The Gist

On The Gist, Rudy Giuliani was a big, loud, and busy distraction this past Sunday. In the interview, it’s a round of “Is That Bullshit?” with Maria Konnikova. In the hot seat: the humble egg. A recent study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association reports that eggs can increase your chances of heart disease. But is this study all it’s cracked up to be? The nutritional science has gone back and forth on the health benefits and risks of this breakfast food. Maria boils it down. In the Spiel, dragons roast their victims—and we roast Elizabeth Warren’s Game of Thrones critique. This episode is brought to you by Simplisafe. Start protecting your home today at SimpliSafe.com/gist. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On The Gist, sick children and dead ducks are pretty convincing. In the interview, South African comedian Loyiso Gola is here to talk about his stand up special on Netflix, what it’s like performing in different countries, and why talking about the economy is so difficult for everyday people. Gola is performing at the Soho Playhouse until April 21, 2019.  In the Spiel, time for an early Antentwig.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On The Gist, Trump’s fundamental misreading of politics.  In the interview, Garrett Graff’s afternoon was as busy as any journalist’s, picking through the redacted Mueller report released by the Department of Justice. There’s something new on every page, Graff says, including the Trump campaign’s awareness of Russian efforts against Hillary Clinton—and its expectation to benefit from them politically. Graff wrote a biography of Robert Mueller. His latest ebook is Mueller’s War.  In the Spiel, Mueller did a great job, and if this report came out in a different climate it’d actually lead to real consequences. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On The Gist, the redacted Mueller report as an exercise in Zen.  In the interview, economist Tyler Cowen is just about the smartest person in Mike Pesca’s podcast feed. He’s on the Gist to answer rapid fire questions on the college admissions scandal, what the likes of Herman Cain would mean for the Fed, and the virtues of big American enterprises. That last topic is the subject of Cowen’s new book, Big Business: A Love Letter to an American Anti-Hero. His podcast is Conversations with Tyler.  In the Spiel, oh how we forget the gulf that lies between lived experience and public recollection.     This episode is brought to you by Constant Contact. For a free trial, sign up today at constantcontact.com/GIST. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On The Gist, sparing a thought for Notre Dame… and how Americans pronounce it. In the interview, Politico’s Anna Palmer on what Trump is doing to America as he navigates a government he doesn’t understand. Her book, co-written with Jake Sherman, is The Hill to Die On: The Battle for Congress and the Future of Trump’s America.  In the Spiel, moms are not off limits for quotes—about their children—published by the New York Times. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On The Gist, wait, what did I miss? In the interview, Democratic candidates for the presidency recently flew to Iowa for a forum on agriculture to answer some questions. And asking them was Storm Lake Times editor Art Cullen, who knows a thing or two about corporate agribusiness and its impact on Iowans, the food Americans everywhere eat, and Chinese pork companies. Cullen is the author of Storm Lake: A Chronicle of Change, Resilience, and Hope from a Heartland Newspaper, and was previously on The Gist to discuss that book as well.  In the Spiel, Rep. Ilan Omar and our selfish president. This episode is brought to you by Simplisafe. Start protecting your home today at SimpliSafe.com/gist. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On The Gist, two popes is one pope too many. In the interview, songs like “The Sign” and “I’ll Make Love to You” dominated the charts in 1994, but they weren’t all that emblematic of what was happening in music that year. Chris Molanphy has ideas as to why, and also opines on why there were so few number one singles that year—and why was Lisa Loeb considered alternative rock? Molanphy has answers, and is the host of the Hit Parade podcast. He also writes Slate’s “Why Is This Song No. 1?” column. In the Spiel, Rep. Katie Porter’s viral moment—taking Jamie Dimon to task for his huge salary—is a little dishonest. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On The Gist, the political parties of Israel. In the interview, Jean McConville’s murder in 1972—when The Troubles were at their bloodiest—sparked what few deaths did in Northern Ireland: a reckoning. The New Yorker’s Patrick Radden Keefe joins us to give context to McConville’s death, from the various factions at war back then to the country’s incomplete reconciliation process and oddly rehabilitated politicians. Keefe is the author of Say Nothing: A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland.  In the Spiel, Medicare for all isn’t as cheap as Bernie wants us to believe. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On The Gist, Candance Owens isn't digging herself out of this ahistorical, Hitler-relativizing hole.  In the interview, Ian Chillag is back with another season of Everything Is Alive, a podcast where he interviews the everyday objects around us that we don’t think of. Chioke I’Anson is here too because he played a grain of sand with a surprising amount of philosophy packed in (he’s a philosopher himself). Is sand more Kantian or Heideggerian? And what’s it like to think as a collective?  In the Spiel, president Trump’s public insult of Sen. Mazie Hirono rumbles on. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On The Gist, Trump’s latest campaign video is wild. In the interview, Scotland’s Daniel Sloss churns out comedy specials at an almost alarming rate, completing his tenth at age 28. He’s here to talk about circumcision, Brexit, and why the left is doomed to eternally shoot itself in the foot. Sloss will be back in the United States in June of 2019, and his specials "Dark" & "Jigsaw” are on Netflix.  