The Gist

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.

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 advertising.

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 Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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 theater near you.

For the Spiel, our Lobstar of the Antentwig.

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 advertising.

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. 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 advertising.

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 it comes to Donald Trump's Second Amendment comment, it's hard for the media to acknowledge what everyone knows they heard.

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 advertising.

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

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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.

For the Spiel, why the news should be fair, but not balanced.

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 advertising.

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/adchoices

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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 podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

On The Gist, should you swear off summer cookouts? Our regular guest Maria Konnikova joins us for a round of "Is That Bulls---?" Konnikova writes for the New Yorker and is the author of The Confidence Game.

For the Spiel, the parade of worries ahead of the Olympic Games.

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 advertising.