The Gist

On The Gist, the varying sizes of Trump and Greenland. In the interview, journalist Steve Rushin is here to talk with Mike about his new memoir Nights at White Castle. They discuss the amorphous nature of nostalgia, why children should go on boring vacations, and the podcast Ball & Chain that he hosts with his wife, basketball great Rebecca Lobo. In the Spiel, Sha Na Na. Want to see a special episode of The Gist live in New York? Get your tickets here! Slate Plus members get bonus segments and ad-free podcast feeds. Sign up now. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On The Gist, Slate's Jordan Weissmann tells guest host Sean McElwee which presidential candidates' signature ideas are hot (and which are not). In the interview, the Green New Deal isn't just a set of climate policies—it's a chance to break with the uneven benefits afforded by the original New Deal and other progressive policies. Julian Brave NoiseCat (McElwee's colleague at Data for Progress) and activist Adrien Salazar (of the think tank Demos) are in the studio to share their expertise on the stimulus package. In the Spiel, McElwee digs into polling results from his own Data for Progress. Slate Plus members get bonus segments and ad-free podcast feeds. Sign up now. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On The Gist, getting a bit willy-nilly with "white supremacy." In the interview, John Hickenlooper may be mulling a pivot from presidential to Senate candidate, but he was at the Iowa State Fair to weigh in on issues that affect the entire country—and to strike a moderate tone. In last year's midterms, he says, "the successful Democrat did not embrace the Green New Deal and did not embrace 'Medicare for All.' That's what we're going to need to do to beat Donald Trump." In the Spiel, there is no greater joy than knowing which kids' shows—from our own generation or not—are crap. Slate Plus members get bonus segments and ad-free podcast feeds. Sign up now. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On The Gist, Biden's gaffes. In the interview, Maria Konnikova, author of The Confidence Game, is back for another round of Is That Bullshit? This time she and Mike talk all about attention spans. There always seem to be claims that attention spans are shrinking, but is that true? Should we be worried that we feel distracted more and more or just take a deep breath and embrace it? In the Spiel, the Ebola cure. Want to see a special episode of The Gist live in New York? Get your tickets here! Slate Plus members get bonus segments and ad-free podcast feeds. Sign up now. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On The Gist, the opinions of the people at the Iowa State Fair. In the interview, Jay Inslee was among the 21 Democratic presidential candidates to converge on the Iowa State Fair this past weekend. Washington's governor grabbed a seat with Mike to talk about applying his state's environmental victories to the federal level, taxing Amazon, and getting rid of the gridlocking filibuster. In the Spiel, The Gist went to the Iowa State Fair and got answers from Democratic presidential candidates about filibuster reform. Want to see a special episode of The Gist live in New York? Get your tickets here! Slate Plus members get bonus segments and ad-free podcast feeds. Sign up now. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On The Gist, the real consequences of immigration laws. In the interview, Charles Duhigg is who you get when you combine an investigative reporter with an agony aunt. In his new Slate podcast (How To!), he teases out advice on everyday problems, from how to tell a good joke to how to rob a bank (alright, the problems aren't that common). You can subscribe to How To! on Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen to podcasts. In the Spiel, Trump, children, and shootings. Want to see a special episode of The Gist live in New York? Get your tickets here! Slate Plus members get bonus segments and ad-free podcast feeds. Sign up now. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On The Gist, Montana has gone a little berserk. In the interview, Joshua Cohen is here to discuss his new book Attention: Dispatches From the Land of Distraction, and the many discursions he and Mike go on thanks to it. Like the depth of Bernie's political policies, Trump's time in Atlantic City, and why the circus is so important to the history of American culture. In the Spiel, Trump's distraction tactics. Want to see a special episode of The Gist live in New York? Get your tickets here! Slate Plus members get bonus segments and ad-free podcast feeds. Sign up now. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On The Gist, Dayton and El Paso deserve better than the presence of Donald Trump. In the interview, FiveThirtyEight elections analyst Geoffrey Skelley talks through what Democrats need to do to turn out voters in 2020. Should they focus on the "Obama coalition" that elected him twice? Or is it smarter to turn toward Obama voters that then voted for Trump in 2016? Why not both? In the Spiel, anyone telling you the decade-long Assault Weapons Ban was ineffective is talking nonsense. Want to see a special episode of The Gist live in New York? Get your tickets here! Slate Plus members get bonus segments and ad-free podcast feeds. Sign up now. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On The Gist, if you want gun control, you clearly have to just vote Democrat. In the interview, the tit-for-tat trade war with China is unceasing. Slate's Jordan Weissmann tells Mike about the latest developments in the fight between presidents Trump and Xi Jinping, whether or not China is really manipulating its currency, and the potential paths ahead. In the Spiel, Americans are getting angry over all the wrong things. It's infuriating! Slate Plus members get bonus segments and ad-free podcast feeds. Sign up now. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On The Gist, this weekend's mass shooters had different motives. It won't do to draw lessons from just one of them. In the interview, Amherst College professor Austin Sarat wants to enlist gun owners themselves in the fight for firearm regulation. "48 percent of gun owners favor a ban on assault weapons," he says, citing the Pew Research Center. The problem is convincing them that gun control advocates aren't pushing for full-on confiscation. Sarat is the co-editor of The Lives of Guns. In the Spiel, the one clear factor in America's growing mass shooting problem? Rifles. Slate Plus members get bonus segments and ad-free podcast feeds. Sign up now. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices