The Gist

On The Gist, FiveThirtyEight senior political writer and analyst Harry Enten says an averaging of the polls still shows Hillary Clinton has a hefty lead over Donald Trump. Enten also explains the difference between election forecasting and weather forecasting. For the Spiel, seeing the world through Trump-shaded glasses. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted b...

Does being left-handed make you a threat to civilized society? On The Gist, Maria Konnikova tells the story of the mustachioed Italian criminologist who gave southpaws a bad reputation. But what does handedness really tell us about the brain? Konnikova writes for the New Yorker and is the author of The Confidence Game . This week, Mike challenged his audience to find someone in the country who is...

Robby Mook has a tricky job. As Hillary Clinton's campaign manager, he has to find a way to pin down Donald Trump, whose gaffes are constantly overtaking each other . Mook talks to Mike Pesca about the challenge of crafting a single message to combat Trump and recent events on the campaign trail, including Hillary Clinton's pneumonia diagnosis. Plus, director Ryan Suffern on his recent ESPN docume...

The Clinton Foundation is a superstar in the world of philanthropy—is it OK that it leverages power and celebrity to achieve its mission? On The Gist, two experts disagree. Kenneth Stern , former CEO of NPR, sheds no tears for the Clinton Foundation. He thinks vanity-giving helps inferior charities persist. Stern is the author of With Charity for All: Why Charities Are Failing and a Better Way to...

Tony Kornheiser is joining the pod people. On The Gist, the man behind the Tony Kornheiser Show explains his dive into podcasting: "I watched newspapers die under me.... I began to get the sense that radio was going to die under me too. And so I jumped." Kornheiser also hosts ESPN's Pardon The Interruption alongside Michael Wilbon . For the Spiel, pencils down: It's time for the Lobstar of the Ant...

Drew Magary is down to hang. His past story assignments for GQ include a day with Duck Dynasty and a trip with the Kid Rock cruise . But Magary, author of the " Why Your Team Sucks " series­­ on Deadspin , is not one to equivocate . On The Gist, he shares his secret to immersive reporting and explains why he's OK with grown men who wear sports jerseys. His latest book is The Hike: A Novel. For the...

College campuses have become hostile territory for some comedians. A wrong-headed joke can provoke everything from walkouts to protests to death threats. But how should students push back against material they find offensive? Director Ted Balaker and comedian Karith Foster discuss their new film Can We Take a Joke? and the tricky line between free speech and needless offense. For the Spiel, Mike t...

Kori Schake, a former adviser to President George W. Bush, blanches at the idea of a Donald Trump presidency. But she still has reservations about Hillary Clinton. On The Gist, Schake says Clinton's poor follow-through at the Department of State gives her something in common with the Bush administration. Schake is a research fellow at Stanford University's Hoover Institution and regular guest on F...

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times: Our guest Chris Molanphy says 1991 was a tale of multiple cities, as radio stations began to tailor their playlists to narrower audiences. The result? Little crossover among the Billboard pop, rock, and rap songs charts, and a very eclectic Hot 100 chart. Molanphy writes Slate 's " Why Is This Song No. 1? " column. For the Spiel, Mike cleans out...

Most of us would be lost without GPS. So why do we think it's hilarious when people drive into the ocean or walk to the Arctic Circle because phone maps told them to? In Pinpoint , author Greg Milner looks at our uneasy relationship with the technology and the ways GPS has reorganized our culture and our brains. On The Spiel, Mike looks at Donald Trump's latest failed endeavor: public opinion poll...

Director Joshua Marston has done his share of shape-shifting. He's spent time as a teacher abroad. He's learned Albanian and made some stories for NPR . And he's directed critically acclaimed movies like Maria Full of Grace . His newest, Complete Unknown , stars Rachel Weisz as a serial imposter who gets stuck at a dinner party with someone from her past. On The Spiel, the Clinton Foundation pay-f...

Why so many music phenoms from Iceland? On The Gist, Kaleo frontman JJ Julius Son says he comes from a "fearless" people. About that: Kaleo recently recorded in a volcano . Their latest album is called A/B . Plus, Slate's very own Mallory Ortberg , writer of the Dear Prudence column, tells us how to be an entertaining advice-giver. Ortberg is the author of Texts From Jane Eyre: And Other Conversat...

