The Gist

On The Gist, Chance the snapper.  In the interview, former EPA head Gina McCarthy expected the Trump administration’s backwardness on climate change—but not on no-brainers like limits on power plant mercury emissions and auto industry regulation, both of which were being complied with. “They’re just obsessed with undoing everything Obama did. You can tell this with Trump. He’s still somehow campaigning against Obama.” McCarthy was the EPA’s administrator from 2013 to 2017, and now teaches at the Harvard School of Public Health.  In the Spiel, which mythical being is Trump most like? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On The Gist, it’s a good day for those who love quarterly fundraising numbers among Democratic presidential candidates! In the interview, we’re used to the Nate Silver approach to election forecasting, using constantly changing polling data to predict the likelihood of this or that result. But Rachel Bitecofer, assistant director of the Wason Center for Public Policy, has a better way. Her new model, based on negative partisanship and demographics, is more static, and proved spot-on in 2018. So what does it have to say for 2020?  In the Spiel, a theory on what’s really keeping Kellyanne and George Conway together. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On The Gist, Elizabeth Warren and ICE.  In the interview, Jason Zinoman, who writes about the New York Times, thinks the late-night shows need to return to the playful cruelty they once had. He and Mike talk about the current state of things, David Letterman’s reign, and why even Letterman seems to have lost his teeth on his new show.  In the Spiel, Trump and tweets about the Congress squad.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On The Gist, they. In the interview, Emily Bazelon writes for the New York Times magazine, co-hosts Slate’s Political Gabfest, and she’s out with the new book Charged: The New Movement to Transform American Prosecution and End Mass Incarceration, and its companion podcast. She’s here to talk with Mike about her new projects, Kamala Harris, Joe Biden, Jeffrey Epstein and New York City gun laws.  In the Spiel, Acosta quits. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On The Gist, the metal straw incident. In the interview, Vince Houghton is a historian and the curator of the International Spy Museum and he’s here to talk about his new book Nuking the Moon: And Other Intelligence Schemes and Military Plots Left on the Drawing Board. Why did we want to drop goat poop on Germans? Can a cat be trained for espionage?  In the Spiel, the citizenship question. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On The Gist, the Trump cabinet and violence against women. In the interview, Will Wilkinson from the Niskanen Center is here to talk with Mike about his new paper The Density Divide about the surprising way urbanization affected the rise of populism.  In the Spiel, the good and bad about the pay parity argument in soccer. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On The Gist, jail time for absurd reasons. In the interview, journalist Jack Fairweather is out with a new book about the untold story of Witold Pilecki, a Polish resistance fighter who chose to get sent to Auschwitz so he could report back on atrocities happening there during World War II. Fairweather’s book is The Volunteer: One Man, an Underground Army, and the Secret Mission to Destroy Auschwitz.  In the Spiel, why Ross Perot was so important to shaping American politics. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On The Gist, did Joe Biden’s apology work? In the interview, Anthony Ray Hinton was wrongfully convicted for the murder of two teenagers in Alabama in 1985. After 30 years on death row his conviction was overturned and he was released. He’s since become an advocate for those facing the death penalty and the abolishment of it in the United States, and he’s here to talk with Mike about his experience in prison and life afterward. Hinton’s new book is The Sun Does Shine: How I Found Life and Freedom on Death Row.  In the Spiel, farewell to Eric Swalwell.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On The Gist, should we rethink the structure of a week? In the interview, founding CEO of C-SPAN Brian Lamb and Co-CEO Susan Swain are here to discuss their new book The Presidents: Noted Historians Rank America’s Best—and Worst—Chief Executives. They discuss with Mike the creation of the book, visiting presidential burial places, and some Mike’s favorite things about C-SPAN.  In the Spiel, the passion of Mike Francesa.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On The Gist, the Hong Kong protesters and Chinese conspiracies. In the interview, Harvard research fellow Thomas Abt is here to discuss his new book Bleeding Out: The Devestating Consequences of Urban Gun Violence—and a Bold New Plan for Peace in the Streets. He talks with Mike about the ways we misunderstand urban gun violence and what concrete steps communities can talk to solve it.   In the Spiel, Tucker Carlson and Trump. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On The Gist, the South Bend shooting and Pete Buttigieg. In the interview, Jason Zinoman recently wrote about dad jokes for the New York Times so he’s here to talk with Mike about his grand theories, why we love to hate dad jokes, and if they really are as low-brow as people consider them to be.  In the Spiel, the choice the Democrats face. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On The Gist, Joe Biden had no good answers at Thursday’s Democratic debate. In the interview, the Washington Post’s Anna Fifield is out with a new book on Kim Jong-un. She interviewed as many people who have had even a fleeting interaction with the man as possible, in an effort to get the clearest picture yet of what the head of the Kim dynasty is really like. Fifield’s book is The Great Successor: The Divinely Perfect Destiny of Brilliant Comrade Kim Jong Un.  In the Spiel, Kamala Harris has charisma, but is she a flip-flopper too? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On The Gist, an absurd criminal charge in Alabama.  In the interview, the Iron Curtain couldn’t block radio waves, or, in the ‘50s and ‘60s, a new form of music called rock and roll. András Simonyi, a former Hungarian ambassador to the United States, was electrified by Elvis and the Beatles, and says that “without rock and roll, I don’t think the Soviet Union would have broken up.” Simonyi is the author of Rocking Toward a Free World: When the Stratocaster Beat the Kalashnikov.   In the Spiel, pat them on the back all you want, not every debating Democrat can be a winner.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On The Gist, the first Democratic primary debate is about to start. In the interview, Ben Lindbergh is a staff writer at the Ringer, host of the Effectively Wild podcast, and author of the new book The MVP Machine: How Baseball’s New Nonconformists Are Using Data to Build Better Players. He’s here to talk America’s favorite pastime, what baseball is like in a post-Moneyball era, and if data is making the game less interesting to watch.  In the Spiel, George Will weighs in on the state of baseball. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On The Gist, Trump and Pence talking nonsense. In the interview, the squeaky wheel gets the grease, especially when it comes to elections. MSNBC’s Joy-Ann Reid figures that “the hungriest constituency” often gets its way at the ballot box. Black voters sent Barack Obama to the White House; xenophobes got their guy in Donald Trump; and in 2020, the group that swings the vote could very well be the women who regret their inaction in 2016—especially if Kamala Harris or Elizabeth Warren gets the nomination. Reid is the host of AM Joy and the author of The Man Who Sold America: Trump and the Unraveling of the American Story.     In the Spiel, the messiness of leadership. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On The Gist, Kamala Harris still has a lot to answer for. In the interview, media outlets used to employ ombudsmen—public editors who addressed readers’ concerns and weighed in on a newspaper’s reporting. Those roles have disappeared over the years but the Columbia Journalism Review wants to change that. Kyle Pope, the magazine’s editor, recently announced the hiring of four journalists to publicly engage with the work of the New York Times, the Washington Post, MSNBC, and CNN.  In the Spiel, voters in Istanbul have just rebuked Turkish president Recep Erdogan. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On The Gist, how much sanity does it cost to change a lightbulb?    In the interview, babies don’t come with instructional manuals, but the publishing industry is more than ready to bombard new parents with the latest, always evolving wisdom on how to raise a human right. But Emily Oster’s new book is a rare scientific look at child-rearing, grounded in her expertise as a rational economist and her experience as an anxious mother. Oster is the author of Cribsheet: A Data-Driven Guide to Better, More Relaxed Parenting, from Birth to Preschool.     In the Spiel, president Trump’s directionless foreign policy is on full display against Iran. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On The Gist, are children growing horns?  In the interview, how does Pandora know what music I want to hear? That’s all thanks to the work of Nolan Gasser, musicologist and the architect of Pandora’s Music Genome Project. He’s here to talk the origins of the project, the classification of music species, and why Sarah McLachlan fans might be in for a surprise. Gasser’s new book is Why You Like It: The Science & Culture of Musical Taste.  In the Spiel, the most ambitious climate deal the world has ever seen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On The Gist, presidential candidates say the darndest things.  In the interview, the best profile writer of our day doesn’t focus much on what her subjects are wearing—so we’ll only quickly mention that in the studio with The Gist, Taffy Brodesser-Akner was wearing a fetching leopard-print jumpsuit (“I’m dressed up for a party tonight”). Brodesser-Akner discusses her experience profiling the likes of Gwyneth Paltrow and other untouchable celebrities, and how that work is felt in her debut novel, Fleishman Is in Trouble.  In the Spiel, the reparations hearing.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On The Gist, when science proves George Carlin right. In the interview, Raphael Bob-Waksberg is the creator of Bojack Horseman, but his so-earnest-it-hurts talent also extends to print. His new collection of short stories is Someone Who Will Love You in All Your Damaged Glory, and he’s here to talk with Mike about love, George Saunders, and why everybody is so down on puns.   In the Spiel, the Patrick Shanahan debacle exposes a White House in shambles. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices