Shows / Political Gabfest
Political Gabfest
Voted “Favorite Political Podcast” by Apple Podcasts listeners. Stephen Colbert says "Everybody should listen to the Slate Political Gabfest." The Gabfest, featuring Emily Bazelon, John Dickerson, and David Plotz, is the kind of informal and irreverent discussion Washington journalists have after hours over drinks.
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Episodes
- Political Gabfest
Finally, We Vote
This week, Emily Bazelon, John Dickerson, and David Plotz discuss what they're paying attention to and what to expect on Election Day next Tuesday, how to…
- Political Gabfest
Polls Are So Bad for Trump
This week, Emily Bazelon, John Dickerson, and David Plotz discuss whether Trump is as unpopular as polls suggest and what this means for the midterms, the…
- Political Gabfest
Gabfest Reads | Situating Yourself for Success
For this month’s edition of Gabfest Reads, John Dickerson interviews Angela Duckworth about her new book, Situated: Find the People and Places That Bring Out…
- Political Gabfest
Help Russia Win
This week, Emily Bazelon, John Dickerson, and David Plotz discuss what the evidence beyond polling signals for the impending midterm elections, how Trump…
- Political Gabfest
Blue Wave or Blue Ripple?
This week, Emily Bazelon, John Dickerson, and David Plotz discuss where the midterms stand mere weeks out from Election Day, the legal and cultural issues at…
- Political Gabfest
Meet You at the Hawks Game
This week, Emily Bazelon, David Plotz, and guest host David Leonhardt discuss the GOP's failed witch hunt against Jack Smith and bizarre moments from the…
- Political Gabfest
Purposely Negative
This week, Emily Bazelon, John Dickerson, and guest host Juliette Kayyem discuss what we learn from Trump's escalating battle with the press and its track…
- Political Gabfest
Gabfest Reads | The Tax Nobody Talks About: Your Time
David Plotz talks with journalist Annie Lowrey about her new book The Time Tax: How the Government Wastes Our Time—and How to Fix It, an investigation into the…
- Political Gabfest
Kremlin Wedding Present
This week, Emily Bazelon, John Dickerson, and David Plotz discuss whether this week's Supreme Court intervention rejecting Trump's mail-in ballot restrictions…
- Political Gabfest
Pretend I'm on the Ballot
This week, Emily Bazelon, John Dickerson, and David Plotz discuss why Republicans are holding an unusual midterm convention and what it says about the state of…
- Political Gabfest
What Is the Bond Market, Anyway?
This week, Emily Bazelon, John Dickerson, and David Plotz discuss how a narrow Supreme Court majority used aesthetic standing to greenlight Trump's ballroom…
- Political Gabfest
Please Do Not Ruin the Post Office
This week, John Dickerson, David Plotz, and guest host Juliette Kayyem discuss this week's Supreme Court ruling allowing the Trump administration to move…
- Political Gabfest
Listener Questions
This week, Emily Bazelon, John Dickerson, and David Plotz answer listeners' questions of all kinds: the political, the personal, and everything in-between…
- Political Gabfest
Gabfest Reads | Look What You Made Me Do
David Plotz interviews John Lanchester about his new novel Look What You Made Me Do, a darkly funny psychological thriller about two couples in modern-day…
- Political Gabfest
Air Faux One
This week, Emily Bazelon, David Plotz, and guest host Juliette Kayyem discuss the security calculations behind Trump’s plane switch operation; the White…
- Political Gabfest
Data Center Backlash
This week, Emily Bazelon, John Dickerson, and David Plotz discuss what Abdul El-Sayed's Michigan primary win signals about the future of the Democratic Party…
- Political Gabfest
Unhinged Obsession
This week, Emily Bazelon, John Dickerson, and David Plotz discuss the expanding Iran war and what it means for Trump that news of U.S. missile shortages is…
- Political Gabfest
Now We Can Call It a Quagmire
This week, Emily Bazelon, John Dickerson, and David Plotz discuss why the war in Iran has flared back up despite the increasing likelihood of political…
- Political Gabfest
Gabfest Reads | The Presidency as Pure Pleasure
John Dickerson interviews Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan about their new book Regime Change: Inside the Imperial Presidency of Donald Trump. Drawing on…
- Political Gabfest
I'm His Lawyer
This week, Emily Bazelon, John Dickerson, and David Plotz discuss how the confirmation hearing for Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche is yet another example…
- Political Gabfest
Maybe That Nazi Tattoo Was a Clue
This week, Emily Bazelon, John Dickerson, and David Plotz discuss why an insurgent candidate with so many red flags got so far, how shocking new details about…
- Political Gabfest
America Has a King Now
This week, Emily Bazelon, David Plotz, and guest host Ruth Marcus discuss this week's momentous Supreme Court rulings. The FTC/Slaughter case overturns nearly…
- Political Gabfest
New York is Red
This week, Emily Bazelon, John Dickerson, and David Plotz discuss Tuesday's NY congressional primaries won by three Mamdani-backed democratic socialists and…
- Political Gabfest
Gabfest Reads | Why America Is Spiritually Broken and How to Fix It
Emily Bazelon interviews Senator Chris Murphy about his new book Crisis of the Common Good: The Fight for Meaning and Connection in a Broken America. Murphy…
- Political Gabfest
Another Treaty of Versailles
This week, Emily Bazelon, John Dickerson, and David Plotz discuss what the U.S. is getting and what it is giving up with the deal to end Trump's Iran war, how…
- Political Gabfest
California Is an Embarrassment
This week, Emily Bazelon, John Dickerson, and David Plotz discuss whether this week's resumption of open hostilities in the Iran war has changed the likelihood…
- Political Gabfest
Man-Child Graham Platner
This week, Emily Bazelon, John Dickerson, and David Plotz discuss whether Graham Platner's accumulating self-inflicted wounds will cost Democrats their best…
- Political Gabfest
They Messed with Texas
This week, Emily Bazelon, John Dickerson, and David Plotz discuss what Ken Paxton's dominant win over John Cornyn could mean when he faces Democrat James…
- Political Gabfest
Corruption Never Stops
This week, Emily Bazelon, John Dickerson, and David Plotz discuss what Trump is actually trying to buy with his blatantly corrupt "anti-weaponization" slush…
- Political Gabfest
Gabfest Reads | Why Liberalism Needs to Reclaim the Center
In this month’s episode of Gabfest Reads, John Dickerson interviews Bloomberg columnist Adrian Wooldridge about his new book The Revolutionary Center: The Lost…
- Political Gabfest
Nevertheless, Xi Persisted
This week, Emily Bazelon, John Dickerson, and David Plotz discuss the geopolitical dynamics and possible outcomes of the Trump-Xi summit with former New York…
- Political Gabfest
Are Republicans Actually Souring on Trump?
This week, Emily Bazelon, John Dickerson, and David Plotz discuss how the Iran War is hurting Trump and the Republicans as its economic fallout grows, the…
- Political Gabfest
King Me
This week, Emily Bazelon, John Dickerson, and guest host Juliette Kayyem discuss the ongoing political fallout from Saturday's attempted assassination at the…
- Political Gabfest
Trump and the Iranians Deserve Each Other
This week, Emily Bazelon, John Dickerson, and David Plotz discuss Trump's need for a face-saving exit amid his economically disastrous standoff with Iran over…
- Political Gabfest
Gabfest Reads | The Unlikely Rise of Judy Blume
Emily Bazelon talks with journalist Mark Oppenheimer about his new book Judy Blume: A Life. Oppenheimer, who spent years with Blume’s papers at Yale and…
- Political Gabfest
How Many Divisions Has the Pope?
This week, Emily Bazelon, John Dickerson, and David Plotz discuss Trump's Hormuz blockade and his feud with the Pope, a new oral history chronicling stark…
- Political Gabfest
TACO Tuesday
This week, Emily Bazelon, John Dickerson, and David Plotz discuss the state of the U.S. war with Iran including what Tuesday night's abject ceasefire means, a…
- Political Gabfest
"Subject to the Jurisdiction Thereof"
This week, Emily Bazelon, John Dickerson, and David Plotz discuss yesterday's oral arguments in the monumentally important birthright citizenship case at the…
- Political Gabfest
Airplane Travel is a Nightmare
This week, Emily Bazelon, John Dickerson, and David Plotz discuss why politicians keep failing to solve the escalating crisis of American air travel as massive…
- Political Gabfest
Gabfest Reads | The Real Succession
David Plotz talks with journalist Gabriel Sherman about his new book Bonfire of the Murdochs: How the Epic Fight to Control the Last Great Media Dynasty Broke…
- Political Gabfest
Degenerate Gambler
This week, Emily Bazelon, John Dickerson, and David Plotz discuss how policies of anger and dominance structure President Trump’s approach to adversaries…
- Political Gabfest
Will Gas Hit $5 a Gallon?
This week, Emily Bazelon, John Dickerson, and David Plotz discuss whether Trump will be willing to endure the political pain if his capricious Iran war causes…
- Political Gabfest
What’s the Point of the Iran War?
This week, Emily Bazelon, John Dickerson, and David Plotz discuss the possible political outcomes of the war in Iran given the complexities of Iranian society…
- Political Gabfest
The State of the Union is Endless
This week, Emily Bazelon, John Dickerson, and David Plotz discuss whether Trump’s State of the Union address effectively convinced voters to ignore the pain in…
- Political Gabfest
Gabfest Reads | From Busboy to Corporate Tool to Priest
John Dickerson talks with Father James Martin about his new book, Work in Progress: Confessions of a Busboy, Dishwasher, Caddy, Usher, Factory Worker, Bank…
- Political Gabfest
Prince-No-More Andrew Pays His Epstein Price
This week, Emily Bazelon, John Dickerson, and David Plotz discuss the public figures being shamed and punished for their associations with Jeffrey Epstein…
- Political Gabfest
LIVE from Washington, DC!
This week, live from Sixth & I in Washington DC to celebrate 20 years of the Political Gabfest, Emily Bazelon, John Dickerson, and David Plotz discuss the…
- Political Gabfest
Is the Melania Movie a Bribe?
This week, Emily Bazelon, David Plotz, and guest host Juliette Kayyem discuss the juxtaposition between the devastating layoffs at The Washington Post and the…
- Political Gabfest
De-ICEing
This week, Emily Bazelon, John Dickerson, and David Plotz discuss how the shocking killing of Alex Pretti by federal agents could represent a real turning…
- Political Gabfest
Greenland War Averted
This week, Emily Bazelon, John Dickerson, and David Plotz discuss whether Trump’s lust for Greenland will break the world (or indeed, whether it already has)…
- Political Gabfest
Gabfest Reads | When Marriage Goes Stale and Middle Age Hits Hard
Emily Bazelon talks with author Curtis Sittenfeld about her short story collection, “Show Don't Tell.” They discuss the recurring themes of the book from…
- Political Gabfest
Can Trump Cow Powell?
This week, Emily Bazelon, John Dickerson, and David Plotz discuss why Trump is stepping up his attacks on Fed Chair Powell and how it could backfire, the…
- Political Gabfest
Seize and Sell
This week, Emily Bazelon, John Dickerson, and David Plotz discuss what the so-called “Donroe Doctrine” means for international order after the US military…
- Political Gabfest
Greatest Hits
This week, Emily Bazelon, John Dickerson, and David Plotz revisit several favorite segments from Gabfests past to celebrate their 20th anniversary: the…
- Political Gabfest
2025 Conundrums!
This week, Emily Bazelon, John Dickerson, David Plotz, and special guest Stephen Colbert answer listeners’ conundrums of all kinds: the meaningful, the…
- Political Gabfest
Gabfest Reads | The Seven Rules of Trust
David Plotz talks with Wikipedia co-founder Jimmy Wales about his new book The Seven Rules of Trust: A Blueprint for Building Things That Last. They discuss…
- Political Gabfest
Susie Wiles is a Sane Enabler
This week, Emily Bazelon, John Dickerson, and David Plotz discuss the vivid and impulsive portrait Susie Wiles paints of Trump’s White House in a revealing…
- Political Gabfest
Civilizational Erasure
This week, Emily Bazelon, John Dickerson, and David Plotz discuss what will happen as the Supreme Court considers whether a president can remove leaders of…
- Political Gabfest
Kill Them All
This week, Emily Bazelon, John Dickerson, and David Plotz discuss why the killing of survivors in a US military strike on an alleged drug boat is so dangerous…
- Political Gabfest
Is This the End of the Trump Era?
This week, Emily Bazelon, John Dickerson, and David Plotz discuss what happens when the government is untrustworthy as a strong pattern of DOJ lying under oath…