What made the movies of the 1980s so special, especially as compared to movies being made now? On The Gist, the Guardian 's Hadley Freeman explains. She's the author of Life Moves Pretty Fast: The Lessons We Learned From Eighties Movies (and Why We Don't Learn Them From Movies Anymore) . For the Spiel, Mike revisits the items that have escaped his searching, skeptical gaze. Learn more about your a...

On The Gist, the hosts of the podcast that has made the best use yet of the jazz drummer's brush technique: Politically Re-Active with W. Kamau Bell and Hari Kondabolu . The show picks up where the comedians left off when they stopped working in the same TV writers room. Bell hosts CNN's United Shades of America , and returning guest Kondabolu is on tour with a new comedy album, Mainstream America...

Are the nation's most dangerous warheads secure if a rag-tag troika of peaceniks can break through the storage facility's back door? On The Gist, Washington Post reporter Dan Zak considers the good and not-so-good arguments for nuclear weapons. His book is Almighty: Courage, Resistance, and Existential Peril in the Nuclear Age . For the Spiel, Jill Stein's unforgivable comments on debt forgiveness...

On The Gist, Megan Abbott discusses her latest book, You Will Know Me , a psychological thriller set in the high-pressure world of elite women's gymnastics. In the Spiel, a send-off for John McLaughlin. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for...

Things are bleak in Brazil. Prices are high, governments are broke, and gangs are tightening their control over the country's slums. But on The Gist, Slate contributing editor Franklin Foer has hope for a national renewal . The reason? A prominent federal judge is dead set on rooting out political corruption, though it may rival soccer as the national pastime. For the Spiel, hands across the ages....

The Gist has been bedeviled by one question: Do the clothes really make the man? On today's show, regular guest Maria Konnikova joins us to investigate the link between clothing and performance. Konnikova writes for the New Yorker and is the author of The Confidence Game . For the Spiel, Trump, truth, and fact-checking. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted by...

On every great improv team there's an undertow of angst. Who will get snatched up by a TV show? Who will toil in relative obscurity? Who will quit after the big break doesn't come? On Ep. 560, comedian Mike Birbiglia and This American Life creator Ira Glass talk about their film Don't Think Twice , an ode to improvisational comedy and recalibrating what it means to be a success. Find it in a theat...

On The Gist, Republican " merchant of mud " Mike Murphy ponders Donald Trump's effect on down-ballot GOP candidates. Murphy is known for putting the "!" in "Jeb!" as an adviser to Jeb Bush's presidential campaign. His podcast is called Radio Free GOP . For the Spiel, Mike tries to get to the bottom of an Olympian canard about the happiness of bronze medalists. Learn more about your ad choices. Vis...

Are voters in 2016 better compared to an angry customer at a drive-thru window? Or are the two major parties on completely different planets, unable to agree on a shared reality? On The Gist, Slate columnist and Face the Nation moderator John Dickerson discusses elections past and present. He is the author of Whistlestop: My Favorite Stories From Presidential Campaign History . For the Spiel, when...

On The Gist, Trump critic and longtime Republican consultant Stuart Stevens shares his bleak take on his party's chances at winning the White House anytime soon. Stevens was a top strategist for Mitt Romney's 2012 presidential campaign and is the author of The Innocent Have Nothing to Fear . The Spiel is taking a brief hiatus. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Ho...

On The Gist, who cares that Tim Kaine speaks Spanish? Nelson Flores says white liberals might be more excited about it than Latino voters are. Flores is an assistant professor in educational linguistics at the University of Pennsylvania . Plus, Foreign Policy 's Michela Wrong describes some of the more curious memorials popping up in Rwanda . Wrong recently published her first novel, Borderlines ....

On The Gist, Brad Meltzer from Lost History explains why he thinks of himself as one part of a "literary peanut butter cup." Meltzer teamed up with Tod Goldberg to write The House of Secrets , a spy novel that imagines the final moments between Benedict Arnold and George Washington. For the Spiel, the kiddie press corps takes over. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoic...

On The Gist, Facebook has become one of the world's biggest disseminators of journalism, but it doesn't care about journalism. Is that a problem? Farhad Manjoo ticks off a few reasons to be wary. Manjoo writes the State of the Art technology column in the New York Times . His podcast is called the Jay & Farhad Show . For the Spiel, the RINOs among us. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcas...