During the Trump administration’s winter immigration surge, high-level officials assured ICE agents that they could act with impunity. But two different legal cases from Minnesota and Maine are finding ways to challenge the immunity they assumed they had as federal officers.

Guest:  Mark Joseph Stern, senior staff writer at Slate covering courts and the law cohost of Amicus.

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Podcast production by Elena Schwartz, Paige Osburn, Anna Phillips, Madeline Ducharme, and Rob Gunther.

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From bombing fishing boats in the Caribbean, to kidnapping Nicolás Maduro, to the Iran War, the Trump administration seems to operate like it has just as much immunity from international law as John Roberts says it has domestically. They’re probably not wrong.

Guest: Philippe Sands, professor of law at University College London,

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Podcast production by Elena Schwartz, Paige Osburn, Anna Phillips, Madeline Ducharme, and Rob Gunther.

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This very online administration is facing push back from Iran in their own home territory: the world of insipid memes, A.I. videos, and online mockery.

Guest: Ali Breland, staff writer for the Atlantic.

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Podcast production by Evan Campbell, and Patrick Fort.

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Hungary’s autocratic creep was turned back at the ballot box last weekend, in a stark rebuke to the forces of illiberalism and to the American conservatives who invested so heavily in former Hungarian leader Viktor Orban’s mission. It’s good news. But it’s not the end of the story. It behoves pro-democracy forces in the United States to move past the example of democratic resilience in Hungary to real, systemic change to the machinery of American democracy. On this week’s Amicus podcast, Norm Eisen, former ambassador and current democracy warrior (as founder of www.democracydefendersfund.org), tells Dahlia Lithwick that America’s response to Trumpism starts with protecting the rule of law, safeguarding elections, and strangling corruption—the three pillars of a genuine democratic recovery. The key isn’t just fixing courts or passing reforms—it's about building a democratic coalition based on simple, clear issues. As Democrats dare to dream of what may be possible in a post-Trump America, it’s time to start making concrete, workable  plans. This week’s show highlights the roadmap out of autocracy, through coalitions, court reform, and corruption-busting.   

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This week: Sneaker company Allbirds announced a pivot into A.I. infrastructure. Felix Salmon, Elizabeth Spiers, and Emily Peck explain why this absurd-sounding venture is actually a pretty clever piece of financial engineering. Then, the hosts get into the market surge that put the S&P 500 at a record high. And finally, the courts confirmed what we all knew: Live Nation and its subsidiary Ticketmaster are screwing everyone over. The hosts discuss what led to the federal jury ruling that the concert behemoth was acting as a monopoly.  

In the Slate Plus episode: The con behind SantaCon.

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Podcast production by Jessamine Molli.

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Emily Bazelon talks with journalist Mark Oppenheimer about his new book

Judy Blume: A Life. Oppenheimer, who spent years with Blume’s papers at

Yale and conducted extensive interviews with the author herself, traces

how a restless housewife in New Jersey became one of the most

beloved—and most banned—writers in American history.

They discuss what made Blume’s frank, funny voice so revolutionary for

young readers in the 1970s, the surprisingly progressive household that

shaped her, and the genius of Forever, her landmark novel in which

teenage sex is depicted as pleasurable rather than catastrophic. They

also dig into the scandalous adult novel Wifey, Blume’s dogged

persistence through rejection, and her tireless championing of other

writers’ right to be read.

Tweet us your questions @SlateGabfest or email us at [email protected].

(Messages could be quoted by name unless the writer stipulates

otherwise.)

Podcast production by Nina Porzucki.

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Back in the depths of the pandemic, what was an actor to do? Ben McKenzie started looking into cryptocurrency—and his research yielded both a book and a new documentary. The works are both non-fiction, which is more than McKenzie can say for crypto.

Guest: Ben McKenzie, actor, director of the documentary Everyone Is Lying to You for Money, and co-author of Easy Money: Cryptocurrency, Casino Capitalism, and the Golden Age of Fraud.

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Podcast production by Evan Campbell, and Patrick Fort.

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This week, Emily Bazelon, John Dickerson, and David Plotz discuss Trump's Hormuz blockade and his feud with the Pope, a new oral history chronicling stark shifts inside the Department of Homeland Security during Trump's second term, and how to unwind authoritarianism after the consequential electoral defeat of Hungary's Viktor Orbán with guest Anne Applebaum.

For this week’s Slate Plus bonus episode, Emily, John, and David discuss the joint resignation of Reps. Eric Swalwell and Tony Gonzales after accusations of sexual misconduct became public, why powerful men make such terrible choices, and whether we live in a world where shame still matters.

In the latest Gabfest Reads, David Plotz talks with journalist Gabriel Sherman about his new book Bonfire of the Murdochs: How the Epic Fight to Control the Last Great Media Dynasty Broke a Family—and the World. Sherman, who also wrote the bestselling biography of Fox News chief Roger Ailes, spent 15 years reporting on the Murdoch empire. In this book he turns his lens on the family itself — the rivalries, the wounds, and the secret Nevada courtroom battle that finally forced Rupert’s hand.

Email your chatters, questions, and comments to [email protected]. (Messages may be referenced by name unless the writer stipulates otherwise.)

Podcast production by Nina Porzucki

Research by Emily Ditto

You can find the full Political Gabfest show pages here.

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Find out more about David Plotz's monthly tours of Ft. DeRussy, the secret Civil War fort hidden in Rock Creek Park.  

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@SlateGabfest on X / https://twitter.com/SlateGabfest

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In Pope Leo XIV, Donald Trump has finally run into someone he can’t silence, threaten, or sully. He’s not taking it gracefully. 

Guest:  Christopher Hale, author of the “Letters from Leo” Substack, “a chronicle of how Pope Leo XIV’s papacy intersects with American politics, faith, and the digital age during the presidency of Donald Trump.”

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Podcast production by Elena Schwartz, Paige Osburn, Anna Phillips, Madeline Ducharme, and Rob Gunther.

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In a single weekend, JD Vance managed to flunk out of peace talks with Iran and hitch the Trump wagon to Victor Orban’s star just in time for it to implode. Like Kamala Harris before him, the vice president is getting all the hard, unpopular assignments – and also like Harris, it could cost him his political future.

Guest: Asawin Suebsaeng, senior political correspondent with Zeteo, co-author of “Sinking in the Swamp: How Trump's Minions and Misfits Poisoned Washington.”

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Podcast production by Elena Schwartz, Paige Osburn, Anna Phillips, Madeline Ducharme, and Rob Gunther.

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The U.S. and Iran began (and ended) negotiations under a shaky ceasefire, and are now at the stage where America is threatening to also blockade the Strait of Hormuz. Meanwhile, Israel and Lebanon have begun negotiating over Hezbollah, with conspicuously no ceasefire in place. 

Guest:  Gregg Carlstrom, Middle East correspondent for The Economist.

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Podcast production by Elena Schwartz, Paige Osburn, Anna Phillips, Madeline Ducharme, and Rob Gunther.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.