

26 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

It’s Thanksgiving week, and the columnist Nicholas Kristof wants you to consider skipping the turkey. “I don’t want to wag my fingers at people ...

I’m a Food Editor. I Hate Thanksgiving Dinner.

25 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Margaux Laskey, an associate editor at New York Times Cooking, has a surprising confession: She doesn’t like Thanksgiving dinner. After days of effo...

Bret Stephens: The Logic Behind Trump’s Cabinet Picks

21 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

From Matt Gaetz to Tulsi Gabbard, President-elect Donald Trump’s outlandish cabinet selections reflect the power of social and political deviance, t...

Trump Should Bring the Ukraine War to Its ‘Inevitable Ending’

20 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

President-elect Donald Trump has said that as president, he will negotiate an end to the carnage in Ukraine in a single day. A peace deal could have u...

Trump’s Win Terrifies Me. Why Don’t Boys My Age Care?

19 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Exit polls from the presidential election reveal a divided country: Women tended to vote for Kamala Harris; men, for Donald Trump. And that divide may...

Hungary Shows Us How a Second Trump Term Might Play Out

18 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Donald Trump has referred to Hungary’s autocratic prime minister, Viktor Orban, as “a great man, a great leader.” In this episode, the columnist...

Robert Kennedy Jr. Revealed What Is Missing in Public Health Messaging

14 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In a recent interview, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said he expected that the Trump administration would recommend against putting fluoride in drinking water...

David Brooks: Maybe Bernie Sanders Is Right

13 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The biggest divide in America today is not about race or gender, the Times Opinion columnist David Brooks argues. In this episode, he explains how the...

‘People Are In for a Really Rude Shock’ on Trump’s Economy

12 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Voters chose Donald Trump, in part, in response to inflation under President Biden. And yet, the columnist Paul Krugman argues, the new president-elec...

Stop Pretending Trump Is Not Who We Are

11 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

For those caught off guard, Trump’s victory has been a shock. In this episode of “The Opinions,” the columnist and “Matter of Opinion” co-ho...

The Hubris That Cost Democrats the Election

07 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The New York Times Opinion columnists Lydia Polgreen and Tressie McMillan Cottom discuss what was revealed about America on Tuesday, why the Democrats...

David French: It’s Time to Admit America Has Changed

06 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Donald Trump’s enduring hold over the Republican Party may send him back to the White House. On this episode of The Opinions, the columnist David Fr...

Have Election Anxiety? These 5 Minutes Can Help.

05 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Today, many of us are ruminating on an unknowable future. Eliza Barclay, a climate editor for New York Times Opinion and a certified mindfulness instr...

Why Trump's Conduct Hasn’t Tanked His Chances

04 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The Deputy Opinion Editor Patrick Healy on one of the voter insights that has stayed with him from Donald Trump's former campaign manager.Thoughts? Em...

Ricky Martin, Lin-Manuel Miranda and Rita Moreno on Puerto Ricans’ Votes

02 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

After Trump’s Madison Square Garden rally, three Puerto Rican icons — Ricky Martin, Lin-Manuel Miranda and Rita Moreno — shared a collective mes...

Has Trump Lost His Crucial Latino Support?

01 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Republicans’ growing support among Latinos is no longer guaranteed after a comedian made a racist joke at Donald Trump’s Madison Square Garden ral...

Embrace Unstructured Naughtiness. Ditch the Switch Witch.

31 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Some parents don't let their children keep their halloween candy, and instead have a "switch witch" come in the night and replace the sweets with a to...

A Second Trump Term Could Lead to a ‘Backdoor Federal Abortion Ban’

30 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

With less than a week to go until the most contested election in generations, law professor Mary Ziegler considers what a second term for Donald Trump...

Why This Senate Candidate Is a Potential ‘Shock to the System’

29 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Much of the country is laser focused on the presidential election, but control of the Senate is also up for grabs in November. One of the seats in con...

The Real Reasons Why the G.O.P. Is Spending Millions on Anti-Trans Ads

28 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The Republican Party has been investing millions of dollars in anti-trans advertisements in a play to reach moderates and voters on the left who feel ...

I Went Viral For Crying Over Hurricane Milton. I Couldn’t Help It.

24 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The meteorologist John Morales has been a hurricane specialist in Miami for decades, but he never found himself close to tears until he witnessed the ...

More Babies Aren’t the Only Solution to Falling Birthrates

23 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Despite growing concerns, the Opinion writer Jessica Grose doesn’t want you to panic about the falling birthrate. In this episode of “The Opinions...