Are Republicans Actually Souring on Trump?
Political Gabfest
Slate Podcasts
4.6 • 242 Ratings
🗓️ 7 May 2026
⏱️ 55 minutes
🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
This week, Emily Bazelon, John Dickerson, and David Plotz discuss how the Iran War is hurting Trump and the Republicans as its economic fallout grows, the sudden revival of abortion pill politics which ended an uneasy equilibrium between federal law and state bans, and early results of a study on school cellphone bans.
For this week’s Slate Plus bonus episode, Emily, John, and David discuss recent reporting on Trump's escalating and self-aggrandizing efforts to remake the landscape of Washington D.C. including the takeover of municipal golf courses, planning for the "Garden of Heroes," and developments in the ongoing White House ballroom saga.
In the latest Gabfest Reads, Emily Bazelon talks with journalist Mark Oppenheimer about his new book, Judy Blume: A Life. Oppenheimer, who spent years with Blume’s papers at Yale and conducted extensive interviews with the author herself, traces how a restless housewife in New Jersey became one of the most beloved—and most banned—writers in American history.
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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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hello and welcome to the Slate Political Gab Fest. |
| 0:10.8 | May 7th, 2026, are Republicans actually souring on Trump edition? I am David Plotz of Citicast here in Washington, D.C., back from a very revivifying vacation. She needs no vacation to be revivified. She is revivification embodied. Emily Bazelon, New York Times Magazine and Yale University Law School. |
| 0:37.1 | I guess, huh, are you selling me to advertise some product or something? |
| 0:41.6 | That means you don't get any vacation anymore. |
| 0:43.4 | I know exactly. |
| 0:44.2 | Also, you can only say the word revivification in that smooth way if you've actually been on vacation. |
| 0:51.7 | That is true. |
| 0:53.1 | It's a tough say. |
| 0:55.4 | Congratulations to John Dickerson. |
| 0:57.1 | Hello, John, on the publication of his new book. |
| 0:59.5 | It's got a great title. |
| 1:01.1 | Number two, |
| 1:03.1 | Vice President's thoughts on the vice presidency. |
| 1:05.4 | John interviewed every living vice president, |
| 1:08.2 | including Davey Bands about the job. |
| 1:10.5 | He collected historical musings of vice presidents about including David Vance, about the job. |
| 1:12.6 | He collected historical musings of vice presidents about the office. |
| 1:16.0 | For example, |
| 1:16.9 | Richard Mentor Johnson, a vice president |
| 1:18.9 | you probably have never heard of. |
| 1:20.6 | John has heard of him. |
| 1:23.1 | Van Buren's vice president. He said the vice |
... |
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