The Gist

Robby Mook has a tricky job. As Hillary Clinton’s campaign manager, he has to find a way to pin down Donald Trump, whose gaffes are constantly overtaking each other. Mook talks to Mike Pesca about the challenge of crafting a single message to combat Trump and recent events on the campaign trail, including Hillary Clinton’s pneumonia diagnosis.  Plus, director Ryan Suffern on his recent ESPN documentary “What the Hell Happened to Jai Alai?” which looks at the swift rise and fall of the sport in America. How come jai alai was never seen as a competitor to football, hockey, and baseball?  For the Spiel, going to school on college rankings.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The Clinton Foundation is a superstar in the world of philanthropy—is it OK that it leverages power and celebrity to achieve its mission? On The Gist, two experts disagree.  Kenneth Stern, former CEO of NPR, sheds no tears for the Clinton Foundation. He thinks vanity-giving helps inferior charities persist. Stern is the author of With Charity for All: Why Charities Are Failing and a Better Way to Give. His company has done work for the Clinton Foundation.  Stacy Palmer, editor of the Chronicle of Philanthropy, says the Clinton Foundation uses its political heft for good. She adds that the most ambitious charities in the U.S. were started by titans of industry seeking to improve their reputations.   For the Spiel, a few choice words about Rudy Giuliani.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Tony Kornheiser is joining the pod people. On The Gist, the man behind the Tony Kornheiser Show explains his dive into podcasting: “I watched newspapers die under me.... I began to get the sense that radio was going to die under me too. And so I jumped.” Kornheiser also hosts ESPN’s Pardon The Interruption alongside Michael Wilbon. For the Spiel, pencils down: It’s time for the Lobstar of the Antentwig. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Drew Magary is down to hang. His past story assignments for GQ include a day with Duck Dynasty and a trip with the Kid Rock cruise. But Magary, author of the “Why Your Team Sucks” series­­ on Deadspin, is not one to equivocate. On The Gist, he shares his secret to immersive reporting and explains why he’s OK with grown men who wear sports jerseys. His latest book is The Hike: A Novel.  For the Spiel, Donald Trump’s generalizing about generals. Today’s sponsors: Blue Apron. Blue Apron’s meal kits are delivered right to your door and make cooking at home easy. Get your first three meals free by going to BlueApron.com/gist. Indochino, creators of one-of-a-kind men’s suits that are customized just for you. Get any premium suit for just $399—plus free shipping—by going to Indochino.com and using the promo code GIST at checkout.  Join Slate Plus! Members get bonus segments, exclusive member-only podcasts, and more. Sign up for a free trial today at slate.com/gistplus. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcast

College campuses have become hostile territory for some comedians. A wrong-headed joke can provoke everything from walkouts to protests to death threats. But how should students push back against material they find offensive? Director Ted Balaker and comedian Karith Foster discuss their new film Can We Take a Joke? and the tricky line between free speech and needless offense.  For the Spiel, Mike takes on the dueling accusations of pay-for-play. Rendering judgement on the optics of the appearance of the whiff of the feeling of potential impropriety.    This Gist is supported by Rocket Mortgage from Quicken Loans. Rocket Mortgage brings the mortgage process into the twenty-first century with an easy online process. Check out Rocket Mortgage today at QuickenLoans.com/gist. And by Club W. Get top quality wine delivered right to your door. For 20 dollars off your first order, go to ClubW.com/gist. Join Slate Plus! Members get bonus segments, exclusive member-only podcasts, and more. Sign up for a free trial today

Kori Schake, a former adviser to President George W. Bush, blanches at the idea of a Donald Trump presidency. But she still has reservations about Hillary Clinton. On The Gist, Schake says Clinton’s poor follow-through at the Department of State gives her something in common with the Bush administration. Schake is a research fellow at Stanford University’s Hoover Institution and regular guest on Foreign Policy’s The Editor’s Roundtable podcast. She edited the recently published Warriors & Citizens: American Views of Our Military with Jim Mattis.  For the Spiel, Mike examines the enduring appeal of unsophisticated ’80s video games—even Mr. Do.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times: Our guest Chris Molanphy says 1991 was a tale of multiple cities, as radio stations began to tailor their playlists to narrower audiences. The result? Little crossover among the Billboard pop, rock, and rap songs charts, and a very eclectic Hot 100 chart. Molanphy writes Slate’s “Why Is This Song No. 1?” column.  For the Spiel, Mike cleans out the fridge before vacation. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Most of us would be lost without GPS. So why do we think it’s hilarious when people drive into the ocean or walk to the Arctic Circle because phone maps told them to? In Pinpoint, author Greg Milner looks at our uneasy relationship with the technology and the ways GPS has reorganized our culture and our brains.  On The Spiel, Mike looks at Donald Trump’s latest failed endeavor: public opinion polling.    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Director Joshua Marston has done his share of shape-shifting. He’s spent time as a teacher abroad. He’s learned Albanian and made some stories for NPR. And he’s directed critically acclaimed movies like Maria Full of Grace. His newest, Complete Unknown, stars Rachel Weisz as a serial imposter who gets stuck at a dinner party with someone from her past.  On The Spiel, the Clinton Foundation pay-for-play mega-scoop that never was. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Why so many music phenoms from Iceland? On The Gist, Kaleo frontman JJ Julius Son says he comes from a “fearless” people. About that: Kaleo recently recorded in a volcano. Their latest album is called A/B.  Plus, Slate’s very own Mallory Ortberg, writer of the Dear Prudence column, tells us how to be an entertaining advice-giver. Ortberg is the author of Texts From Jane Eyre: And Other Conversations With Your Favorite Literary Characters. In the Spiel, Russia’s Paralympics propaganda. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

What made the movies of the 1980s so special, especially as compared to movies being made now? On The Gist, the Guardian’s Hadley Freeman explains. She’s the author of Life Moves Pretty Fast: The Lessons We Learned From Eighties Movies (and Why We Don’t Learn Them From Movies Anymore). For the Spiel, Mike revisits the items that have escaped his searching, skeptical gaze.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On The Gist, the hosts of the podcast that has made the best use yet of the jazz drummer’s brush technique: Politically Re-Active with W. Kamau Bell and Hari Kondabolu. The show picks up where the comedians left off when they stopped working in the same TV writers room. Bell hosts CNN’s United Shades of America, and returning guest Kondabolu is on tour with a new comedy album, Mainstream American Comic.  For the Spiel, grilling Jill Stein.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Are the nation’s most dangerous warheads secure if a rag-tag troika of peaceniks can break through the storage facility’s back door? On The Gist, Washington Post reporterDan Zak considers the good and not-so-good arguments for nuclear weapons. His book is Almighty: Courage, Resistance, and Existential Peril in the Nuclear Age.  For the Spiel, Jill Stein’s unforgivable comments on debt forgiveness. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On The Gist, Megan Abbott discusses her latest book, You Will Know Me, a psychological thriller set in the high-pressure world of elite women’s gymnastics. In the Spiel, a send-off for John McLaughlin.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Things are bleak in Brazil. Prices are high, governments are broke, and gangs are tightening their control over the country’s slums. But on The Gist, Slate contributing editor Franklin Foer has hope for a national renewal. The reason? A prominent federal judge is dead set on rooting out political corruption, though it may rival soccer as the national pastime.  For the Spiel, hands across the ages.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The Gist has been bedeviled by one question: Do the clothes really make the man? On today’s show, regular guest Maria Konnikova joins us to investigate the link between clothing and performance. Konnikova writes for the New Yorker and is the author of The Confidence Game. For the Spiel, Trump, truth, and fact-checking.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On every great improv team there’s an undertow of angst. Who will get snatched up by a TV show? Who will toil in relative obscurity? Who will quit after the big break doesn’t come? On Ep. 560, comedian Mike Birbiglia and This American Life creator Ira Glass talk about their film Don’t Think Twice, an ode to improvisational comedy and recalibrating what it means to be a success. Find it in a theater near you.  For the Spiel, our Lobstar of the Antentwig.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On The Gist, Republican “merchant of mud” Mike Murphy ponders Donald Trump’s effect on down-ballot GOP candidates. Murphy is known for putting the “!” in “Jeb!” as an adviser to Jeb Bush’s presidential campaign. His podcast is called Radio Free GOP. For the Spiel, Mike tries to get to the bottom of an Olympian canard about the happiness of bronze medalists.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Are voters in 2016 better compared to an angry customer at a drive-thru window? Or are the two major parties on completely different planets, unable to agree on a shared reality? On The Gist, Slate columnist and Face the Nation moderator John Dickerson discusses elections past and present. He is the author of Whistlestop: My Favorite Stories From Presidential Campaign History. For the Spiel, when it comes to Donald Trump’s Second Amendment comment, it’s hard for the media to acknowledge what everyone knows they heard.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On The Gist, Trump critic and longtime Republican consultant Stuart Stevens shares his bleak take on his party’s chances at winning the White House anytime soon. Stevens was a top strategist for Mitt Romney’s 2012 presidential campaign and is the author of The Innocent Have Nothing to Fear.  The Spiel is taking a brief hiatus.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices