This week, Emily Bazelon, John Dickerson, and David Plotz discuss Donald Trump’s trials schedule and the 2024 election calendar; Vivek Ramaswamy; and “What the Best Places in America Have in Common.”

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

Devlin Barrett, Rachel Weiner, and Perry Stein for The Washington Post: “Trump’s D.C. election-obstruction trial scheduled for March 2024”

Josh Barro in Very Serious: “Section Guy Runs For President”

Kathryn J. Edin, H. Luke Shaefer, and Timothy J. Nelson in The Atlantic: “What the Best Places in America Have in Common” and The Injustice of Place: Uncovering the Legacy of Poverty in America

MGM’s “Red Dawn” official trailer

John Dickerson for CBS News’ Prime Time: “Russia accuses Ukraine of large-scale drone attack”

Hamlet by Shakespeare: “To die, to sleep– To sleep–perchance to dream.”

Here are this week’s chatters:

John: Strike Force Five podcast on Spotify; Caroline Anders for The Washington Post: “France has too much wine. It’s paying millions to destroy the leftovers.”; Giri Viswanathan for CNN: “Marijuana and hallucinogen use, binge drinking reached records highs in middle-aged adults, survey finds”; and James Martinez for AP: “’Like Snoop Dogg’s living room’: Smell of pot wafts over notorious U.S. Open court”

Emily: Tennis.com: “Azarenka, Svitolina, Wozniacki among 10 moms in the US Open main draw this year”

David: Tree of the Year 2023 by the Woodland Trust; European Tree of the Year; Asian Tree of the Year; and Josh Levin for Slate’s One Year: 1955 podcast: “The Team Nobody Would Play”

Listener chatter from Brian Jackson: Jordan Pascale for DCist: “At DCA, Crews Race Each Night To Repave A Bit Of Runway Before The Next Day’s Flights”

For this week’s Slate Plus bonus segment, John, Emily, and David discuss militias.

In this month’s Gabfest Reads, Emily, David, and John talk with Barbara Kingsolver about her best-selling book, Demon Copperhead.

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

Podcast production by Cheyna Roth

Research by Julie Huygen

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#404 Goals for 2024: Become the Person I Roll My Eyes Towards, Who Killed JFK? & Why Nikki Can Never Meet Sam Harris!