The Gist

Lyndon B. Johnson doesn’t always get the consideration he deserves as one of America’s great presidents. On today’s Gist, historian Joshua Zeitz says LBJ’s fight for welfare reform and civil rights redefined the country, even as those legal achievements come under attack by today’s Republican Party. Zeitz is the author of Building the Great Society: Inside Lyndon Johnson’s White House.     Plus, a Spiel from the 2016 archives: Vote Jabba! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On The Gist, Trey Gowdy bows out. Fred Kaplan explains why foreign policy experts are concerned by the Trump administration’s move to renege on its choice of ambassador to South Korea at the last minute. Kaplan writes the War Stories column for Slate. He is the author, most recently, of Dark Territory: The Secret History of Cyber War. In the Spiel, you know what they say: The president who claps the loudest pleases the crowd best. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On The Gist, the pomposity and circumstantial evidence of the State of the Union. Janesville, Wisconsin, had the oldest operating GM assembly plant in the country until 2008. The factory’s closure left thousands of employees in the lurch. Amy Goldstein’s book Janesville: An American Story describes the choices facing three families as they pick up the pieces of a busted local economy.  In the Spiel, the right things to say when you’re being nuked and the right way to say them. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On The Gist, get your clutching pearls ready. Russia alleges that the U.S. is trying to interfere in its election. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar has been politically precocious since well before his own sports scholarship at UCLA. His latest column for the Guardian argues it's "time to pay the tab for America's college athletes.” He says student players should unionize.  In the Spiel, the tactics that responsible Republicans use to communicate their potential opposition: They speak in their home-state argot.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On The Gist, the Doomsday Clock would be scary if it weren’t so bogus. In the interview, after years of gently poking fun at Portland, Oregon’s chill-but-not vibe, Portlandia is on its final season. Series co-star Carrie Brownstein unpacks the show’s humor and tells us how a wedding toast kind of doubled as an audition to get the show greenlit.  In the Spiel, Mike awards a Lobstar after an especially lengthy antentwig. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

From the annals of monkey research, how 10 primates were gassed in the service of a bad study. Today on The Gist, investigative reporter David Cay Johnston, who has been reporting on President Trump long enough to simply call him Donald. Johnston has an appreciation for Donald’s trademark swindles: refusing payment, lying to vendors, abridging photocopies. He’s not surprised to see the same methods at work in the Trump administration. He likens the Trump administration to “political termites,” eating their way through the structures of the U.S. government, leaving holes throughout. Johnston is the author of It’s Even Worse Than You Think: What the Trump Administration Is Doing to America.  In the Spiel, the trial, coverage, and sentencing of Larry Nassar. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On The Gist, Devin Nunes probably doesn’t know squat.  In the interview, Democrats hold most of the Senate seats up for grabs in this year’s midterms, which means they have a lot to lose. But importantly, mathematician Jordan Ellenberg says election predictions often fail to account for national mood. Ellenberg is the author of How Not to Be Wrong: The Power of Mathematical Thinking.  In the Spiel, Mike defends his bougie laundry routine. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On The Gist, more details come out about Garrison Keillor. In the interview, it turns out something can be good for your taste buds without being bad for your health. Monosodium glutamate has gotten a bad rap since 1968, when a medical journal suggested it might cause all kinds of symptoms. Dan Pashman, creator and host of the Sporkful podcast, tells us why MSG isn’t the boogeyman it’s been made out to be (and why he adds it to his own cooking). In the Spiel, behold, the mystical power of Maine Sen. Susan Collins’ talking stick. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On The Gist, what just happened? And are Democrats sniveling losers or Machiavellian savants?  McClatchy reporter Alex Roarty explains why the animating force driving both Democrats and Republicans right now is a loud conservative minority.  In the Spiel, Greece has beef regarding which part of world gets to be called “Macedonia.” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Up first on The Gist: It appears the Stormy Daniels story checks out.   Plus, Saturday marks the first anniversary of President Trump’s inauguration. The hosts of Slate’s Trumpcast join Mike to revise old predictions, make new ones, and consider whether Democrats should be rooting for impeachment via the Robert Mueller investigation.   And in the Spiel, we’re on the verge of another government shutdown. It seems normal now. Or have we lost track of what normal looks like? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On The Gist, how about those Fake News Awards, huh?  Alan Jacobs questions your ability to think for yourself. Can you really rid yourself of your biases, or do you just develop better biases? Are you really any better than your estranged friends at finding answers, or have you just chosen a different group with whom to associate? Jacobs is the author of How to Think: A Survival Guide for a World at Odds.   In the Spiel, relive the horrifying 43 minutes during which America thought a just-inaugurated President Donald Trump had removed Martin Luther King Jr.’s sacred bust from the Oval Office. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On The Gist, the bad news from Freedom House. U.S. Air Force officer Edward Lansdale promoted a “hearts and minds” approach to diplomacy in the Philippines and Vietnam, only to be steamrolled by America’s elite class of policymakers. Max Boot tells us about Lansdale and his own newfound recognition of white privilege and other ideas from the left. Boot’s new book is The Road Not Taken: Edward Lansdale and the American Tragedy in Vietnam.      In the Spiel, why the continuing resolution is sucking all the fun out of politics.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On The Gist, the press is too squeamish to clarify that “shithouse” isn’t much better than “shithole.” In the interview, more on fire and fury—nuclear fire, rhetorical fury, and the consequences of both. Jeffrey Lewis and Aaron Stein, hosts of Arms Control Wonk, assess the Trump administration’s tough talk on North Korea and the danger of a South Korea that decides to take matters into its own hands.  In the Spiel, Aziz Ansari isn’t blameless, but he doesn’t deserve a total destruction of his career, either. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On The Gist, Mike examines Trump’s bottom-of-the-barrel statements on immigration. In the interview, Dina Temple-Raston explains how she became fascinated by the teenage brain. After years of covering terrorism for NPR, she was stunned to see so many young people leaving their homes to join ISIS. Teenagers aren’t just prone to falling in with terrorist recruiters: Their underdeveloped minds make them more susceptible to video gaming compulsions and violent behavior. Why? Temple-Raston finds answers in her Audible Original series, “What Were You Thinking?” In the Spiel, a skit about the science (and lopsided sex ratio) of turtle love. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On The Gist, Mike skewers a columnist for concluding that President Trump is sane. In the interview, comedian Judah Friedlander wants to let you know that his new comedy special is all him, even though it’s got Netflix’s name on it. The 30 Rock alum talks about matters of social justice, satire, and jingoism. In the Spiel, Democrats should stop questioning Trump’s mental acuity and focus on midterms instead. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On The Gist, a brief look at what Norway is doing right.  In the interview, we turn to self-help experts Kristen Meinzer and Jolenta Greenberg about the “new you” books that are good, bad, and absolute nonsense. Meinzer and Greenberg are hosts of the Panoply show By the Book.   In the Spiel, Mike discovers the best transliteration ever. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On The Gist, Joe Arpaio’s life after pardon.    In the interview, MacArthur “genius” award winner Betsy Levy Paluck tells us about her research into mass media and public opinion. We might have the impression that our beliefs are based on reason. But what our neighbors think (or what we think they think) has a lot to do with it, too. In the Spiel, how to charm Twitter trolls into submission.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On The Gist, Sen. Lindsey Graham is defending the president extra hard on television … because he knows Trump’s watching. In the interview, NPR’s media correspondent David Folkenflik tells us what to make of Fire and Fury, the book that claims to reveal how dysfunctional the Trump administration really is.    In the Spiel, Mike gives props to Oprah for her acceptance speech at the Golden Globes. But that doesn’t mean she should run for president. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On The Gist, third-party voters should answer for Donald Trump’s terrible policies at home and warmongering around the world. In the interview, fields don’t get much more male-dominated than those of the NFL. Our guest Jen Welter made history as the first woman to hold a coaching position in the league, training the Arizona Cardinals' inside linebackers in the 2015 preseason. Welter is the author of Play Big: Lessons in Being Limitless From the First Woman to Coach in the NFL.  In the Spiel, a story about coats, the cold, and charitable giving. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On The Gist, Mike wonders whether the “winner picked out of a bowl” antics in Virginia’s House of Delegates will really matter much. In the interview, former Democratic Rep. Jason Altmire has straightforward advice for candidates in blue-collar America: appeal to the center or lose out. Just as importantly, Altmire argues, the Democratic Party as a whole has to let them do it. Altmire’s book is Dead Center: How Political Polarization Divided America and What We Can Do About It.  In the Spiel, Mike says the economy is looking up, and that means Republicans could keep their congressional majorities in the midterms ahead—barring a foreign policy disaster, of course. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices