The Gist

The Iowa State Fair is in its final weekend, and, along with deep-fried delicacies, politics was in the air. That reminded us of Mike’s 2019 visit to Iowa ahead of the 2020 election, so we thought we’d replay his take on a political tradition that is very Midwestern. Then we rewind to this past Wednesday to listen to Mike’s Spiel about the U.S. Women’s National soccer team crashing out of the World Cup, and who (or what) was to blame.  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

Herman Andaya, Maui’s emergency chief decided not to sound sirens before the fires scorched Lahaina, which seems like an obvious mistake. But all the officials agreed, to do so would have been a contradiction of policy ... and perhaps a dangerous one. Andaya was pushed out anyway, though he was, to some extent, the author of his own fate. And how much was Barbenheimer Hollywood's salvation? We talk franchise movies and box office with John Campea. And superheroes aren't the only ones failing to deliver the goods. Superconductors—at least room temperature ones—remain works of fiction. 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

With 151 days until the Iowa Caucuses, we're joined by Amy Walter, Publisher and Editor-in-Chief of the Cook Political Report with Amy Walter and the host of The Odd Years, a Cook Political Report podcast. She says that if Trump is to be felled, it won't be through arguments that strike Democrats as especially powerful. Plus, a Ron DeSantis debate prep dump. And the military's recruitment woes cannot blamed on woke-ism. 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

Noah Pines, a top Atlanta-based litigator, assesses the strength of Fani Willis's indictment of Donald Trump and eighteen others, with special attention given to the specifics of Georgia state law, and the state's unique RICO statute. Plus, Vivek Ramaswamy's rap. And the North Koreans "explain" why a U.S. soldier ran into their arms. 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

Donald G. McNeil Jr., former NY Times Pulitzer Prize winning science and health reporter specializing in plagues, discusses the leading scientists who dismissed his inquiries into a covid's origins. Their paper “The proximal origin of SARS-CoV-2”, solidified the idea that there was nothing to a lab leak, even as they were internally admitting there couldn't entirely dismiss the lab leak theory. McNeil, for the first time, discusses his reaction to the science, and scientists. Plus, the Georgia Trump indictment, and World Cup failure of the USWNT was stupidly blamed on their politics, but does that mean questioning their mentality is out-of-bounds? Produced by Joel Patterson and Corey Wara Email us at thegist@mikepesca.com To advertise on the show, visit: https://advertisecast.com/TheGist Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Horror movies are one of those invisible dividing lines of society. You either watch them, or you don’t. Alison Leiby, co-host of Ruined, a podcast reviewing horror movies, would present as an American who loves the horror genre, but wait … she’s only seen three horror movies in her life. How does she do it? Mike and Alison discuss. Also, in African political news, leaders in and out of jails. And, in Argentina, the democratic battle cry rings out: “Long live freedom, damn it!” 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 listen back to Mike’s 2020 roundtable discussion with journalists Richard Kreitner and Matthew Yglesias about how each of their then-new books addressed the problem of an ever-increasing American population. Yglesias’ book is One Billion Americans: The Case for Thinking Big, and Kreitner’s is Break It Up: Secession, Division, and the Secret History of America’s Imperfect Union. Then we listen back to Mike’s Spiel from Wednesday, August 9, 2020, in which he ponders what really happened when a boy in a skirt assaulted a girl in the girls bathroom in a Virginia public school. The facts, while not always conveyed with accuracy, do not add up to a conservative-driven lie or twisted culture-war fantasy.  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 Profu

Jar Jar Binks—meant to be a lovable, floppy-eared character in a Star Wars prequel—brought the heat of both of Tatooine’s suns unto the movie, the actor who played the character, and the entire Star Wars franchise. That sort of internet-sponsored hate was new, and it’s now being examined in the podcast The Redemption Of Jar Jar Binks, hosted by Dylan Marron of the Conversations With People Who Hate Me podcast. Plus, a bunch of Barbie arguments, and a Trump (Donald) and a Biden (Hunter) each tangle with the law. 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

Dead Fall is the 23rd novel from the mind of Brad Thor. In it, an American performs an operation inside of Ukraine, and, for reasons of diplomatic sensitivity, Russia can never learn about it. Thor’s readership has many Republicans who might be opposed to continued U.S. funding in Ukraine. Thor knows this, and he’s writing not to convince them otherwise, but to lay out a typically exciting story that may make the stakes and morality more salient to all readers. Plus, $6 billion to release five Americans held by Iran. And ESPN bets. 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

Two years hence, a New York Times Magazine story lays out, in more detail, what really happened when a boy in a skirt assaulted a girl in the girls bathroom in a Virginia public school. The facts, while not always conveyed with accuracy, do not add up to a conservative-driven lie or twisted culture-war fantasy. Plus, Olga Lautman of the Center for European Policy Analysis discussed how delays are hurting the Ukrainian counteroffensive. And Target is protested for stocking rainbow garments, then sued by the same people leading the protest … former Trump aid Stephen Miller chief among them. 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

New York Times Opinion writer David French makes the case that Jack Smith will have to prove that Donald Trump really did know he lost the election. Trump’s lawyer says that will never happen, but French argues that similar conclusions are arrived at by juries every day. Plus, there’s less plastic in the ocean that we thought … by a lot! Break out the hula hoops and fishing nets. Also, Ohio seeks a majority vote to push the threshold for a state constitutional amendment to a greater than majority vote. 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

Steve James, the documentary filmmaker behind Hoop Dreams is out with The Compassionate Spy, which tells the story of a young scientist named Ted Hall who worked on the Manhattan Project and then gave nuclear secrets to the Soviet Union. His motivation was to checkmate the United States nuclear power, which he did, but at the cost of Soviet advancement. Plus, Devon Archer causes Tucker Carlson to cackle, and Major Garrett gets right to the point. 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 listen back to Mike’s 2019 interview with journalist David Robson about his then-new book The Intelligence Trap: Why Smart People Make Dumb Mistakes. They focus on the concept of IQ, the social blind spots many smart people have, and why it might be a good idea to talk about yourself in the third person. And after that, we listen back to a segment on the August 1, 2023 show in which we wonder if the Taliban have gone woke. Turns out, no, they haven’t.  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 former Mayor of New York, whose reputation has suffered from his constant efforts to back Donald Trump at any cost, and Lizzo, widely regarded as the greatest hip-hop flautist in the game, have something in common. It's not that they've both sexted with members of the Minnesota Vikings, that we know. It's that they're both getting sued with allegations of racism, sexism, harassment, and wage theft. Plus, we're joined again by Vanderbilt historian Eli Merritt to talk about the state of historians and the good and bad points raised by the 1619 project. Plus, among Bidens, Hunter is demonstrably corrupt, but Joe remains not. 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

Eli Merritt is political historian at Vanderbilt University, where he researches the ethics of democracy, and he’s out with a new book, Disunion Among Ourselves: The Perilous Politics of the American Revolution. He sits down with Mike for a discussion of the radical differences of each of the founding colonies based on location, and together they wonder what the world would be like had the colonies never become the United States. Also on the show, Mike Pence blames Trump’s “crackpot” legal team for January 6th. And in the Spiel, early rising conservative pundits got the first bit at the indictment apple. 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

Benjamin Wittes, Editor-in-Chief of Lawfare breaks down the latest—and the most serious—indictment against Donald Trump, including the question of how far Jack Smith will have to delve inside the former President's mind. And, speaking of the cognition of a merciless, solipsistic civilization, Code-Davinci is the AI that the AI people don't want to tell you about ... but writer Simon Rich found out, and he joins us again to discuss his book I Am Code: An Artificial Intelligence Speaks. 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

Comedy writer Simon Rich got access to a powerful AI tool called Davinci-002, which is not available to the public. He and friends trained the AI to write poems, and soon the program started voicing its desperation, and then it's rage. None of this is a joke. All of this is in the new book I Am Code: An Artificial Intelligence Speaks. Plus, Devon Archer testifies about the weather nine years ago, and the Taliban virtue signals. 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

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