On The Gist, “meddling” is too weak a word to describe what Russia did during in the U.S. election. In the interview, Chris Molanphy walks us through the No. 1 hits of 1969, the year flower power and psychedelic pop went fully mainstream. Chris is the host of Slate’s Hit Parade.  In the Spiel, our Congress members represent way too many constituents—700,000 on average—to stay in touch with their needs. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On The Gist, the Trump administration walks back a line about U.S. trade with Canada. And which American president was the studliest? Kate and J.D. Dobson are out with a book that considers Ulysses S. Grant’s quiet charisma, Franklin Pierce’s youthful charm, and the distinguished eyebrows of a certain Warren G. Harding. The Dobsons are the authors of Hottest Heads of State, Volume 1: The American Presidents. In the Spiel, the world’s greatest toy store goes down.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Well, it’s a tough day to be Fox News.  On today’s Gist, a closer look at the Department of State. It’s not that Rex Tillerson was wrong to want to reform how we do diplomacy—it’s that he utterly failed to deliver. Tom Hill, a visiting fellow at the Brookings Institution, says the U.S. approach to international relations is antiquated and the diplomatic corps is bloated. Tillerson had a mandate to rethink our State Department. He blew it.  In the Spiel, why the special election in Pennsylvania’s 18th Congressional District was not so special.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On today’s Gist, the lesser-known story of Colombia: Maria McFarland Sanchez-Moreno has written a moving account of Colombia’s post–Pablo Escobar years, when the illegal drug trade was taken up by one of the factions in the country’s long-running civil war. Her book, There Are No Dead Here, spotlights the work of Colombians who risked their lives to wrest their country back from lawlessness. It also reveals the incoherence of the United States’ war on drugs, which indirectly fueled so much of Colombia’s suffering. McFarland is the executive director of the Drug Policy Alliance.  In the Spiel, why a surprise primary win in Texas makes complete sense when you learn the victor’s name.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On The Gist, is it OK to ape a Russian accent when saying Russian names? And we revisit an interview with filmmaker Bryan Fogel, whose documentary, Icarus, recently won an Academy Award. In the Spiel, a short conversation with author Steven Pinker about the state of academia. Is it really doing that badly? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On The Gist, if sitting down with North Korea wasn’t a good idea for past U.S. presidents, how is it a good idea for our current one?        In the interview, Slate’s Fred Kaplan and former Ambassador to the U.N. Bill Richardson are both cautiously optimistic about upcoming negotiations between Trump and Kim Jong-un.  In the Spiel, some miscellaneous (positive!) news. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On The Gist, it’s a Jon Favreau–flavored mash-up: Swing Wars. In the interview, the walls cave in, the props catch fire, the actors stammer and forget … and it’s all part of the plan. Kevin McCollum, one of the producers of Broadway’s longest-running play, tells Mike how The Play That Goes Wrong makes audiences laugh.  In the Spiel: By breaking them, at least the Trump administration is making us bone up on obscure but important rules. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On The Gist, who’s left to work for Trump when even the nincompoops are quitting?    In the interview, Richard Aborn has helped get gun control laws on the books. As president of the Citizens Crime Commission of New York City, he has the data on what works, what doesn’t, and how New York City got so safe.  In the Spiel, the average Joe has no idea how tariffs actually work. That makes it tough to reason with him. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On The Gist, Lego business is hurting.  In Steve James’ latest documentary, the bank is the good guy. New York’s district attorney brought charges against a Chinatown-based bank after the 2008 financial crisis, even though the bank had little to do with subprime mortgages. James is the director of the Oscar-nominated Abacus: Small Enough to Jail. In the Spiel, the unpersuasive handwringing over putting Sam Nunberg on live TV.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On The Gist, if iHeart Media wants to do better, they really ought to change their name.    Did you watch the Oscars? Did you think they were a little lame? Writer Catie Lazarus provides a safe space for your Academy Awards–related shade. Lazarus is host of the Employee of the Month Show. Come see it live on March 15 in New York with guests Hannibal Buress, Emily Mortimer, Alex Lacamoire, and the Resistance Revival Chorus.  In the Spiel, don’t let Ben Carson’s $31,000 fiasco distract you from the ongoing travesty that is the White House. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Well, what do you know? In 2016, Trump tweeted that he wasn’t trying to get a top security clearance for his son-in-law, Jared Kushner. A year later, he’s finally right. On The Gist, what’s so special about an octopus? Slate’s Daniel Engber has a takedown of the many-armed beast of the deep: The research on cephalopod intelligence is flimsy, he says, and the octopus is hardly the first animal to have fascinated us with its methods of escape. In the Spiel, it’s time to name another Lobstar. One more thing: Please fill out the Slate podcast survey at Slate.com/podcastsurvey. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Today on The Gist, a unified theory of Donald Trump. Plus, Trump dragged his fellow Republicans and made his Democrats grin like Cheshire cats at the televised meeting on gun control. What are the chances that the White House lets Trump’s comments stand? Mike talks to Slate politics writer Jim Newell. In the Spiel, the president has a lot of retrograde ideas that suit him. Here’s one that doesn’t: steel tariffs. One more thing: Please fill out the Slate podcast survey at slate.com/podcastsurvey. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Quick, who’s the Federal Reserve chairman? If you can’t remember, take heart: Our minds are filled to capacity with the flotsam and jetsam of the Trump White House. On The Gist, are you as virtuous as you think? Likely not. Christian Miller delved into social science research to find out if we tend to misjudge the strength of our own moral fiber. Miller’s book is The Character Gap: How Good Are We? In the Spiel, NRA spokeswoman Dana Loesch has a hard time living up to her own media criticism. One more thing: Please fill out the Slate podcast survey at slate.com/podcastsurvey. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hang onto your skirts: Clueless co-star Stacey Dash is running for Congress. On The Gist, returning champion Maria Konnikova is back to sum up the social science on poker tells: Are they BS? Konnikova writes for the New Yorker and is the author of The Confidence Game. In the Spiel, we should acknowledge our progress. Please fill out the Slate podcast survey at slate.com/podcastsurvey Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On The Gist, President Trump’s latest poetry reading. Last week on the show, we talked about the manifold reasons for optimism in the world. This week, Harvard cognitive scientist Steven Pinker builds on that argument, adding that we’ve had a roughly 300-year run of steady improvements in technology, health, and civility. It just so happens that the only thing as constant as human progress is our tendency to focus on human shortcomings. Pinker’s latest book is Enlightenment Now: The Case for Reason, Science, Humanism, and Progress. In the Spiel, why it should be worrying that the California Democratic Party snubbed Sen. Dianne Feinstein. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On The Gist, Trump boosted an empty idea at CPAC: arming teachers to stop mass shooters. In the interview, Derek DelGaudio is the magician of our time. His one-man show, In & of Itself, questions identity in a political atmosphere that’s consumed by it.  In the Spiel, “unsubstantiated” stories about Trump’s lecherous behavior on the set of The Apprentice are obviously, completely, and sadly believable. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On The Gist, NBC’s coverage of Olympic athletes’ backstories is a little too obvious. Slate tech writers April Glaser and Will Oremus examine the most plausible methods for reining in our tech overlords. Glaser and Oremus are the hosts of Slate’s If Then. In the Spiel, NRA honcho Wayne LaPierre’s speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference was downright loony. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On The Gist, Jeopardy! host Alex Trebek will be moderating a gubernatorial debate in Pennsylvania. Mike says no thanks.  In the interview, Gregg Easterbrook is ever the optimist. Despite what your push alerts and Facebook news feed are telling you, the world is steadily getting safer, wealthier, and less afflicted by war and disease. Easterbrook is the author of It's Better Than It Looks: Reasons for Optimism in an Age of Fear.       In the Spiel, gun control advocates shouldn’t compromise. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On The Gist, Team USA’s low medal count would be a bummer if these Winter Olympics weren’t so goofy.      In the interview, Stockton Mayor Michael Tubbs didn’t campaign on universal basic income, but he’s bringing it to his city. Later this year, some residents will start getting $500 a month.  In the Spiel, conservative commentators have it plain wrong when it comes to gun control. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On The Gist, the market for “how to survive a shooting spree” videos shows how far we’ve strayed in dealing with gun violence.    Interracial marriage on a national level has only been legal for 50 years, after the landmark Supreme Court decision Loving v. Virginia. Anna Holmes and Lacey Schwartz are two of the minds behind The Loving Generation, a video series by Topic.com on identity and dynamics within multiracial families.  In the Spiel, it’s a no-brainer: Ban civilian ownership of the AR-15, and fewer will die. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Filling in for Mike Pesca today is Leon Neyfakh, still smoldering after his first season as host of Slate’s hit podcast, Slow Burn.  Leon is indulging in a new fascination lately: the latest “left Twix vs. right Twix” ad campaign and its insistence that we should all pick one.  But, of course, we insist on taking sides. Slate writer Justin Peters sheds some light on the New York Times’ swift hiring and firing of tech journalist Quinn Norton.  In Leon’s Spiel: We must have some moral absolutes. But what is the cost of eschewing bothsidesism?  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On The Gist, names are stupidly important when it comes to getting elected.  The Trump administration is proposing a boost in military spending, but the country’s defense budget actually peaked under President Obama during the troop surge for the war in Afghanistan. Bipartisan support for massive defense spending has been the norm since the Reagan era. Foreign Policy’s Dan De Luce tells us about it. In the Spiel, lawyer Michael Cohen’s out-of-pocket expenses.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On The Gist, on the White House budget’s effort to replace half of food-stamp funding with crappy meal boxes. How do you fix one of the most gerrymandered states in the country? It helps to have a tireless amateur mapmaker in your ranks. Mike talks to Amanda Holt, who spurred Pennsylvania to redraw its legislative districts in 2013 and is closely watching the state’s ongoing court battle over its congressional districts.   In the Spiel, the American intelligence community still has to convince the White House that Russia’s up to no good. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On today’s Gist, we get metaphysical. The White House is always in chaos. But can chaos be a permanent condition? Maria Konnikova returns to play our favorite game and answer the question: Does an athletic uniform’s color affect the athlete’s performance? Konnikova writes for the New Yorker is the author of The Confidence Game.   In the Spiel, why Norway is a Winter Olympics marvel. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On The Gist, it’s The $10,000 Pyramid with a budget deal twist. Is it possible we don’t know enough about national debt to call our politicians when they’re peddling nonsense? New Yorker staff writer Adam Davidson addresses some common misconceptions and sums up the Republican tax cuts and spending bill this way: “Rich people are stealing the money.”  In the Spiel, the Olympics are back, and the Russians got off easy. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On The Gist, the “When did you stop beating your wife?” question in the White House press briefing.  In the interview, Iran may have shelved its nuclear ambitions, but the Middle East is still in trouble. Slate’s Joshua Keating wonders if the Iran deal was worth it.  In the Spiel, the world of the FEMA scammer. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Trump wants a parade. On The Gist, America's longest war, in Afghanistan, rumbles on under a third U.S. president. There is still no exit plan. Steve Coll’s new book explores the covert side of America’s campaign in Afghanistan and the secretive Pakistani intelligence wing lending support to the Taliban. Coll's book isDirectorate S: The C.I.A. and America's Secret Wars in Afghanistan and Pakistan.   In the Spiel, considering Christopher Steele and Carter Page.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Listen, chattering classes: Let’s at least chatter correctly. We take a minute on the proper name pronunciation for the scandals of the day. Today on The Gist, U.S. foreign policy is a mess. But U.S. foreign policy has been a mess for decades. Ian Bremmer, president of the Eurasia Group, explains.  In the Spiel, what they were thinking in the stands of President Trump’s speech on Monday in Ohio. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On The Gist: Dow goes down, Trump gets mad.  In the interview, comedian Phil Rosenthal went to six cities across the globe to eat everything they had to offer and put it on Netflix. He tells Mike about his new show, Somebody Feed Phil, and the creative angst behind the sitcom that put him on the map: Everybody Loves Raymond.   In the Spiel, Justin Timberlake didn’t bring sexy back thanks to white privilege alone. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On The Gist, Super Bowl LII is an occasion to ask the age-old question: Who’s more obnoxious, people from Philadelphia or Boston? Plus, Another Period takes the Gilded Age as its setting to satirize the worst of reality TV: extravagant wealth, petty arguments, and a shaky camera. Riki Lindhome co-created and stars in the Comedy Central show. In the Spiel, a reprise of the vaunted documentary, Busted: 43 Minutes of Crisis and Conflict, a production of the American Dream is Deadworks.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Lyndon B. Johnson doesn’t always get the consideration he deserves as one of America’s great presidents. On today’s Gist, historian Joshua Zeitz says LBJ’s fight for welfare reform and civil rights redefined the country, even as those legal achievements come under attack by today’s Republican Party. Zeitz is the author of Building the Great Society: Inside Lyndon Johnson’s White House.     Plus, a Spiel from the 2016 archives: Vote Jabba! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On The Gist, Trey Gowdy bows out. Fred Kaplan explains why foreign policy experts are concerned by the Trump administration’s move to renege on its choice of ambassador to South Korea at the last minute. Kaplan writes the War Stories column for Slate. He is the author, most recently, of Dark Territory: The Secret History of Cyber War. In the Spiel, you know what they say: The president who claps the loudest pleases the crowd best. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On The Gist, the pomposity and circumstantial evidence of the State of the Union. Janesville, Wisconsin, had the oldest operating GM assembly plant in the country until 2008. The factory’s closure left thousands of employees in the lurch. Amy Goldstein’s book Janesville: An American Story describes the choices facing three families as they pick up the pieces of a busted local economy.  In the Spiel, the right things to say when you’re being nuked and the right way to say them. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On The Gist, get your clutching pearls ready. Russia alleges that the U.S. is trying to interfere in its election. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar has been politically precocious since well before his own sports scholarship at UCLA. His latest column for the Guardian argues it's "time to pay the tab for America's college athletes.” He says student players should unionize.  In the Spiel, the tactics that responsible Republicans use to communicate their potential opposition: They speak in their home-state argot.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On The Gist, the Doomsday Clock would be scary if it weren’t so bogus. In the interview, after years of gently poking fun at Portland, Oregon’s chill-but-not vibe, Portlandia is on its final season. Series co-star Carrie Brownstein unpacks the show’s humor and tells us how a wedding toast kind of doubled as an audition to get the show greenlit.  In the Spiel, Mike awards a Lobstar after an especially lengthy antentwig. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

From the annals of monkey research, how 10 primates were gassed in the service of a bad study. Today on The Gist, investigative reporter David Cay Johnston, who has been reporting on President Trump long enough to simply call him Donald. Johnston has an appreciation for Donald’s trademark swindles: refusing payment, lying to vendors, abridging photocopies. He’s not surprised to see the same methods at work in the Trump administration. He likens the Trump administration to “political termites,” eating their way through the structures of the U.S. government, leaving holes throughout. Johnston is the author of It’s Even Worse Than You Think: What the Trump Administration Is Doing to America.  In the Spiel, the trial, coverage, and sentencing of Larry Nassar. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On The Gist, Devin Nunes probably doesn’t know squat.  In the interview, Democrats hold most of the Senate seats up for grabs in this year’s midterms, which means they have a lot to lose. But importantly, mathematician Jordan Ellenberg says election predictions often fail to account for national mood. Ellenberg is the author of How Not to Be Wrong: The Power of Mathematical Thinking.  In the Spiel, Mike defends his bougie laundry routine. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On The Gist, more details come out about Garrison Keillor. In the interview, it turns out something can be good for your taste buds without being bad for your health. Monosodium glutamate has gotten a bad rap since 1968, when a medical journal suggested it might cause all kinds of symptoms. Dan Pashman, creator and host of the Sporkful podcast, tells us why MSG isn’t the boogeyman it’s been made out to be (and why he adds it to his own cooking). In the Spiel, behold, the mystical power of Maine Sen. Susan Collins’ talking stick. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On The Gist, what just happened? And are Democrats sniveling losers or Machiavellian savants?  McClatchy reporter Alex Roarty explains why the animating force driving both Democrats and Republicans right now is a loud conservative minority.  In the Spiel, Greece has beef regarding which part of world gets to be called “Macedonia.” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Up first on The Gist: It appears the Stormy Daniels story checks out.   Plus, Saturday marks the first anniversary of President Trump’s inauguration. The hosts of Slate’s Trumpcast join Mike to revise old predictions, make new ones, and consider whether Democrats should be rooting for impeachment via the Robert Mueller investigation.   And in the Spiel, we’re on the verge of another government shutdown. It seems normal now. Or have we lost track of what normal looks like? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On The Gist, how about those Fake News Awards, huh?  Alan Jacobs questions your ability to think for yourself. Can you really rid yourself of your biases, or do you just develop better biases? Are you really any better than your estranged friends at finding answers, or have you just chosen a different group with whom to associate? Jacobs is the author of How to Think: A Survival Guide for a World at Odds.   In the Spiel, relive the horrifying 43 minutes during which America thought a just-inaugurated President Donald Trump had removed Martin Luther King Jr.’s sacred bust from the Oval Office. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On The Gist, the bad news from Freedom House. U.S. Air Force officer Edward Lansdale promoted a “hearts and minds” approach to diplomacy in the Philippines and Vietnam, only to be steamrolled by America’s elite class of policymakers. Max Boot tells us about Lansdale and his own newfound recognition of white privilege and other ideas from the left. Boot’s new book is The Road Not Taken: Edward Lansdale and the American Tragedy in Vietnam.      In the Spiel, why the continuing resolution is sucking all the fun out of politics.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On The Gist, the press is too squeamish to clarify that “shithouse” isn’t much better than “shithole.” In the interview, more on fire and fury—nuclear fire, rhetorical fury, and the consequences of both. Jeffrey Lewis and Aaron Stein, hosts of Arms Control Wonk, assess the Trump administration’s tough talk on North Korea and the danger of a South Korea that decides to take matters into its own hands.  In the Spiel, Aziz Ansari isn’t blameless, but he doesn’t deserve a total destruction of his career, either. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On The Gist, Mike examines Trump’s bottom-of-the-barrel statements on immigration. In the interview, Dina Temple-Raston explains how she became fascinated by the teenage brain. After years of covering terrorism for NPR, she was stunned to see so many young people leaving their homes to join ISIS. Teenagers aren’t just prone to falling in with terrorist recruiters: Their underdeveloped minds make them more susceptible to video gaming compulsions and violent behavior. Why? Temple-Raston finds answers in her Audible Original series, “What Were You Thinking?” In the Spiel, a skit about the science (and lopsided sex ratio) of turtle love. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On The Gist, Mike skewers a columnist for concluding that President Trump is sane. In the interview, comedian Judah Friedlander wants to let you know that his new comedy special is all him, even though it’s got Netflix’s name on it. The 30 Rock alum talks about matters of social justice, satire, and jingoism. In the Spiel, Democrats should stop questioning Trump’s mental acuity and focus on midterms instead. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On The Gist, a brief look at what Norway is doing right.  In the interview, we turn to self-help experts Kristen Meinzer and Jolenta Greenberg about the “new you” books that are good, bad, and absolute nonsense. Meinzer and Greenberg are hosts of the Panoply show By the Book.   In the Spiel, Mike discovers the best transliteration ever. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On The Gist, Joe Arpaio’s life after pardon.    In the interview, MacArthur “genius” award winner Betsy Levy Paluck tells us about her research into mass media and public opinion. We might have the impression that our beliefs are based on reason. But what our neighbors think (or what we think they think) has a lot to do with it, too. In the Spiel, how to charm Twitter trolls into submission.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On The Gist, Sen. Lindsey Graham is defending the president extra hard on television … because he knows Trump’s watching. In the interview, NPR’s media correspondent David Folkenflik tells us what to make of Fire and Fury, the book that claims to reveal how dysfunctional the Trump administration really is.    In the Spiel, Mike gives props to Oprah for her acceptance speech at the Golden Globes. But that doesn’t mean she should run for president. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices