This week, Emily Bazelon, John Dickerson, and David Plotz discuss what the evidence beyond polling signals for the impending midterm elections, how Trump betrayed Ukraine with his sudden deal over Russian diesel and Starshield restrictions for Ukrainian operations, and how the chilling federal raid on Rep. Ilhan Omar’s home is part of the administration’s escalating attempt to build a case for stripping her citizenship.
Here are some notes and references from this week’s show:
Shane Goldmacher for The New York Times: Top G.O.P. Groups Pull Support From First House Incumbents
Theodore Schleifer for The New York Times: Inside Elon Musk’s $276 Million Midterm Rescue Mission for Republicans
Gerard Baker for The Wall Street Journal: Opinion: It’s the Economy, Stupid—but How Stupid?
Erin Doherty, Jason Beeferman, and Samuel Benson for Politico: Democrats are making corruption messaging a pocketbook issue
Michelle L. Price and Collin Binkley for the Associated Press: Trump strikes deal with Putin to get diesel in sharp reversal of US policy weeks before midterms
Jonathan Lemire and Simon Shuster for The Atlantic: Trump’s October Surprise
Anastasiia Malenko, Alistair MacDonald, and Ievgeniia Sivorka for The Wall Street Journal: Ukraine Says New Limits on Starlink Are Disrupting Its Military Operations
Anne Applebaum for The Atlantic: Trump’s Message to Ukraine Is Now Crystal Clear
David Ignatius for The Washington Post: Opinion: ‘Make the problem and the solution bigger’: The plan to end the Ukraine war
Julia Jester for MS NOW: Elon Musk points finger at Trump over Ukrainian satellite restrictions
Siladitya Ray for Forbes: Trump Shares Bizarre AI Tiger Video In Late-Night Spree After Posting Fatal Attack Footage
John McCormick, Michelle Hackman, and Sadie Gurman for The Wall Street Journal: Ilhan Omar Investigation Aims to Build Case for Stripping Her Citizenship
Amber Phillips for The Washington Post: The stunning raid on Rep. Ilhan Omar’s home
David A. Graham for The Atlantic: Trump’s Dubious Claim About the Ilhan Omar Search
Zeeshan Aleem for MS NOW: Opinion: What the DHS raid on Ilhan Omar’s home is really about
David Kurtz for Talking Points Memo (Substack): It’s All Happening Right Before Our Eyes
Juliette Kayyem for Early Warning (Substack): HSI Goes AWOL
Here are this week’s chatters:
Emily: Danny Funt for Columbia Journalism Review: ‘I’m Not Going to Have Blood on My Hands’
John: The Human Trafficking Legal Center: On My Side Celebration 2026: Awardees
David: Oliver Kay and Sam Lee for The Athletic: Manchester City guilty of ‘sham payments’ and £900m of financial misstatements, independent commission finds; Adam Clery for The Independent: Explained: The complete timeline of Man City’s 115 charges
Listener chatter from John Kirby in Davis, California: Michelle Starr for ScienceAlert: 150,000 Tons of Radioactive Waste Were Dumped in The Atlantic. Decades Later, It’s Visibly Oozing.
For this week’s Slate Plus bonus episode, Emily, John, and David discuss the precipitous fall of Kimberly Guilfoyle after the Wall Street Journal reported that she had solicited $100,000 from a Trump donor and why those who’ve departed the Trump administration are overwhelmingly women.
In the latest Gabfest Reads, David Plotz talks with journalist Annie Lowrey about her new book, The Time Tax: How the Government Wastes Our Time - and How to Fix It, an investigation into the hours Americans lose to broken bureaucracy, from 12-hour tax filings to multiyear waits for housing vouchers and building permits.
Email your chatters, questions, and comments to gabfest@slate.com. (Messages may be referenced by name unless the writer stipulates otherwise.)
Podcast production by Nina Porzucki
Research by Emily Ditto
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Find out more about David Plotz’s monthly tours of Ft. DeRussy, the secret Civil War fort hidden in Rock Creek Park.