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There was a moment, when the tech CEOs and media moguls were lining up to kiss Trump’s ring, when it looked like almost all the demographic arrows were pointing right, where it looked like Trumpism was, if not widely embraced, at least too big to be written off. After a year of Trump back in office, the culture cries out for Woke 2.0.

Guest: Brian Beutler, founder of Off-Message.

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Podcast production by Elena Schwartz, Paige Osburn, Anna Phillips, Madeline Ducharme, and Rob Gunther.

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Data centers are a hot issue - tech companies say they need them, but communities don’t want to be anywhere near them. Senator Van Hollen stops by the show to share his plan to address the rising costs of energy for consumers that data centers create, as well as his thoughts on ICE and the future of the Democratic Party. 

Guest: Senator Chris Van Hollen of Maryland

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Podcast production by Evan Campbell, and Patrick Fort.

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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 contentious House Judiciary Committee hearing with AG Pam Bondi and the Trump administration’s violations of constitutional rights with guest Rep. Jamie Raskin, how Trump’s assaults on DC have radically transformed the city, and patriotism at the Olympics.

For this week’s Slate Plus bonus episode, Emily, John, and David answer questions from the live audience at Sixth & I in Washington, DC to celebrate 20 years of the Political Gabfest.

In the latest Gabfest Reads, 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 troubled marriages and middle age to the passage of time, and characters who are navigating moments of racial privilege and prejudice.

Email your chatters, questions, and comments to [email protected]. (Messages may be referenced by name unless the writer stipulates otherwise.)

Podcast production by Nina Porzucki

Research by Emily Ditto

You can find the full Political Gabfest show pages here.

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Find out more about David Plotz's monthly tours of Ft. DeRussy, the secret Civil War fort hidden in Rock Creek Park.  

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Democrats have a list of demands and reforms they want implemented before continuing to fund the Department of Homeland Security. But  DHS doesn’t really need their approval to keep going.

Guest: Garrett Graff, journalist, historian, author of Doomsday Scenario.

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Podcast production by Elena Schwartz, Paige Osburn, Anna Phillips, Madeline Ducharme, and Rob Gunther.

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Although sexual assault and rape by rideshare drivers has been widely reported, Uber itself largely avoided legal liability until last week, when a jury decided the company had to pay $8.5 million to a woman who said she was raped by her Uber driver. 

Guest:  Sarah London, co-Lead and liaison counsel in the multidistrict litigation against Uber.

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Podcast production by Elena Schwartz, Paige Osburn, Anna Phillips, Madeline Ducharme, and Rob Gunther.

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Markiplier has been entertaining millions of fans on YouTube for over a decade. But his new movie Iron Lung - which he self-financed, directed, wrote and acted in - was a smash at the box office, not on his YouTube channel. Is it proof that he’s more than a YouTuber? Or is it proof that Hollywood is thinking about the platform and its creators all wrong? 

Guest: Mark Fischbach aka Markiplier, YouTuber, filmmaker and director of “Iron Lung.”

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Podcast production by Evan Campbell, and Patrick Fort.

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Trump has called for elections to be “nationalized,” something neither the president, nor the federal government, has the authority to do. But as he’s already sent the FBI to raid Fulton County, Georgia’s election offices with director of intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, and with the midterms on their way, it’s time to ask how much damage a vindictive president could do.

Guest:  Ari Berman, voting rights reporter at Mother Jones. 

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Podcast production by Elena Schwartz, Paige Osburn, Anna Phillips, Madeline Ducharme, and Rob Gunther.

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Scamming attempts might seem to just come out of nowhere to suddenly appear in your WhatsApp, but a special economic zone in Laos has emerged as a hotbed of cryptocurrency schemes—where victims of human trafficking are trapped and forced to attempt more crime.

Guest: Andy Greenberg, senior writer for WIRED.

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Podcast production by Evan Campbell, and Patrick Fort.

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According to Marc Elias, Dahlia Lithwick’s guest on Amicus, “This week will be looked back on as a pivot point in terms of how the midterms play out.” Elias is a nationally recognized authority on voting rights, redistricting and campaign finance law. He is Chair of Elias Law Group and founder of Democracy Docket. 

In the past few weeks, Donald Trump’s election denialism has kicked into high gear, just as his poll numbers hit new lows. Elias tells us the FBI/DNI raid to seize ballots in Fulton County, Georgia, and Steve Bannon’s new threats to surround polling places with ICE officers in November, show an administration that is prototyping new mechanisms for election subversion and voter suppression. But the public has power in this scenario, especially if they start paying attention to elections and voting rights now, rather than the day before November 3rd, 2026.

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This week: Anthropic released an update that seems to have tipped the scales against Software as a Service companies, erasing billions in market value. Felix Salmon, Elizabeth Spiers, and Emily Peck, unpack why there was such a massive market response to such a small AI plugin, and what it says about the future of tech investment. Then, Disney has finally named a new CEO in Josh D’Amaro. The hosts get what it says about the future of the company that they chose the head Disney Experiences, including their super-profitable theme parks, instead of its Hollywood division. And then, a report has claimed users lose money on prediction markets faster than on traditional gambling apps which Kalshi claimed was an extortion tactic before walking back its statement. The hosts get into the differences between how users interact with the two kinds of apps and what the data says about losses on each. 

In the Slate Plus episode: Epstein and the business of luxury gifting.

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Podcast production by Jessamine Molli and Cheyna Roth.

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