The Gist

On The Gist, when your sympathy for the poor goes beyond platitudes, Paul Ryan fires you. In the interview, the New York Times’ Rukmini Callimachi has a new podcast. Caliphate lays out how she knows what she knows about ISIS. Through her reporting in Iraq, she’s learned how the group endeared itself to locals with services as simple as garbage collection. And though the would-be Islamic State has fallen, the extremists behind it persist as an insurgency. In the Spiel, there is no Spiel! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On Thursday’s Gist, EPA chief Scott Pruitt’s behavior is too plainly unethical to sweep under the rug. What does a Malaysian party boy have to do with President Trump’s potential breach of the Emoluments Clause? Reveal’s Amy Walters and WAMU’s Patrick Madden can explain everything in their story for Reveal, “Check into Trump’s Washington Hotel.” In the Spiel, how about that batshit crazy rant courtesy of our president on Thursday morning? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On Wednesday’s Gist, you didn’t think Trump’s latest political nominee was scandal-free, did you? And as the Supreme Court weighs Trump’s travel ban on Muslim-majority countries, one of its most notorious decisions still stands. Korematsu v. United States upheld America’s wartime internment of thousands of Japanese Americans, and it’s still cited as legal precedent today. Harvard Law School’s Martha Minow recently wrote about the decision and its relevance in 2018. In the Spiel, president Trump’s approval ratings are highest in West Virginia. Senate candidate (and former convict) Don Blankenship is rolling with it. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On Tuesday's Gist, Donald Trump’s win has inspired a whole bunch of down-ballot Republicans, and boy, are they lame. What is retroactive classification, and is it going to get former FBI Director James Comey in trouble? Bradley P. Moss specializes in litigation related to security clearance law. He explains why Comey may need to worry about prosecution for leaking government secrets. Moss is the deputy executive director of the James Madison Project to promote government accountability and reduction of secrecy. In the Spiel, is third-time dad Prince William ugly? We ask the question, for science! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On The Gist, Sen. Bob Corker’s definition of a “gotcha question” is a bad sign for public discourse these days. Before his Pulitzer Prize-winning investigation into the rampant sexual abuse allegations against Harvey Weinstein, Ronan Farrow worked in the State Department. His new book, War on Peace, documents the department’s loss of personnel and prestige under every recent president—especially the current one.  In the Spiel, banning high-capacity magazines would save lives. The foiled shooting in Nashville just proved it. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On today’s Gist, the retroactively classified memos of James Comey. New Yorker writer Adam Davidson says the raids on Michael Cohen’s offices signal the beginning of the end for the Trump presidency. Here’s why: Cohen is the key to learning about Trump’s personal peccadillos as well the international expansion of the Trump Organization, which Davidson says should be “ridiculously rich hunting ground” for prosecutors. He also thinks we’re about to learn a lot more about Trump’s sex life.  In the Spiel, we insult our friends: When podcasts root out artifice, starting with the edifice.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On The Gist, if Chuck Schumer gets his way with decriminalizing marijuana, we can finally say goodbye to the lowest-hanging fruit: pot jokes. Crooked Media founder Jon Lovett finds the James Comey book deeply frustrating—to read, to hear about, to contemplate. “But, you know,” says Lovett, “I’m a political self-harmer so I have downloaded the audiobook.” He explains the logical fallacy at the heart of one of Comey’s most frequent recitations and does a little free campaign consulting. Listen to his shows, Pod Save America and Lovett or Leave It.  In the Spiel, let’s draw a lesson from Meghan McCain’s faux pas (and real props) regarding J. Edgar Hoover. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On today’s Gist, don’t all these senators know the depths of CIA Director Mike Pompeo’s patriotism? Plus, why are chemical weapons useful to Bashar al-Assad? “They’re really weapons of terror,” explains Aaron Stein, co-host of the Arms Control Wonk podcast. Stein is the author of Turkey’s New Foreign Policy. And filmmakers Tony Gilroy and Brad Anderson tell us what it was like filming their latest movie, Beirut, during a particularly long and hot Ramadan.  In the Spiel, a few more words about the late Barbara Bush.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On Tuesday’s Gist, that old Watergate maxim, “the cover-up is worse than the crime,” should be revised to recognize the Michael Cohen effect. Plus, we take a closer look at the vertical merger of AT&T and Time Warner, and why the Justice Department has sued to stop it. Wall Street Journal reporter Brent Kendall walks us through the case so far.  And in the Spiel, who is the “famous Houston sketch artist” drawn into the Stormy Daniels affair? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On Monday’s Gist, we’re counting Pulitzers and powering up. Jeremy Heimans and Henry Timms sort power into two categories: old and new. Old power is like Congress: top-down, official. New power is like Facebook: decentralized, crowd-sourced. What is the best way to meld both kinds of influence to improve our lives? Heimans and Timms have the beginnings of an answer. They’re the authors of New Power: How Power Works in Our Hyperconnected World – and How to Make It Work for You. In the Spiel, James Comey does seem ego-driven. That’s not always a bad thing.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On The Gist, have you heard? Chemistry has been debunked. Thank Russia. Ed Helms is best known for comedic roles—see Andy Bernard on The Office. But in the drama Chappaquiddick, Helms plays Joseph Gargan, the cousin and lawyer of Sen. Ted Kennedy. Gargan found himself in Kennedy’s inner circle as the young senator came under scrutiny for his role in the death of Mary Jo Kopechne. In the Spiel, pervs are making news again. Plus: say hello to a new Lobstar of the Antentwig. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On The Gist, Zuckerberg’s hearings got crowded out by bigger news. Too bad. Facts are facts, even in the greatly polarized year that is 2018. Holmes Lybrand writes the Weekly Standard’s “Fact Check” series, and even though it isn’t all about Trump’s latest tweets and utterances, it sometimes gets readers angry. In the Spiel, the president’s saber rattling over Syria is classic Trump: The man lies about his past statements. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On The Gist, Paul Ryan cared about just one thing: cutting taxes. Word choice is not always the most stimulating place to start an interview with an author, but it works when you’re talking to Sloane Crosley. The essayist defends metaphors like “Holocaust bunk bed” and the related analogy, “as if the Brady Bunch were filmed in Nazi Germany.” Crosley’s latest book—a collection of essays—is Look Alive Out There. In the Spiel, Congress failed to pin Mark Zuckerberg down. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On The Gist, beware the rise of the despot’s son-in-law. In the interview, media scrutinizer Brooke Gladstone wrote a graphic novel about the “Influencing Machines” that we often blame modernity’s problems on. Facebook is the latest of these, but this time, it’s less scapegoat and more actual problem to be reckoned with. Brooke’s book, illustrated by Josh Neufeld, is The Influencing Machine: Brooke Gladstone on the Media. In the Spiel—attorney-client privilege, dead? No it taint!      Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On The Gist, president Trump just doesn’t have the ambition to tackle a problem like Syria. It’s a critical week for Facebook. Mark Zuckerberg has two dates with Congress, where he’ll be answering questions on the company’s loss of millions of its users’ data to Cambridge Analytica. Slate writer April Glaser tells us what to expect ahead of the hearings. In the Spiel, the least the Trump circus can do is give us some decent TV. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On today’s show, we don’t need a whole shadow Cabinet—we just need a shadow Trump. Comedian Hari Kondabolu is back—and this time, he brought his brother. Hari came to comedy after working as a community activist, but his younger brother, Ashok, was a bit more wayward. On The Gist, Ashok recounts his life as a subway vagabond in New York City. Hari and Ashok’s new podcast is called Kondabolu Brothers.  In the Spiel, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s alarming lack of pun-sense.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On today’s Gist, London’s enviable crime wave. Plus, what will we think of the Obama presidency in 50 years? Julian Zelizer set out to get really smart people to “take a first cut” at the Obama legacy on an array of issues. One person from his brain trust is Peniel Joseph, who surveys the Obama administration’s work on criminal justice. Their book is The Presidency of Barack Obama: A First Historical Assessment. In the Spiel, why Mike rejects both tribes’ arguments on the Atlantic’s firing of conservative writer Kevin Williamson. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On today’s Gist, why the YouTube shooter’s use of a handgun doesn’t take anything away from arguments to outlaw the AR-15. Plus, Radley Balko tells the story of two men who put innocent Mississippians behind bars using junk science and pseudo-expert testimony. Balko is the co-author, along with Tucker Carrington, of The Cadaver King and the Country Dentist: A True Story of Injustice in the American South. In the Spiel, why the Roseanne reboot isn’t harmful pop culture. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On Tuesday’s Gist, an ode to the end of March Madness. Plus, Maria Konnikova returns to play our favorite game. Are parabens really bad for you? Konnikova is a contributing writer to the New Yorker and author of The Confidence Game.  In the Spiel, why David Shulkin got the boot.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On Monday’s Gist, the White House press corps needs a break. And guest host Mary Wilson knows who should take their place in the interim. Plus, NationalReview.com editor Charles C. W. Cooke explains why he thinks repealing the Second Amendment would be such a losing proposition for gun control advocates. And in the Spiel, Slate’s Osita Nwanevu says the media doesn’t have a liberal bias problem.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices