The Gist

On The Gist, President Trump's judicial nominations are starting to look ridiculous. In the interview, comedian Jeff Ross got a little tired of his shtick as a go-to roast guy for Comedy Central's famous Friars Club sendups. So he started skewering not people, but places, ideas, and institutions. His latest special, ­­Jeff Ross Roasts the Border, takes viewers to Brownsville, Texas, a city along the U.S.-Mexico border where a huge steel fence is meant to keep migrants from crossing into the United States.     In the Spiel, bidding farewell to the legendary sports radio host, Mike Francesa. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Chris Hurst doesn't want you to know him as the guy whose girlfriend was fatally shot during a live broadcast. But it is a huge part of what compelled him to pursue elected office: "Part of what I want to do is … take this spotlight, that I wish I had a receipt for … 'cause I'd gladly return it, and shine it on people that aren't normally seen." Hurst is a newly elected state representative in Virginia. For the Spiel, an exclusive clip from Donald Trump Jr.'s testimony to the House Intelligence Committee, courtesy of Maura Quint and McSweeney's.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On The Gist, Omarosa makes for the exits.  In honor of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees announced today, we're playing an excerpt from our live show last month, when we went over the ballot with Hit Parade host Chris Molanphy and Washington Post humorist Alexandra Petri.  In the Spiel, reflecting on the Doug Jones win in Alabama. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On The Gist, the #MeToo movement is only influential insofar as its targets can feel shame and enact accountability. In the interview, biographer Robert Dallek accounts for Franklin D. Roosevelt's ruthless pragmatism. As president, FDR made the decision to round up 120,000 Japanese Americans to "strike resonant chords with most Americans," and he was silent on anti-lynching bills to appease Democratic segregationists who would later help him pass New Deal legislation. Dallek's book is Franklin D. Roosevelt: A Political Life.  In the Spiel, the Alabama Senate election will come down to all registered voters, not just the roughly 26 percent who happen to be black and are reliably Democratic. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On The Gist, we can have sympathy for all kinds of people—just not the guy who loses all his money on bitcoin. In the interview, Lenora Chu tells the story of her American family's rude awakening to Chinese education practices. When Chu moved her family to Shanghai, she eagerly enrolled her young son into an elite Chinese public school. She expected academic rigor and an emphasis on work ethic. But she was surprised to find authoritarian teachers and desperate, obsequious parents. What, if anything, should the U.S. borrow from the Chinese education model? Chu's book is Little Soldiers: An American Boy, a Chinese School, and the Global Race to Achieve.   In the Spiel, what the abortion issue did to sort the parties. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On The Gist, is President Trump to blame for today's violence in Gaza?  In the interview, columnist John Archibald surveys the Senate race in Alabama, where Doug Jones has become the abortion candidate and Roy Moore has become the Trumpism candidate.   In the Spiel, don't talk to Mike about Trump's slurred speech. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On The Gist, Walmart gets a new name.  In the interview, Slate's Dahlia Lithwick thought about one thing when Senate Democrats started calling for Al Franken's resignation: Merrick Garland, which she points to as the beginning in a trend of Democrats trying to be honorable and Republicans trying to win at all costs. Are Democrats abandoning process too readily, only to see Republicans surge ahead again? Dahlia is the host of Slate's Amicus.  In the Spiel, the FBI's testimony on Capitol Hill. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On The Gist, Slate's Jim Newell explains the moral and political case for forcing out Sen. Al Franken. Dozens of Senate Democrats called on Franken to resign after a seventh woman accused him of sexual misconduct on Tuesday. Bob Garfield has spent much of his journalism career talking to eccentrics. In his one-man show, Ruggedly Jewish, the quest to explore his own identity dovetails with the story of an uneasy America. The show is touring in Chicago on Saturday, Dec. 9.  And for the Spiel, why President Trump's Jerusalem announcement solidifies his reputation as the chaos candidate. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On The Gist, why Alabama's decrepitude is not incidental to Roy Moore's competitive bid for Senate.  In the interview, Russell Shorto tells the stories of six people living through the Revolutionary War—one is George Washington; the other five, you've probably never heard of. Shorto's book is Revolution Song. In the Spiel, a counterpoint to Jill Filipovic's New York Times column arguing that the sexual harassers who covered the election threw the whole thing to Donald Trump.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Before Pete Souza became the most famous troll on Instagram, he was the White House photographer for the duration of the Obama administration. Souza explains his approach to capturing moments and shares why he doesn't consider his work to be propaganda. His book of pictures from the Obama presidency is Obama: An Intimate Portrait.  In the Spiel, should the store that sells you candy also sell you health care? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Bob Saget has long been known as the cuddly, sitcom dad with a surprisingly raunchy side. The comedian talks about the two shows that launched his career and the very first jokes he wrote as a teenager. Bob Saget's comedy special is Zero to Sixty. In the Spiel, Mike pays an overdue visit to mail from listeners, and awards a Lobstar. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

