This week, Emily Bazelon, John Dickerson, and David Plotz discuss the government’s intimidation tactics aimed at chilling free speech after Charlie Kirk’s assassination, why Trump seems intent to provoke armed conflict with Venezuela, and how the president and his Republican allies are upending DC self-governance with guest Michael Schaffer (City Cast DC[1], Politico[2]).
Here are some notes and references from this week’s show:
Alex Leary, Aaron Zitner, and Siobhan Hughes for The Wall Street Journal: Trump Advisers Prepare to Target Left-Leaning Groups After Kirk Shooting[3]
Myah Ward for Politico: MAGA debates how to respond to Kirk’s killing[4]
Jimmy Kimmel Live: Trump Grieves By Talking About $200 Million Ballroom, MAGA Hits New Lows & Guillermo at the Emmys[5] (YouTube video)
CNN: Trump threatens to ‘go after’ reporter, suggesting critical coverage could be hate speech[6] (YouTube video)
Zach Beauchamp for Vox: The third Red Scare[7]
Jamelle Bouie for The New York Times (Opinion): Charlie Kirk Didn’t Shy Away From Who He Was. We Shouldn’t Either.[8]
Ta-Nehisi Coates for Vanity Fair: Charlie Kirk, Redeemed: A Political Class Finds Its Lost Cause[9]
David French for The New York Times (Opinion): There Are Monsters in Your Midst, Too[10]
Karl Rove for The Wall Street Journal (Opinion): ‘They’ Didn’t Kill Charlie Kirk[11]
Andrew deGrandpre and Dan Lamothe for The Washington Post: Trump discloses U.S. targeted a third alleged drug boat from Venezuela[12]
Miranda Jeyaretnam for Time: Is the U.S. at War With Venezuela? Latest Strike Raises Legal Concerns[13]
Brian Finucane for Just Security: Asserting a License to Kill: Why the Caribbean Strike is a Dangerous Departure from the “War on Terror[14]
Jack Goldsmith and Bob Bauer for Executive Functions (Substack): Fateful Lawyering in the Trump Administration[15] (video, 36:27)
Marty Lederman for Just Security: The Many Ways in Which the September 2 Caribbean Strike was Unlawful … and the Grave Line the Military Has Crossed[16]
Justin Papp for Roll Call: House passes youth offender bills, in latest effort to overrule DC[17]
Kaela Cote-Stemmermann for City Cast DC: House Votes On 4 Bills That Could Upturn DC[18]
Jenny Gathright, Olivia George, Patrick Svitek, and Teo Armus for The Washington Post: Trump threatens to retake control of D.C. police over Bowser’s position on ICE[19]
Here are this week’s chatters:
Emily: Roger Ebert: The Electric Horseman; YouTube: The Electric Horseman (1979) Original Trailer[20][21]
John: Kate Golembiewski for The New York Times: Building an Octopus Dictionary, One Arm Movement at a Time; Chelsea O. Bennice, Kendra C. Buresch, Jennifer H. Grossman, Tylar D. Morano, and Roger T. Hanlon in Scientific Reports: Octopus arm flexibility facilitates complex behaviors in diverse natural environments; Heather F. Riley for NASA: Micrometeoroids and Orbital Debris (MMOD)[22][23][24]
David: Kasha Patel for The Washington Post: Moon helium deal is biggest purchase of natural resources from space; Smithsonian American Art Museum current exhibition: State Fairs: Growing American Craft[25][26]
Listener chatter from Jessi Bennett in Richmond, Virginia: Jessi Bennett for The Uncommonwealth: “One of the Most Unique Papers”: Documenting Chinese American Citizenship In Virginia[27]
For this week’s Slate Plus bonus episode, Emily, John, and David discuss the extraordinary corruption revealed by a new investigation into two major deals between Trump’s team and the United Arab Emirates.
In the latest Gabfest Reads[28], Emily talks with Jonathan Mahler[29] about his new book, The Gods of New York[30]. 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 Nina Porzucki
Research by Emily Ditto
You can find the full Political Gabfest show pages here[31].
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[32] and Spotify[33]. Or visit slate.com/gabfestplus[34] to get access wherever you listen.
References
- ^ City Cast DC (dc.citycast.fm)
- ^ Politico (www.politico.com)
- ^ Trump Advisers Prepare to Target Left-Leaning Groups After Kirk Shooting (www.wsj.com)
- ^ MAGA debates how to respond to Kirk’s killing (www.politico.com)
- ^ Trump Grieves By Talking About $200 Million Ballroom, MAGA Hits New Lows & Guillermo at the Emmys (youtu.be)
- ^ Trump threatens to ‘go after’ reporter, suggesting critical coverage could be hate speech (youtu.be)
- ^ The third Red Scare (www.vox.com)
- ^ Charlie Kirk Didn’t Shy Away From Who He Was. We Shouldn’t Either. (www.nytimes.com)
- ^ Charlie Kirk, Redeemed: A Political Class Finds Its Lost Cause (www.vanityfair.com)
- ^ There Are Monsters in Your Midst, Too (www.nytimes.com)
- ^ ‘They’ Didn’t Kill Charlie Kirk (www.wsj.com)
- ^ Trump discloses U.S. targeted a third alleged drug boat from Venezuela (www.washingtonpost.com)
- ^ Is the U.S. at War With Venezuela? Latest Strike Raises Legal Concerns (time.com)
- ^ Asserting a License to Kill: Why the Caribbean Strike is a Dangerous Departure from the “War on Terror (www.justsecurity.org)
- ^ Fateful Lawyering in the Trump Administration (executivefunctions.substack.com)
- ^ The Many Ways in Which the September 2 Caribbean Strike was Unlawful … and the Grave Line the Military Has Crossed (www.justsecurity.org)
- ^ House passes youth offender bills, in latest effort to overrule DC (rollcall.com)
- ^ House Votes On 4 Bills That Could Upturn DC (dc.citycast.fm)
- ^ Trump threatens to retake control of D.C. police over Bowser’s position on ICE (www.washingtonpost.com)
- ^ The Electric Horseman (www.rogerebert.com)
- ^ The Electric Horseman (1979) Original Trailer (youtu.be)
- ^ Building an Octopus Dictionary, One Arm Movement at a Time (www.nytimes.com)
- ^ Octopus arm flexibility facilitates complex behaviors in diverse natural environments (www.nature.com)
- ^ Micrometeoroids and Orbital Debris (MMOD) (www.nasa.gov)
- ^ Moon helium deal is biggest purchase of natural resources from space (www.washingtonpost.com)
- ^ State Fairs: Growing American Craft (americanart.si.edu)
- ^ “One of the Most Unique Papers”: Documenting Chinese American Citizenship In Virginia (uncommonwealth.virginiamemory.com)
- ^ Gabfest Reads (slate.com)
- ^ Jonathan Mahler (www.nytimes.com)
- ^ The Gods of New York (www.amazon.com)
- ^ show pages here (slate.com)
- ^ Apple Podcasts (podcasts.apple.com)
- ^ Spotify (open.spotify.com)
- ^ slate.com/gabfestplus (slate.com)
- ^ Bonus: Cryptocurrency Fortunes For Us and AI Chips For You
NYT investigation reveals blatantly corrupt business ties between Trump team and UAE (slate.com)