The Gist

Slate's Henry Grabar explains how rampant building in the Houston suburbs have made the area worse for wear during Tropical Storm Harvey. And in the Spiel, guest-host Osita Nwanevu breaks his self-imposed moratorium against criticizing columnist David Brooks. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Al Letson was just trying to cover a demonstration – an anti-hate rally in Berkeley. When he saw a group of balaclava-clad men descend on an apparent right-wing agitator, he jumped into the fray, using his body to defend the man from kicks and punches. Letson is the host of Reveal from the Center for Investigative Reporting and PRX. And for the Spiel, is "#whaboom" the worst of our culture today? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The hype surrounding the Saturday night fight between boxer Floyd Mayweather Jr. and MMA fighter Conor McGregor is overtly racially charged. Why? Because people are eating it up, says Wesley Morris, critic-at-large for the New York Times. Morris and Mike talk about the role of race in the NFL's treatment of Colin Kaepernick, Dana Schutz's Open Casket painting of Emmett Till, the closing of the Broadway show The Great Comet, and more. Morris is the co-host of the Still Processing podcast. In the Spiel: We live in interesting times. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Understanding sexual consent is complicated. Colleges are working to clarify this issue while also policing sexual assault. But when does this cross over into legislating feelings versus facts? Vanessa Grigoriadis helps us understand the current iteration of the sexual consent debate happening on campuses today. Grigoriadis is the author of Blurred Lines: Rethinking Sex, Power, and Consent on Campus. In the Spiel: Should we tear down statues? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The antifa movement is resurging. It started in 1920s Europe to fight Hitler and Mussolini and has returned to oppose the current wave of xenophobia in the United States. Author Mark Bray walks us through the history of the antifa movement. Bray is the author of Antifa: The Anti-Fascist Handbook. In the Spiel: Trump's campaign speech in Phoenix. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Filmmaker Bryan Fogel had a simple hypothesis: The worldwide anti-doping system is a joke. To test his theory, Fogel wanted to dope himself and evade detection. A Russian anti-doping lab director agreed to help. Months later, Fogel's personal doping coach was blowing the whistle on Russia's piss-swapping scam to get around anti-doping rules. Fogel's documentary, Icarus, is available on Netflix. In the Spiel: The Instagram drama of Louise Linton, wife of Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Malcolm Gladwell's hit podcast Revisionist History spits out neat, distilled theories in every episode. Some of them are careful, others are reductive. But Gladwell says his theories aren't all meant to be airtight: They just help him organize his stories, or merely spruce them up. "In some of them I'm trying to make a very, very serious, moral point. Sometimes I'm just—I'm making intellectual mischief." In the Spiel: the parallels between the Obama administration and the Trump administration on race relations. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In 1982, MTV started guiding Billboard's taste in music. The year was filled with elaborate videos and cheesy ballads. Chris Molanphy takes us through all the hand claps and synth vibes of that year's Billboard hits. Molanphy writes Slate's Why Is This Song No. 1 column and hosts the podcast Hit Parade. In the Spiel: The last time anything good happened to Donald Trump. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Did Steve Bannon really misunderstand the meaning of off the record during his now-infamous "interview" with the American Prospect? "Yup," says Joshua Green, author of Devil's Bargain, a book about Bannon's influence on the Trump presidency. Green addresses the latest rumors of Bannon's political demise, and tries to sort out why, exactly, Trump's chief strategist always wears three shirts at once. In the Spiel, a nuclear war with North Korea no longer feels inevitable. So what now? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Political scientist Moshe Maor says Donald Trump's policy ideas are very, very over-the-top. But that's exactly the point. On issues like immigration and transgender service members, bold overreactions are the only kind of policies that speak to cynical voters. "People want immediate action," says Maor. "Morality aside, Trump is playing his cards right." Maor is a professor at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. In the Spiel, is Donal Trump a smart racist or a stupid racist? Join Slate Plus! Members get bonus segments, exclusive member-only podcasts, and more. Sign up for a free trial today at Slate.com/gistplus. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices