On November 12th, Mike published a story in The Atlantic’s “Ideas” section titled “The HR-ification of the Democratic Party: The party of norms, procedure, bureaucracy, DEI initiatives, rule following, language policing, and compliance” … and it got some buzz. So this weekend on Best Of The Gist, we’re going to listen to two media outlets that featured Mike’s article: POTUS Politics, a Sirius XM talk show hosted by Laura Coates which had Mike on as a guest, and The David McWilliams Podcast, whic...
Nov 23, 2024•27 min•Transcript available on Metacast Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is tapped to run HHS. Dr. Mehmet Oz has been named as Medicare and Medicaid overseer. Dan Diamond of the Washington Post analyses the importance of those agencies and their vulnerability to ambitious outsiders looking to upend things. Also, new AG designee Pam Bondi served as Florida's Attorney General back when a President of the United States called a different state's attorney general the best looking state attorney general. We'll review. Plus, it's an Antwentig, in whic...
Nov 22, 2024•38 min•Transcript available on Metacast Jay Bhattacharya, the Stanford professor who advocated for widespread openings during the pandemic, months before there was a vaccine, has become a bit of a hero to Americans upset about lockdowns and the suppressing of dissent on social media platforms. Now he may be running the National Institutes of Health. Dan Diamond, reporter for the Washington Post, discusses what Bhattacharya got right, got wrong, and where he wants to take the NIH. Plus, Gaetz skates all the way to the end, and an analy...
Nov 21, 2024•41 min•Transcript available on Metacast Jim O'Heir, who played Jerry (or was it Larry?) on 121 episodes of TV's Parks And Recreation, is out with a new book, Welcome to Pawnee: Stories of Friendship, Waffles, and Parks and Recreation. We discuss. Plus, a predictive algorithm tells us who the rest of the Trump appointees are. For instance, Koko The Gorilla for Under Secretary of Defense for Budgeting and Procurement. Produced by Joel Patterson and Corey Wara Email us at thegist@mikepesca.com To advertise on the show, visit: https://adv...
Nov 20, 2024•44 min•Transcript available on Metacast NY Governor Kathy Hochul was in favor of congestion pricing before she was against it, now she's for it again. She's in a race against an incoming administration in order to implement her ever-changing plan to tax drivers. The New York Daily News' Harry Siegel joins us to assess the political plays and traffic delays. Plus, long-range missiles for Ukraine irk Vladimir Putin to the point of nuclear reconfiguration, and the Democrats can more easily be more sensible on trans issues if they just sc...
Nov 19, 2024•41 min•Transcript available on Metacast Music can heal. This explains the song "You dropped a balm on me". Dan Levitin's new book, I Heard There Was a Secret Chord: Music as Medicine, sells it out in even greater detail. Plus, there was nothing Democrats could do in the face of inflation, except maybe, not have caused so much inflation. 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: https://subscribe.mikepesca.com/ Su...
Nov 18, 2024•48 min•Transcript available on Metacast Normally, each weekend on Best Of The Gist, we listen back to an archival Gist segment from the past, then we replay something from the past week, but this weekend we’re scraping that formula and instead listening to an interview Mike did with a podcast called The Commercial Break, hosted by Bryan Green and Krissy Hoadley. It’s a fun conversation, and we hope you enjoy it. Produced by Joel Patterson and Corey Wara Email us at thegist@mikepesca.com To advertise on the show: https://advertisecast....
Nov 16, 2024•47 min•Transcript available on Metacast Django Gold is a stand-up comedian, a former writer for The Late Show With Stephen Colbert, and a veteran of The Onion. In his stand-up special "Bag of Tricks," he explores not being cool, show-off toilet seats, and the privilege of owning multiple pairs of scissors. His comedy has been described as "cynical and bizarre" but also "surprising, insightful and properly deranged." We discuss the right amount of weird to present to the audience without seeming too weird, and the evolution of the arch...
Nov 15, 2024•1 hr 3 min•Transcript available on Metacast The nomination of Matt Gaetz to be United States Attorney General is shocking, confusing, and tumultuous, but not necessarily a non-starter. Plus, the Democratic Party is the HR department of politics. And, with government efficiency in the news, Richard Coffin of USAFacts stops by to give us the actual facts on where there is fat (or even muscle and sinew) to cut in the Federal budget. Produced by Joel Patterson and Corey Wara Email us at thegist@mikepesca.com To advertise on the show, visit: h...
Nov 14, 2024•43 min•Transcript available on Metacast Peter Hegseth is Donald Trump's nominee to be Secretary of Defense. It's an impossible job, one that he can't possibly fulfill, and maybe that's the point. Plus, Israelis in Amsterdam chased and beaten, but some in the press say they (more or less) deserved it. And we are joined once more by Ben Wittes of Lawfare to talk about Trump's possible prosecutions. Produced by Joel Patterson and Corey Wara Email us at thegist@mikepesca.com To advertise on the show, visit: https://advertisecast.com/TheGi...
Nov 13, 2024•48 min•Transcript available on Metacast Ben Wittes, Editor-in-Chief of Lawfare, discusses what Trump can actually do and where the protections are for those he's threatened to criminally prosecute—Kamala is probably safe, but Jack Smith could be quite inconvenienced. Plus, Kristi Noem for DHS, and to California ballot counters: your torpor is not a virtue. Also, today The Atlantic published Mike's piece about the "HR-ification" of the Democratic party. Produced by Joel Patterson and Corey Wara Email us at thegist@mikepesca.com To adve...
Nov 12, 2024•35 min•Transcript available on Metacast Revelations from campaigns that could have been shared a while ago are being unearthed now. It turns out CNN knew Kamala Harris wasn't inspiring Pennsylvanians, but ... now they tell us! Plus, Seth Moulton gets pilloried for saying Dems need to talk about more issues openly. And Vic Michaelis of Very Important People stops by. VIP is an amazing show on Dropout TV, in which improvisers in heavy makeup discover they have been turned into werewolves or rocks, and then sit for an in-depth interview ...
Nov 11, 2024•39 min•Transcript available on Metacast This weekend on Best Of The Gist, we listen to part two of our interview with Washington Post investigative reporter Albert Samaha about his deep dive into the NIL economy. Then we rewind exactly eight years, to the morning America woke up to realize Donald Trump was President. 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.mik...
Nov 09, 2024•31 min•Transcript available on Metacast Donald Trump knows how to speak so he's heard. Democrats ... much less so. Plus, there are many legitimate recriminations for the Democrats to engage in, but "Elon Musk's money made things unfair" is not one of them. And we speak with Albert Samaha of the Washington Post about the hidden economy of college sports. 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: https://subscribe....
Nov 08, 2024•43 min•Transcript available on Metacast The polls were really very accurate, despite what the Nate-haters say. Amy Walter, Publisher and Editor-in-Chief of the Cook Political Report, explains why a clean sweep was not a surprise, assuming you understand concepts like margin of error and correlation. Plus, the offended Puerto-Rican vote failed to materialize, and unmarried women were overwhelmed by the voting preferences of their dads, boyfriends, and guys they went to high school with. Produced by Joel Patterson and Corey Wara Email u...
Nov 07, 2024•46 min•Transcript available on Metacast Donald Trump has won, his coalition is actually more diverse than any Republican since Nixon, and his share of the popular vote could be larger than any Republican since George H.W. Bush in 1988—it was certainly the largest in 20 years. Today, Mike has a critique of the media, hope for the republic, and a pair of interviews. First, he talks with not-Trump-nor-Harris voters Kemele Foster, of The 5th Column podcast, and Coleman Hughes, author of The End of Race Politics: Arguments for a Colorblind...
Nov 06, 2024•59 min•Transcript available on Metacast Nah, its the election. We advise against supposed bellwethers, and the scrutinization of early exit polls. Plus, the march of progress by so many statistical measures will happen and has happened, no matter who is President. In today's interview, we're joined by Damon Linker for a conversation replete with wisdom and insight regardless of who wins. And it's clear who has already won ... why, it's the North American Elk, who number over a million and have been successfully reintroduced after 19th...
Nov 06, 2024•47 min•Transcript available on Metacast Kathy Boockvar, former Secretary of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, fought back an orchestrated, well-funded, and dangerous scheme to overturn the results of the 2020 election in her state. She shares her playbook for this go 'round. Plus, the last week of the election went quite poorly for Donald Trump. Why did he dress like a Garbage man? That said, he didn't say what they said he said about shooting Liz Cheney. Produced by Joel Patterson and Corey Wara Email us at thegist@mikepesca.com To a...
Nov 04, 2024•47 min•Transcript available on Metacast Each weekend on Best Of The Gist, we listen back to an archival Gist segment from the past, then we replay something from the past week. This weekend, though, we’re kicking it old school, with two segments from 2014. First up, Mike’s now-10-year-old interview with Casper Kelly creator of the epic and addictive Adult Swim video Too Many Cooks. Then, with endorsements in the air, we listen back to Mike’s conversation with Patrick LaForge from the New York Times, who tells us the origin story behin...
Nov 02, 2024•23 min•Transcript available on Metacast Our third installment of Funny You Should Mention welcomes Sam Jay, former SNL writer, Tom Brady Roaster, host of HBO's Pause with Sam Jay, and stand-up comic behind such specials as Netflix's 3 In The Morning and HBO's Salute Me or Shoot Me. Sam and Mike talk cops, racism, white vs black people money management, and a joke she'll discuss but won't be telling again. Produced by Joel Patterson and Corey Wara Email us at thegist@mikepesca.com To advertise on the show, visit: https://advertisecast....
Nov 01, 2024•57 min•Transcript available on Metacast Everyone's getting out of the presidential endorsement business, but The Gist, sensing a market opportunity, is wading in! Plus, Bloomberg's Akshat Rathi is back to discuss EVs, the energy needs of the AI revolution, and the banning the domestic extraction of oil? 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: https://subscribe.mikepesca.com/ Subscribe to The Gist Youtube Page: ...
Oct 31, 2024•41 min•Transcript available on Metacast Joe Biden calls Trump supporters "garbage," only he didn't mean it, probably, though he did say it, literally. Ugh. Pennsylvania Puerto Ricans are in play! Plus, Trump and Harris' dueling energy policies, and a conversation with Akshat Rathi, reporter for Bloomberg News, host of Bloomberg's Zero podcast, and author of Climate Capitalism: Winning the Race to Zero Emissions and Solving the Crisis of Our Age. Produced by Joel Patterson and Corey Wara Email us at thegist@mikepesca.com To advertise o...
Oct 30, 2024•39 min•Transcript available on Metacast Four members of the Gen Z cohort, who will be voting in their first Presidential election cycle next week, talk with Mike about America In One Room: The Youth Vote, a deliberative poll and group experiment in direct democracy that was conducted back in July. They'll discuss who they are voting for and why, learning to listen to each other, and how to convince other young people on political issues. Plus, another boring (and ignored) Kamala Harris plan that could have big effects on actual lives ...
Oct 29, 2024•59 min•Transcript available on Metacast A joke at a punch rally gets pilloried. And a full-show interview with Musa al-Gharbi on his book We Have Never Been Woke: The Cultural Contradictions of a New Elite. This is the conversation all the symbolic capitalists have been waiting for! 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: https://subscribe.mikepesca.com/ Subscribe to The Gist Youtube Page: https://www.youtube.c...
Oct 28, 2024•53 min•Transcript available on Metacast Each weekend on Best Of The Gist, we listen back to an archival Gist segment from the past, then we replay something from the past week. This weekend, we do neither. Instead, we listen back to Mike’s 2008 NPR interview with Philip Zimbardo, the psychologist who became famous for his Stanford Prison Experiment. Zimbardo died earlier this month. Then we listen to Mike’s recent interview with NewsNation’s Dan Abrams about Kamala Harris’ 60 Minutes interview, in which editing occurred. Produced by J...
Oct 26, 2024•28 min•Transcript available on Metacast To say that comedian Gary Vider's dad was an "unorthodox" parent is to misunderstand the word "unorthodox." His parenting toolbox included lying, deception, and fear, which is par for the course when you are a conman, but it can leaves scars on those close to you. Vider is out with a podcast about his dad and his childhood called #1 Dad. Also on the show, would you sell your vote to Kamala or Donald for $1,300? Produced by Joel Patterson and Corey Wara Email us at thegist@mikepesca.com To advert...
Oct 25, 2024•48 min•Transcript available on Metacast Fred Kaplan has won a Pulitzer, been nominated for another, and he's covered the national security community for years. So he finally decided to just throw out the rules of non-fiction and write a novel ... about the end of the World, or almost the end of the world. A Capital Calamity is a tale of impending armageddon not with a bang nor a whimper, but because of a consultant. Plus, airlines have finally addressed the on-again-off-again no-smoking sign in a rather stupid way. Also on the show, T...
Oct 24, 2024•45 min•Transcript available on Metacast David Greenberg is out with the first biography of Congressman John Lewis, which offers an examination of the highly influential legislator's activism, congressional record, and how his theories of change themselves changed depending on the role he played. Plus, a recent This American Life episode about the Democrats' uncommitted delegates raised the stakes, but left out details. Also on the show, examining Kamala Harris' claims that under a second Trump administration, there will be no patrioti...
Oct 24, 2024•44 min•Transcript available on Metacast Christopher Steele's infamous dossier set in motion massive investigations, furious push back, quite nearly an impeachment, and massive turmoil within the intelligence and media communities. In a full-show interview, at times contentious at other times revelatory, Christopher Steele explains his methods and defends his findings. His new book is Unredacted: Russia, Trump, and the Fight for Democracy. Also on the show, Donald Trump's dong diversion. Produced by Joel Patterson and Corey Wara Email ...
Oct 22, 2024•50 min•Transcript available on Metacast Harry Teinowitz was a storied radio host on ESPN radio in Chicago, a comedian, an actor, and an alcoholic. He's now a playwright. His new play, Another Shot, which chronicles this journey stars Dan Butler, who played Bulldog Briscoe on Frazier for many years. Also, Kamala Harris is down to 39% in one betting market, so Mike bet on her. Plus, Donald Trump mentions a golfer's clubs, but not in the way you think ... unless you were thinking about penises. Produced by Joel Patterson and Corey Wara E...
Oct 21, 2024•37 min•Transcript available on Metacast 