In the Spiel, instant replay is a contentious part of refereeing, particularly at a championship. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The worst part about the Trump administration’s high turnover? Every cabinet member is worse than the last. In the interview, Grigori Rasputin bent the ear of the last Russian tsar, manipulating affairs of state behind the scenes as he saw fit. But how did a man like him rise to such power? And what about his spiritual successors like Phil Spector or Tom Brady’s trainer? Amos Barshad, author of No One Man Should Have All That Power: How Rasputins Manipulate the World, has our ear.   In the Spiel, what does Joe Biden stand to gain from apologizing—and shouldn’t a (likely) contender for president think in those terms? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On The Gist, like every week in Trump’s America, this has been a wasted one.  In the interview, Maria Konnikova is back for another round of “Is That Bullshit?” She talks chiropractors, whether or not cracking your back and neck is helpful, and what strokes have to do with it. Then, Mike’s own chiropractor, Jason Fidler, steps in to offer some adjustments to the conversation.  In the Spiel, Mike offers up a Lobstar challenge. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On The Gist, Mueller’s report (or much of it) is bound to go public. In the interview, Wright Thompson has his place on the Mount Rushmore of sports writers, and his signature form is the profile. Tiger Woods, Lionel Messi, Michael Jordan and the like are fascinating in their relationship to fame, but also in their ordinary flaws. “On some level these stories are all about exploring whether or not there is even such a thing as free will,” Thompson says. “I’m fascinated by the way things in our past continue to exert gravitational pull on us now.” Wright’s new book, a collection of his past work, is The Cost of These Dreams: Sports Stories and Other Serious Business.  In the Spiel, a list of all the non-scandals hitting the Democratic 2020 candidates so far. Join Slate Plus! Members get bonus segments, exclusive member-only podcasts, and more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On The Gist, Trump should avoid healthcare. In the interview, Lori Gottlieb is a journalist and a therapist, and she’s here to discuss her new book Maybe You Should Talk to Someone: A Therapist, Her Therapist, and Our Lives Revealed, why she became a therapist, how to deal with patients who’ve Googled you, and why therapists need therapy too.  In the Spiel, the Joe Biden crisis isn’t a crisis.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On The Gist, calming down about Trump’s bombast. In the interview, Nicholas Christakis is here to discuss his new book Blueprint: The Evolutionary Origins of a Good Society, how he studied the progression of goodness throughout human history, the way healthy communities evolve, and why shipwrecks were so important to his research.  In the Spiel, the problem with microaggressions. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On The Gist, Joe Biden’s nose nuzzle. In the interview, Don Winslow’s new book The Border is the final part of his trilogy on drug cartels. He’s here today to discuss the work, how it’s been twenty years in the making, and the difficulty of trying to get things right.   In the Spiel, Betsy DeVos’ indefensible Special Olympics funding cuts.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On The Gist, the next wave of start-ups should be like the tech companies we have now, but with a conscience.    In the interview, filmmaker Anthony Maras is more wedded to a theme—people in extremis—than a form, and his latest is a thriller based on true events. Hotel Mumbai follows a band of diverse survivors holed up in the Taj, one of the targets in India's 2008 terrorist attacks. “Something kind of magical happened, which is all these barriers that usually divide people evaporated.”  In the Spiel, Donald Trump: bullshitter or shitposter? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On The Gist, Mike Pesca, in true hipster fashion, laments the end of Wow Air. In the interview, much of the news media was guilty of hyping up the knockout blow that Mueller’s report would deliver president Trump. But a few journalists on the left were always skeptical of the investigation’s origins and potential. Among them is Nation contributor Aaron Maté, who saw in the Mueller probe a distraction from the Democratic Party’s failure in 2016—and from the stories that really matter.           In the Spiel, Rep. Adam Schiff comes out swinging. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On The Gist, Boeing is in a tight spot.    In the interview, the boxing match between Mike Tyson and Buster Douglas was one for the ages. Everyone so expected Tyson to win that people weren’t even placing bets until the odds were 42 to 1. In the new 30 for 30 film 42 to 1, Gist guest Jeremy Schaap (and Ben Houser) explore this shocking upset and how the fight changed boxing and these fighters’ lives.  In the Spiel, if we’re going to build a wall, how about the one between church and state? Looking at you, Pennsylvania.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On The Gist, the latest gridlock facing the Green New Deal should clue in its backers in Congress. In the interview, Huwe Burton was 16 years old when detectives browbeat him into a false confession of murder. He spent about 20 years in prison as a result, and found an outlet in the quarter-mile track that he and other inmates built their endurance on. Since his release and exoneration, he hasn’t stopped running. Burton’s story is told in a Lope Magazine article—"Innocent People Don’t Run”—by Liam Boylan-Pett, who also joins us in the studio.  In the Spiel, the Trump reelection campaign’s bizarre memo to all “Television Producers” leans on cherry-picked quotes. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices