The Gist

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

On The Gist, we should be willing to accept that the Barr letter and Mueller report won't lead to any indictments. In the interview, David Priess, former CIA staffer and daily intelligence briefer for Robert Mueller, is here to talk about the Mueller report. What do we know? What questions are still unanswered? And where do we go from here? Priess' latest book is How to Get Rid of a President: History's Guide to Removing Unpopular, Unable, or Unfit Chief Executives. In the Spiel, the Mueller report does not exonerate Trump, even if Trump thinks it does. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On The Gist, ISIS may be defeated, but the people who made up its forces aren't gone. In the interview, novelist John Lanchester is here to discuss his new novel The Wall, the symbolic and practical use of walls, and how closely we should pay attention to our dreams. In the Spiel, Jim Nantz shouldn't be in those Capital One commercials for March Madness. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On The Gist, who paid for those two Chinese-born tech magnates to take photos with Trump? In the interview, Vanderbilt professor Jonathan Metzl is here to discuss his new book Dying of Whiteness: How the Politics of Racial Resentment Is Killing America's Heartland. In the Spiel, litigating Biden's past. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On The Gist, have you heard about the mob hit that took place a few weeks ago? In the interview, journalist Sarah Kliff joins us to discuss maternal mortality rates in the United States, what California has done to fix it, and what the rest of the country should learn from them. Kliff is the host of Vox's The Impact. In the Spiel, Donald Trump on John McCain's funeral. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On The Gist, it wouldn't just be morally right for Trump to finally denounce white nationalism. It would be politically smart. In the interview, Jill Abramson's Merchants of Truth: The Business of News and the Fight for Facts was released to glowing reviews—but valid accusations of plagiarism and factual errors took some of that shine off. As Mike asks Abramson (a former executive editor of the New York Times), were the negative headlines so grabby that they've damned the book's valuable insights? And would that in itself prove many of her worries about journalism in the 21st century? In the Spiel, the New York Times, biased? You don't say. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On The Gist, Beto O'Rourke, the countertop candidate. In the interview, historian Rutger Bregman got in a spat with Fox host Tucker Carlson, but you wouldn't know it if it weren't for his own video of the incident. Fox never aired it, as Bregman accused Carlson of carrying water for billionaires and Carlson responded with profane insults. Bregman joins the Gist to give us the backstory on that, but not before laying out some of the progressive economic policies—with basis in American history—that he favors, Carlson's disapproval notwithstanding. Bregman is the author of Utopia for Realists: How We Can Build the Ideal Worldand writes for the Correspondent. In the Spiel, New Zealand's unity on gun control is admirable. In the big, diverse country that is the United States, things are a little more complicated. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On The Gist, Senator Thom Tillis' op-ed, now with moral fiber! In the interview, no one's ever had to wonder what was on tech journalist Kara Swisher's mind (she'll just tell you) and that includes the litany of Silicon Valley oligarchs she's interviewed. Swisher tells us how the modern world is very much shaped by company founders' personality quirks and blind spots, what government regulation of Google and Facebook should look like, and what women can do to get what they want in the workplace. Swisher is the co-founder of Recode and the host of its Recode Decode podcast. In the Spiel, if you want to measure the ills that come with an increasingly connected world, look no farther than the shooting in Christchurch, New Zealand. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On The Gist, Beto O'Rourke is running for president. But should he? In the interview, Tim Alberta, chief political correspondent for Politico, recently wrote a piece about Reps. Ilhan Omar and Dean Phillips and the current divide in the Democratic party, "The Democrat's Dilemma." Alberta is here today to discuss the difficulty facing the Democratic party as some new members of Congress seem to be pushing the party further left and whether or not that's a good thing. His upcoming book is American Carnage: On the Front Lines of the Republican Civil War and the Rise of President Trump. In the Spiel, Paul Manafort goes to Ostrich Court. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On The Gist, three stray thoughts on the college admissions scandal. In the interview, Maria Konnikova is back to talk about those naïve millennials. Last year many of them were duped into paying thousands for tickets to Billy McFarland's Fyre Festival, a glamorous event that existed in name only. That begs the question: Are millennials more susceptible to being scammed than other generations, or is that bullshit? In the Spiel, the rich and powerful often get off easy in the court of law (case in point: Paul Manafort). But instead of throwing the book at them, maybe we should sentence everyone else a little more kindly, too. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices