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.
2101
The Chaos Doctrine
Not so fast, neat freaks: The Undercover Economist explains how a cluttered space makes you work smarter.
27 min
2102
Dissecting the Carrier Deal
Aaron Renn of the Manhattan Institute on Trump’s first deal as president-elect.
25 min
2103
What’s Bunk About Brainstorming
Maria Konnikova wonders, “How about we touch base later and piggyback on a few of these ideas?”
23 min
2104
Why Working People Left the Democrats
Author Thomas Frank says the Democratic Party deserted labor years ago, and he sees little sign of a course correction.
27 min
2105
Stephen Dubner’s Genre-Busting Game Show
The Freakonomics journalist on his new podcast, Tell Me Something I Don’t Know, where expert panelists are taken outside their comfort zones.
24 min
2106
Revenge of the Music Nerds
Year after year, musicians like Chic and Joe Tex wither on the ballot for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Now the hall is inviting more critics to vote.
27 min
2107
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
2108
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
2109
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
2110
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
2111
A Show That Watches the Cops
TV journalist Dan Abrams on the controversial Live PD which follows cops in real time
23 min
2112
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
2113
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
2114
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
2115
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
2116
The Autopsy
What The Gist got wrong about the election.
43 min
2117
More Rock, Less Talk
Puzzling through it all: the anti-Trump protests, the Trump economy, and of course, the Trump win.
30 min
2118
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
2119
Jamelle Bouie Sums It Up
Slate’s senior political correspondent on what to look for after the results start rolling in.
18 min
2120
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
2121
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
2122
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
2123
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
2124
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
2125
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