This week, live from Chicago to celebrate 20 years of the Political Gabfest, Emily Bazelon, John Dickerson, and David Plotz discuss the Trump vs. Chicago showdown and the dynamics between progressive and centrist Democrats with former Chicago Mayor and Obama White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel[1], what threat President Trump poses to the future of American elections and how to push back, and memorable moments from Gabfest history.
Here are some notes and references from this week’s show:
John McCormick for The Wall Street Journal: Rahm Emanuel, Weighing Presidential Bid, Navigates a Democratic Party Moving Left[2]
Barton Swaim for The Wall Street Journal (Opinion): Will the Democrats Go Centrist in the 2028 Election?[3]
Rahm Emanuel for The Wall Street Journal (Opinion): Democrats Need an Education Reset[4]
Michael Warren for The Dispatch: Is There a Future for Pragmatism in the Democratic Party?[5]
CNN: Rahm Emanuel Laughs at NYT advice, says moderation has always been the key to winning elections[6]
The Editorial Board of The New York Times (Opinion): The Partisans Are Wrong: Moving to the Center Is the Way to Win[7]
Jess Bidgood for The New York Times: It’s Unconstitutional, but Trump Keeps Musing About a 3rd Term[8]
Chad de Guzman for Time: Why Trump Keeps Talking About a Third Term[9]
Jim Geraghty for National Review: It Doesn’t Matter If Trump Would ‘Love to’ Run for a Third Term in 2028[10]
Russell Berman for The Atlantic: ‘California Is Allowed to Hit Back’[11]
Michael A. Cohen for MSNBC: Opinion | Trump started a gerrymandering arms race. Virginia Democrats prove it won’t end well.[12]
David A. Graham for The Atlantic: Donald Trump’s Plan to Subvert the Midterms Is Already Under Way[13]
Andrew Solender for Axios: The national redistricting wars are entering a new, more existential phase[14]
Philip Elliott for Time: Why Barack Obama Got Off the Bench For California’s Prop 50[15]
The Editorial Board of The Washington Post (Opinion): The exploding cigar of mid-decade gerrymandering[16]
Here are this week’s chatters:
Emily: Perry Stein for The Washington Post: Former DOJ officials say Comey case is vindictive, call for dismissal; Scott MacFarlane and Joe Walsh for CBS News: Justice Department puts 2 prosecutors on leave after they signed court docs that described “mob of rioters” on Jan. 6[17][18]
John: History.com: This Day in History: Orson Welles’ “War of the Worlds” radio play is broadcast; Chris Yogerst for The Hollywood Reporter: Orson Welles‘ ’War of the Worlds’ Broadcast: Its Ominous Echoes for a Fractured Media; Jefferson Pooley and Michael J. Socolow for Slate: The Myth of the War of the Worlds Panic[19][20][21]
David: City Cast Seattle; City Cast Twin Cities; PBS: Elon Musk launched Grokipedia. Here’s how it compares to Wikipedia; Eric Rosenbaum for CNBC: Elon Musk’s Grokipedia is live. Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales isn’t impressed: ‘Going to make massive errors’[22][23][24][25]
Listener chatter from Will Dixon in Rhode Island: Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute[26] in Panama; Smithsonian Bat Lab (Website[27], Instagram[28]); Rickye S. Heffner, Gimseong Koay, and Henry E. Heffner: Hearing in American leaf-nosed bats. IV: The Common vampire bat, Desmodus rotundus[29]; D.K. Riskin and J.W. Hermanson: Independent evolution of quadrupedal locomotion Front-wheel drive in the bounding gait of vampire bats[30]; Gerald G. Carter, Simon P. Ripperger, Vi Girbino, M. May Dixon, Imran Razik, Rachel A. Page, Elizabeth A. Hobson: Long-term cooperative relationships among vampire bats are not strongly predicted by their initial interactions[31].
For this week’s Slate Plus bonus episode, live from Chicago to celebrate 20 years of the Political Gabfest, Emily, John, and David take audience questions and discuss whether the damages caused by the Trump administration can ever be reversed, the most controversial topics from the show’s history, and more.
In the latest Gabfest Reads[32], Emily talks with Yale law professor John Witt[33] about his new book, The Radical Fund: How a Band of Visionaries and a Million Dollars Upended America[34]. They explore the remarkable story of the Garland Fund—a small 1920s foundation that bankrolled early work by A. Philip Randolph, and others who would go on to shape the civil rights and labor movements.
Email your chatters, questions, and comments to gabfest@slate.com. (Messages may be referenced by name unless the writer stipulates otherwise.)
Podcast production by Nina Porzucki and Jake Sorgen
Research by Emily Ditto
You can find the full Political Gabfest show pages here[35].
Want more Political Gabfest? Join Slate Plus to unlock weekly bonus episodes. Plus, you’ll access ad-free listening across all your favorite Slate podcasts. You can subscribe directly from the Political Gabfest show page on Apple Podcasts[36] and Spotify[37]. Or visit slate.com/gabfestplus[38] to get access wherever you listen.
References
- ^ Rahm Emanuel (x.com)
- ^ Rahm Emanuel, Weighing Presidential Bid, Navigates a Democratic Party Moving Left (www.wsj.com)
- ^ Will the Democrats Go Centrist in the 2028 Election? (www.wsj.com)
- ^ Democrats Need an Education Reset (www.wsj.com)
- ^ Is There a Future for Pragmatism in the Democratic Party? (thedispatch.com)
- ^ Rahm Emanuel Laughs at NYT advice, says moderation has always been the key to winning elections (www.cnn.com)
- ^ The Partisans Are Wrong: Moving to the Center Is the Way to Win (www.nytimes.com)
- ^ It’s Unconstitutional, but Trump Keeps Musing About a 3rd Term (www.nytimes.com)
- ^ Why Trump Keeps Talking About a Third Term (time.com)
- ^ It Doesn’t Matter If Trump Would ‘Love to’ Run for a Third Term in 2028 (www.nationalreview.com)
- ^ ‘California Is Allowed to Hit Back’ (www.theatlantic.com)
- ^ Opinion | Trump started a gerrymandering arms race. Virginia Democrats prove it won’t end well. (www.msnbc.com)
- ^ Donald Trump’s Plan to Subvert the Midterms Is Already Under Way (www.theatlantic.com)
- ^ The national redistricting wars are entering a new, more existential phase (www.axios.com)
- ^ Why Barack Obama Got Off the Bench For California’s Prop 50 (time.com)
- ^ The exploding cigar of mid-decade gerrymandering (www.washingtonpost.com)
- ^ Former DOJ officials say Comey case is vindictive, call for dismissal (www.washingtonpost.com)
- ^ Justice Department puts 2 prosecutors on leave after they signed court docs that described “mob of rioters” on Jan. 6 (www.cbsnews.com)
- ^ Orson Welles’ “War of the Worlds” radio play is broadcast (www.history.com)
- ^ Orson Welles‘ ’War of the Worlds’ Broadcast: Its Ominous Echoes for a Fractured Media (www.hollywoodreporter.com)
- ^ The Myth of the War of the Worlds Panic (slate.com)
- ^ City Cast Seattle (seattle.citycast.fm)
- ^ City Cast Twin Cities (twincities.citycast.fm)
- ^ Elon Musk launched Grokipedia. Here’s how it compares to Wikipedia (www.pbs.org)
- ^ Elon Musk’s Grokipedia is live. Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales isn’t impressed: ‘Going to make massive errors’ (www.cnbc.com)
- ^ Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (stri.si.edu)
- ^ Website (www.noseleaf.org)
- ^ Instagram (www.instagram.com)
- ^ Hearing in American leaf-nosed bats. IV: The Common vampire bat, Desmodus rotundus (pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov)
- ^ Independent evolution of quadrupedal locomotion Front-wheel drive in the bounding gait of vampire bats (sicb.org)
- ^ Long-term cooperative relationships among vampire bats are not strongly predicted by their initial interactions (nyaspubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com)
- ^ Gabfest Reads (slate.com)
- ^ John Witt (law.yale.edu)
- ^ The Radical Fund: How a Band of Visionaries and a Million Dollars Upended America (www.amazon.com)
- ^ show pages here (slate.com)
- ^ Apple Podcasts (podcasts.apple.com)
- ^ Spotify (open.spotify.com)
- ^ slate.com/gabfestplus (slate.com)
- ^ Bonus: That Time David Ended Up on a Fox News Chyron
Emily, John, and David take audience questions and tell stories from 20 years of Gabfest history (slate.com)