This week, Emily Bazelon, David Plotz, and guest host Juliette Kayyem discuss the future integrity of US economic data after Trump fired the head of the Bureau of Labor Statistics, what the mid-decade redistricting arms race portends for the future of US representative government, and the phenomenon of “Trump’s Rasputin,” Laura Loomer.
Here are some notes and references from this week’s show:
Ben Casselman for The New York Times: Trump Fired America’s Economic Data Collector. History Shows the Perils.
Luke Broadwater for New York Times: Republicans Suddenly Distrust Jobs Data After Trump Fires Statistics Chief
Rogé Karma for The Atlantic: The Mystery of the Strong Economy Has Finally Been Solved
Eric Levitz for Vox: Turns out the Trump economy is not doing so well after all
Nick Timiraos and Brian Schwartz for The Wall Street Journal: Trump Just Got a Fresh Shot at Bending the Fed to His Will
Gunjan Banerji, Sam Goldfarb, Jeanne Whalen, and Rachel Wolfe for The Wall Street Journal: What Economy Are We Living In? Our Reporters Talk It Out.
Devlin Barrett for The New York Times: Unnoticed Whistle-Blower Document Alarms Justice Department Veterans
Jason Furman for The New York Times: The Tariffs Kicked In. The Sky Didn’t Fall. Were the Economists Wrong?
Joseph Ax for Reuters: Trump-led Texas redistricting gambit ignites national arms race to control Congress
Karen Tumulty for The Washington Post: Democrats take off the gloves on redistricting — but could it backfire?
Melanie Mason for Politico: ‘We’re just tired of playing by the rules:’ Newsom bets 2028 chips on redistricting power play
Richard L. Hasen for MSNBC: Opinion | Congress is watching Trump launch an unwinnable redistricting war
David Daley for The Washington Post (Opinion): Texas ignited a gerrymandering war. We will all pay the price.
Hansi Lo Wang for NPR: Trump calls for U.S. census to exclude for the first time people with no legal status
Caroline Linton for CBS News Chicago: Bomb threat prompts evacuation at Chicago hotel where some Texas Democrats are staying
Will Steakin for ABC News: How Laura Loomer’s pressure campaigns are reshaping the Trump administration
Ellie Quinlan Houghtaling for The New Republic: Laura Loomer’s New Influence Is Already Backfiring on Her
Greg Jaffe for The New York Times: A Fight Over a West Point Job Reveals Two Visions of America Under Trump
Here are this week’s chatters:
Emily: Jake Jones for BBC Sport: The rise of padel and why it’s so popular; LTAPadel: Official padel rules explained; Padelexpress on YouTube: The BEST Out-of-Court Points in Padel HISTORY (video 3:52)
Juliette: Jack Smart for People: Liam Neeson Kisses Pamela Anderson in Cute Naked Gun Promo: ‘Couple That Laughs Together, Stays Together’; Alyssa Bailey for ELLE: How Pamela Anderson and Liam Neeson Slowly Fell for Each Other: He Was ‘Smitten’ From the Start; Lisa Respers France for CNN: Pamela Anderson is having a moment. And it’s about time
David: Anne Appelbaum for The Atlantic: The Most Nihilistic Conflict on Earth; Wednesday on Netflix; Platonic – Season 2 Official Trailer on YouTube (video 2:02)
Listener chatter from Bill Jacob in Provincetown, Massachusetts: The Telepathy Tapes: A Podcast Beyond Words, from creator and host Ky Dickens.
For this week’s Slate Plus bonus episode, Emily, David, and guest host Juliette Kayyem discuss the benefits and challenges of giving kids more freedom to play outside and participate independently, parent-free, in the real world.
In the latest Gabfest Reads, David talks with Carl Hiaasen about his new book, Fever Beach, a political satire for the Trump Era.
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
You can find the full Political Gabfest show pages here.
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