This week, Emily Bazelon, John Dickerson, and the New York Times’s Jamelle Bouie @jbouie discuss the battle between President Joe Biden and Speaker Kevin McCarthy on raising the debt ceiling; the courtroom drama of E. Jean Carroll v. Donald J. Trump; and the power of Republican supermajorities in state legislatures. 

Here are some notes and references from this week’s show:

Nick Mourtoupalas and Derek Hawkins for The Washington Post: “Washington is running out of workdays to strike a debt ceiling deal” 

Jacob Bogage for The Washington Post: “Debt ceiling showdown: 5 possible outcomes”

Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States

Lola Fadulu for The New York Times: “In Trump Trial, a Lawyer Pushes, and E. Jean Carroll Pushes Right Back”

Jamelle Bouie for The New York Times: “A Sinister New Page in the Republican Playbook” and “Republicans Did Something Most People Don’t Like, So They’re Changing the Rules”

Article IV, Section 4 of the Constitution of the United States

Movement Advancement Project: “Snapshot: Democracy Ratings By State”

Michael Waldman for the Brennan Center for Justice: “The Great Resignation … Of Election Officials”

James Madison: “Federalist No. 10” 

Here are this week’s chatters:

Jamelle: the films of Seijun Suzuki, including Tokyo Drifter and Branded to Kill

John: using ChatGPT to simplify text, such as statements by the Federal Reserve and George Washington’s farewell address

Emily: Eleanor Klibanoff for The Texas Tribune: “Three Texas women are sued for wrongful death after allegedly helping friend obtain abortion medication” and “Women accused of facilitating abortion in Galveston wrongful-death lawsuit file countersuit”

Listener chatter from Ted Hogeman: Community Media Center, Institute for Contemporary Art, Virginia Commonwealth University

For this week’s Slate Plus bonus segment, Jamelle, John, and Emily discuss cooking, including roast chicken with bread, Jubilee: Recipes from Two Centuries of African American Cooking by Toni Tipton-Martin, broccoli and cauliflower salad with curried dressing, broccoli salad with peanuts and tahini-lime dressing, and Soom tahini.

In the next Gabfest Reads, Emily talks with Curtis Sittenfeld @csittenfeld about her latest book, Romantic Comedy.

Email your questions and chatters to [email protected] or Tweet us @SlateGabfest. (Messages may be quoted by name unless the writer stipulates otherwise.)

Podcast production by Cheyna Roth 

Research by Julie Huygen

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