The Dynamics of the Republican Primary Race

This week, Emily Bazelon, John Dickerson, and David Plotz discuss the Trump v. Biden presidential rematch, the end of the “vibecession,” and the political fights over immigration. 

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

Michael Scherer and Toluse Olorunnipa for The Washington Post: Trump, Biden pivot quickly to a 2024 campaign that many voters dread

Lauren Irwin for The Hill: Trump says Tim Scott ‘must really hate’ Haley

Allison Pecorin and Caleigh Bartash for ABC News: Trump picks up endorsements from holdouts after New Hampshire win

John E. Moser for Teaching American History: “Fireside Chat” on “Purging” the Democratic Party

Ben Casselman for The New York Times: U.S. Economy Grew at 3.3% Rate in Latest Quarter and German Lopez: The End of Economic Pessimism?

Jeff Stein for The Washington Post: As doomsday predictions dissipate, Biden aides savor booming economy and Trump promises to stop inflation. But would his plans actually help?

Kyla Scanlon for Kyla’s Newsletter: The Vibecession: The Self-Fulfilling Prophecy

Ben Harris and Aaron Sojourner for The Brookings Institution: Why are Americans so displeased with the economy?

David Montgomery for YouGov: How’s the economy doing? For many Americans, the answer is how their party’s doing

Punchbowl News AM: McConnell bows to Trump on border

Karoun Demirjian for The New York Times: With Border Deal Near, Parole and Money Take Center Stage in Senate Talks

Maria Sacchetti for The Washington Post: Explaining immigration parole, one sticking point in Ukraine aid-border deal

Rafael Bernal and Al Weaver for The Hill: Parole: What to know about the GOP’s latest border sticking point 

David J. Bier for the Cato Institute: New Data Show Migrants Were More Likely to Be Released by Trump Than Biden

Colleen Long for AP: Title 42 has ended. Here’s what it did, and how US immigration policy is changing

Here are this week’s chatters: 

Emily: Yair Rosenberg for The Atlantic: What Did Top Israeli War Officials Really Say About Gaza? and Comics Kingdom: Sally Forth

John: Tori Apodaca for CBS Sacramento: California writes cursive back into elementary school curriculum and Carmen Mayer, Stefanie Wallner, Nora Budde-Spengler, Sabrina Braunert, Petra A. Arndt, and Markus Kiefer in Frontiers in Psychology: Literacy Training of Kindergarten Children With Pencil, Keyboard or Tablet Stylus: The Influence of the Writing Tool on Reading and Writing Performance at the Letter and Word Level 

David: Erik Wemple for The Washington Post: At Gallery Place, it’s Ted Leonsis vs. one very loud street music act

Listener chatter from Annie O’Connor in St. Paul, Minnesota: LockPickingLawyer on YouTube

For this week’s Slate Plus bonus segment, David, John, and Emily discuss Ezra Klein’s piece in The New York Times: I Am Going to Miss Pitchfork, but That’s Only Half the Problem. See Judy Woodruff, Sarah Clune Hartman, and Frank Carlson for PBS: The connections between decline of local news and growing political division; Steven Waldman for The Atlantic: The Local-News Crisis Is Weirdly Easy to Solve; and Penelope Muse Abernathy for the Hussman School of Journalism and Media, University of North Carolina: The Expanding News Desert: Finding Solutions. See also Press Forward; Sara Fischer and Cuneyt Dil for Axios: Scoop: D.C. lawmakers to introduce new bill funding local news via vouchers; and the Law & Justice Journalism Project. 

In the latest Gabfest Reads, John talks with Brad Stulberg about his book, Master of Change: How to Excel When Everything Is Changing – Including You.

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

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices