The Gist
For thirty minutes each day, Pesca challenges himself and his audience, in a responsibly provocative style, and gets beyond the rigidity and dogma. The Gist is surprising, reasonable, and willing to critique the left, the right, either party, or any idea.
1851
A Founding Fathers Bromance
The on-again, off-again friendship between Thomas Jefferson and John Adams.
36 min
1852
The Problem With America’s Rich
Is the top 20 percent of the country hogging opportunities that would otherwise go to the middle class?
32 min
1853
Is Neocon Nation-Building Done For?
Elliott Abrams wants U.S. support for democracy in the Arab world.
29 min
1854
Dana Gould’s Take on Horror
Turns out demons are ripe for comedy.
23 min
1855
The Anti-War Candidate Was Invented in 1968
How a Minnesota senator’s campaign for president set the precedent for Bernie Sanders’ run.
27 min
1856
What’s Next for Zimbabwe?
Robert Mugabe can still slow down the coup against him.
21 min
1857
At Home With Gilbert Gottfried
Comedian, voice actor, and lifelong hoarder of tiny soaps.
30 min
1858
The Nazi-Busting Woman Erased by History
Elizebeth Smith’s code-breaking genius helped America win two world wars, but the FBI took all the credit.
32 min
1859
People Power Beats the Courts
There have been three big constitutional changes in our lifetime. How did they happen?
22 min
1860
Putting the Con in Economics
Adam Davidson sizes up Trump’s top economic adviser
35 min
1861
Prisons of Profit
Private prisons were billed as a way to bring innovation to incarceration, housing more prisoners for less money. They’ve failed.
24 min
1862
The Family Man
Loudon Wainwright III reflects on his uneasy relationship with his father, now that he can “appreciate the difficulty of the job.”
28 min
1863
Why Bush 41 Was the Anti-Trump
As president, George H.W. Bush was tight-lipped, decorous, and self-abnegating—loath even to use the word 'I.'
24 min
1864
About Last Night
If Tuesday’s election results were a canary in a coal mine, it’s a really expansive mine and a somewhat unreliable canary.
24 min
1865
The Paradox of Black Patriotism
A black former Navy commander considers peaceful protest in the age of Trump.
24 min
1866
Lynn Novick on Making The Vietnam War
How do you curate a quagmire?
30 min
1867
Free to Be You and #MeToo
What’s around the corner from this moment of reckoning?
25 min
1868
Get Inside the Brain of Michael Rapaport
His views on New York sports teams, the sexual prowess of various athletes, and the basketball skills of Justin Bieber.
23 min
1869
Talk Like a Pirate (Party) Day
Birgitta Jónsdóttir explains what Iceland’s Pirate Party is all about. PROMO: What Can We Learn From Iceland’s Pirate Party?
27 min
1870
Putting Dr. Seuss on the Couch
It doesn’t take much to see the racial stereotypes in Theodor Seuss Geisel’s works. Does that mean we shouldn’t read them to kids?
23 min
1871
Scared to Death?
How fear and adrenaline can wreck our health.
22 min
1872
Sen. Cory Booker Has a Message for Pot Smokers
The New Jersey senator says that if you’re not trying to make it legal, you’re part of the problem.
28 min
1873
Fellas We Frolicked With
These two women hate how we talk about sex.
24 min
1874
Jacob Weisberg on the Steele Dossier
The oppo research that brought us the “pee tape” was sleazy, but don’t equate it with collusion with a hostile power.
23 min
1875
Jeff Bezos Isn’t King
Why the head of Amazon isn’t No. 1 among the world’s CEOs.
26 min