The Gist

Latest Episodes:

Are Attention Spans Shrinking? Aug 14, 2019

Show notes

On The Gist, Biden's gaffes.

In the interview, Maria Konnikova, author of The Confidence Game, is back for another round of Is That Bullshit? This time she and Mike talk all about attention spans. There always seem to be claims that attention spans are shrinking, but is that true? Should we be worried that we feel distracted more and more or just take a deep breath and embrace it?

In the Spiel, the Ebola cure.

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Who's the Filibuster For? Aug 13, 2019

Show notes

On The Gist, the opinions of the people at the Iowa State Fair.

In the interview, Jay Inslee was among the 21 Democratic presidential candidates to converge on the Iowa State Fair this past weekend. Washington's governor grabbed a seat with Mike to talk about applying his state's environmental victories to the federal level, taxing Amazon, and getting rid of the gridlocking filibuster.

In the Spiel, The Gist went to the Iowa State Fair and got answers from Democratic presidential candidates about filibuster reform.

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How to Rob a Bank, And Be Funny While You're at It Aug 09, 2019

Show notes

On The Gist, the real consequences of immigration laws.

In the interview, Charles Duhigg is who you get when you combine an investigative reporter with an agony aunt. In his new Slate podcast (How To!), he teases out advice on everyday problems, from how to tell a good joke to how to rob a bank (alright, the problems aren't that common). You can subscribe to How To! on Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen to podcasts.

In the Spiel, Trump, children, and shootings.

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Politics Is a Circus Aug 09, 2019

Show notes

On The Gist, Montana has gone a little berserk.

In the interview, Joshua Cohen is here to discuss his new book Attention: Dispatches From the Land of Distraction, and the many discursions he and Mike go on thanks to it. Like the depth of Bernie's political policies, Trump's time in Atlantic City, and why the circus is so important to the history of American culture.

In the Spiel, Trump's distraction tactics.

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Turning Out the 2020 Voter Aug 07, 2019

Show notes

On The Gist, Dayton and El Paso deserve better than the presence of Donald Trump.

In the interview, FiveThirtyEight elections analyst Geoffrey Skelley talks through what Democrats need to do to turn out voters in 2020. Should they focus on the "Obama coalition" that elected him twice? Or is it smarter to turn toward Obama voters that then voted for Trump in 2016? Why not both?

In the Spiel, anyone telling you the decade-long Assault Weapons Ban was ineffective is talking nonsense.

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Trade War Rumblings? We're Already In One. Aug 07, 2019

Show notes

On The Gist, if you want gun control, you clearly have to just vote Democrat.

In the interview, the tit-for-tat trade war with China is unceasing. Slate's Jordan Weissmann tells Mike about the latest developments in the fight between presidents Trump and Xi Jinping, whether or not China is really manipulating its currency, and the potential paths ahead.

In the Spiel, Americans are getting angry over all the wrong things. It's infuriating!

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There Are the "Maybe" Factors, and Then There's the Rifle Factor. Aug 06, 2019

Show notes

On The Gist, this weekend's mass shooters had different motives. It won't do to draw lessons from just one of them.

In the interview, Amherst College professor Austin Sarat wants to enlist gun owners themselves in the fight for firearm regulation. "48 percent of gun owners favor a ban on assault weapons," he says, citing the Pew Research Center. The problem is convincing them that gun control advocates aren't pushing for full-on confiscation. Sarat is the co-editor of The Lives of Guns.

In the Spiel, the one clear factor in America's growing mass shooting problem? Rifles.

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The Case of "The Case of Al Franken" Aug 03, 2019

Show notes

On The Gist, a theory as to why we still hear dusty old terms like "happy warrior"—at least during election season.

In the interview, Slate writer Christina Cauterucci, who recently wrote about Al Franken, criticizes a recent New Yorker story on the ousted senator. She and Mike break down what they think its author Jane Mayer got wrong and right, the facts of the reporting, and why we shouldn't think of the #MeToo movement as one with winners and losers.

In the Spiel, John Ratcliffe is thankfully out of consideration for the job of Director of National Intelligence. But it's a shame that he's still acceptable as a congressman.

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How Fantastic Negrito Started From Scratch Aug 02, 2019

Show notes

On The Gist, the Democrats making Republican soundbites.

In the interview, Fantastic Negrito walked a long and winding road to blues stardom. His first album (under his legal name, Xavier) was a bust—"everyone hated it"—and saw him dropped from his label. He'd also gotten into a serious car accident and sold off his instruments before returning to music. That's when the Grammys started rolling in—he's won two in the last three years, for best contemporary blues album. His latest record is Please Don't Be Dead.

In the Spiel, Joe Biden at the debate.

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Chuck Klosterman and the Ivory Tower Aug 01, 2019

Show notes

On The Gist, Jeffrey Epstein's ideas.

In the interview, when Chuck Klosterman writes non-fiction, he worries about missing some grand historical context in a way that would ruin his work. With fiction, that anxiety goes out the window— if someone reads one of his short stories and thinks something "completely unrelated to what I thought, it's still okay." Klosterman digs into that, the advantages of an education outside the ivory tower, and what the Beatles really did for rock music. His new book of short stories is Raised in Captivity: Fictional Nonfiction.

In the Spiel, the first night of the CNN debates and Marianne Williamson.

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