The Gist

On The Gist, we should be willing to accept that the Barr letter and Mueller report won’t lead to any indictments. In the interview, David Priess, former CIA staffer and daily intelligence briefer for Robert Mueller, is here to talk about the Mueller report. What do we know? What questions are still unanswered? And where do we go from here? Priess’ latest book is How to Get Rid of a President: History’s Guide to Removing Unpopular, Unable, or Unfit Chief Executives.  In the Spiel, the Mueller report does not exonerate Trump, even if Trump thinks it does. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On The Gist, ISIS may be defeated, but the people who made up its forces aren’t gone.  In the interview, novelist John Lanchester is here to discuss his new novel The Wall, the symbolic and practical use of walls, and how closely we should pay attention to our dreams.   In the Spiel, Jim Nantz shouldn’t be in those Capital One commercials for March Madness. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On The Gist, who paid for those two Chinese-born tech magnates to take photos with Trump?  In the interview, Vanderbilt professor Jonathan Metzl is here to discuss his new book Dying of Whiteness: How the Politics of Racial Resentment Is Killing America’s Heartland.  In the Spiel, litigating Biden’s past. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On The Gist, have you heard about the mob hit that took place a few weeks ago? In the interview, journalist Sarah Kliff joins us to discuss maternal mortality rates in the United States, what California has done to fix it, and what the rest of the country should learn from them. Kliff is the host of Vox’s The Impact.   In the Spiel, Donald Trump on John McCain’s funeral. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On The Gist, it wouldn’t just be morally right for Trump to finally denounce white nationalism. It would be politically smart. In the interview, Jill Abramson’s Merchants of Truth: The Business of News and the Fight for Facts was released to glowing reviews—but valid accusations of plagiarism and factual errors took some of that shine off. As Mike asks Abramson (a former executive editor of the New York Times), were the negative headlines so grabby that they’ve damned the book’s valuable insights? And would that in itself prove many of her worries about journalism in the 21st century?  In the Spiel, the New York Times, biased? You don’t say. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On The Gist, Beto O’Rourke, the countertop candidate. In the interview, historian Rutger Bregman got in a spat with Fox host Tucker Carlson, but you wouldn’t know it if it weren’t for his own video of the incident. Fox never aired it, as Bregman accused Carlson of carrying water for billionaires and Carlson responded with profane insults. Bregman joins the Gist to give us the backstory on that, but not before laying out some of the progressive economic policies—with basis in American history—that he favors, Carlson’s disapproval notwithstanding. Bregman is the author of Utopia for Realists: How We Can Build the Ideal Worldand writes for the Correspondent.  In the Spiel, New Zealand’s unity on gun control is admirable. In the big, diverse country that is the United States, things are a little more complicated. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On The Gist, Senator Thom Tillis’ op-ed, now with moral fiber!            In the interview, no one’s ever had to wonder what was on tech journalist Kara Swisher’s mind (she’ll just tell you) and that includes the litany of Silicon Valley oligarchs she’s interviewed. Swisher tells us how the modern world is very much shaped by company founders’ personality quirks and blind spots, what government regulation of Google and Facebook should look like, and what women can do to get what they want in the workplace. Swisher is the co-founder of Recode and the host of its Recode Decode podcast.  In the Spiel, if you want to measure the ills that come with an increasingly connected world, look no farther than the shooting in Christchurch, New Zealand. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On The Gist, Beto O’Rourke is running for president. But should he? In the interview, Tim Alberta, chief political correspondent for Politico,  recently wrote a piece about Reps. Ilhan Omar and Dean Phillips and the current divide in the Democratic party, “The Democrat’s Dilemma.” Alberta is here today to discuss the difficulty facing the Democratic party as some new members of Congress seem to be pushing the party further left and whether or not that’s a good thing. His upcoming book is American Carnage: On the Front Lines of the Republican Civil War and the Rise of President Trump.  In the Spiel, Paul Manafort goes to Ostrich Court. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On The Gist, three stray thoughts on the college admissions scandal.  In the interview, Maria Konnikova is back to talk about those naïve millennials. Last year many of them were duped into paying thousands for tickets to Billy McFarland’s Fyre Festival, a glamorous event that existed in name only. That begs the question: Are millennials more susceptible to being scammed than other generations, or is that bullshit?  In the Spiel, the rich and powerful often get off easy in the court of law (case in point: Paul Manafort). But instead of throwing the book at them, maybe we should sentence everyone else a little more kindly, too. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On The Gist, Bill de Blasio flapping his arms to R. Kelly. In the interview, Sal Gentile writes for late night television, but he lives in president Trump’s mind around the clock. Every day he writes insights and jokes about Trump’s latest ramblings for “A Closer Look,” a segment on NBC’s Late Night with Seth Meyers. Gentile talks about his writing process—lots of jokes go into a first draft, but only a few make the cut—and how the instinct to laugh is itself a reliable bullshit detector.  In the Spiel, the college admissions scandal involving Felicity Huffman and Lori Loughlin. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On The Gist, much ado about a toothpick ban. In the interview, Wikipedia is famously edited by its own readers. And no one has made more contributions than Steven Pruitt. A third of English language pages on the site bear his mark! What goes into editing a Wikipedia page, and is it as toxic as other democratic spaces on the internet? In the Spiel, which Democratic candidate gets The Gist’s vote? The one to make Daylight Saving Time permanent. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On The Gist, Rep. Ilhan Omar and Israel. In the interview, the Guardian’s Chris McGreal covered the deadly toll opiates take on poor American communities "long before it became fashionable because of Trump." He speaks to Purdue Pharma’s zealous campaign to push OxyContin (“a chemical cousin of heroin”, in the words of the New Yorker) onto doctors and patients—and the federal government’s failure to stop it. McGreal is the author of American Overdose: The Opioid Tragedy in Three Acts.  In the Spiel, another Lobstar of the Antentwig. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On The Gist, Stormy is in the news (but not that Stormy). In the interview, Donald Trump speaks many untruths every day, and someone has to track them all. Somehow that task has fallen to a Canadian. The Toronto Star’s Daniel Dale is here to tell us what counts as a lie, why details matter, and how neither the left nor the right seem satisfied with his work. In the Spiel, theology isn’t all that interesting… unless there’s drama involved, of course. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On The Gist, distracting Congress from H.R. 1. In the interview, sexual promiscuity is judged differently among men compared to women, and that goes double for sex addiction. Franco-Moroccan novelist Leïla Slimani’s latest protagonist, Adèle, knows that firsthand. Slimani joins us to talk about her relationship with her translator—and her own characters—and the French sex scandal that inspired her initial research.     In the Spiel, bad arguments are hard to believe, like those used to defend Michael Jackson.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On The Gist, Fox News isn’t distributing Trump’s talking points. Worse, it’s defining them. In the interview, reality TV typically thrives on drama and negativity. Top Chef isn’t necessarily an exception, but season 16 competitor David Viana says morale was high on set—and that that’s a good sign for the culinary world overall. “Better, healthier kitchens are popping up,” Viana says. “It isn’t the Gordon Ramsay style.” David Viana is the executive chef  of New Jersey’s Heirloom Kitchen. The finale of Top Chef: Kentucky airs March 14, 2019 on Bravo. In the Spiel, more from Trump’s nonsensical CPAC speech. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On The Gist, the White House PR machine. In the interview, John Carlin is a former Asst. Attorney General for the Dept. of Justice and former Chief of Staff to Robert Mueller, and his new book Dawn of the Code War tracks the rise of global cyber threats from Russia and China, and how our country is working to respond.   In the Spiel, the CPAC lets Trump get away with anything he wants.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On The Gist, John Hickenlooper might be running for president. In the interview, Dan Reed reached out to Wade Robson and James Safechuck before #MeToo exploded, but its influence is clear. In the director’s documentary for HBO, Leaving Neverland, we hear again how the effects of sexual abuse—in this case, at the hands of Michael Jackson—can manifest in counterintuitive ways; Robson and Safechuck once shielded Jackson. Now they’re coming forward with their truth.  In the Spiel, the House Oversight Committee and racism.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On The Gist, the empty political rhetoric that is “everyday people.” In the interview, fact-checking is big business in the age of Trump. But one politician diametrically opposed to the president—Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez—is playing fast and loose with statistics too, and journalists have noticed. Should she be called out? NY Magazine’s Eric Levitz says it’s complicated. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On the Gist, Michael Cohen is not a smart guy, and that makes his testimony all the more trustworthy.  In the interview, Casey Burgat of R Street is here to talk about Sen. Amy Klobuchar’s staff turnover data. Does she seem to churn through staff more than most, or are a few big exits skewing the numbers? And is it so bad to have high turnover anyway? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On The Gist, corn syrup and beer.  In the interview, what’s the difference between a 16-year-old and an 18-year-old? In terms of maturity, not so much. But only one of them has the right to vote. In Oregon, state Sen. Shemia Fagan is hoping to change that, and she’s letting young activists take the lead.  In the Spiel, who wants to talk about reparations? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices