Introduction

This week, Emily Bazelon, John Dickerson, and David Plotz discuss the good U.S. economy and Americans’ bad feelings about it; the Supreme Court case of SEC v. Jarkesy and its threat to the system of U.S. government; and white evangelicals and Christian nationalists with The Atlantic’s Tim Alberta. Send us your Conundrums: submit them at slate.com/conundrum. And join us in-person or online for Gabfest Live: The Conundrums Edition! December 7 at The 92nd Street Y, New York City. Tickets on sale now!

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

Sam Sutton for Politico: Why a ‘soft landing’ may not solve Biden’s polling problem

Lydia DePillis for The New York Times: Even Most Biden Voters Don’t See a Thriving Economy; Paul Krugman: Bidenomics and the Guys in the Bar; Jim Tankersley: ‘Morning in America’ Eludes Biden, Despite Economic Gains; and Bryce Covert: Don’t Let Inflation Bury the Memory of a Government Triumph

Dylan Matthews for Vox: Why the news is so negative – and what we can do about it 

David Winston for Roll Call: Why Voters Are Still Wary 10 Years After the Economic Collapse 

Robert Barnes for The Washington Post: Supreme Court conservatives seem dubious about SEC’s in-house tribunals

Ronald Mann for SCOTUSblog: Supreme Court to consider multi-pronged constitutional attack on SEC

Noah Rosenblum for The Atlantic: The Case That Could Destroy the Government

Ian Millhiser for Vox: A Supreme Court case about stocks could help make Trump’s authoritarian dreams reality

Public Citizens: The Attack on Big Government and the Remaking of American Liberalism by Paul Sabin 

Tim Alberta for The Atlantic: My Father, My Faith, and Donald Trump and How Politics Poisoned The Evangelical Church

The Kingdom, the Power, and the Glory: American Evangelicals in an Age of Extremism by Tim Alberta

Thomas B. Edsall for The New York Times: ‘The Embodiment of White Christian Nationalism in a Tailored Suit’

PRRI and Brookings: A Christian Nation? Understanding the Threat of Christian Nationalism to American Democracy and Culture

Here are this week’s chatters:

Emily: Brian Murphy for The Washington Post: Larry Fink, photographer who explored class divides, dies at 82 and Emily Bazelon and Larry Fink for The New York Times Magazine: Shadow of a Doubt

John: The New Yorker: “Bob and Don: A Love Story” a short documentary by Judd Apatow; CBS News Sunday Morning; and Oath and Honor: A Memoir and a Warning by Liz Cheney

David: Matt Phillips for The New York Times: Shane MacGowan, Songwriter Who Fused Punk and Irish Rebellion, Is Dead at 65 and peyoteshaman on YouTube: Pogues 930 club mid 1980’s

Listener chatter from Nicola in Dublin, Ireland: Irish Archaeology: Pangur Bán and Tread Softy: Classic Irish Poems for Children edited by Nicola Reddy

For this week’s Slate Plus bonus segment, David, John, and Emily talk about the book lover’s dilemma: borrow or buy. See also A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K. Le Guin; Little Free Library; Adam Sockel for Perspectives on Reading: Library users are book buyers; and Pew Research Center: Libraries, patrons, and e-books.

In the latest Gabfest Reads, Emily talks with James Sturm about Watership Down: The Graphic Novel. See also James Sturm and Joe Sutphin in The New York Times: In Times of Danger, There’s Strength in Numbers.

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

Hosts

Emily Bazelon, John Dickerson, and David Plotz

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