Plain English with Derek Thompson

Longtime Atlantic tech, culture and political writer Derek Thompson cuts through all the noise surrounding the big questions and headlines that matter to you in his new podcast Plain English. Watch Derek and guests engage the news with clear viewpoints and memorable takeaways. New episodes drop every Tuesday and Friday, and if you've got a topic you want discussed, shoot us an email at plainenglish@spotify.com! Subscribe to our YouTube channel here: https://www.youtube.com/@PlainEnglishwithDerekThompson

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Every guest on Plain English with Derek Thompson

219 guests, ranked by how many people never want them back.

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Alex Thompson

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Bryan Curtis
Why the U.S. Media Industry Is in Meltdown · 2 episodes

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David Ricks
The Future of GLP-1 Drugs and AI Medicine, With Eli Lilly CEO David Ricks · Feb 2026

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Dror Poleg
How American Cities Can Avoid the ‘Urban Doom Loop’ · Apr 2023

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Eli Finkel
The Rules of Attraction and the Psychology of Romance · May 2025

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Jason Gay
Why Youth Sports in America Are in Decline · May 2023

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Jason Miller
Why America Will Lose Its Trade War With China · Apr 2025

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Jay Van Bavel
What Experts Really Think About Smartphones and Mental Health · 2 episodes

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Jim VandeHei
The Meltdown at The Washington Post—and the Crisis in News · Feb 2026

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John Burn-Murdoch
The Modern World Is Changing America’s Personality For the Worse · 2 episodes

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Josh Tyrangiel
"America Isn’t Ready for What AI Will Do to Jobs" · Feb 2026

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Julia Alexander
How Hollywood Drove Its Business Model Off a Cliff · Jul 2023

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Kaitlyn Tiffany

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Karen Hao

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Karim Sadjadpour
The Four Ways That the Iran War Could End · Mar 2026

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Kevin Hall
What’s the Matter With America’s Food? · Sep 2025

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Kirk Goldsberry
The Five Superstars Who Invented the Modern NBA · May 2024

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Kristen Soltis Anderson
How Trump Won: Young Men’s Red Wave, the Blue-City Flop, and the Incumbency Graveyard · 2 episodes

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Lucas Shaw
Burning Questions About the Future of Media: Netflix vs. Disney, TikTok vs. Everyone, and the Metaverse · Jul 2022

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Mark Leibovich
"People Feel Lied To": The White House, the Media, and the Joe Biden Blame Game · Jul 2024

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Mark Zandi
The Housing Recession Is Coming · Sep 2022

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Matthew Klein
Trump’s Trade War Is Like Nothing America’s Ever Seen · Apr 2025

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Molly Wood
Crypto Crash Part I: The Case Against Crypto · Jul 2022

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Nicholas Bloom
Is Hybrid Work Doomed? · Oct 2022

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Paul Poast
What Just Happened in Russia This Weekend? · 4 episodes

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Peter Hotez
The Omicron Variant: So, How Bad Is It? · Nov 2021

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Raj Chetty
What’s the Secret of Success in America? This Economist Has Answers. · Aug 2022

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Rich Greenfield
The End of the Golden Age of Streaming · 2 episodes

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Robert Mays
A Sports Mystery: What Happened to the NFL Quarterback? · Sep 2024

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Ryen Russillo
The Great Debate: What's the Single Most Amazing Sports Statistic in U.S. History? · Feb 2022

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William Cohan
Why Big Tech's Jobs Bubble Burst. Plus, SBF's Scandal Deepens. · Jan 2023

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William D. Cohan
A Crypto Catastrophe: The Stunning Fall of FTX—and What Comes Next · Nov 2022

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Zohran Mamdani
NYC Mayoral Candidate Zohran Mamdani on Abundance, Socialism, and How to Change a Mind · Jun 2025

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Alex Imas
The Case Against the AI Job Apocalypse · May 2026

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Alex Turnbull
Is China the Winner of the Iran War? · Apr 2026

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Alice Evans
The Gender War Within Gen Z · Feb 2024

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Amanda Mull
Why Did Stanley Water Bottles Suddenly Become a Cultural Phenomenon? · 2 episodes

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Anton Korinek
How Superintelligent AI Could Upend Work and Politics · Nov 2025

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Arindrajit Dube
"We’re Seeing a Fundamental Reorganization of Work in America" · Feb 2024

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Azeem Azhar
Everybody Thinks AI Is a Bubble. What If They’re Wrong? · Oct 2025

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Recent episodes

401 episodes from the feed, newest first.

The New Book That Scares Big Tech
with Liaquat Ahamed

Sep 2026
AI Slop Is Breaking the Internet. Can We Save It?
with Max Spero

Sep 2026
Why Everything Is Going to Keep Getting More Expensive
with Conor Sen

Aug 2026
Higher Education’s Age of ‘Insufferable Hypocrisy’
with Tyler Austin Harper

Aug 2026
It May Be Time to Freak Out About AI
with Alex Stamos

Aug 2026
Why Americans Hate Data Centers
with Jasmine Sun

Aug 2026
Why America Is Switching From Booze to Weed
Aug 2026
"The End of Reading Is Here"
with Rose Horowitch

Jul 2026
What Translator Emily Wilson Thinks of Christopher Nolan’s ‘The Odyssey'
with Emily Wilson

Jul 2026
Why 'The Odyssey' Is the West’s Greatest Story
with Karen Ní Mheallaigh

Jul 2026
A Philosopher’s One-Word Theory for Why the World Feels So Weird
with Agnes Callard

Jul 2026
How Israel Is Transforming American Politics
with Peter Beinart

Jul 2026
MEGAPOD: The Most Overrated American Who Ever Lived
with Beverly Gage

Jul 2026
A Surprising Theory About the Future of War
with Erik Lin-Greenberg

Jun 2026
SpaceX, AI Bubble Fears, and The Age of the Trillion-Dollar, Zero-Profit Company
Jun 2026
The Iran War Is Ending. Everybody Lost.
Jun 2026
The Donald Trump Corruption Scandal Draft
Jun 2026
The Most Exciting Month of Medical Breakthroughs in Years
Jun 2026
Old-igarchy: How the Elderly Conquered American Power
Jun 2026
How Modern Fatherhood Is Changing Men’s Brains
with Darby Saxbe

Jun 2026
What 400,000 Essays Reveal About AI and Creativity
Jun 2026
The Surprising Truth About America's Friendship Crisis
with Laurie Santos

Jun 2026
Why the NBA Feels Broken—and Why the League Can’t Fix It
May 2026
The Men Who Think Toxic Feminism Destroyed America
with Helen Lewis

May 2026
Does Anybody Know How to Solve an American Debt Crisis?
May 2026