The Gist

What does it mean to be Muslim in the U.S. right now? Slate's Aymann Ismail set out to understand, interviewing the founder of right-wing website Gateway Pundit, a former Muslim extremist, and his own family members, among others. What Aymann has learned so far has surprised him. His Slate video series is "Who's Afraid of Aymann Ismail?" In the Spiel, jokes didn't take down Harvey Weinstein. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Things are looking bleak in Oklahoma. Low taxes and slashed state spending mean schools, prisons, and even the state capitol building itself are failing. Russell Cobb, a native Okie, explains how his home state came to be so screwed up. In the Spiel, what's so wrong with a gun registry? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Comedian Jason Kravits can write a Broadway hit, on the spot. That's the premise of his improv cabaret show, where he invents tunes based on audience suggestions, such as "Yom Kippur" or "a Victorian sewer." The show, Off the Top, is on the second Saturday of every month at the Duplex in Manhattan. His next show is Oct. 14 at 7 p.m. In the Spiel, the Environmental Protection Agency. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Masha Gessen returns to The Gist, this time to talk about her latest work, The Future Is History. Gessen uses the book to examine the ways in which post-Soviet Russia failed to process the traumas of totalitarianism. In failing to reckon with its past, did Russia doom itself to a bleak future? In the Spiel, the dearth of details in the Trump administration's tax plan. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This week, we learned that Russian-linked Facebook ads targeted swing states during the 2016 election. Initially hesitant about sharing information with the government, Facebook finally gave in to avoid a deeper discussion on regulation, but tech companies have grown so big that it might be time for the government to step in. Journalist Franklin Foer explains how tech has become so powerful, and why it's essential to be skeptical of technological innovation. Foer's new book is World Without Mind: The Existential Threat of Big Tech. In the Spiel, gun-control regulations. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Has the military become more tolerant of collateral damage under President Trump? Why are there no good military options in North Korea? And who does it hurt when the president goes off-script about Kim Jong-un? Retired Maj. Gen. James "Spider" Marks has the answers. In the Spiel, the cost of paying constant attention to the president's myriad sins and insults. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Before the Cold War, the president spent most of his time focusing on long-term problems facing the nation. But ever since Franklin D. Roosevelt, the president has had to devote more time to immediate crises than overarching strategy. Author Jeremi Suri explains how the office of the president has changed so drastically—and whether there's any way for occupants to succeed now. Suri's new book is The Impossible Presidency: The Rise and Fall of America's Highest Office. In the Spiel, more ways to think about gun reform. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On The Gist, we're thinking about the mass shooting in Las Vegas and the errors we make when we attempt to explain the motives of an attacker. Author Masha Gessen says it's all part of our desire to reassure ourselves that we won't fall victim to a bomb blast or a spray of bullets. "As soon as we find an explanation, we set it aside and we're reassured that it's not going to happen to us." Gessen went in search of an explanation for the Boston Marathon bombing in her book, The Brothers. She'll be back soon to talk about her latest book, The Future Is History: How Totalitarianism Reclaimed Russia. In the Spiel, Mike found the perfect metaphor for our familiar reaction to a mass shooting. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Charlatans and magical thinkers aren't new to this country; they helped shape it. So goes the thesis of Fantasyland: How America Went Haywire. Author Kurt Andersen joins Mike to consider religious quacks, the wackadoodles of the left and right, and the shrinking authority of the academy. Andersen is the host of Studio 360. In the Spiel, we're long overdue for another Lobstar. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

For the past 25 years, Bill Kristol of the Weekly Standard and Bill Galston of the Brookings Institution have been debating the meaning of presidential elections. But in 2016, they found themselves agreeing much more frequently on issues such as immigration, the tech industry, and tax reform. These men, on opposite sides of center, decided to develop a plan to recenter American politics. Galston and Kristol's new project is the New Center. In the Spiel, a librarian rejected books donated by Melania Trump. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices