The Gist

Latest Episodes:

The Unpopular Vote and a Few Justices Jun 27, 2018

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On The Gist, what a Trump tweet can teach us about wine.

The latest school shootings have galvanized an already politically minded generation. Harvard's John Della Volpe studies the voting habits of millennials, and how they could swing election results in 2018 and beyond.

In the Spiel, the Supreme Court's support for Trump's travel ban is what happens when our checks and balances fail.

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The New Rules of Civility Jun 26, 2018

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On The Gist, why is the Democratic National Committee being held responsible for Hollywood and the media?

Calvin Buari dealt crack in the Bronx, but that doesn't make him a killer. Buari was convicted of a double murder in 1995 and started a campaign to prove his innocence from behind bars. A big part of that was making phone calls to journalist Steve Fishman, who turned his years of reporting into the binge-worthy Panoply podcast Empire on Blood, and joined us on the Gist.

In the Spiel, Mike tackles the decline of civility, whether democrats should jeer at Trump's staff in public, or if we've just found a new stasis.

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Who Needs Subtext, Anway Jun 22, 2018

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On The Gist, Rep. Jim Jordan's underwhelming attention to detail.

Franchesca Ramsey burst onto the YouTube scene with her viral video, "Shit White Girls Say… to Black Girls." Ramsey's latest video project, MTV News' Decoded, is similar: fun, earnest, and educational. Ramsey's book is Well, That Escalated Quickly: Memoirs and Mistakes of an Accidental Activist.

In the Spiel, about Melania's jacket.

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A Song You Can Graduate To Jun 21, 2018

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On The Gist, those beacons of honesty—retiring Republican members of the Congress.

Cremation has the carbon footprint of a 1,000-mile road trip, your average bee has nearly 1 million brain cells, and only 3 to 4 percent of gossip is actually "malicious." Those are all statistics relayed in Walt Hickey's Numlock News, the daily newsletter he started after four years at FiveThirtyEight.

In the Spiel, graduation songs over the years.

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Quitters Can't Be Leaders Jun 20, 2018

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On The Gist, how President Trump made not breaking up families look like his idea.

Why are the U.S.'s political parties weak? Is the "job guarantee" policy smart? Do voters perceive the economy accurately? Dan Pfeiffer has all the answers. He's a former senior adviser to President Barack Obama and part of the Pod Save America posse. Pfeiffer's new book is Yes We (Still) Can: Politics in the Age of Obama, Twitter, and Trump.

In the Spiel, the United States shouldn't be leaving the U.N. Human Rights Council. It should work to make it better.

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Polarization Nation Jun 19, 2018

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On The Gist, the inaugural edition of "whoah there, girl!"

Political parties are like people: They grow and change, their values shift, and sometimes they become downright belligerent. Lilliana Mason says America's two political parties are in the middle of a shift, and it won't be over anytime soon: "What happened to conservative southern Democrats after the Civil Rights Act passed? They didn't like it. … It took an entire generation for conservative Southern Democrats to become Republicans." Mason is the author of Uncivil Agreement: How Politics Became Our Identity.

In the Spiel, "angel moms" deserve sympathy, but they're being used.

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Oh, Stephen Jun 19, 2018

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On The Gist, if we can't pronounce Peter Strzok's name right, how will we remember his newfound infamy?

If you consider yourself progressive, chances are Trump's presidency feels like a nightmare. But Politico's Michael Grunwald returns to the Gist with the argument that Obama's legacy is mostly intact—at least on the domestic front. Grunwald's latest book is The New New Deal: The Hidden Story of Change in the Obama Era.

In the Spiel, lookism be damned, it's time to make fun of Stephen Miller.

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The Heisenberg Presidency Jun 15, 2018

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On The Gist, why he lies: a new theory.

"I've hit rock bottom. I'm writing for a cartoon." Such were the thoughts of Mike Reiss when he joined the writers' room for The Simpsons in 1989. Thirty years later, he's worked on all but two seasons of the show, and says it's had one real impact: making television smarter and faster. Reiss' book, co-written with Mathew Klickstein, is Springfield Confidential: Jokes, Secrets, and Outright Lies From a Lifetime Writing for The Simpsons.

In the Spiel, stop us if you've heard this one before: President Donald Trump creates a problem, sometimes makes the problem a little less bad, and then takes a load of credit.

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When Border Policy Crosses the Line Jun 15, 2018

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On The Gist, McClatchy White House correspondent Franco Ordoñez explains the ramifications of the Trump administration's "zero tolerance" policy to prosecute migrants who cross the border illegally. One early consequence: The U.S. government needs more places to detain children separated from their parents.

In the Spiel, the nasty things celebrities say—and their supposedly enormous power to get people to vote stupidly.

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Cup of Corruption Jun 13, 2018

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On The Gist, some fun facts about U.S. Senate candidate Corey Stewart.

In 2010, a certain Christopher Steele was hired to look into Russia's bid to host the World Cup in 2018. What he found ultimately led to a U.S. investigation into FIFA's thoroughgoing sleaziness. There are, around the world, multiple criminal probes around FIFA, and BuzzFeed's Ken Bensinger says "more shoes will fall." Bensinger is the author of Red Card: How the U.S. Blew the Whistle on the World's Biggest Sports Scandal.

In the Spiel, Macedonians, Greeks, and irredentism.

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