Today on The Gist, a unified theory of Donald Trump.

Plus, Trump dragged his fellow Republicans and made his Democrats grin like Cheshire cats at the televised meeting on gun control. What are the chances that the White House lets Trump's comments stand? Mike talks to Slate politics writer Jim Newell.

In the Spiel, the president has a lot of retrograde ideas that suit him. Here's one that doesn't: steel tariffs.

One more thing: Please fill out the Slate podcast survey at slate.com/podcastsurvey.

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.