The Gist

On the Gist, Trump's falsehoods. In the interview, Mikes talks with neuroscientist, Stanford University professor and best-selling author, David Eagleman, about his latest book Livewired: The Inside Story of the Ever-Changing Brain. Eagleman says that the way the brain is able to change and adapt to adversity is still inspiring new developments and new questions. In the spiel, making a political comeback. Email us at thegist@slate.com Podcast production by Margaret Kelley and Jamila Bey. Slate Plus members get bonus segments and ad-free podcast feeds. Sign up now. 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, there were a great many missteps last night on the presidential debate stage, but despite the rhetorical slips, Biden stayed on his feet to glide past Trump. In the interview, Mike and Slate's national correspondent, Will Saletan, recap the first presidential debate. They dissect the prep and implemented strategies of both the Trump and Biden camps, the gratuitous exchanges between the two candidates, Chris Wallace's performance as moderator, and how to curb the electoral nightmare scenarios looming on the horizon. In the spiel, Donald Trump did not say, "Yes!" when asked if he repudiated white supremacy. But was it because he wouldn't do it, or was it because he has the inability to articulate? Email us at thegist@slate.com Podcast production by Margaret Kelley and Jamila Bey. Slate Plus members get bonus segments and ad-free podcast feeds. Sign up now. 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, using poker logic to analogize the upcoming presidential debates with Annie Duke. She is a former professional poker player, cognitive scientist and author of the forthcoming How to Decide: Simple Tools for Making Better Choices. In the interview, Mike passes the baton to Annie Duke once more to dig into gerrymandering. Duke talks with Moon Duchin, a mathematician and professor at Tufts University, about her research into understanding how voting districts work. Through redistricting analysis at the Metric Geometry and Gerrymandering Group, an organization Duchin co-founded, she describes how in this democracy, fairness isn't always as easy to find when you're considering where people live and vote. In the spiel, messing up several thousand absentee ballots was inevitable. Email us at thegist@slate.com Podcast production by Margaret Kelley and Jamila Bey. Slate Plus members get bonus segments and ad-free podcast feeds. Sign up now. 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, the attack on the Knights of Columbus. In the interview, Mike talks with Philippe I. Reines, political consultant, longtime aid and former staffer of U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton. In light of the upcoming presidential debates between Trump and Biden, Reines details his debate preparation in 2016, shares some possible strategies that the Biden camp may be using to prepare, and what sort of tactics Biden could use to go for the jugular. In the spiel, cult of Trump. Email us at thegist@slate.com Podcast production by Margaret Kelley and Jamila Bey. Slate Plus members get bonus segments and ad-free podcast feeds. Sign up now. 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, a Twitter bug. In the interview, actor Jeff Daniels and writer Billy Ray are here to discuss the new two-night mini-series The Comey Rule on Showtime. The mini-series focuses on the story James Comey in the fall of 2016, and even though both Daniels and Ray had certain perceptions of how poorly James Comey handled it all, working on this project really revealed the humanity and struggle of this public servant. Mike talks with them about the creative process, adapting such recent history, and their new views on the man. The Comey Rule premieres on Showtime on Sunday, September 27. In the spiel, Daniel Cameron's wife is white. Email us at thegist@slate.com Podcast production by Daniel Schroeder and Margaret Kelley. Slate Plus members get bonus segments and ad-free podcast feeds. Sign up now. 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, Kelly Loeffler and Atilla the Hun. In the interview, Jonathan V. Last, editor of The Bulwark, talks with Mike about his recent piece which forecasts that after the passing of Ruth Bader Ginsburg, America is moving one step closer to another political crisis. Last walks through some of the nightmare scenarios, particularly on the probability that a conservative justice is appointed, confirmed, and subsequently rules on the November election. Last explains that although he remains optimistic with regards to the legitimacy of the SCOTUS, he is ultimately losing faith that some voters care not for a system of governance that is capable of functioning competently. In the spiel, remaining outraged as Trump repeats himself. Email us at thegist@slate.com Podcast production by Daniel Schroeder and Margaret Kelley. Slate Plus members get bonus segments and ad-free podcast feeds. Sign up now. 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 sounds braggadocious. In the interview, it's the second half of Mike's conversation with CNN's Brian Stelter. They discuss why Fox News is losing advertisers, and why executives at the organization continue to stand by their talent, and Mike questions whether news anchors have given up their objectivity with lengthy monologues about the state of democracy under Trump. Stelter's latest book, Hoax: Donald Trump, Fox News, and the Dangerous Distortion of Truth, is out now. In the spiel, looking for justice in Louisville, Kentucky. Email us at thegist@slate.com Podcast production by Daniel Schroeder and Margaret Kelley. Slate Plus members get bonus segments and ad-free podcast feeds. Sign up now. 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, nothing is reasonable anymore. In the interview, CNN's Brian Stelter is here to discuss his new book Hoax: Donald Trump, Fox News, and the Dangerous Distortion of Truth. In the first half of his two-part interview, Stelter talks about the ways Fox changed after Roger Ailes' exit in 2016, increasingly abandoning its news coverage in favor of polarizing commentary, and how the cycle of disinformation between Trump and Fox keeps us all trapped. In the spiel, Sen. Lindsey Graham might face consequences. Email us at thegist@slate.com Podcast production by Daniel Schroeder and Margaret Kelley. Slate Plus members get bonus segments and ad-free podcast feeds. Sign up now. 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, the pursuit of power through SCOTUS. In the interview, Mike talks with radio presenter and author, Eric Weiner about his latest book The Socrates Express: In Search of Life Lessons from Dead Philosophers. In it, Weiner opines on the philosophical giants from a place that offers one of the more pleasant environments to philosophize - the railroad. In this travelogue, Weiner discusses their life-enhancing poetry, and explains how their lives were in fact just like ours, except they had more time to think and write than binge on Netflix. In the spiel, the politicking around Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Email us at thegist@slate.com Podcast production by Daniel Schroeder and Margaret Kelley. Slate Plus members get bonus segments and ad-free podcast feeds. Sign up now. 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.

Emily Bazelon joins Mike for a special episode on the passing of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. After discussing Ginsburg's history as a justice and legacy on the court, they begin to unpack the future political ramifications of her death. Emily and Mike talk through the ways a nomination could quickly slip through the Senate before January, the impact a conservative court could have on issues besides abortion rights, and if Ginsburg should have stepped down under President Obama. Email us at thegist@slate.com Podcast production by Daniel Schroeder and Margaret Kelley. 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.