The Gist

Miles Taylor, former Department of Homeland Security Chief of Staff during the Trump administration, authored a 2018 New York Times Op-Ed titled "I Am Part Of The Resistance Inside The Trump Administration." He's been sounding the warnings since, including in his new book Blowback: A Warning To Save Democracy from the Next Trump. Plus, Yellow, belly up. And guess who Trump's lawyer calls the most ethical American she's ever met ... hint: It's not Jack Smith. Produced by Joel Patterson and Corey Wara Email us at thegist@mikepesca.com To advertise on the show, visit: https://advertisecast.com/TheGist Subscribe to The Gist Subscribe: https://subscribe.mikepesca.com/ Follow Mikes Substack at: Pesca Profundities | Mike Pesca | Substack Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

More than a decade since Michael Jackson’s death, his legacy remains complicated and unresolved. Think Twice: Michael Jackson is an exploration of the King of Pop’s life and impact – and an investigation into why his global influence continues to endure, despite the disturbing allegations against him. In this ten-part series, journalists Leon Neyfakh and Jay Smooth bring you a new perspective on the Michael Jackson story, based on dozens of original interviews with people who watched it unfold from up close. Listen to Think Twice: Michael Jackson wherever you get your podcasts or you can binge the entire series ad-free on Audible or the Amazon Music app. Listen to Think Twice: Wondery.fm/ThinkTwice_Gist Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Today on Best Of The Gist, with heat in the air (almost everywhere) we listen back to Mike’s May 2022 interview with Climate scientist Michael Mann, author of The New Climate War: The Fight to Take Back Our Planet on an environment that is simultaneously dire and deadly but not hopeless. Then Mike updates listeners on how he got Twitter-blocked by Mann.  Produced by Joel Patterson and Corey Wara  Email us at thegist@mikepesca.com  To advertise on the show: https://advertisecast.com/TheGist  Subscribe to our ad-free and/or PescaPlus versions of The Gist: https://subscribe.mikepesca.com/  Follow Mike’s Substack: Pesca Profundities | Mike Pesca | Substack  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Leon Neyfakh, host of Fiasco: Vigilante, is here to talk about the truth of Bernard Goetz, the once-hailed, now hazily recalled subway gunman. Also at issue: How reasonable was fear 35 years ago, 5 years ago, and today. Plus, Mike broke up a public dispute just as it was tipping into fist fight between strangers on the streets of New York, and he reflects on the reactions he got to this act. A tale of violence averted, subways, basketball, cookies, and the bystander. Produced by Joel Patterson and Corey Wara Email us at thegist@mikepesca.com To advertise on the show, visit: https://advertisecast.com/TheGist Subscribe to The Gist Subscribe: https://subscribe.mikepesca.com/ Follow Mikes Substack at: Pesca Profundities | Mike Pesca | Substack Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The 2016 election posed questions we still haven't fully answered about our elections, but today's guest, Dartmouth professor and elections researcher Brendan Nyhan, has some answers in the form of research he conducted with the cooperation of ... gulp ... Facebook. He's just out with some studies that put real numbers behind why Trump was elected in 2016, and what that could mean for 2024. Also on the show, Niger experiences a coup, and the world responds, "Um, like, could you guys stop that? Please?" And a California neighborhood is invaded by hungry goats. If only they had a $191,000 per year goat herder on the city payroll! Produced by Joel Patterson and Corey Wara Email us at thegist@mikepesca.com To advertise on the show, visit: https://advertisecast.com/TheGist Subscribe to The Gist Subscribe: https://subscribe.mikepesca.com/ Follow Mikes Substack at: Pesca Profundities | Mike Pesca | Substack Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Before he was president, Harry Truman was a junior Senator who created a very effective bipartisan committee called the Senate Special Committee to Investigate the National Defense Program. We know it today as "The Truman Committee." Steve Drummond, author of the new book The Watchdog: How the Truman Committee Battled Corruption and Helped Win World War Two, joins us to talk about the committee's impact on the country during war time, and how it is still a model to fight corruption. Also on the show, Kevin Spacey is found not guilty again by every court he faces except the court of popular opinion. And Hunter Biden's plea deal collapses. Shocker. Produced by Joel Patterson and Corey Wara Email us at thegist@mikepesca.com To advertise on the show, visit: https://advertisecast.com/TheGist Subscribe to The Gist Subscribe: https://subscribe.mikepesca.com/ Follow Mikes Substack at: Pesca Profundities | Mike Pesca | Substack Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Today on The Gist, we decide to fix healthcare. Amy Finkelstein is a professor of economics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and co-author of the new book We've Got You Covered: Rebooting American Health Care. The Right's not going to love it. The Left's not going to love it. It could work. Plus, right-wing Spaniards raise the question of how often fears of the far-right come true. And conservatives love gold ... GOLD ... GOLD!!!! Produced by Joel Patterson and Corey Wara Email us at thegist@mikepesca.com To advertise on the show, visit: https://advertisecast.com/TheGist Subscribe to The Gist Subscribe: https://subscribe.mikepesca.com/ Follow Mikes Substack at: Pesca Profundities | Mike Pesca | Substack Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Mass firings at ESPN, the elimination of the New York Times' entire sports section, Disney talking about huge changes in its sports programming. Sports are splintering. Joining us as sage and guide is John Ourand, Media Reporter at Sports Business Journal and cohost of The Marchand and Ourand Sports Media Podcast. Plus, Florida's African American Studies standards scrutinized ... pilloried, even. And the crushing candor of Mike Pence. Produced by Joel Patterson and Corey Wara Email us at thegist@mikepesca.com To advertise on the show, visit: https://advertisecast.com/TheGist Subscribe to The Gist Subscribe: https://subscribe.mikepesca.com/ Follow Mikes Substack at: Pesca Profundities | Mike Pesca | Substack Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In this installment of Best Of The Gist, as the nation heads out in droves to see Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer in cinemas, we listen back to Mike's 2020 interview with Fred Kaplan, who had just published his book The Bomb: Presidents, Generals, and the Secret History of Nuclear War. Then, we replay our Wednesday Spiel, in which, much to Mike’s chagrin, the term “vibes session” enters macroeconomics. Produced by Joel Patterson and Corey Wara Email us at thegist@mikepesca.com To advertise on the show: https://advertisecast.com/TheGist Subscribe to our ad-free and/or PescaPlus versions of The Gist: https://subscribe.mikepesca.com/ Follow Mike’s Substack: Pesca Profundities | Mike Pesca | Substack Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Sonny Bunch, host of the Across The Movie Aisle podcast, and culture editor of The Bulwark, explains why all of these supposed blockbusters have been busts and how that may remake Hollywood. Plus a $10 quintillion asteroid, a Trump trial date, and an Antwentig ... each more valuable than the last. Produced by Joel Patterson and Corey Wara Email us at thegist@mikepesca.com To advertise on the show, visit: https://advertisecast.com/TheGist Subscribe to The Gist Subscribe: https://subscribe.mikepesca.com/ Follow Mikes Substack at: Pesca Profundities | Mike Pesca | Substack Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In France, riots over police killings, which are a small fraction of those in the U.S. Guess why our numbers are higher? Mike will explain. We are also joined by Jonathan Rosen to discuss his new book The Best Minds: A Story of Friendship, Madness, and the Tragedy of Good Intentions about the descent into madness of his childhood friend, who seemed destined for greatness but never quite got there. And goat herders imported by California are being paid lawyer-level salaries ... insert late-night joke here. Produced by Joel Patterson and Corey Wara Email us at thegist@mikepesca.com To advertise on the show, visit: https://advertisecast.com/TheGist Subscribe to The Gist Subscribe: https://subscribe.mikepesca.com/ Follow Mikes Substack at: Pesca Profundities | Mike Pesca | Substack Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

We weren't having a "recession," we were having (we were told) a "vibes-session." Mike wishes we weren't told that. It added nothing. Plus, a looming January 6th indictment for Donald Trump thrusts some hard choices onto Republican candidates who don't know how to be bold enough to win. And the return of David Grann, author of The Wager: A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny and Murder. Produced by Joel Patterson and Corey Wara Email us at thegist@mikepesca.com To advertise on the show, visit: https://advertisecast.com/TheGist   Subscribe to The Gist Subscribe: https://subscribe.mikepesca.com/ Follow Mikes Substack at: Pesca Profundities | Mike Pesca | Substack Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

David Grann, best-selling author of Killers of the Flower Moon and Lost City of Z is out with another tale where humans are pushed to the extreme, and society is asked to define itself. The Wager: A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny and Murder is a NY Times #1 best seller, and it's also fodder for a discussion of methods of writing, research, and truth-telling. Plus, a rise in mass shooting belies the overall trend of declining homicide. And how Mali got to know so much about the U.S. military, thanks to a spate of typos. Produced by Joel Patterson and Corey Wara Email us at thegist@mikepesca.com To advertise on the show, visit: https://advertisecast.com/TheGist   Subscribe to The Gist Subscribe: https://subscribe.mikepesca.com/ Follow Mikes Substack at: Pesca Profundities | Mike Pesca | Substack Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Vladimir Putin's recent blow up with Wagner frontman Yevgeny Prigozhin took the world by surprise, but it didn't really take the Russia experts of the world by surprise. We talk with Andrew S. Weiss, a former Pentagon and State Department official turned Russia researcher with the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, about why Prigozhin's made sense if you consider the environment Putin has created in the upper echelons of Russian power. Also, cereal killing is much harder to crack down on than cereal stealing. Produced by Joel Patterson and Corey Wara Email us at thegist@mikepesca.com To advertise on the show, visit: https://advertisecast.com/TheGist   Subscribe to The Gist Subscribe: https://subscribe.mikepesca.com/ Follow Mikes Substack at: Pesca Profundities | Mike Pesca | Substack Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In this installment of Best Of The Gist, we return to March 2017 to listen back to Mike’s interview with The Atlantic staff writer and U.S. Naval War College emeritus professor Tom Nichols, in which they tried to understand why Russia finds NATO so deeply offensive. Then, we replay Mike’s show opener from this past Tuesday, when he wondered about NATO … and Sweden … and nazis.  Produced by Joel Patterson and Corey Wara  Email us at thegist@mikepesca.com  To advertise on the show: https://advertisecast.com/TheGist  Subscribe to our ad-free and/or PescaPlus versions of The Gist: https://subscribe.mikepesca.com/  Follow Mike’s Substack: Pesca Profundities | Mike Pesca | Substack  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The notorious Baltimore Police unit dramatized in the HBO Series We Own This City, is examined in a new documentary I Got a Monster that veers away from the charisma of the cops and focusses on the havoc they wrought. Filmmaker Kevin Abrams, and key defense attorney and current Baltimore State Attorney Ivan Bates join us. Plus, there have always been floods, there has always been rain, but these are worse. What to do with that? And a serial killer nabbed, but not yet named. Produced by Joel Patterson and Corey Wara Email us at thegist@mikepesca.com To advertise on the show, visit: https://advertisecast.com/TheGist Subscribe to The Gist Subscribe: https://subscribe.mikepesca.com/ Follow Mikes Substack at: Pesca Profundities | Mike Pesca | Substack Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Striking writers have deprived Americans of late-night weather-related jokes, evil characters, and pat narrative. Soon-to-strike UPS drivers will deprive Americans of consumer goods. Which negotiation would you prioritize? Mike has a thought. Also, part two of our conversation with Lexicon Valley's John McWhorter about terms like "toxic masculinity," and how we are now arguing over the words instead of the concepts they define. And finally, Chipotle’s “Autocado” is poised to free its employees from … employment. Produced by Joel Patterson and Corey Wara Email us at thegist@mikepesca.com To advertise on the show, visit: https://advertisecast.com/TheGist Subscribe to The Gist Subscribe: https://subscribe.mikepesca.com/ Follow Mikes Substack at: Pesca Profundities | Mike Pesca | Substack Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

John McWhorter is a professor of linguistics at Columbia University, a New York Times columnist, and host of the Lexicon Valley podcast. He's back for another iteration of McWhorter's Quarters, wherein we discuss language, society, and the intersection (though not intersectionality) thereof. Plus, the Willy Wonka origin movie answers all the questions no one was asking. And finally, the death of nicknames. Produced by Joel Patterson and Corey Wara Email us at thegist@mikepesca.com To advertise on the show, visit: https://advertisecast.com/TheGist Subscribe to The Gist Subscribe: https://subscribe.mikepesca.com/ Follow Mikes Substack at: Pesca Profundities | Mike Pesca | Substack Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

CNN's Jake Tapper is out with his third thriller. This one is set when Evel Knievel jumped gorges, Elvis was being mourned, and the Son Of Sam stalked couples. Mike discusses the new novel All the Demons Are Here and the current state of media and politics. Plus, the affirmative action ruling is a complex issue that represented trade-offs and competing values. Be suspicious of anyone telling you otherwise. And Sweden is in NATO! But also, somewhat run by Nazis. Huh. Produced by Joel Patterson and Corey Wara Email us at thegist@mikepesca.com To advertise on the show, visit: https://advertisecast.com/TheGist Subscribe to The Gist Subscribe: https://subscribe.mikepesca.com/ Follow Mikes Substack at: Pesca Profundities | Mike Pesca | Substack Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The U.S. is supplying cluster munitions to Ukraine, even though many countries (though not our own, and none currently being invaded) have signed a treaty against them. Plus, the Supreme Court's "crisis of legitimacy." And we're joined by Mark Baker, a journalist who discovered himself to be the subject of interest to communist secret-police units in the 1980s. He has written about his experience as "Inter," his code name among the Czechoslovakian police. Produced by Joel Patterson and Corey Wara Email us at thegist@mikepesca.com To advertise on the show, visit: https://advertisecast.com/TheGist Subscribe to The Gist Subscribe: https://subscribe.mikepesca.com/ Follow Mikes Substack at: Pesca Profundities | Mike Pesca | Substack Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices