601 episodes

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.

Political Gabfest Slate Podcasts

    • News
    • 5.0 • 2 Ratings

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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.

Listen on Apple Podcasts
Requires subscription and macOS 11.4 or higher

    Gabfest Live In Washington, D.C.!

    Gabfest Live In Washington, D.C.!

    This week, Emily Bazelon, John Dickerson, and David Plotz are live in Washington, D.C. to discuss the Supreme Court (again) and abortion (again); Donald Trump’s ups and downs in New York courtrooms and Ronna McDaniel’s rise and fall on NBC; and Gallup’s World Happiness Report 2024.
     
    Here are some notes and references from this week’s show:
    Ann E. Marimow and Caroline Kitchener for The Washington Post: Supreme Court skeptical of efforts to restrict access to abortion pill
    Sierra Club v. Morton, 405 U.S. 727 (1972)
    303 Creative LLC v. Elenis, et al., 600 US _ (2023)
    Juhi Doshi for ABC News: What is the Comstock Act? The 151-year-old law mentioned in SCOTUS abortion pill case
    SCOTUSblog: Idaho v. United States
    Pam Belluck for The New York Times: What to Know About the Federal Law at the Heart of the Latest Supreme Court Abortion Case
    Geoff Mulvihill and Kimberlee Kruesi for AP: Which states could have abortion on the ballot in 2024?
    The New York Times: Keeping Track of the Trump Criminal Cases and Michael M. Grynbaum and John Koblin: NBC News Cuts Ties With Ronna McDaniel After Network Firestorm
    Brian Beutler for Off Message: The Political Economy Of Normalization
    Gallup: World Happiness Report 2024
    Clare Ansberry for The Wall Street Journal: U.S. No Longer Ranks Among World’s 20 Happiest Countries
    The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness by Jonathan Haidt

    Here are this week’s chatters:
    Emily: The Wall Street Journal: Evan Gershkovich: Updates on the WSJ Reporter Detained in Russia
    David: Tim Newcomb for Popular Mechanics: A Controversial Pyramid Isn’t Actually 27,000 Years Old—and Now, the Mystery Deepens and Paul M.M. Cooper for Fall of Civilizations Podcast: Episode 18 Is Out Now!
    John: National Archives: From Alexander Hamilton to Jeremiah Wadsworth, [20 August 1787]; John Dickerson for Slate’s Navel Gazing podcast (coming soon); John Dickerson on Court TV (not available); Emily Bazelon on C-SPAN; and David Plotz on C-SPAN: Washington Journal Newspaper Roundtable. 
    Listener chatter from Phil Goldstein in Washington, D.C.: The New York Times: Flesh Descending In A Shower.; An Astounding Phenomenon In Kentucky--Fresh Meat Like Mutton Or Venison Falling From A Clear Sky.
    For this week’s Slate Plus bonus segment, David, John, and Emily answer audience questions. See Gina M. Raimondo, Secretary of Commerce.
    In the latest Gabfest Reads, Emily talks with Tana French about her book, The Hunter: A Novel.
     
    Email your chatters, questions, and comments to gabfest@slate.com. (Messages may be referenced by name unless the writer stipulates otherwise.)

    Podcast production by Cheyna Roth with special thanks to Patrick Fort for on-site production and Katie Rayford for logistics support 
    Research by Julie Huygen
     
    Hosts
    Emily Bazelon, John Dickerson, and David Plotz
    Follow
    Slate Political Gabfest on Facebook / https://www.facebook.com/Gabfest/
    @SlateGabfest on X / https://twitter.com/SlateGabfest
    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

    • 1 hr 11 min
    When Is Government Speech Coercion?

    When Is Government Speech Coercion?

    This week, Emily Bazelon, John Dickerson, and David Plotz discuss the Supreme Court’s busy week on government speech and immigration authority; Donald Trump’s bond issue and words problem; and COVID learning loss. Join us for Political Gabfest Live in Washington, D.C. on March 27! Tickets are on sale now; get ‘em before they’re gone. 
     
    Here are some notes and references from this week’s show:
    Amy Howe for SCOTUSblog: Court sympathetic to NRA’s free speech claim and Supreme Court skeptical of restricting government communications with social media companies
    Lindsay Whitehurst for AP: Supreme Court appears receptive to NRA free-speech lawsuit against a former New York state officia
    Hogan Gore for the Austin American-Statesman: 5th Circuit Court of Appeals leaves SB 4 on hold after dueling orders on Texas immigration law
    Ben Protess, Maggie Haberman, and Kate Christobek for The New York Times: Trump Spurned by 30 Companies as He Seeks Bond in $454 Million Judgment
    Ruth Marcus for The Washington Post: Fair’s fair: Trump should be able to appeal the judgment against him and Catherine Rampell:Trump can’t find anyone to spot him $424 million. Would you?
    Sarah Mervosh, Claire Cain Miller, and Francesca Paris for The New York Times: What the Data Says About Pandemic School Closures, Four Years Later
    Slate Political Gabfest: The “Stop Counting Now” Edition
    Weakley County, TN

    Here are this week’s chatters:
    Emily: Small Game: A Novel by Blair Braverman and Small Game: A Novel at the DC Public Library
    John: Ramishah Maruf for CNN: MacKenzie Scott donates $640 million after open call for nonprofits and Ahjané Forbes for USA Today: Ticketless passenger found in Delta flight’s lavatory, forcing plane to turn around
    David: Sarah Zhang for The Atlantic: DNA Tests Are Uncovering The True Prevalence Of Incest and City Cast: Work with us.
     
    Listener chatter from Joshua Weaver in Austin, Texas: Matthew Brown for AP: Montana man used animal tissue and testicles to breed ‘giant’ sheep for sale to hunting preserves
     
    For this week’s Slate Plus bonus segment, David, John, and Emily talk about The Mysterious Case of The Reappearing Princess. See Karla Adam for The Washington Post: Will Princess Kate video put an end to royal communications mess? and Mark Landler for The New York Times: The Royals Tried to Control Their Image Online. The Internet Had Other Ideas.
     
    In the latest Gabfest Reads, Emily talks with Tana French about her book, The Hunter: A Novel.
     
    Email your chatters, questions, and comments to gabfest@slate.com. (Messages may be referenced 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

    • 58 min
    Gabfest Reads: How Tana French Uses Genre Tropes to Tell Great Human Stories

    Gabfest Reads: How Tana French Uses Genre Tropes to Tell Great Human Stories

    Emily Bazelon talks with author Tana French about her new book, The Hunter. They discuss the different perspectives French uses throughout her books, how French happened into writing mysteries, writing as an outsider to Ireland, and more.

    Tweet us your questions @SlateGabfest or email us at gabfest@slate.com. (Messages could be quoted by name unless the writer stipulates otherwise.)

    Podcast production by Cheyna Roth.
    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

    • 28 min
    Did Hur Exonerate Biden?

    Did Hur Exonerate Biden?

    This week, Emily Bazelon, John Dickerson, and David Plotz discuss President Joe Biden’s State of the Union address and Special Counsel Robert Hur’s congressional testimony; crime and punishment with the Wren Collective’s Jessica Brand; and Congress’s move to ban the Chinese government from TikTok. Join us for Political Gabfest Live in Washington, D.C. on March 27! Tickets are on sale now. Planning to attend? Submit a Listener Chatter to gabfest@slate.com and you might be picked to chatter live. 
     
    Here are some notes and references from this week’s show:
    C-SPAN: 2024 State of the Union Address and Former Special Counsel Hur Testifies on Biden Classified Documents Report, Part 1and Part 2
     
    House Committee on the Judiciary: Recorded Interview: Robert Hur, President Biden Transcript, Date of Interview: October 8, and Date of Interview: October 9

    Kaitlan Collins for CNN: Fmr. Mar-a-Lago employee who helped move classified docs speaks with CNN
     
    Adam Serwer for The Atlantic: How Hur Misled the Country on Biden’s Memory

    Jack Goldsmith in The New York Times: Jack Smith and Robert Hur Are the Latest Examples of a Failed Institution

    Erica Pandey and Russell Contreras for Axios: Blue cities go red with conservative policies on crime

    Michael Barbaro and Mike Baker for The New York Times’s The Daily podcast: Oregon Decriminalized Drugs. Voters Now Regret It.

    Madaleine Rubin for The Texas Tribune: Sean Teare unseats Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg in primary
     
    Stefanie Dazio for AP: Progressive Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón advances to runoff

    Jeffrey M. Jones for Gallup: More Americans See U.S. Crime Problem as Serious

    Stephanie Sy and Shoshana Dubnow for the PBS News Hour: As concerns grown around surging violent crime, the numbers tell a different story
     
    David Leonhardt for The New York Times: Should China Own TikTok?

    CBS News: FBI Director Wray says China targeting U.S. civilian infrastructure, economic security

    Laura He for CNN: If the US bans TikTok, China will be getting a taste of its own medicine

    CBS Mornings: Jon Stewart on why he’s going back to “The Daily Show” anchor desk

    Mike Pence on Fox News: TikTok is digital fentanyl and Congress, Biden must act before it’s too late

    Josh Dawsey and Jeff Stein for The Washington Post: How Donald Trump switched to defending TikTok

    Here are this week’s chatters:
    Emily: Josh Gerstein for Politico: Federal courts move against ‘judge-shopping’ and John Dickerson and Jessica Levinson for CBS News Prime Time: New rules aim to prevent “judge shopping” in major court cases
    John: Emily Goulet for Philadelphia: Fight Like a Girl: The New Wave of High-School Wrestling and Alex Bellos for The Guardian: He ate all the pi: Japanese man memorises π to 111,700 digits
    David: Lend A Box
    Listener chatter from Steven in Queens, New York: New York Times: Soon Finds Mother For His 5 Children; Widower Discovers Six Women Eager to Marry Him and Care for His Brood.
     
    For this week’s Slate Plus bonus segment, David, John, and Emily talk about marriage proposals. See Caroline Kitchener for The Atlantic: Marriage Proposals Are Stupid; Sadiba Hasan for The New York Times: 10 Great Ways to Pop the Question; and Parija Kavilanz for CNN: After 2023 wraps up, get ready for a spike in marriage proposals.
     
    In the latest Gabfest Reads, David talks with Kiley Reid about her book, Come and Get It.
     
    Email your chatters, questions, and comments to gabfest@slate.com. (Messages may be referenced 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

    • 57 min
    The Dismal Biden Polls

    The Dismal Biden Polls

    This week, Emily Bazelon, John Dickerson, and David Plotz discuss the Biden v. Trump polls and Super Tuesday, the Supreme Court’s decision to leave Donald Trump on the ballot, and whether The Golden Age of American Jews Is Ending with The Atlantic’s Franklin Foer. Join us for Political Gabfest Live in Washington, D.C. on March 27! Tickets are on sale now. Planning to attend? Submit a Listener Chatter to gabfest@slate.com and you might be picked to chatter live. 
     
    Here are some notes and references from this week’s show:
    538: Latest Polls
    Shane Goldmacher for The New York Times: Voters Doubt Biden’s Leadership and Favor Trump, Times/Siena Poll Finds
    Mark Joseph Stern for Slate: The Supreme Court’s “Unanimous” Trump Ballot Ruling Is Actually a 5-4 Disaster
    Michael C. Dorf for Dorf on Law: Nine Justices in Search of an Excuse to Nullify Section 3 of the 14th Amendment
    Kate Shaw, Melissa Murray, and Leah Litman for Crooked Media’s Strict Scrutiny podcast: SCOTUS Restores Trump to the Colorado Ballot, Unanimously (Kind Of)
    Franklin Foer for The Atlantic: The Golden Age of American Jews Is Ending
    Elena Schneider and Melanie Mason for Politico: AIPAC uncorks $100 million war chest to sink progressive candidates
    Center for Antisemitism Research: 24% of Americans Harbor Extensive Antisemitic Prejudice, Up From 20% in 2022, Survey Finds
    Romain Chauvet for The Times of Israel: ‘I’m afraid every day for my children’: As antisemitism soars, French Jews flee to Israel

    Here are this week’s chatters:
    Emily: Madaleine Rubin for The Texas Tribune: Sean Teare unseats Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg in primary; Serena Lin for the Austin American-Statesman: Incumbent José Garza wins Democratic primary for Travis County district attorney; Stefanie Dazio for AP: Progressive Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón advances to runoff; Mensah M. Dean for The Trace: In Philadelphia, a Program Offers Some People Arrested for Unlicensed Guns a Second Chance; and Jenice Armstrong for The Philadelphia Inquirer: Philly program keeps gun offenders out of prison. I’m all for it.
    John: Bozi Tatarevic for Road & Track: Here’s Why NASCAR Driver Joey Logano Was Penalized For Cheating Gloves and Victoria Beaver: Caught Webbed-Handed: Here’s the Cheated-Up Glove NASCAR Fined Joey Logano Over
    David: One Day on Netflix and One Day by David Nicholls; Normal People on Hulu and Normal People: A Novel by Sally Rooney; Shōgun on Hulu and Shōgun, Part One by James Clavell; Atlas Obscura’s Ecliptic Festival; and Danielle Dowling for The New York Times: 31 Things to Do for the Big Eclipse This April
    Listener chatter from Jason Dewees in San Francisco, California: Julie Zigoris for The San Francisco Standard: He died in a Jewish ghetto. How did his long-lost art end up on a bench in San Francisco?
     
    For this week’s Slate Plus bonus segment, David, John, and Emily talk with Researcher Julie about working as an election judge. See Arapahoe County (Colorado) Elections; Election Judges; Election Transparency; and Arapahoe County Life of the Ballot. 
     
    In the latest Gabfest Reads, David talks with Kiley Reid about her book, Come and Get It.
     
    Email your chatters, questions, and comments to gabfest@slate.com. (Messages may be referenced 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

    • 1 hr 1 min
    Could They Actually Leap Over Biden And Dunk Him?

    Could They Actually Leap Over Biden And Dunk Him?

    This week, Emily Bazelon, John Dickerson, and David Plotz discuss President Joe Biden’s re-election campaign; the Supreme Court’s boost for Donald Trump and review of social media’s content moderation; and Senator Mitch McConnell’s decision to time out as minority leader. Join us for our next Political Gabfest Live show in Washington, D.C. on March 27! Tickets are on sale now. Planning to attend? Submit a Listener Chatter to gabfest@slate.com and you might be picked to chatter live. 
     
    Here are some notes and references from this week’s show:
    Ezra Klein for The New York Times Ezra Klein Show podcast: Democrats Have a Better Option Than Biden
    Jamelle Bouie for The New York Times: It’s Not as Easy as Just Getting Biden to Drop Out
    Yasmeen Abutaleb and Marianne LeVine for The Washington Post: Biden wins Michigan primary but faces notable showing by ‘uncommitted’
    Thomas L. Friedman for The New York Times: Israel Is Losing Its Greatest Asset: Acceptance
    Karl Rove for The Wall Street Journal: Trump Goes on Fox and Shows His Weakness
    Amy Howe for SCOTUSblog: Supreme Court skeptical of Texas, Florida regulation of social media moderation
    G.S. Hans for Balls and Strikes: How the Supreme Court’s Latest Big Tech Case Pits Cancel Culture Hysteria Against Corporate Power
    Michael C. Dorf for Dorf on Law: The Partial Facial Challenge Option in the Netchoice Cases
    Alan Feuer for The New York Times: In Taking Up Trump’s Immunity Claim, Supreme Court Bolstered His Delay Strategy
    John Dickerson for CBS News: Examining Mitch McConnell’s legacy as Senate Republican leader
    The Long Game: A Memoir by Mitch McConnell
    Mariana Alfaro for The Washington Post: Here’s who could replace Mitch McConnell as Senate’s top Republican
    Mark Sumner for the Daily Kos: Watch Tim Scott utterly humiliate himself for Trump
    Katelyn Caralle and Sarah Ewall-Wice for the Daily Mail: Lindsey Graham is mercilessly BOOED at Trump’s South Carolina victory party: Ex-president brings Senator on stage after introducing him as a ‘little further to the left’
    Saturday Night Live: Trump Victory Party Cold Open

    Here are this week’s chatters:
    Emily: Molly Ryan for WRKF 89.3 Baton Rouge Public Radio: House lawmakers advance bills targeting early release from prison – and more
    John: Aliza Chasan for CBS News: Cardboard box filled with unopened hockey cards sells for more than $3.7 million at auction and Joshua Rapp Learn for Discover: Schrődinger’s Cat Experiment and the Conundrum That Rules Modern Physics
    David: Plainsong by Kent Haruf and City Cast: Work with us.
    Listener chatter from Jacob in Chicago, Illinois: citiesbydiana on TikTok: Top 6 Best Stroads in America
     
    For this week’s Slate Plus bonus segment, David, John, and Emily discuss the Republican obsession with Hunter Biden and the possibility of impeaching President Joe Biden. See Matthew Yglesias for Slow Boring: Republicans can’t stop swallowing Russian propaganda. See also Ken Tran for USA Today: Hunter Biden denies Joe Biden involved in family business: ‘Destructive political charade’; Amy Taxin and Alanna Durkin Richer for AP: Ex-FBI informant charged with lying about Bidens to remain jailed while he awaits trial, judge rules; and Philip Bump for The Washington Post: Evaluating the anti-Biden case House Republicans offered on social media. 
     
    In the latest Gabfest Reads, David talks with Kiley Reid about her book, Come and Get It.
     
    Email your chatters, questions, and comments to gabfest@slate.com. (Messages may be referenced 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

    • 58 min

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