Political Gabfest - Pretend I'm on the Ballot

This week, Emily Bazelon, John Dickerson, and David Plotz discuss why Republicans are holding an unusual midterm convention and what it says about the state of the race at the homestretch, talk about the new book Profiles in Cowardice: A Study of Collaboration in the Trump Era with author Jacob Weisberg, and reflect on memories and historical consequences on the 25th anniversary of the 9/11 terror attack.

Here are this week’s chatters:

Emily: Hansi Lo Wang for NPR: Trump officials propose sweeping changes to the census that would reshape voting maps; Data Are Made, Not Found: A Story of Politics, Power, and the Civil Servants Who Saved the US Census by danah boyd; Charity and Sylvia by Tillie Walden

John: Associated Press: US Attorney confirms no meth was found in van of Texas man shot by immigration officers; Kristen Wong for Sports Illustrated: At His Highest Moment, Frances Tiafoe Rose Even Higher. His Viral U.S. Open Hug Is Why We Love Sports.

David: Colossus: The Forbin Project (1970) - Official Trailer (HD) (2:56 long on YouTube)

Listener chatter from Adam Forkner in Boston, Massachusetts: Dave Epstein for The Boston Globe: What my Maine dock taught me about the threat of invasive marine life looming in the Persian Gulf; Tamburri, M.N., Carlton, J.T., Blakeslee, A.M.H. et al. Closure of the Strait of Hormuz may trigger a bioinvasion super-spreader event. Biol Invasions 28, 177 (2026).

For this week’s Slate Plus bonus episode, Emily, John, and David discuss this week's big AI story, a researcher's resignation from Anthropic and his dire warnings about AI's imminent dangers to humanity, with guest Nathan Calvin, general counsel at Encode. They discuss the exponential pace of AI development, what the big companies are or are not doing to protect humans from apocalypse, and the simultaneous governmental and industry cooperation that could help manage risks.

In the latest Gabfest Reads, David Plotz talks with John Lanchester about his new novel, Look What You Made Me Do, a darkly funny psychological thriller about two couples in modern-day London whose lives collide in a story of infidelity, obsession, and revenge. The book explores the performance of niceness, class, intergenerational frictions and how technology makes vengeance not just possible but almost exceedingly easy in the modern age.

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

You can find the full Political Gabfest show pages here.

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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.

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