The Opinions

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

<p>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 would mean for abortion rights. In this audio essay, she argues that while the former president may seem indifferent on the campaign trail to tightening abortion laws, there is a real possibility that if re-elected he will seek to appease his base by using his executive power to ban abortions nationwide.</p><p><i>This episode originally aired on Feb. 6, 2024. </i></p><p>Thoughts? Email us at theopinions@nytimes.com.</p><br/> <p>Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See <a href="https://pcm.adswizz.com">pcm.adswizz.com</a> for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.</p>

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

<p>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 contention is, surprisingly, in deep-red Nebraska, where the independent Dan Osborn is running against the Trump-endorsed Republican Deb Fischer. In the episode of “The Opinions,” the columnist Michelle Goldberg travels to Nebraska to report on Osborn’s appeal and argues that his decision to run lays the groundwork for a “potential new avenue for a left-wing style of populist politics.”</p><p>Thoughts? Email us at theopinions@nytimes.com.</p><br/> <p>Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See <a href="https://pcm.adswizz.com">pcm.adswizz.com</a> for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.</p>

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

<p>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 uncomfortable with or confused by transgender rights. In this episode of “The Opinions,” the New York Times Opinion deputy editor, Patrick Healy, and the columnist M. Gessen discuss these ads and the fear they’re tapping into in American society.</p><p>Thoughts? Email us at theopinions@nytimes.com.</p><br/> <p>Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See <a href="https://pcm.adswizz.com">pcm.adswizz.com</a> for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.</p>

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

<p>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 intensification of Hurricane Milton while live on the air earlier this month. In the weeks since, the clip of Morales choking up has been viewed millions of times online. In this episode of The Opinions, Morales reflects on his emotional response to the Hurricane and urges Americans who share his climate anxiety to talk about how they feel — and vote accordingly.</p><p><strong>Thoughts?</strong> Email us at <a href="mailto:theopinions@nytimes.com" target="_blank">theopinions@nytimes.com</a>.</p><br/> <p>Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See <a href="https://pcm.adswizz.com">pcm.adswizz.com</a> for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.</p>

More Babies Aren’t the Only Solution to Falling Birthrates

<p>Despite growing concerns, the Opinion writer Jessica Grose doesn’t want you to panic about the falling birthrate. In this episode of “The Opinions,” she argues there’s a positive picture behind the decline in births and suggests there are creative solutions that could help us embrace a future below replacement rate.</p><p>Thoughts? Email us at theopinions@nytimes.com.</p><br/> <p>Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See <a href="https://pcm.adswizz.com">pcm.adswizz.com</a> for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.</p>

Why Trump Is Doing Better Than Polls Suggest

<p>Many undecided voters aren’t undecided; they’re just uncomfortable, Patrick Healy, the deputy Opinion editor, argues. In this episode of “The Opinions,” he says that “uncomfortable Trump voters” — people who don’t want to admit that they’re going to vote for Donald Trump — could end up costing Kamala Harris the election.</p><p><br /> </p><br/> <p>Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See <a href="https://pcm.adswizz.com">pcm.adswizz.com</a> for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.</p>

Sorry, Trump: ‘There Is No American Race or Blood That Outsiders Can Pollute’

<p>Since coming down the escalator to announce his bid for president in 2015, Donald Trump has disparaged and dehumanized immigrants. In this episode of “The Opinions,” the Opinion columnist Carlos Lozada, an immigrant from Peru, reflects on what it means to not just discuss the issue but to be at the center of it.</p><p>Thoughts? Email us at theopinions@nytimes.com.</p><br/> <p>Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See <a href="https://pcm.adswizz.com">pcm.adswizz.com</a> for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.</p>

My Patients Are Children. Dobbs Forced Me to Leave Them Behind.

<p>In the wake of the Dobbs decision, South Carolina banned abortion after around six weeks of pregnancy. The law does have a few exceptions, including rape and incest. Dr. Kristl Tomlin, a pediatric and adolescent gynecologist, saw what those exceptions look like in practice for young victims of rape — and she decided to leave the state. In this episode, Dr. Tomlin describes how having to involve the sheriff’s department and lawyers in her work hurt her patients, and pushed her to leave the community she loved.</p><br/> <p>Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See <a href="https://pcm.adswizz.com">pcm.adswizz.com</a> for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.</p>

We Need a ‘Managed Retreat’ In Florida

<p>Florida’s two major hurricanes in the past month highlight how decades of deregulation and overdevelopment under Republican leadership have made the state increasingly vulnerable to climate change. After more than 30 years of living through Florida hurricanes, the writer Jeff VanderMeer believes a “managed retreat” is a necessary response to the growing frequency and intensity of storms.</p><p>Thoughts? Email us at theopinions@nytimes.com.</p><br/> <p>Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See <a href="https://pcm.adswizz.com">pcm.adswizz.com</a> for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.</p>

Two Opinion Columnists on Melania Trump’s Memoir

<p>Melania Trump promoted her recent memoir, “Melania,” with a series of glossy and cryptic promotional videos stating the desire “to share my perspective: the truth.” But what does the self-titled memoir reveal to us about the often inscrutable former first lady? The bookish Opinion columnists Carlos Lozada and Pamela Paul discuss what they learned — and often, what they did not — from her work.</p><p>Thoughts? Email us at theopinions@nytimes.com.</p><br/> <p>Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See <a href="https://pcm.adswizz.com">pcm.adswizz.com</a> for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.</p>

America Needs More Children. JD Vance’s Shame Game Won’t Get Us There.

<p>Despite concerns over the falling birthrate, especially on the right, the Times Opinion columnist David French recognizes that the push to have more families — and bigger ones — has become problematic. In this audio essay, French explains why he thinks the recent political conversation on the topic reveals “the worst form of natalism.”</p><p>Thoughts? Email us at theopinions@nytimes.com.</p><br/> <p>Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See <a href="https://pcm.adswizz.com">pcm.adswizz.com</a> for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.</p>

Hiroshima Survivors Were Awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. Hear Their Warning.

<p>This week, the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to Nihon Hidankyo, a Japanese group of atomic bombing survivors, “for its efforts to achieve a world free of nuclear weapons.” Over the summer, in an effort to <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2024/05/22/opinion/nuclear-weapons-nytimes.html">bring light to this new and terrifying nuclear era</a>, Opinion’s editor, Kathleen Kingsbury, and the writer W.J. Hennigan interviewed Japanese survivors of the U.S. atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. In this audio essay, they share stories from two of the survivors they met, Chieko Kiriake and Keiko Ogura, who were just 15 and 8 years old on Aug. 6, 1945.</p><p>To see more photographs and read more stories from them and other survivors, click <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2024/08/06/opinion/hiroshima-nagasaki-atomic-bombing.html">here</a>.</p><p>This piece originally appeared on nytimes.com on Aug. 6, 2024.</p><p>Thoughts? Email us at theopinions@nytimes.com.</p><br/> <p>Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See <a href="https://pcm.adswizz.com">pcm.adswizz.com</a> for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.</p>

Why I Don’t Regret Paying My Kid $100 to Read a Book

<p>Mirielle Silcoff received backlash when she wrote a guest essay for Times Opinion about paying her 12-year-old daughter $100 to read a novel. In this audio essay, Ms. Silcoff explains why she doesn’t regret her decision, and why she felt like the experience for her daughter was worth the cost.</p><p>Thoughts? Email us at theopinions@nytimes.com.</p><br/> <p>Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See <a href="https://pcm.adswizz.com">pcm.adswizz.com</a> for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.</p>

Why Kamala Harris&apos;s &apos;Call Her Daddy&apos; Strategy Might Not be Enough

<p>Donald Trump has been on a tour of the Gen Z influencer ecosystem, from Theo Von to Adin Ross. In this episode of “The Opinions,” Daniel Pfeiffer, a senior adviser to former President Barack Obama, argues that Trump is trying to win the support of young men, a once loyal Democratic constituency. Mr. Pfeiffer says Democrats ignore these voters at their peril, for the 2024 election and beyond: “There is no post-Trump era if Gen Z men become firmly adherents of MAGA philosophy,” he explains.</p><p>Thoughts? Email us at theopinions@nytimes.com.</p><br/> <p>Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See <a href="https://pcm.adswizz.com">pcm.adswizz.com</a> for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.</p>

I Was a Teacher in Gaza. This Is What Haunts Me Now.

