The Gist

The worst part about the Trump administration's high turnover? Every cabinet member is worse than the last. In the interview, Grigori Rasputin bent the ear of the last Russian tsar, manipulating affairs of state behind the scenes as he saw fit. But how did a man like him rise to such power? And what about his spiritual successors like Phil Spector or Tom Brady's trainer? Amos Barshad, author of No One Man Should Have All That Power: How Rasputins Manipulate the World, has our ear. In the Spiel, what does Joe Biden stand to gain from apologizing—and shouldn't a (likely) contender for president think in those terms? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On The Gist, like every week in Trump's America, this has been a wasted one. In the interview, Maria Konnikova is back for another round of "Is That Bullshit?" She talks chiropractors, whether or not cracking your back and neck is helpful, and what strokes have to do with it. Then, Mike's own chiropractor, Jason Fidler, steps in to offer some adjustments to the conversation. In the Spiel, Mike offers up a Lobstar challenge. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On The Gist, Mueller's report (or much of it) is bound to go public. In the interview, Wright Thompson has his place on the Mount Rushmore of sports writers, and his signature form is the profile. Tiger Woods, Lionel Messi, Michael Jordan and the like are fascinating in their relationship to fame, but also in their ordinary flaws. "On some level these stories are all about exploring whether or not there is even such a thing as free will," Thompson says. "I'm fascinated by the way things in our past continue to exert gravitational pull on us now." Wright's new book, a collection of his past work, is The Cost of These Dreams: Sports Stories and Other Serious Business. In the Spiel, a list of all the non-scandals hitting the Democratic 2020 candidates so far. Join Slate Plus! Members get bonus segments, exclusive member-only podcasts, and more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On The Gist, Trump should avoid healthcare. In the interview, Lori Gottlieb is a journalist and a therapist, and she's here to discuss her new book Maybe You Should Talk to Someone: A Therapist, Her Therapist, and Our Lives Revealed, why she became a therapist, how to deal with patients who've Googled you, and why therapists need therapy too. In the Spiel, the Joe Biden crisis isn't a crisis. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On The Gist, calming down about Trump's bombast. In the interview, Nicholas Christakis is here to discuss his new book Blueprint: The Evolutionary Origins of a Good Society, how he studied the progression of goodness throughout human history, the way healthy communities evolve, and why shipwrecks were so important to his research. In the Spiel, the problem with microaggressions. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On The Gist, Joe Biden's nose nuzzle. In the interview, Don Winslow's new book The Border is the final part of his trilogy on drug cartels. He's here today to discuss the work, how it's been twenty years in the making, and the difficulty of trying to get things right. In the Spiel, Betsy DeVos' indefensible Special Olympics funding cuts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On The Gist, the next wave of start-ups should be like the tech companies we have now, but with a conscience. In the interview, filmmaker Anthony Maras is more wedded to a theme—people in extremis—than a form, and his latest is a thriller based on true events. Hotel Mumbai follows a band of diverse survivors holed up in the Taj, one of the targets in India's 2008 terrorist attacks. "Something kind of magical happened, which is all these barriers that usually divide people evaporated." In the Spiel, Donald Trump: bullshitter or shitposter? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On The Gist, Mike Pesca, in true hipster fashion, laments the end of Wow Air. In the interview, much of the news media was guilty of hyping up the knockout blow that Mueller's report would deliver president Trump. But a few journalists on the left were always skeptical of the investigation's origins and potential. Among them is Nation contributor Aaron Maté, who saw in the Mueller probe a distraction from the Democratic Party's failure in 2016—and from the stories that really matter. In the Spiel, Rep. Adam Schiff comes out swinging. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On The Gist, Boeing is in a tight spot. In the interview, the boxing match between Mike Tyson and Buster Douglas was one for the ages. Everyone so expected Tyson to win that people weren't even placing bets until the odds were 42 to 1. In the new 30 for 30 film 42 to 1, Gist guest Jeremy Schaap (and Ben Houser) explore this shocking upset and how the fight changed boxing and these fighters' lives. In the Spiel, if we're going to build a wall, how about the one between church and state? Looking at you, Pennsylvania. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On The Gist, the latest gridlock facing the Green New Deal should clue in its backers in Congress. In the interview, Huwe Burton was 16 years old when detectives browbeat him into a false confession of murder. He spent about 20 years in prison as a result, and found an outlet in the quarter-mile track that he and other inmates built their endurance on. Since his release and exoneration, he hasn't stopped running. Burton's story is told in a Lope Magazine article—"Innocent People Don't Run"—by Liam Boylan-Pett, who also joins us in the studio. In the Spiel, the Trump reelection campaign's bizarre memo to all "Television Producers" leans on cherry-picked quotes. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices