This week, Emily Bazelon, John Dickerson, and David Plotz discuss how President Trump reacted to the No Kings protests by embracing his own “cult of the ruler” in particularly dramatic fashion, whether the shutdown will eventually break enough government functions to force more urgency in negotiations, and why Young Republicans are fawning over Hitler in group chats.
Here are some notes and references from this week’s show:
Devlin Barrett and Tyler Pager for The New York Times: Trump Said to Demand Justice Dept. Pay Him $230 Million for Past Cases
Jeff Mason and Nandita Bose for Reuters: White House says it will submit ballroom plans for review, with demolition already under way
Mona Charen for The Bulwark: Trump’s Mar-a-White House
Anne Applebaum for The Atlantic: Why Trump Turned to the Sewer
Jamelle Bouie for The New York Times (Opinion): No Kings Means No Kings. No Wonder Trump Hates It.
David Brooks for The Atlantic: America Needs a Mass Movement – Now
Alexander Bolton for The Hill: Senate GOP chatter rises on filibuster reform to end shutdown
Hannah Natanson, Lori Aratani, and Jacob Bogage for The Washington Post: Trump is creating two classes of federal workers: Paid and unpaid
Jay O’Brien for ABC News: SNAP benefits to halt in some states amid government shutdown
Paige Winfield Cunningham for The Washington Post: Health insurance sticker shock begins as shutdown battle over subsidies rages
Justin Doubleday for Federal News Network: ‘This has never happened before’: NNSA furloughs 1,400 staff
Annie Grayer and Manu Raju for CNN: Big beef: GOP pushback grows over Trump’s call to buy beef from Argentina
Jason Beeferman and Emily Ngo for Politico: ‘I love Hitler’: Leaked messages expose Young Republicans’ racist chat
Aileen Graef, Kit Maher, and Kristen Holmes for CNN: Trump’s nominee for whistleblower office is withdrawn after reports of racist texts
Jack Butler for The Wall Street Journal (Opinion): Vance’s Bad Excuses for Young Republicans
Katherine Dee for Politico Magazine: Why the Young Republicans Felt Comfortable Saying Such Vile Stuff
Here are this week’s chatters:
Emily: Holmes Lybrand for CNN: Arizona sues over Mike Johnson’s refusal to swear in Democrats’ newest congresswoman
John: Scott MacFarlane for CBS News: Ousted Justice Dept. attorneys who prosecuted Trump open new law firm targeting corruption; Anthony Salvanto, Jennifer De Pinto, Fred Backus, and Kabir Khanna for CBS News: CBS News poll finds California Prop 50 support motivated by national focus, opposition to Trump
David: Josh Barro for New York Magazine (Intelligencer): On Airlines, Window Shades Are the New Reclining Seats; Opheli Garcia Lawler for Thrillist: The Latest Airplane Etiquette Frontier Is the Window Shade
Listener chatter from Lynsee Sardell in Forest Grove, Oregon: A Woman’s Place Is in the Brewhouse: A Forgotten History of Alewives, Brewsters, Witches, and CEOs by Tara Nurin; Laken Brooks for The Conversation and Smithsonian Magazine: Why Did Women Stop Dominating the Beer Industry?
For this week’s Slate Plus bonus episode, Emily, John, and David talk to Rabbi Angela Buchdahl about what it means to be a rabbi these days, the importance of empathy as a first principle for all of us, and her new memoir, Heart of a Stranger: An Unlikely Rabbi’s Story of Faith, Identity, and Belonging.
In the latest Gabfest ReadsEmily talks with Yale law professor John Witt about his new book, The Radical Fund: How a Band of Visionaries and a Million Dollars Upended America. 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
Research by Emily Ditto
You can find the full Political Gabfest show pages here.
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 and Spotify. Or visit slate.com/gabfestplus to get access wherever you listen.