<p>The last time Mosab Abu Toha, a poet and teacher, was in a classroom in Gaza, it was to shelter with his students and their families, all seeking refuge from Israeli airstrikes. Since then, he and his family have fled Gaza, and they temporarily reside in the United States. In this audio essay, he shares what it means when classrooms cease being places of learning and become a family’s only hope for survival.</p><p>Thoughts? Email us at theopinions@nytimes.com.</p><br/> <p>Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See <a href="https://pcm.adswizz.com">pcm.adswizz.com</a> for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.</p>

I Live in Israel. I Never Hear About What My Country Is Doing to Gaza.

<p>Israeli anger toward Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been building in the year since the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks. Mairav Zonszein, an Israeli-American journalist and analyst, argues that this anger does not extend to the plight of the Palestinians living in Gaza and the West Bank. More than 41,000 people have been killed in Gaza, and yet, she says, Israelis are stuck in a cycle of “apathy” and “indifference,” unable to fully realize the devastation befalling their neighbors.</p><p>Thoughts? Email us at theopinions@nytimes.com.</p><br/> <p>Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See <a href="https://pcm.adswizz.com">pcm.adswizz.com</a> for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.</p>

The Real Loser of the V.P. Debate

<p>M. Gessen, an Opinion columnist, watched Tuesday’s vice-presidential debate with a sense of dread. In their mind, the question was not who would win the debate but, rather: How much did we lose? In this audio essay, Gessen argues that when we put Trump and his acolytes on the same platform as regular politicians and treat them equally, “that normalization degrades our political life and degrades our understanding of politics.”</p><p>Thoughts? Email us at theopinions@nytimes.com.</p><br/> <p>Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See <a href="https://pcm.adswizz.com">pcm.adswizz.com</a> for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.</p>

Thomas Friedman: ‘This Is Code Red Time in the Middle East’

<p>Thomas Friedman, an Opinion columnist and Middle East correspondent, is keenly aware of the many red lines that have been crossed in the growing conflict between Israel and Iran, Hezbollah and Hamas. He says, after Iran’s latest attack on Israel, anything is possible — from symbolic retaliation to the bombing of a nuclear facility. Hear why he believes that “this really is the most dangerous moment in the modern Middle East.”</p><p>Thoughts? Email us at theopinions@nytimes.com </p><br/> <p>Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See <a href="https://pcm.adswizz.com">pcm.adswizz.com</a> for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.</p>

Luxury Turkish Travel Is the Least of Our Worries

<p>Eric Adams, the mayor of New York City, was indicted last week for soliciting foreign funds for his campaign and for personal use. Casey Michel, director of the Combating Kleptocracy Program at the Human Rights Foundation, argues that to prevent the further degradation of our democracy, officials need to be more aggressive about enforcing existing foreign interference laws.</p><p> </p><p>Thoughts? Email us at theopinions@nytimes.com.</p><br/> <p>Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See <a href="https://pcm.adswizz.com">pcm.adswizz.com</a> for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.</p>

The Only Patriotic Choice for President

<p>Listen to Times Opinion Editor Kathleen Kingsbury make the case for Kamala Harris.</p><p>Thoughts? Email us at theopinions@nytimes.com.</p><br/> <p>Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See <a href="https://pcm.adswizz.com">pcm.adswizz.com</a> for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.</p>

A Fix for Trump’s Stop the Steal Strategy

<p>Jesse Wegman, a member of the Times editorial board, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/by/jesse-wegman" target="_blank">has</a> <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/17/books/review/let-the-people-pick-the-president-jesse-wegman.html" target="_blank">argued</a> that to make the American election process more straightforward and just, the United States should elect its president based on the outcome of the popular vote rather than the Electoral College. But in this episode of “The Opinions” he goes a step further, arguing that the Electoral College renders elections more vulnerable to legal manipulation for political ends.<br /> </p><p>Thoughts? Email us at <strong>theopinions@nytimes.com</strong></p><br/> <p>Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See <a href="https://pcm.adswizz.com">pcm.adswizz.com</a> for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.</p>

‘I Knew I Should Leave, I Couldn’t Leave’

<p>Flash floods plagued Utah and much of the Colorado Plateau this summer. Climate change has made them more frequent and more intense. In this audio essay, Terry Tempest Williams, a writer and conservationist, describes the terrible beauty of witnessing one such flood alone in her home.</p><br/> <p>Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See <a href="https://pcm.adswizz.com">pcm.adswizz.com</a> for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.</p>

Nicholas Kristof: Readers Respond to My Column on Trump Voters

<p>In this episode, the columnist Nicholas Kristof argues that Democrats should focus their criticism on Donald Trump instead of Trump voters.</p><p> </p><br/> <p>Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See <a href="https://pcm.adswizz.com">pcm.adswizz.com</a> for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.</p>

JD Vance Is Wrong — Kamala Harris Isn’t Changing Her Accent

<p>Recently, Republicans have taken to accusing Kamala Harris of using fake accents while on the campaign trail. In this episode of “The Opinions,” John McWhorter, an Opinion writer and linguist, argues the vice president is simply revealing a piece of herself by slipping into “Black English,” a form of code switching that is actually quite presidential.</p><p>Questions? Thoughts? Email us at theopinions@nytimes.com.</p><br/> <p>Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See <a href="https://pcm.adswizz.com">pcm.adswizz.com</a> for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.</p>

What Liberals Miss About the MAGA Movement

<p>David French, a Times columnist, believes that to understand MAGA, we have to understand the joy and sense of belonging that the movement bestows upon its adherents. In this episode, he explains why Donald Trump’s most outrageous statements — such as the lie that Haitian immigrants are eating pets — appeal to his followers’ “sense of gleeful transgression.”</p><p> </p><p>Thoughts? Email us at <a href="mailto:theopinions@nytimes.com">theopinions@nytimes.com</a></p><br/> <p>Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See <a href="https://pcm.adswizz.com">pcm.adswizz.com</a> for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.</p>

Paul Krugman on the Interest Rate Cut and What’s Next

<p>The economist and New York Times Opinion Columnist Paul Krugman makes the case for aggressive rate cuts by the Federal Reserve and argues that now is not the time for caution.</p><br/> <p>Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See <a href="https://pcm.adswizz.com">pcm.adswizz.com</a> for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.</p>

It’s Time We Start Naming America’s Deadliest Climate Disasters

<p>Heat waves kill more Americans than hurricanes, tornadoes and floods combined. But despite their deadly toll, we rarely treat them with the urgency they demand. Eric Klinenberg, a sociologist, has spent the better part of his career studying the effects of heat waves. In this episode, he argues that to take heat waves more seriously, we need to start naming them like we do hurricanes — a simple, zero-cost action that could end up saving lives.</p><p>Questions? Thoughts? Email us at theopinions@nytimes.com.</p><br/> <p>Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See <a href="https://pcm.adswizz.com">pcm.adswizz.com</a> for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.</p>

Why Have Kids? A Liberal Case for Natalism

<p>With Anastasia Berg. Having children has become increasingly “coded as conservative and reactionary,” philosopher Anastasia Berg argues. She makes the case for why young liberals and progressives should take the decision back — and stop delaying it. Thoughts? Email us at theopinions@nytimes.com</p><br/> <p>Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See <a href="https://pcm.adswizz.com">pcm.adswizz.com</a> for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.</p>

Trump, Tariffs and the Truth About His Economic Plans

<p>For voters whose top issue is the economy, the choice is clear, argues Binyamin Appelbaum, a member of the Times Editorial Board. Though Vice President Kamala Harris’s plans may be ill-defined, he says, Donald Trump’s plans — curbing immigration, raising tariffs and cutting taxes — would actually leave consumers worse off than they are today.</p><p>Thoughts? Email us at theopinions@nytimes.com</p><br/> <p>Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See <a href="https://pcm.adswizz.com">pcm.adswizz.com</a> for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.</p>

&apos;I Feel Like She Humiliated Him&apos;: How Trump Lost the Debate

<p>Michelle Goldberg, the Times Opinion columnist, and Patrick Healy, the deputy Opinion editor, discuss the best and worst moments of the debate between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump. Will Harris’s apparent debate night victory matter to the swing state voters who can make the difference?</p><p>Thoughts? Email us at theopinions@nytimes.com.</p><br/> <p>Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See <a href="https://pcm.adswizz.com">pcm.adswizz.com</a> for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.</p>