Exploring the Evolution of Political Conventions and Candidate Legitimacy

This week, Emily Bazelon, John Dickerson, and David Plotz discuss President Joe Biden’s re-election campaign; the Supreme Court’s boost for Donald Trump and review of social media’s content moderation; and Senator Mitch McConnell’s decision to time out as minority leader. Join us for our next Political Gabfest Live show in Washington, D.C. on March 27! Tickets are on sale now. Planning to attend? Submit a Listener Chatter to gabfest@slate.com and you might be picked to chatter live. 

Here are some notes and references from this week’s show:

Ezra Klein for The New York Times Ezra Klein Show podcast: Democrats Have a Better Option Than Biden

Jamelle Bouie for The New York Times: It’s Not as Easy as Just Getting Biden to Drop Out

Yasmeen Abutaleb and Marianne LeVine for The Washington Post: Biden wins Michigan primary but faces notable showing by ‘uncommitted’

Thomas L. Friedman for The New York Times: Israel Is Losing Its Greatest Asset: Acceptance

Karl Rove for The Wall Street Journal: Trump Goes on Fox and Shows His Weakness

Amy Howe for SCOTUSblog: Supreme Court skeptical of Texas, Florida regulation of social media moderation

G.S. Hans for Balls and Strikes: How the Supreme Court’s Latest Big Tech Case Pits Cancel Culture Hysteria Against Corporate Power

Michael C. Dorf for Dorf on Law: The Partial Facial Challenge Option in the Netchoice Cases

Alan Feuer for The New York Times: In Taking Up Trump’s Immunity Claim, Supreme Court Bolstered His Delay Strategy

John Dickerson for CBS News: Examining Mitch McConnell’s legacy as Senate Republican leader

The Long Game: A Memoir by Mitch McConnell

Mariana Alfaro for The Washington Post: Here’s who could replace Mitch McConnell as Senate’s top Republican

Mark Sumner for the Daily Kos: Watch Tim Scott utterly humiliate himself for Trump

Katelyn Caralle and Sarah Ewall-Wice for the Daily Mail: Lindsey Graham is mercilessly BOOED at Trump’s South Carolina victory party: Ex-president brings Senator on stage after introducing him as a ‘little further to the left’

Saturday Night Live: Trump Victory Party Cold Open

Here are this week’s chatters:

Emily: Molly Ryan for WRKF 89.3 Baton Rouge Public Radio: House lawmakers advance bills targeting early release from prison – and more

John: Aliza Chasan for CBS News: Cardboard box filled with unopened hockey cards sells for more than $3.7 million at auction and Joshua Rapp Learn for Discover: Schrődinger’s Cat Experiment and the Conundrum That Rules Modern Physics

David: Plainsong by Kent Haruf and City Cast: Work with us.

Listener chatter from Jacob in Chicago, Illinois: citiesbydiana on TikTok: Top 6 Best Stroads in America

For this week’s Slate Plus bonus segment, David, John, and Emily discuss the Republican obsession with Hunter Biden and the possibility of impeaching President Joe Biden. See Matthew Yglesias for Slow Boring: Republicans can’t stop swallowing Russian propaganda. See also Ken Tran for USA Today: Hunter Biden denies Joe Biden involved in family business: ‘Destructive political charade’; Amy Taxin and Alanna Durkin Richer for AP: Ex-FBI informant charged with lying about Bidens to remain jailed while he awaits trial, judge rules; and Philip Bump for The Washington Post: Evaluating the anti-Biden case House Republicans offered on social media. 

In the latest Gabfest Reads, David talks with Kiley Reid about her book, Come and Get It.

Email your chatters, questions, and comments to gabfest@slate.com. (Messages may be referenced by name unless the writer stipulates otherwise.)

Podcast production by Cheyna Roth 

Research by Julie Huygen

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