Uploaded February 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
If you love What Next, join Slate Plus at slate.com/youtubeplus to unlock weekly bonus episodes. Plus, you’ll access ad-free listening across all your favorite Slate podcasts.
Team USA athlete Rich Ruohonen didn’t shrink from his Olympic moment—nor from his chance to speak up for Minnesota. The curler, who just made history as the oldest U.S. Winter Olympian, made headlines for his public statements about the Trump administration and ICE's actions in his home state. He talked with Mary Harris, host of Slate’s What Next podcast, about curling drama, his work as a lawyer and desire to speak out on behalf of his fellow teammates, and what the U.S. men’s hockey team could have done differently in the wake of the State of the Union.
Listen more bonus episodes of What Next by subscribing to Slate Plus. By joining, not only will you unlock exclusive episodes of What Next —you’ll also access ad-free listening across all your favorite Slate podcasts. You can subscribe directly from the What Next show page on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Or, visit slate.com/whatnextplus to get access wherever you listen.
Podcast production by Elena Schwartz, Paige Osburn, Anna Phillips, Madeline Ducharme, and Rob Gunther.
Note: Captions are auto-generated by YouTube.
Learn more: slate.com/podcasts/what-next
Follow Slate on Social:
Host Mary Harris on Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/maryharris.bsky.social
Slate on Twitter - twitter.com/Slate
Slate Podcasts on Twitter - twitter.com/SlatePodcasts
Slate on Facebook: facebook.com/slate
Slate on Instagram: instagram.com/slate
If you love What Next, join Slate Plus at slate.com/youtubeplus to unlock weekly bonus episodes. Plus, you’ll access ad-free listening across all your favorite Slate podcasts.
Team USA athlete Rich Ruohonen didn’t shrink from his Olympic moment—nor from his chance to speak up for Minnesota. The curler, who just made history as the oldest U.S. Winter Olympian, made headlines for his public statements about the Trump administration and ICE's actions in his home state. He talked with Mary Harris, host of Slate’s What Next podcast, about curling drama, his work as a lawyer and desire to speak out on behalf of his fellow teammates, and what the U.S. men’s hockey team could have done differently in the wake of the State of the Union.
Listen more bonus episodes of What Next by subscribing to Slate Plus. By joining, not only will you unlock exclusive episodes of What Next —you’ll also access ad-free listening across all your favorite Slate podcasts. You can subscribe directly from the What Next show page on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Or, visit slate.com/whatnextplus to get access wherever you listen.
Podcast production by Elena Schwartz, Paige Osburn, Anna Phillips, Madeline Ducharme, and Rob Gunther.
Note: Captions are auto-generated by YouTube.
Learn more: slate.com/podcasts/what-next
Follow Slate on Social:
Host Mary Harris on Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/maryharris.bsky.social
Slate on Twitter - twitter.com/Slate
Slate Podcasts on Twitter - twitter.com/SlatePodcasts
Slate on Facebook: facebook.com/slate
Slate on Instagram: instagram.com/slate