There hadn't been an English-language novel about ethnic Koreans living in Japan until this year's Pachinko. Author Min Jin Lee chalks it up to the complicated history of the Korean Japanese. They were colonized by Japan, they were forced or compelled to migrate, and they were targets of anti-Korean discrimination. But Lee was surprised to find that many Korean Japanese don't see themselves as victims of racism. "They would actually see it as, culturally, their norm," says Lee. "I think it's very hurtful to think that you're hated all the time, so you have to think of the story that you can live with."  In the Spiel, are President Trump's tweets worse than President Nixon's paranoia? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Thomas Jefferson and John Adams were very different guys representing opposing political parties. Jefferson was a wildly popular aristocrat from Virginia; Adams was a middling, dyspeptic lawyer from Massachusetts. But they were fast friends, and their relationship ultimately survived a presidential election in which they faced off as candidates. Historian Gordon S. Wood explains why their friendship should give us hope. Wood's book is Friends Divided: John Adams and Thomas Jefferson. In lieu of a Spiel today, we're sharing a piece of The Gist's Washington live show. Mike talked to FiveThirtyEight senior writer Perry Bacon Jr. about the Alabama Senate race and the growing momentum behind the Republican tax bill.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Can you move toward greater income equality without asking America's richest to give something up? In a word, no. On The Gist, Richard Reeves argues that the upper echelons of the U.S. are bogarting wealth that would otherwise go to the middle class. His latest book is Dream Hoarders: How the American Upper Middle Class Is Leaving Everyone Else in the Dust, Why That Is a Problem, and What to Do About It. And today, Mike pulls a Spiel from the archives: What President Trump means when he says everybody. Or anybody. Or nobody. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Elliott Abrams narrowly missed out on the State Department's No. 2 job under President Trump, and it wasn't just because of his sharp criticism of Trump, the candidate. In his book, Realism and Democracy, he argues that the U.S. should stay involved ­in the Arab world, going against the Trump administration's "America First" doctrine. Abrams also sounds off on Trump's use of the presidential pardon. In the Spiel, Mike weighs the New York Times' coverage of your run-of-the-mill American Nazi. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Standup comic and writer Dana Gould talks to Mike about growing up in a family of manly hunters and writing a character inspired by his dad. Gould is the creator of IFC's Stan Against Evil, a show about a small-town New Hampshire sheriff who fights demons.   In the Spiel, how to get a rise out of your uncle over the holidays. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The anti-war movement of 1968 looks inevitable today, but at the time, it felt "freaking bananas." MSNBC's Lawrence O'Donnell explains the charisma of Bobby Kennedy, the fervor of Eugene McCarthy, and the crushing blow they dealt to sitting President Lyndon B. Johnson, who withdrew from the campaign after a narrow win in the New Hampshire primary. O'Donnell wrote about the race in his latest book, Playing With Fire.  In the Spiel, Mike skewers president Trump's double standards when it comes to sexual assault. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In his 37 years as president of Zimbabwe, Robert Mugabe has learned how to play hardball. While his past methods have invited sanctions for human rights violations, the 93-year-old is staying within the confines of the law to fend off the coup at his doorstep. Chipo Dendere, a visiting assistant professor of political science at Amherst College, tells us more.  In the Spiel, Mike considers Charles Manson and why serial killers don't get attention like they used to. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Comedian Gilbert Gottfried is known for his notorious voice and jokes that toe the borderline between daring and tasteless. In the documentary Gilbert, we see his softer side: his wife, Dara, rubs schmutz off his robe, his kids hug him goodbye before padding off to school, he sweet-talks a hotel concierge into giving him free deodorant. Gottfried, Dara, and the film's director Neil Berkeley joined Mike to talk about what makes Gilbert special.   In the Spiel, are you running for office? A sitting senator? A first-term president? Mike Pesca is here to give you advice on surviving your sexual misconduct scandals.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Elizebeth Smith got her start poring over Shakespearean verse for secret messages that were not there. But she soon used those skills to break codes used by America's enemies in both world wars. The FBI took credit for her decryptions of Nazi messages, and her husband's work received much greater attention from the wars' historians. Jason Fagone changes that with his latest book,­ The Woman Who Smashed Codes, and joins Mike to talk about it.   In the Spiel, Mike surveys podcasting comedians' reactions to Louis C.K.'s admitted sexual misconduct. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices