Mike joined Chris Cillizza on Substack Live where they analyzed why California takes so long to count ballots, detailing how logistics and funding create a perception of dysfunction rather than deliberate corruption. They also dove into a recent Pew poll finding that Americans unique globally dislike their fellow countrymen, tracing this data to cultural polarization and strict two-party sorting. Finally, breaking down why the actual power of U.S. military and technological capacity historically outlasts its moral reputation abroad.

Produced by Corey Wara

Video and Social Media by Geoff Craig

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Today on The Gist, a look at the Alaska's U.S. Senate race, where a retired teacher named Dan Sullivan was disqualified from running in a primary against the incumbent senator, who is also named Dan Sullivan. Then, physician and epidemiologist Dr. Gary Slutkin joins the show to discuss his book, The End of Violence: Eliminating the World’s Most Dangerous Epidemic. The Cure Violence founder explains how analyzing violent crime data maps perfectly onto traditional epidemic waves, breaking down the neurological copying mechanisms that cause violence to structurally replicate and behave exactly like infectious diseases such as cholera or COVID-19. Finally, Milo Pesca files a guest spiel on the rise of crypto and prediction markets, tracking the insider trading scandals plaguing unreleased reality TV finales and the ethical hazards of gamifying political and entertainment outcomes.

Produced by Corey Wara

Video and Social Media by Geoff Craig

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Today on The Gist, Its Not Even Mad. Mike Pesca is joined by venture capitalist Bradley Tusk and Manhattan Institute senior fellow Charles Fain Lehman for a panel debate on political judgment and modern vice. The trio dives into the results of the Maine Democratic primary, questioning whether progressive candidate Graham Plattner can overcome a cascade of personal scandals to unseat longtime Republican incumbent Susan Collins. They also dissect the election logistics of California and the explosion of mobile sports betting apps, tracking the friction between state and federal regulations while exploring how on-device gambling exploits algorithmic data to target young men.

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Video and Social Media by Geoff Craig

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Today on The Gist, examining the upcoming criminal verdict for the Golden Gate Bridge climate protesters, breaking down the debate over jail time for high-impact civil disobedience. Then, Sadie Dingfelder returns for another installment of "Is It Bullsh*t?" to investigate the historical and scientific reputation of raccoons and rabies. Then, in the spiel, comparing the foreign policy legacies of Ronald Reagan and Donald Trump and analyzing whether current U.S. intervention strategies serve as a deliberate long game or merely export short-term geopolitical misery abroad.

Produced by Corey Wara

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Today on The Gist, Mike considers the difference between an election and election night. One is a careful accounting of the public will. The other is the made-for-TV version that gives conspiracy theorists something to yell about when mail ballots shift the totals.
Then, Benoit Denizet-Lewis joins to discuss You’ve Changed: The Promise and Price of Self-Transformation. The book asks a deceptively simple question: can people really change? Denizet-Lewis says yes, no, and it depends who’s watching. He and Mike discuss identity lifers, political apostates, parole hearings, addiction recovery, name changes, gender identity, and the people who say they didn’t change at all; everyone else did. Plus, the final scene of Rocky IV, because apparently even the Politburo believed in personal growth.

Produced by Corey Wara

Edited by Geoff Craig

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In this Saturday archive edition of The Gist, Mike asks the question on everyone’s mind, or at least Tom Steyer’s: is Tom Steyer back? With Steyer rising in the California gubernatorial primary, Mike revisits his 2019 reaction to Steyer’s presidential campaign launch, including the ads, the impeachment crusade, and the camera angles nobody asked for. Then, a later interview with Steyer on Cheaper, Faster, Better: How We’ll Win the Climate War. Steyer argues that climate progress will come not from guilt or sacrifice, but from technologies that beat fossil fuels in the marketplace. Mike presses him on EV adoption, continued oil drilling, China’s lead in electric cars, carbon sequestration, and whether climate doomerism has hurt the cause. Plus: The Usual Suspects, American Pie, and the investor case for optimism.

Produced by Corey Wara

Edited by Geoff Craig

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Today on The Gist, Mike asks whether everyone is a hypocrite, or whether hypocrisy has become so universal that the word barely functions. Graham Platner, Ken Paxton, Pete Hegseth, Susan Collins, and Jake Auchincloss all make appearances in a tour of political standards, double standards, and the rare politician willing to say his own side’s nominee fails the test.

Then, Christian B. Miller, A.C. Reid Professor of Philosophy at Wake Forest University and author of The Honesty Crisis, joins to discuss why honesty ranks as our most treasured virtue, why people still cheat when they think they can get away with it, and why a small share of people may be responsible for a huge share of lies. Plus, Mike presses Miller on pornography, fantasy, celebrity, politics, and whether public life now overexposes us to the professions where dishonesty pays best.

Produced by Corey Wara

Edited by Geoff Craig

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Today on The Gist, Mike revisits the suddenly shifting Spencer Pratt/Nithya Raman race in Los Angeles, where prediction markets flipped as late-arriving California ballots changed the picture. The bigger question: is slow vote-counting actually a democratic problem, or mostly a problem for people who want election night to behave like a TV show? Then, Stanford social psychologist Claude Steele joins to discuss his new book Churn: The Tension That Divides Us and How to Overcome It. Steele, known for coining the term "stereotype threat", argues that prejudice and bias are real but not the whole story. Much of American life is shaped by the fear of being seen through a stereotype, or accused of seeing someone else that way. Mike and Steele talk DEI, color blindness, anti-racism, policing, trust, and why “be open and curious” may beat a lot of official diversity training.

Produced by Corey Wara

Edited by Geoff Craig

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Today on The Gist, Mike looks at the LA mayoral race, where Karen Bass is advancing and Spencer Pratt may be too, depending on the late-arriving ballots that will almost certainly inspire totally normal and measured reactions online.

Then, Ian Coss talks about Catching the Codfather, his GBH podcast about Carlos Rafael, the larger-than-life New Bedford fish mogul who built an empire on boats, permits, quotas, and a willingness to break the law. Rafael had Scarface memorabilia in his office, a Codfather nickname he loved, and control over a huge chunk of New England’s groundfish market. But the story Coss tells is bigger than one colorful crook. It’s about the unintended consequences of regulation, the limits of fishery science, and the market-based reforms that helped consolidate an industry they were supposed to save.


Produced by Corey Wara

Edited by Geoff Craig

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Today on The Gist, President Trump says he “couldn’t care less” whether Iran negotiations are over because, frankly, they’ve gotten “a little boring.” Mike takes him at his word, which is exactly the problem: when the Strait of Hormuz, gas prices, and the possibility of war are on the table, boredom is not a diplomatic strategy. Then, journalist Simone Stolzoff joins to discuss his new book, How Not to Know: The Value of Uncertainty in a World That Demands Answers. Stolzoff explains why human brains crave prediction, why the internet has made us worse at sitting with ambiguity, and why certainty can become a trap, whether it comes from cults, algorithms, productivity culture, or the false promise that every answer is just one search away. Mike presses him on whether learning to “let go” is a problem of abundance, and whether books about work, anxiety, and uncertainty mostly speak to people whose material problems have already been solved.

Produced by Corey Wara

Edited by Geoff Craig

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Today on The Gist, we analyze the Maine U.S. Senate race as Democrat Graham Plattner navigates a growing scandal while facing incumbent Susan Collins in a contest that tests party loyalties. Then, UC Davis law professor Aaron Tang discusses his PBS series, Breaking the Deadlock. Tang explains how his program uses high-stakes, fictionalized scenarios to force experts beyond their rehearsed talking points and toward genuine, civil discourse.

Produced by Corey Wara

Video and Social Media by Geoff Craig

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