This week, Emily Bazelon, John Dickerson, and David Plotz discuss Trump’s brazen effort to smash Fed independence by wielding allegations of mortgage fraud against Fed governor Lisa Cook, the expanding law enforcement role of the National Guard in DC and other cities, and the inexplicable folly of Trump’s all-out assault on the renewable wind industry.
Here are some notes and references from this week’s show:
David Frum for The Atlantic: Trump Is Sending a Terrifyingly Clear Message
Madeleine Ngo, Tony Romm, and Matthew Goldstein for The New York Times: What to Know About the Allegations Against Lisa Cook of the Fed
Josh Gerstein and Kyle Cheney for Politico: ‘Judicial hesitancy’: Why Trump is betting the courts will green-light his ouster of Lisa Cook
Adam Tooze for Chartbook (Substack): Trump v. the Fed: or how history is forcing the question of a democratic politics of central banking.
Rachel Siegel for The Washington Post: The Trump administration’s new weapon against foes: Mortgage filings
Reuters: US consumer sentiment weakens in August; inflation expectations rise
John Ismay, Helene Cooper, and Eric Schmitt for The New York Times: Trump Orders Major Expansion of National Guard’s Role in Law Enforcement
Kaanita Iyer for CNN: Following LA and DC, Trump wants to send the National Guard to other US cities. Here’s how he can do it
J.D. Tuccille for Reason: We Don’t Need More Federal Intervention in U.S. Cities
Tosin Akintola for Reason: Trump Directs DOJ To Penalize States and Cities That Use Cashless Bail
Jason Lange for Reuters: Just 38% of Americans support Trump’s use of troops to police DC, Reuters/Ipsos poll finds
Herb Scribner for Axios: How a grand jury acted as “sword” and “shield” for D.C. sandwich guy
Destinee Adams and Ally Schweitzer for NPR (Morning Edition): Army National Guard veteran says Trump’s specialized unit is ‘quite dangerous’
Cristian Farias for The New Yorker (The Lede): Can Donald Trump Police the United States?
Brad Plumer and Lisa Friedman for The New York Times: With Little Explanation, Trump Throws Wind Industry Into Chaos
The Editorial Board of The Washington Post (Opinion): The peril of neglecting rising electricity prices
Rebecca Egan McCarthy for Grist: Trump’s Interior Department is turning environmentalists’ legal playbook against them
Matthew Yglesias for Slow Boring (Substack): Trump’s insane war on renewable energy
Here are this week’s chatters:
Emily: Jessica Valenti and Kylie Cheung for Abortion, Every Day (Substack): Texas Republicans’ New Cash-Grab Abortion Ban; NPR’s Embedded: The Network (with Futuro Media)
John: John Dickerson for CBS Evening News Plus (video on Substack, 2:11): Reporter’s Notebook: The Creative Journey Explained by Over the Rainbow; This is Happiness by Niall Williams
David: BBC Two: University Challenge
Listener chatter from Brad Hunt in Temecula, California: The Living New Deal: Map
For this week’s Slate Plus bonus episode, Emily, John, and David discuss this week’s bizarre NYC bribery scandal involving an advisor to Eric Adams, Chinese influence, and a bag of potato chips.
In the latest Gabfest Reads, Emily talks with Jonathan Mahler about his new book, The Gods of New York. They discuss the unraveling of Mayor Ed Koch’s New York City; how the city’s current mayoral race is mirroring the past; and more.
Email your chatters, questions, and comments to gabfest@slate.com. (Messages may be referenced by name unless the writer stipulates otherwise.)
Podcast production by Kevin Bendis
Research by Emily Ditto
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