This week, Emily Bazelon and David Plotz are reunited with John Dickerson to discuss the Wisconsin Republicans’ effort to impeach Justice Janet Protasiewicz and protect their gerrymander; Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s decision to start an impeachment inquiry of President Joe Biden and prevent a government shutdown; and Biden’s age problem and Donald Trump’s battleground-state difficulties. Join us for Political Gabfest Live in Madison, Wisconsin on October 25!

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

Scott Bauer for AP: “Why Wisconsin Republicans are talking about impeaching a new state Supreme Court justice”

City Cast Madison podcast: “How We Know Wisconsin’s Maps are Gerrymandered”

Republican Party of Minnesota v. White, 536 U.S. 765 (2002)

Luke Broadwater for The New York Times: “What We Know About the Impeachment Case Against Biden” and Carl Hulse and Luke Broadwater: “McCarthy Tries to Leverage Biden Impeachment to Avoid a Shutdown”

Nate Cohn for The New York Times: “Trump’s Electoral College Edge Seems to Be Fading” and “How to Interpret Polling Showing Biden’s Loss of Nonwhite Support”

FiveThirtyEight Politics Podcast: “Why Biden Is Losing Support Among Voters Of Color”

Paul Waldman for MSNBC: “You can talk about Biden’s age. Just not like this.”

The Hardest Job in the World: The American Presidency by John Dickerson

The Last Politician: Inside Joe Biden’s White House and the Struggle for America’s Future by Franklin Foer

Dan Balz for The Washington Post: “Mitt Romney says he will not seek a second term in the Senate”

McKay Coppins for The Atlantic: “What Mitt Romney Saw In The Senate”

“Mitt” on Netflix 

Laura Vozzella for The Washington Post: “Va. Dem. House candidate performed sex online with husband for tips”

Here are this week’s chatters:

Emily: The Knockout Queen: A Novel by Rufi Thorpe and The Vaster Wilds: A Novel by Lauren Groff

John: The Journals of John Cheever edited by Robert Gottlieb; CBS News Sunday Morning; Ted Gioia in The Honest Broker: “Why Is Music Getting Sadder?”; and Chris Dalla Riva: “Tears Are Falling And I Feel The Pain”

David: Zhong sauce by Fly By Jing

Listener chatter from Ben: Tyler Vigen’s “The Mystery of the Bloomfield Bridge”

For this week’s Slate Plus bonus segment, Emily, John, and David discuss Susanna Gibson, the Virginia Democratic House candidate who “performed sex online with husband for tips.” 

In the latest Gabfest Reads, Emily, David, and John talk with Barbara Kingsolver about her best-selling book, Demon Copperhead. 

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

Podcast production by Jared Downing and Cheyna Roth

Research by Julie Huygen

Hosts

Emily Bazelon, John Dickerson, and David Plotz

Follow

@SlateGabfest on X / https://twitter.com/SlateGabfest

Slate Gabfest on Facebook / https://www.facebook.com/Gabfest/

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