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.
1926
A Former Breitbart Star Takes On Steve Bannon
Ben Shapiro used to be a writer for Breitbart. Now, he’s an enemy of the alt-right.
27 min
1927
Learning From the Fallout of Brexit
Comedian and BBC Radio host Josie Long comes to America with her new politically charged show Something Better.
26 min
1928
The Incredible Failure of Get-Out-the-Vote
We thought Trump had a terrible ground game. And Clinton was expert at micro targeting. Sasha Issenberg tells us what went wrong.
21 min
1929
Can Jared Kushner Really Get Top-Secret Intel?
Slate’s Fred Kaplan on the rumored Trump plan to give family members national security clearance.
24 min
1930
A Show That Watches the Cops
TV journalist Dan Abrams on the controversial Live PD which follows cops in real time
23 min
1931
The Liberal Hegemony of Pop Culture
New York Times columnist Ross Douthat on how conservatives feel alienated by late night TV and what we’ve learned about Republican voters.
21 min
1932
This Is Your Brain on Political Correctness
In Campus Politics, history professor Jonathan Zimmerman argues that the marriage of psychology and political discourse has hurt our capacity for debate.
25 min
1933
The Fault in Our Polls
FiveThirtyEight’s Harry Enten explains polling error, and Princeton’s Julian Zelizer puts the 2016 election in historical context.
27 min
1934
Solidarity, Sister?
New York Times columnist Gail Collins debunks the myth of the women’s vote, and NPR’s David Folkenflik says the media should step away from the polls.
28 min
1935
The Autopsy
What The Gist got wrong about the election.
43 min
1936
More Rock, Less Talk
Puzzling through it all: the anti-Trump protests, the Trump economy, and of course, the Trump win.
30 min
1937
It’s Morning in Trump’s America
How did the media botch this call? GOP strategist Mike Murphy hazards a guess. Plus, the New Yorker’s Adam Davidson explains the market turbulence surrounding the election.
28 min
1938
Jamelle Bouie Sums It Up
Slate’s senior political correspondent on what to look for after the results start rolling in.
18 min
1939
The Myth of the Hard-Luck Trump Voter
A lot of reporting claims Trump supporters aren’t racist, they’ve just fallen on hard times. Slate’s Michelle Goldberg says that’s not the full story.
29 min
1940
Harry Enten Explains the FiveThirtyEight Numbers
Are you freaked out about Trump’s resurgent poll numbers? We called the senior reporter at FiveThirtyEight to calm our nerves.
23 min
1941
A Tax on Both Their Houses
The New Yorker’s Adam Davidson looks back at the presidential campaign and its wasteland of tax policies.
21 min
1942
Dominate the News, You Lose
Former Obama aide Tommy Vietor says one axiom holds true this election: The candidate in the headlines slips in the polls.
31 min
1943
Spotlight on a (Very) Close Race
The race in New York’s 19th district has everything: celebrity, big money, name-calling, fracking, and a very uncertain outcome.
28 min
1944
The Problem With Mark Kirk
The Chicago Tribune’s Eric Zorn on how two races in Illinois could spell the end for moderate Republicans in Congress.
28 min
1945
A Governor You Can Make a Beer With
Colorado’s brewer-turned-governor John Hickenlooper is waiting to see what comes of his state’s social experiment with legalized marijuana.
24 min
1946
Mike Debates His Former Producer About Dating
Gist phenom Andrea Silenzi returns to introduce her new show, Why Oh Why, a podcast about dating and relationships.
33 min
1947
Dan Savage Diagnoses Donald Trump
Are Trump’s sexual transgressions symptoms of his internalized heterophobia?
27 min
1948
Adam Tries to Ruin a Horrible Election
In his new TV special, professional killjoy Adam Conover of Adam Ruins Everything takes on the 2016 campaign.
26 min
1949
The Case Against Dropping College Debt
New Yorker contributing writer Adam Davidson says the country’s education system exacerbates inequality. But eliminating student loan payments wouldn’t help either.
27 min
1950
Do the Best and Brightest Ever Become President?
Elliott Kalan used to be the head writer for The Daily Show. Now, he studies presidents. And guess what: Most of them weren’t very good.
23 min