Political Gabfest

Slate Podcasts

1 Creator

Voted “Favorite Political Podcast” by Apple Podcasts listeners. Stephen Colbert says "Everybody should listen to the Slate Political Gabfest." The Gabfest, featuring Emily Bazelon, John Dickerson, and David Plotz, is the kind of informal and irreverent discussion Washington journalists have after hours over drinks. Want more Political Gabfest? Join Slate Plus to unlock weekly bonus episodes. Plus, you’ll access ad-free listening across all your favorite Slate podcasts. You can subscribe directly from the Political Gabfest show page on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Or, visit slate.com/gabfestplus to get access wherever you listen.

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39 Listeners

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Top 10 Political Gabfest Episodes

Goodpods has curated a list of the 10 best Political Gabfest episodes, ranked by the number of listens and likes each episode have garnered from our listeners. If you are listening to Political Gabfest for the first time, there's no better place to start than with one of these standout episodes. If you are a fan of the show, vote for your favorite Political Gabfest episode by adding your comments to the episode page.

Breaking Up Facebook

Political Gabfest

12/10/20 • 61 min

Emily, John and David talk about the coup attempt, Facebook’s legal troubles, and which presidential norms to restore or discard, with guest Tim Wu.

It's conundrum season! Pass along your most pressing conundrums here: www.slate.com/conundrum. Our annual Conundrum show is coming soon.

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

Tim Wu for the New York Times: “What Really Saved the Republic From Trump?”

Zeynep Tufekci for the Atlantic: “ ‘This Must Be Your First’ ”

They Might Be Giants

Here are this week’s cocktail chatters:

John: Dalya Alberge for the Guardian: “ ‘Sistine Chapel of the Ancients' Rock Art Discovered in Remote Amazon Forest”

David: Armando Iannucci’s The Personal History of David Copperfield

Emily: Esmé E. Deprez for Bloomberg Businessweek: “How Medela Lost Moms”

Listener chatter from Charlotte Hope, @charlottehope: Elizabeth Yuko for Architectural Digest: “How Previous Epidemics Impacted Home Design”

Slate Plus members get a bonus segment on the Gabfest each week, and access to special bonus episodes throughout the year. Sign up now to listen and support our show.

For this week’s Slate Plus bonus segment David, Emily, and John consider a question from listener Daniela Koontz about ideal road trips.

You can tweet suggestions, links, and questions to @SlateGabfest. Tweet us your cocktail chatter using #cocktailchatter. (Messages may be quoted by name unless the writer stipulates otherwise.)

The email address for the Political Gabfest is [email protected]. (Email may be quoted by name unless the writer stipulates otherwise.)

Podcast production by Jocelyn Frank.

Research and show notes by Bridgette Dunlap.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

7 Listeners

Trump Legal Traffic Jam

Political Gabfest

07/20/23 • 56 min

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 [email protected] or Tweet us @SlateGabfest. (Messages may be quoted by name unless the writer stipulates otherwise.)

Podcast production by Cheyna Roth

Research by Julie Huygen

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

5 Listeners

The Defendant Knew They Were False

Political Gabfest

08/03/23 • 59 min

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 [email protected] 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/SlateG...

5 Listeners

1 Comment

John Dickerson’s Navel Gazing: An Exploration of Inklings

Political Gabfest

04/06/24 • 28 min

In this week’s essay, John Dickerson looks back on a Sunday morning in 2021, and ruminates on the empty spaces left behind by the people that once filled our lives.

Notebook Entries:

Notebook 75, page 6. September 5, 2021:

“Oh my god. We dropped our son at college and our dog is dead.” – Anne.

References:

“Sunday Morning Coming Down” by Johnny Cash

“The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” by T.S. Eliot

“When Someone You Love is Upset, Ask This One Question” by Jancee Dunn for the New York Times

“A Case of ‘Sunday Neurosis’” by Jena McGregor for the Washington Post

“Waking Early Sunday Morning” by Robert Lowell

Master of Change: How to Excel When Everything is Changing by Brad Stulberg

Jason Isbell: Running With Our Eyes Closed

“Alabama Pines” by Jason Isbell

Podcast production by Cheyna Roth.

Host

John Dickerson

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

4 Listeners

Empty Notepad

Political Gabfest

10/16/20 • 76 min

Emily, John and David discuss Barrett’s confirmation hearings; the First Amendment and disinformation; and the latest election machinations.

Here are some references from this week’s show:

Emily Bazelon for the New York Times: “The Problem of Free Speech in an Age of Disinformation”

On Liberty by John Stuart Mill

The Origins of Totalitarianism by Hannah Arendt

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

The New York Times interactive: “How To Vote”

“Better Know A Ballot: Stephen Colbert's State-By-State Guide To Voting In The 2020 Election”

Here are this week’s cocktail chatters:

Emily: Angela Morris for Texas Lawyer: “Chief Justice's Election Bid Puts Spotlight on Texas' Mandatory Judicial Retirement”; Shtisel

John: “Learning in War-Time” by C. S. Lewis; Antonia Cundy for the Financial Times: “What Would a City Designed by Women Look Like?”; McDonald & Dodds

David: Dan Goodspeed’s data visualization of COVID cases state-by-state by date; Fighting With My Family; Ted Lasso

Listener chatter from Kevin O'Donnell @kevinodIRL: Patrick Blanchfield for The New Republic “The Town That Went Feral”

Slate Plus members get a bonus segment on the Gabfest each week, and access to special bonus episodes throughout the year. Sign up now to listen and support our show.

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

You can tweet suggestions, links, and questions to @SlateGabfest. Tweet us your cocktail chatter using #cocktailchatter. (Messages may be quoted by name unless the writer stipulates otherwise.)

The email address for the Political Gabfest is [email protected]. (Email may be quoted by name unless the writer stipulates otherwise.)

Podcast production by Jocelyn Frank.

Research and show notes by Bridgette Dunlap.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

3 Listeners

The Greatest Betrayal

Political Gabfest

01/14/21 • 74 min

Emily, David and John talk about impeachment, whether Americans can be deradicalized, and guest Juliette Kayyem joins in to discuss vaccine distribution.

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

Emily Bazelon for the New York Times Magazine: “People Are Dying. Whom Do We Save First With the Vaccine?

Identity Crisis: The 2016 Presidential Campaign and the Battle for the Meaning of America by John Sides, Michael Tesler, and Lynn Vavrek

Amarnath Amarasingam’s Twitter thread on de-platforming extremists.

Amarnath Amarasingam, Shiraz Maher, and Charlie Winter for the Centre for Research and

Evidence on Security Threats: “How Telegram Disruption Impacts Jihadist Platform Migration”

The music of Ludovico Einaudi

The music of Joan Armatrading

The music of John Prine

The music of M.I.A.

The music of Joan Jett

The music of Maren Morris

The music of Joni Mitchell

The music of Bob Mould and Husker Du

The music of Nick Thompson

Nicholas Thompson for Wired: “To Run My Best Marathon at Age 44, I Had to Outrun My Past”

“Iko Iko” performed by the Grateful Dead

“You’ll Never Walk Alone” performed by Gerry and the Pacemakers

Tusk by Fleetwood Mac

Desire by Bob Dylan

In Search of Lost Time by Marcel Proust

Here are this week’s cocktail chatters:

John: Nathaniel Popper for The New York Times: “Lost Passwords Lock Millionaires Out of Their Bitcoin Fortunes”

Emily: Hamnet by Maggie O'Farrell

David: The Dancing Bird of Paradise Scene from “Our Planet”

Listener chatter from Richard Medlicott: Steven Levy for Wired: “A 25-Year-Old Bet Comes Due: Has Tech Destroyed Society?”

Slate Plus members get a bonus segment on the Gabfest each week, and access to special bonus episodes throughout the year. Sign up now to listen and support our show.

For this week’s Slate Plus bonus segment David, Emily, and John talk about the music they turn to in order to clear their heads.

You can tweet suggestions, links, and questions to @SlateGabfest. Tweet us your cocktail chatter using #cocktailchatter. (Messages may be quoted by name unless the writer stipulates otherwise.)

The email address for the Political Gabfest is [email protected]. (Email may be quoted by name unless the writer stipulates otherwise.)

Podcast production by Jocelyn Frank.

Research and show notes by Bridgette Dunlap.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

3 Listeners

Live in Washington D.C. with Governor Wes Moore

Political Gabfest

06/29/23 • 73 min

This week, Emily Bazelon, John Dickerson, and David Plotz are live and on stage with Maryland Governor Wes Moore and also discuss the Supreme Court’s legitimacy problem and the not-Trump Republican candidates’ struggle.

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

C-SPAN: “Maryland State of the State Address”

Jeffrey M. Jones for Gallup: “Trust in Federal Government Branches Continues to Falter” and “Confidence in U.S. Supreme Court Sinks to Historic Low

John Dickerson and Anthony Salvanto for Face The Nation: “CBS News poll: GOP primary voters are more concerned Trump’s indictment is political”

Rich Lowry for Politico: “The Trump Divide that Should Have Republicans Terrified”

Here are this week’s chatters:

John: Donald H. Kent for Pennsylvania History: “The Erie War of the Gauges"

Emily: Adam Liptak for The New York Times: “Supreme Court Puts First Amendment Limits on Laws Banning Online Threats”

David: Elliot C. Williams for WAMU’s The DCist: “Fans Revel In The Atlantis As Foo Fighters Open Venue With ‘Long, Hot, Loud’ Performance”; Matt Richtel for The New York Times: “The Refries That Bind: A Cavernous Cantina Returns, Cliff Divers and All”; and Amazon Prime’s movie “Air: A Story of Greatness”

For this week’s Slate Plus bonus segment, David, Emily, and John answer audience questions and talk about “Gabfest Reads: The Case for Treating Animals With Dignity”.

In the next 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 [email protected] or Tweet us @SlateGabfest. (Messages may be quoted by name unless the writer stipulates otherwise.)

Podcast production by Cheyna Roth and Patrick Fort

Research by Julie Huygen

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

3 Listeners

John Dickerson’s Navel Gazing: Remembering Early 1990s New York

Political Gabfest

05/04/24 • 44 min

In this week’s essay, John discusses an onboarding memo for his assistant Laura, and recounts his early days living and working in New York City.

Notebook Entries:

Notebook 75

Onboard memo for Laura

Notebook 3, page 44. May 1991

June 17 start job. Good stuff

Notebook 3, page 46. May 1991

Tips on buying renting in NYC

Ask about broker

20s and 30s East side. Murry Hill

Live on no major avenue

Interest bearing account for security deposit

Medeco locks

Notebook 4, page 15

Scared standing on 34th and Broadway

$6 cab fare

Notebook 4, page 42

Getting lost in the village

References:

The Little Brown Book of Anecdotes by Clifton Fadiman

Medeco Locks

“Here is New York” by E.B. White

“Silly Job Interview” - Monty Python

John Cleese on Creativity in Management

Herbie Hancock: Miles Davis’ Essential Lesson On Mistakes

Want to listen to Navel Gazing uninterrupted? Subscribe to Slate Plus to immediately unlock ad-free listening to Navel Gazing and all your other favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe now on Apple Podcasts by clicking “Try Free” at the top of our show page. Or, visit slate.com/navelgazingplus to get access wherever you listen.

Podcast production by Cheyna Roth.

Email us at [email protected]

Host

John Dickerson

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

3 Listeners

Why Trump Won Iowa

Political Gabfest

01/18/24 • 68 min

This week, John Dickerson re-joins Emily Bazelon and David Plotz to discuss the Republican presidential race, the Iowa caucuses, and the New Hampshire primary; the Loper Bright and Relentless cases at the Supreme Court and the possible end of Chevrondeference; and The Misguided War on the SAT with David Leonhardt of The New York Times.

