The Gist

On the Gist, the new White House Press Secretary reiterates that the media sometimes gets it wrong. In the first half of this two-part interview, Mike talks with Dr. Nina Fefferman from the University of Tennessee Knoxville about predictive modeling and the Covid-19 crisis. Today, they focus on the difficulty of making projections when the government is actively disregarding expert guidance, and Dr. Fefferman's ideas about food distribution adaptations for restaurants during this time. In the spiel, a canadian kerfuffle but with license plates. Email us at [email protected] Podcast production by Daniel Schroeder and Margaret Kelley. Slate Plus members get bonus segments and ad-free podcast feeds. Sign up now. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In the Gist, the Texas Governor admits what everyone knows to be true. In the interview, Mike talks with Tomas Pueyo about his now famous Medium piece in which he coins the Hammer and The Dance theory: a choreographed end to quarantine.  In the spiel, Tara Reade and belief. Email us at [email protected] Podcast production by Daniel Schroeder and Margaret Kelley. Slate Plus members get bonus segments and ad-free podcast feeds. Sign up now. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In the Gist, we get no further with Biden. In the interview, Mike discusses moral judgments and how they relate to both domestic and foreign policy with none other than Joseph Nye, one of the most influential political scientists of our time, and one who co-founded the theory of neoliberalism. Nye's book, Do Moral's Matter? Presidents and Foreign Policy from FDR to Trump is the topic of their conversation. In the spiel, the Mississippi mindset. Email us at [email protected] Podcast production by Daniel Schroeder and Margaret Kelley. Slate Plus members get bonus segments and ad-free podcast feeds. Sign up now. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In the Gist, Georgia is opening back up. In the interview, Mike talks with Pulitzer Prize-winning historian and bestselling author Jon Meacham about his new podcast with Cadence13 - Hope, Through History – a documentary series on confronting and triumphing over crises in America.  In the spiel, the end of irony? Email us at [email protected] Podcast production by Daniel Schroeder and Margaret Kelley. Slate Plus members get bonus segments and ad-free podcast feeds. Sign up now. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Slate is dark, and its staff are taking a much needed and deserved breath. And with that, Team Gist has gone dark for a day, too, so we bring you two old interviews from the fall of 2014. First, an interview with biologist and mathematical modeler Nina Fefferman, who at the time this was recorded was based at Rutgers University and working on predicting the spread of Ebola. Now she's at the University of Tennessee and modeling Covid-19. The second interview is about the power of analogies with author John Pollack who chats with Mike about his book Shortcut: How Analogies Reveal Connections, Spark Innovation, and Sell Our Greatest Ideas. Email us at [email protected] Podcast production by Daniel Schroeder and Margaret Kelley. Slate Plus members get bonus segments and ad-free podcast feeds. Sign up now. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On the Gist, grades at New York City schools. In the interview, Nate Duncan and Ben Taylor of the Covid Daily News podcast talk to Mike about how two basketball analysts started covering the latest developments in this crisis, and the parallels to be drawn between basketball and Covid-19 data. Nate Duncan is the host of the Dunc'd On Basketball NBA podcast, and Ben Taylor is the host of Thinking Basketball. In the spiel, NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio is frequently giving offense. Email us at [email protected] Podcast production by Daniel Schroeder and Margaret Kelley. Slate Plus members get bonus segments and ad-free podcast feeds. Sign up now. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On the Gist, consolidation. In the interview, Mike talks with Matthew Dickinson, author and professor of political science at Middlebury College, about the 1976 Gerald Ford controversy regarding the threat of a global pandemic with swine flu, as well as Richard Neustadt and Harvey Fineberg's examination of the political failures around an approaching pandemic that never actually materialized.  In the spiel, the democratic nominating process didn't work so well. Email us at [email protected] Podcast production by Daniel Schroeder and Margaret Kelley. Slate Plus members get bonus segments and ad-free podcast feeds. Sign up now. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On the Gist, the award Trump deserves. In the interview, Slate's Henry Grabar is here to discuss Covid-19 and spending time outdoors. He and Mike talk about contact tracing, normalizing mask culture, and why we should all be going back outside. In the spiel, advertisers soothe in these uncertain times. Email us at [email protected] Podcast production by Daniel Schroeder and Margaret Kelley. Slate Plus members get bonus segments and ad-free podcast feeds. Sign up now. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On the Gist, sarcasm. In the interview, Mike talks with celebrity chef, restaurateur, and political activist Tom Colicchio about founding the Independent Restaurant Coalition, and how they are fighting to save local restaurants and small businesses affected by COVID-19 in reaction to the government's assistance program. In the spiel, fleeing to the country house. Email us at [email protected] Podcast production by Daniel Schroeder and Margaret Kelley. Slate Plus members get bonus segments and ad-free podcast feeds. Sign up now. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On the Gist, a virtual, but actual NFL draft. In the interview, Mike talks with Josh Dean, the executive director of Human.NYC, a homeless advocacy group, about their Covid-19 campaign #HomelessCantStayHome, and the solutions officials aren't taking to move the most vulnerable off the street, out of shelters, and into vacant hotel rooms during this unprecedented time. In the spiel, infections at the polls. Email us at [email protected] Podcast production by Daniel Schroeder and Margaret Kelley. Slate Plus members get bonus segments and ad-free podcast feeds. Sign up now. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On the Gist, we're not all in the same boat. In the second part of Mike's interview with Dr. J. Alex Navarro, the co-editor-in-chief of The American Influenza Epidemic of 1918-1919 : A Digital Encyclopedia, they discuss politicians who, at the time, refused to comply to closure orders, and how Woodrow Wilson's response was somewhat removed. In the spiel, the mayor of Las Vegas and concerning ideas show on television. Email us at [email protected] Podcast production by Daniel Schroeder and Margaret Kelley. Slate Plus members get bonus segments and ad-free podcast feeds. Sign up now. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On the Gist, Trump's always politicizing at pressers. In the first half of a 2-part interview, Mike talks with Dr. J. Alex Navarro, the co-editor-in-chief of The American Influenza Epidemic of 1918-1919 : A Digital Encyclopedia. Navarro explains how citizens responses 100 years ago weren't that different from now; there was extreme compliance and tension on the ground. Yes, there were anti-maskers in 1918. In the spiel, what if we weren't at each other's throat's all the time? Email us at [email protected] Podcast production by Daniel Schroeder and Margaret Kelley. Slate Plus members get bonus segments and ad-free podcast feeds. Sign up now. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On the Gist, Trump doesn't understand sizes of countries. In the interview, economist Joseph Stiglitz is here to talk about the economic impact of the coming recession. He and Mike discuss ways the government could distribute support funds better, how long it might take us to recover from such high unemployment, and what history tells us about potential growth post-recession. Stiglitz's latest book is People, Power, and Profits: Progressive Capitalism for an Age of Discontent. In the spiel, crude oil is below zero. Email us at [email protected] Podcast production by Daniel Schroeder and Margaret Kelley. Slate Plus members get bonus segments and ad-free podcast feeds. Sign up now. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On the Gist, swimming pool fatalities. In the interview, Mikes talks with Michigan State University President, Dr Samuel Stanley, Jr about the actions he took in response to COVID-19 not just as the head of a Big 10 school, but also as a leading infectious diseases expert. Stanley discusses shifting faculty and students to remote learning in short order, housing those that must remain on campus residence halls and apartments, and how the Spartans might handle empty stadiums and a reduction in revenue in 2021. In the spiel, protesting and protecting. Slate Plus members get bonus segments and ad-free podcast feeds. Sign up now. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On the Gist, Trump's most recent briefing. In the interview, journalist Adam Cohen is here to discuss his new book Supreme Inequality: The Supreme Court's Fifty-Year Battle for a More Unjust America. He and Mike talk about the ways the court has changed, Nixon and the poor, and how corporations factor into it all. In the spiel, coronavirus parody songs. Slate Plus members get bonus segments and ad-free podcast feeds. Sign up now. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On the Gist, Trump's most recent briefing. In the interview, John Burn-Murdoch of the Financial Times is here to discuss data visualization and the COVID-19 outbreak. He and Mike talk about the useful ways to analyze data, why countries are often too large to be helpful samples, and what the data says about the future. In the spiel, South Dakota's Gov. Noem failure to prevent an outbreak at a pork plant in her state. Slate Plus members get bonus segments and ad-free podcast feeds. Sign up now. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On the Gist, Bernie endorsing Biden. In the interview, Dr. Miranda Yaver, a political scientist at UCLA's Fielding School of Public Health, joins Mike to discuss the political consequences of the coronavirus. Dr. Yaver explains how protecting public health is integral to democracy. She also weighs speculation on how the Supreme Court will rule on abortion. In the spiel, slogans aren't helpful. Slate Plus members get bonus segments and ad-free podcast feeds. Sign up now. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On the Gist, the coronavirus task force. In the interview, it's the second part of Mike's conversation with Craig Rothfeld of Inside Outside Ltd., a prison consulting firm which helps clients navigate the brutal reality of life behind bars. Craig goes into detail about why he sought advice from multiple rabbis and female family members before engaging with his most famous client - Harvey Weinstein - and he explains why nobody gets special treatment once incarcerated. In the spiel, when can the economy reopen? Slate Plus members get bonus segments and ad-free podcast feeds. Sign up now. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On the Gist, antibody tests. In the interview, it turns out Mike grew up with Harvey Weinstein's prison consultant, Craig Rothfeld. In this episode they discuss how Craig ended up in prison, his experiences there, and why he became a prison consultant afterward. Our next episode will focus on his experience working with Harvey Weinstein. In the spiel, finding comfort in the facts we know about coronavirus. Slate Plus members get bonus segments and ad-free podcast feeds. Sign up now. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Slate Plus members get ad-free podcasts and bonus episodes of shows like Slow Burn and Dear Prudence. Sign up now to listen and support our work. On the Gist, hydroxychloroquine isn't like snake oil. In the interview, Mike talks with Slate's National Correspondent, Will Saletan about what Donald Trump needs to win in the upcoming elections. Saletan's humble prediction in the time of Covid-19 is that the president would need to persuade the American public that his incompetence and the outbreak are unrelated. They also discuss why the president's approval ratings have increased even in the face of the crisis. In the spiel, spreading corona ignorance. Email us at [email protected] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices