Emily, John, and David discuss COVID without federal leadership; challenges to Trump at the Supreme Court; and novelist Isabel Allende joins the show to talk about her new book A Long Petal of the Sea, and how crisis can be an opportunity for change.

For this week’s Slate Plus bonus segment David, Emily, and John discuss (what would be) epic historical counterfactuals. Slate Plus members get a bonus segment on the Gabfest each week, and access to special bonus episodes throughout the year. Sign up now to listen and support our show.

You can tweet suggestions, links, and questions to @SlateGabfest. Tweet us your cocktail chatter using #cocktailchatter or post it to our Facebook page. (Messages may be quoted by name unless the writer stipulates otherwise.) The email address for the Political Gabfest is [email protected]. (Email may be quoted by name unless the writer stipulates otherwise.)

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

Marty Makary for The New York Times: “How to Reopen America Safely”

Norbert J. Michel and Drew Gonshorowski for the Heritage Foundation: “1% of Counties Home to Half of COVID-19 Cases, Over Half of Deaths”

Scott Clement and Dan Balz for The Washington Post: “Many Governors Win Bipartisan Support for Handling of Pandemic, But Some Republicans Face Blowback Over Reopening Efforts”

Zeynep Tufekci for The Atlantic: “How Hong Kong Did It”

Perri Klass for The New York Times: Rethinking Covid-19 in Children

Maria DeCotis @MariaDeCotis performs Governor Mario Cuomo’s comments on his daughter’s boyfriend.

Here are this week’s cocktail chatters:

John: Heran Mamo for Billboard: “Relive Prince & the Revolution's Iconic 1985 Purple Rain Concert During a Three-Night Livestream”; Olivia Clement for Playbill: “Audra McDonald to Host Star-Studded Covenant House Benefit With Meryl Streep, Dolly Parton, and More”

Emily: The Music Lab’s Tone-Deafness Test and Rodham, by Curtis Sittenfeld

David: Haven Orecchio-Egresitz for Business insider: “A White Man Ran Through a Florida Neighborhood Carrying a TV to Prove That Looking 'Suspicious' Wasn't an Excuse for Killing Ahmaud Arbery”; Monica Humphries for Business Insider: “A BBC Sports Broadcaster Held a Zoom Meeting With His 2 Dogs to Deliver Their Annual Performance Reviews”

Listener chatter from Team@shah_of_shaw: Rutger Bregman for the Guardian: “The Real Lord of the Flies: What Happened When Six Boys Were Shipwrecked for 15 Months”

Podcast production by Jocelyn Frank.

Research and show notes by Bridgette Dunlap.

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