Political Gabfest

Latest Episodes:

March Forth, Trump! Aug 31, 2023

Show notes

This week, Emily Bazelon, John Dickerson, and David Plotz discuss Donald Trump’s trials schedule and the 2024 election calendar; Vivek Ramaswamy; and “What the Best Places in America Have in Common.”

Here are some notes and references from this week’s show:

Devlin Barrett, Rachel Weiner, and Perry Stein for The Washington Post: “Trump’s D.C. election-obstruction trial scheduled for March 2024”

Josh Barro in Very Serious: “Section Guy Runs For President”

Kathryn J. Edin, H. Luke Shaefer, and Timothy J. Nelson in The Atlantic: “What the Best Places in America Have in Common” and The Injustice of Place: Uncovering the Legacy of Poverty in America

MGM’s “Red Dawn” official trailer

John Dickerson for CBS News’ Prime Time: “Russia accuses Ukraine of large-scale drone attack”

Hamlet by Shakespeare: “To die, to sleep– To sleep–perchance to dream.”

Here are this week’s chatters:

John: Strike Force Five podcast on Spotify; Caroline Anders for The Washington Post: “France has too much wine. It’s paying millions to destroy the leftovers.”; Giri Viswanathan for CNN: “Marijuana and hallucinogen use, binge drinking reached records highs in middle-aged adults, survey finds”; and James Martinez for AP: “’Like Snoop Dogg’s living room’: Smell of pot wafts over notorious U.S. Open court”

Emily: Tennis.com: “Azarenka, Svitolina, Wozniacki among 10 moms in the US Open main draw this year”

David: Tree of the Year 2023 by the Woodland Trust; European Tree of the Year; Asian Tree of the Year; and Josh Levin for Slate’s One Year: 1955 podcast: “The Team Nobody Would Play”

Listener chatter from Brian Jackson: Jordan Pascale for DCist: “At DCA, Crews Race Each Night To Repave A Bit Of Runway Before The Next Day’s Flights”

For this week’s Slate Plus bonus segment, John, Emily, and David discuss militias.

In this month’s Gabfest Reads, Emily, David, and John talk with Barbara Kingsolver about her best-selling book, Demon Copperhead.

Email your chatters, questions, and comments to gabfest@slate.com or X us @SlateGabfest. (Messages may be quoted by name unless the writer stipulates otherwise.)

Podcast production by Cheyna Roth

Research by Julie Huygen

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Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Who Won the Trump-less Debate? Aug 24, 2023

Show notes

This week, John Dickerson is back and joins Emily Bazelon and David Plotz to discuss the first Republican primary debate and the simulcast Tucker Carlson interview of Donald Trump; the Republican law professors’ debate about whether the U.S. Constitution prohibits another Trump presidency; and the United Diners of America.

Here are some notes and references from this week’s show:

Colectivo Coffee in Madison, Wisconsin

Josh Dawsey, Michael Scherer, and Marianne LeVine for The Washington Post: “Republican rivals clash sharply in combative debate with no Trump”

Sam Levine for The Guardian: “Could Trump be barred under the constitution’s ‘engaged in insurrection’ clause?”

William Baude and Michael Stokes Paulsen in the University of Pennsylvania Law Review: “The Sweep and Force of Section Three”

J. Michael Luttig and Laurence H. Tribe in The Atlantic: “The Constitution Prohibits Trump From Ever Being President Again”

Eric Segall in Dorf on Law: “Of Insurrections, Presidents, and the Utter Failure of Constitutional Law to Address the Real Issues”

Catherine Rampell for The Washington Post: “Where do socioeconomic classes mix? Not church, but Chili’s.”

Maxim Massenkoff and Nathan Wilmers: “Rubbing Shoulders: Class Segregation in Daily Activities”

Freevee original “Jury Duty” on Amazon

Julie V. Iovine for The New York Times: “Dog Parks Are Great for People. Too Bad They’re Terrible for Dogs.”

Applebee’s America: How Successful Political, Business, and Religious Leaders Connect with the New American Community by Ron Fournier, Douglas B. Sosnik, and Matthew J. Dowd

“Fancy Like (feat. Kesha)” by Walker Hayes

Here are this week’s chatters:

John: “Weathervanes” by Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit; “Jason Isbell: Running With Our Eyes Closed“ on Max; “Volunteer” and “Cast Iron Skillet” by Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit

Emily: Jeff Amy for AP: “Georgia prosecutors are suing to strike down a new state law that undermines their authority”

David: Emily Heil for The Washington Post: “Eggo’s ‘Brunch in a Jar’ sippin’ cream is a boozy, diabolical disaster”; Cheez-It Snap’d; City Cast DC 1 Year Anniversary Live Taping

Listener chatter from Leonie: Ronan Casey for Classic Rock: “Meat Loaf, a flying wheelchair, and the greatest story ever told”

For this week’s Slate Plus bonus segment, John, Emily, and David debate calendar invitations.

In this month’s edition of Gabfest Reads, Emily, David, and John talk with Barbara Kingsolver about her best-selling book, Demon Copperhead.

Email your chatters, questions, and comments to gabfest@slate.com or X us @SlateGabfest. (Messages may be quoted by name unless the writer stipulates otherwise.)

Podcast production by Jared Downing and Cheyna Roth

Research by Julie Huygen

Hosts

Emily Bazelon, John Dickerson, and David Plotz

Follow

@SlateGabfest on X / https://twitter.com/SlateGabfest

Slate Gabfest on Facebook / https://www.facebook.com/Gabfest/

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Gabfest Reads: How a David Copperfield Reimagining Speaks to the Soul of Appalachia Aug 19, 2023

Show notes

Emily Bazelon, David Plotz, and John Dickerson talk with author Barbara Kingsolver about her new book, Demon Copperhead. They discuss her inspiration for the novel, what we keep getting wrong about Appalachia, and more.

Tweet us your questions @SlateGabfest or email us at gabfest@slate.com. (Messages could be quoted by name unless the writer stipulates otherwise.)

Podcast production by Cheyna Roth.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Georgia v. The Trump 19 Aug 17, 2023

Show notes

This week, Emily Bazelon and David Plotz are joined by Lulu Garcia-Navarro of The New York Times to discuss the indictment in Georgia of Donald Trump and 18 co-defendants for trying to overturn the state’s 2020 election results; the court win by Montana youth for “a clean and healthful environment” and the devastating losses of Maui residents to wildfire; and the lawsuit of Michael Oher against his supposed “Blind Side” parents.

Here are some notes and references from this week’s show:

C-SPAN: “Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis on the Indictment of Former President Trump”

David Gelles, Brad Plumer, Jim Tankersley, and Jack Ewing for The New York Times: “The Clean Energy Future Is Arriving Faster Than You Think”

Christopher Flavelle and Manuela Andreoni for The New York Times: “How Climate Change Turned Lush Hawaii Into a Tinderbox”

Josh Levin for Slate: “The Other Blind Sides” and Hang Up and Listen podcast

Robyn Autry for MSNBC: “’The Blind Side’ isn’t the only film that gets things wrong. All white savior movies do.”

Kristine Parks for Fox News: “Liberal columnists seize on ‘Blind Side’ controversy: ‘White savior’ story looks ‘even more fake’ than before”

Emily Laurence and Jeff Temple for Forbes: “The Psychology Behind The Fear of Missing Out (FOMO)”

Here are this week’s chatters:

Emily: The Fear of Too Much Justice: Race, Poverty, and the Persistence of Inequality in the Criminal Courts by Stephen Bright and James Kwak and The Women of NOW: How Feminists Built an Organization That Transformed America by Katherine Turk

Lulu: Only Murders In The Building on Hulu

David: Hijack on Apple TV+ and hiring for Host, City Cast Las Vegas

Listener chatter from Julian: Liz Lindqwister for The San Francisco Standard: “San Franciscans Are Having Sex in Robotaxis, and Nobody Is Talking About It”

For this week’s Slate Plus bonus segment, Lulu, Emily, and David discuss the return of FOMO.

In the most recent edition of Gabfest Reads, David talks with David Grann about his book, The Wager: A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny and Murder.

Email your chatters, questions, and comments to gabfest@slate.com or X us @SlateGabfest. (Messages may be quoted by name unless the writer stipulates otherwise.)

Podcast production by Cheyna Roth

Research by Julie Huygen

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Abortion Rights Win at the Polls Aug 10, 2023

Show notes

This week, Emily Bazelon and David Plotz are joined by Juliette Kayyem to discuss the Ohio vote not to make it harder to change the state constitution; Republican views on Donald Trump’s offenses; and emergency preparedness or the lack thereof.

Here are some notes and references from this week’s show:

Jack Goldsmith for The New York Times: “The Prosecution of Trump May Have Terrible Consequences”

The Devil Never Sleeps: Learning to Live in an Age of Disasters by Juliette Kayyem

Charles M. Blow for The New York Times: “The Montgomery Brawl Was, for Some, a Clarifying Moment”

Here are this week’s chatters:

Emily: WESH 2: “Gov. DeSantis suspends State Attorney Monique H. Worrell, citing neglect of duty”

Juliette: Clay Risen for The New York Times: “Charles J. Ogletree Jr., 70, Dies; at Harvard Law, a Voice for Equal Justice” and Emily Bazelon for The New York Times: “Why Is Affirmative Action in Peril? One Man’s Decision.”

David: City Cast DC 1 Year Anniversary Live Taping, August 28, 2023, and Rachel Pannett for The Washington Post: “She invited four people over for lunch. A week later, three were dead.”

Listener chatter from Rob Parsons: Richard Nelson for Encounters North: “Classic Audio Encounters”

For this week’s Slate Plus bonus segment, Juliette, Emily, and David discuss the Montgomery, Alabama riverfront brawl.

In the most recent edition of Gabfest Reads, David talks with David Grann about his book, The Wager: A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny and Murder.

Email your chatters, questions, and comments to gabfest@slate.com or X us @SlateGabfest. (Messages may be quoted by name unless the writer stipulates otherwise.)

Podcast production by Cheyna Roth

Research by Julie Huygen

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Defendant Knew They Were False Aug 03, 2023

Show notes

This week, Emily Bazelon, John Dickerson, and David Plotz discuss Donald Trump’s third indictment, this one for January 6th and the 2020 election; Trump v. President Joe Biden poll results; and, joined by David French of The New York Times, the country song “Try That In A Small Town.”

Here are some notes and references from this week’s show:

Devlin Barrett and Josh Dawsey for The Washington Post: “Heart of the Trump Jan. 6 indictment: What’s in Trump’s head”

Judd Legum for Popular Information: “The biggest misconception about Trump’s third criminal indictment”

Reid J. Epstein for The New York Times: “Quick to Mock MAGA, Biden Stays Silent on Trump Indictments”

Reid J. Epstein, Ruth Igielnik, and Camille Baker for The New York Times: “Biden Shores Up Democratic Support, but Faces Tight Race Against Trump” and Nate Cohn: “Can the Race Really Be That Close? Yes, Biden and Trump Are Tied.”

David French for The New York Times: “Try Tolerance in a Small Town” and “The Trial America Needs”

18 U.S. Code § 241 – Conspiracy against rights

Jill Filipovic for The Guardian: “Musicians like Jason Aldean love to glorify ‘small-town’ America. It’s embarrassing”

Aaron Zitner for The Wall Street Journal: “They’re the Happiest People in America. We Called Them to Ask Why.”

Here are this week’s chatters:

Emily: Deborah Treisman for The Writer’s Voice: New Fiction from The New Yorker: “Camille Bordas Reads ‘Colorín Colorado’” and How to Behave in a Crowd by Camille Bordas

John: Meghan Bartels for Scientific American: “NASA Detects ‘Heartbeat’ from Voyager 2 Spacecraft after Losing Contact” and John Dickerson for The Prime Time Interview, CBS News: “Author Dan Pink on the meaning of regret, how he captures his ideas, more with John Dickerson”

David: “Exploring a Secret Fort” with David through airbnb and Emma Marris for Nature: “Could this ancient whale be the heaviest animal ever?”

Listener chatter from Alex Callahan: Peter Braul for Maisonneuve: “We’ll Never Be That Drunk Again”

For this week’s Slate Plus bonus segment, David, John, and Emily discuss “The Socio Political Demography of Happiness” by Sam Peltzman.

In the most recent edition of Gabfest Reads, David talks with David Grann about his book, The Wager: A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny and Murder.

Email your chatters, questions, and comments to gabfest@slate.com or X us @SlateGabfest. (Messages may be quoted by name unless the writer stipulates otherwise.)

Podcast production by Cheyna Roth and Jared Downing

Research by Julie Huygen

Hosts

Emily Bazelon, John Dickerson, and David Plotz

Follow

@SlateGabfest on X / https://twitter.com/SlateGabfest

Slate Gabfest on Facebook / https://www.facebook.com/Gabfest/

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Can Israel Survive As A Democracy? Jul 27, 2023

Show notes

This week, Emily Bazelon, John Dickerson, and David Plotz discuss Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s legislative win limiting judicial powers while hundreds of thousands of Israelis protest; Harvard University and other elite colleges’ reconsideration of legacy admissions; and the revise-or-bust status of Hunter Biden’s plea deal.

Here are some notes and references from this week’s show:

Emily Bazelon for The New York Times: “How Israel’s Supreme Court Might React to the Challenge to Its Power”

Maayan Lubell for Reuters: “Israel’s Netanyahu down in polls over judicial reform”

John Dickerson for CBS News Prime Time: “Harvard professor discusses admission at elite colleges”

Claire Cain Miller and Aatish Bhatia for The New York Times: “How Big Is the Legacy Boost at Elite Colleges?” and Aatish Bhatia, Claire Cain Miller, and Josh Katz: “Study of Elite College Admissions Data Suggests Being Very Rich Is Its Own Qualification”

Annie Lowrey for The Atlantic: “Why You Have to Care About These 12 Colleges”

John Dickerson and Catherine Herridge for CBS News Prime Time: “What’s next for Hunter Biden after plea deal unraveling”

Here are this week’s chatters:

Emily: “Barbie” starring Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling

John: Wall Street Journal: “Yemen Oil Tanker at Risk: An Operation to Avert a Massive Spill”

David: “Jury Duty” on Amazon Prime

Listener chatter from Susan Bates: The Ride of Her Life: The True Story of a Woman, Her Horse, and Their Last-Chance Journey Across America by Elizabeth Letts

For this week’s Slate Plus bonus segment, David and Emily discuss their personal thoughts on Israel and reference Exodus by Leon Uris and “Exodus” starring Paul Newman and Eva Marie Saint.

In the July edition of Gabfest Reads, David talks with David Grann about his book, The Wager: A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny and Murder.

Email your chatters, questions, and comments to gabfest@slate.com or X us @SlateGabfest. (Messages may be quoted by name unless the writer stipulates otherwise.)

Podcast production by Cheyna Roth

Research by Julie Huygen

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Gabfest Reads: How the British Empire Twisted the Truth Jul 22, 2023

Show notes

David Plotz talks with author David Grann about his new book, The Wager. The non-fiction book tells the harrowing story of a shipwreck off the coast of Patagonia in 1742. They discuss how the British Empire twisted fact and fiction, the process of digging through 280-year-old documents, and why you should always have citrus at sea.

Tweet us your questions @SlateGabfest or email us at gabfest@slate.com. (Messages could be quoted by name unless the writer stipulates otherwise.)

Podcast production by Cheyna Roth.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Trump Legal Traffic Jam Jul 20, 2023

Show notes

This week, Emily Bazelon, John Dickerson, and David Plotz are together again and talking about Donald Trump’s next indictment and the charges against his “false electors” in Michigan; the struggles of candidates Ron DeSantis, Tim Scott, et al.; and Congressional Republicans’ culture war against the U.S. military.

Here are some notes and references from this week’s show:

James Madison: “Impeachment of the Executive, [20 July] 1787”

FiveThirtyEight: “Who’s Ahead In Republican Primary Polls?”

Fox News Digital: “Republican presidential candidate Sen. Tim Scott says Donald Trump is ‘overqualified to be my vice president’”

Manu Raju, Rashard Rose, and Lauren Fox for CNN: “Tommy Tuberville now says ‘White nationalists are racists’ after refusing to denounce them”

Zoë Richards for NBC News: “Arizona Republican refers to Black Americans as ‘colored people’ in House floor debate”

Here are this week’s chatters:

Emily: Elise White, Basaime Spate, Javonte Alexander, and Rachel Swaner for the Center for Justice Innovation: “’Two Battlefields’: Opps, Cops, and NYC Youth Gun Culture” and Charged: The New Movement to Transform American Prosecution and End Mass Incarceration by Emily Bazelon

John: Mona El-Naggar, Johan M. Kessel, and Alexander Stockton for The New York Times: “What Is War to a Grieving Child?”; Jeanna Smialek and Ben Casselman for The New York Times: “The Pandemic’s Labor Market Myths”; and Chris Cameron for The New York Times: “Over 700 Civil War-Era Gold Coins Found Buried on a Kentucky Farm”

David: “Exploring a Secret Fort” with David through airbnb; Steve Bohnel for The Frederick News-Post: “$200,000, or the city burns: The story of the Confederacy’s ransom on Frederick”; and Caity Weaver for The New York Times Magazine: “My Impossible Mission to Find Tom Cruise”

Listener chatter from Dianne Denton: Harriet McBryde Johnson for The New York Times Magazine: “Unspeakable Conversations” and Disability Visibility: First-Person Stories from the Twenty-First Century by Alice Wong

For this week’s Slate Plus bonus segment, David, John, and Emily discuss the Hollywood actors’ and writers’ strikes, artificial intelligence, and the future of work.

In the next edition of Gabfest Reads, David talks with David Grann about his book, The Wager: A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny and Murder.

Email your chatters, questions, and comments to gabfest@slate.com or Tweet us @SlateGabfest. (Messages may be quoted by name unless the writer stipulates otherwise.)

Podcast production by Cheyna Roth

Research by Julie Huygen

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The World Is Burning Jul 13, 2023

Show notes

This week, John Dickerson and David Plotz are joined by Vox’s Marin Cogan @marincogan to discuss the extreme weather, heat, and floods that are wreaking havoc across the United States and around the world; the social media phenomenon of Threads; and the American love-hate relationship with cars.

Here are some notes and references from this week’s show:

Cara Buckley for The New York Times: “To Help Cool a Hot Planet, the Whitest of White Coats”

Jonathan Erdman for The Weather Channel: “America’s Top Weather Killer Is Not Tornadoes, Flooding, Lightning Or Hurricanes – It’s Heat”

Paved Paradise: How Parking Explains the World by Henry Grabar

Antonio Pequeño IV for Forbes: “Zuckerberg Vs. Musk: Everything We Know About The Possible Cage Fight”

These Truths: A History of the United States by Jill Lepore

Insider Intelligence: “US Social Network Ad Revenue Growth, 2021-2023”

Marin Cogan for Vox: “The impossible paradox of car ownership”; “The deadliest road in America”; and “Cars transformed America. They also made people more vulnerable to the police.”

Tracy Chapman: “Fast Car”; Luke Combs: “Fast Car”; and Emily Yahr for The Washington Post: “Tracy Chapman, Luke Combs and the complicated response to ‘Fast Car’”

Henry Grabar for Slate: “Why More Americans Are Using Fake License Plates and Getting Away With It”

Gersh Kuntzman for Streetsblog NYC: “Paris Mayor Enters Fray Between E-Bikes and Pedestrians – By Fighting Drivers”

Here are this week’s chatters:

John: Hannah Hartig, Andrew Daniller, Scott Keeter, and Ted Van Green for Pew Research Center: “Republican Gains in 2022 Midterms Driven Mostly by Turnout Advantage”

Marin and David: Tour de France on NBC Sports; Tour de France: Unchained on Netflix

Listener chatter from Dan Kirkwood: Claire Stremple for The Alaska Beacon: “Angoon students name, launch first dugout canoe since 1882 Bombardment”

For this week’s Slate Plus bonus segment, David, John, and Marin discuss traffic enforcement, the need for it, and the harms it causes.

In the latest edition of Gabfest Reads, Emily talks with Monica Potts @MonicaBPotts about her book, The Forgotten Girls: A Memoir of Friendship and Lost Promise in Rural America.

Email your chatters, questions, and comments to gabfest@slate.com or Tweet us @SlateGabfest. (Messages may be quoted by name unless the writer stipulates otherwise.)

Podcast production by Cheyna Roth

Research by Julie Huygen

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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