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

Nate Cohn for The New York Times: Even the Battle for Second Turned Out Well for Trump in Iowa

Ross Douthat for The New York Times: How Trump’s Opponents Made Iowa Easy for Him

Amy Howe for SCOTUSblog: Supreme Court likely to discard Chevron; Supreme Court to hear major case on power of federal agencies; and Supreme Court curtails EPA’s authority to fight climate change

Cornell Law School’s Legal information Institute: Administrative Procedure Act

Jess Bravin for The Wall Street Journal: Conservatives Once Hailed This Case. Now They’re at the Supreme Court to Gut It.

Ian Millhiser for Vox: The Supreme Court cases asking the justices to put themselves in charge of everything, explained and A new Supreme Court case seeks to make the nine justices even more powerful

David Leonhardt for The New York Times: The Misguided War on the SAT

Ileana Najarro for EdWeek: The SAT Is Making a Comeback. Here’s a Look at the Numbers and What They Tell Us

Raj Chetty, David J. Deming, and John Friedman for Opportunity Insights: Diversifying Society’s Leaders? The Determinants and Causal Effects of Admission to Highly Selective Private Colleges

Here are this week’s chatters:

Emily: The Ringer’s podcast “Stick the Landing” and Andy Greenwald and Mallory Rubin: Did ‘Friday Night Lights’ Stick the Landing?

John: Richard Baldwin for VoxEU: China is the world’s sole manufacturing superpower: A line sketch of the rise; Moss and Fog: Tree.fm is Your Aural Escape Into Nature; and tree.fm

David: Steve Lopez for the Los Angeles Times: They take care of aging adults, live in cramped quarters and make less than minimum wage and ZipRecruiter: assisted living jobs in Washington, DC

Listener chatter from Kevin Collins in San Antonio, Texas: Historic Vids on X

For this week’s Slate Plus bonus segment, David talks about his father, Dr. Paul Plotz. See Rachel Weller for The NIH Catalyst: Symposium Honors NIAM’s Paul Plotz and The New York Times: Judith A. Abrams Engaged to Wed Dr. Paul H. Plotz; Candidate for Ph.D. at Harvard Is Fiancee of Boston Interne. See also John G. Zinn ...

2 Listeners

Is Polling Broken?

Political Gabfest

11/23/23 • 71 min

This week, Emily Bazelon, John Dickerson, and David Plotz discuss the problems with issue polling and issues with political journalism; the chaos and conflict of Sam Altman and OpenAI; and the failure of the Oslo Accords and perpetual struggle between Israel and Palestine. Send us your Conundrums: submit them at slate.com/conundrum. And join us in-person or online with our special guest – The Late Show’s Steven Colbert – for Gabfest Live: The Conundrums Edition! December 7 at The 92nd Street Y, New York City. Tickets on sale now!

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

Nate Cohn for The New York Times: The Crisis in Issue Polling, and What We’re Doing About It and We Did an Experiment to See How Much Democracy and Abortion Matter to Voters

Claire Cain Miller and Francesca Paris for The New York Times: The Great Disconnect: Why Voters Feel One Way About the Economy but Act Differently

The Image: A Guide to Pseudo-Events in America by Daniel J. Boorstin

What’s the Matter with Kansas?: How Conservatives Won the Heart of America by Thomas Frank

Eli Saslow for The New York Times: A Jan. 6 Defendant Pleads His Case to the Son Who Turned Him In

Brian Beutler for the Off Message newsletter: The 2024 Election Is About Real Things

Charlie Warzel for The Atlantic: The Money Always Wins and Karen Hao and Charlie Warzel: Inside the Chaos at OpenAI

John Dickerson and Jo Ling Kent for CBS News Prime Time: What Sam Altman’s ouster from OpenAI could mean for the tech world

Pranshu Verman, Nitasha Tiku, and Gerrit De Vynck for The Washington Post: Sam Altman reinstated as OpenAI CEO with new board members

Louise Matsakis and Reed Albergotti for Semafor: The AI industry turns against its favorite philosophy

Emily Bazelon for The New York Times Magazine: Was Peace Ever Possible?