Brad Meltzer on Plot Twists, Product Placement, and Violating Rules on Purpose
The Gist
Mike Pesca
4.4 • 3.6K Ratings
🗓️ 7 January 2026
⏱️ 53 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
The thriller-machine (and civics savant) returns to talk The Viper, the latest Zig-and-Nola mystery, and why he'll write 350 pages before he bothers naming the thing. Plus, a harrowing Minneapolis video after an ICE agent shoots into a slowly moving SUV—and the yawning gap between what the footage seems to show and DHS talk of "rioters" and a "weaponized" vehicle. Also: the debut of what may become a recurring segment—Let's Parse What Tony Dokoupil Said—from a 17-second January 6th mention to a Marco Rubio kicker that might have been a "meh" joke or might have been the death knell of democracy, depending on your source.
Produced by Corey Wara
Coordinated by Lya Yanne
Video and Social Media by Geoff Craig
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hi, GIST listeners. I would love for you to check out our new website. It has all the Peska |
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| 0:38.3 | And those starter packs are a way to get people involved. |
| 0:41.6 | Mike pesca.com. |
| 0:47.1 | It's Wednesday, January 7th, 2026 from Peachfish Productions. |
| 0:51.3 | It's the gist. |
| 0:52.2 | I'm Mike Peska. |
| 0:53.6 | A horrific shooting in Minneapolis |
| 0:55.5 | today after an ice agent fired into a moving van or SUV mortally wounding, an unarmed |
| 1:02.1 | woman who had been protesting the presence of ice agents. There is video of the incident and none |
| 1:08.2 | of it is anything short of horrific. |
| 1:10.8 | In one clip obtained by the Minneapolis reformer, the person filming can be heard shouting, |
| 1:15.9 | shame, shame at the agents before the shots, through the shots, and then afterward. |
| 1:21.5 | No! No! Shame! Shame! Oh my fucking God! |
| 1:29.1 | What the fuck? |
| 1:30.5 | What the fuck? |
| 1:31.8 | From that vantage point, a case can be made that the vehicle was moving slowly toward or passed an agent who had his gun drawn. |
| 1:39.9 | Another account, summarized by Axios Twin Cities reporter Kyle Stokes, says the footage obtained by Axios shows the SUV attempting to drive past several ICE vehicles and that it does appear to strike an agent. |
| 1:54.5 | I could see how someone might reach that conclusion watching the video, but I cannot square those videos, no matter how closely I look, with the |
| 2:02.4 | description provided by DHS Assistant Secretary Trisha McLaughlin, who said that rioters |
... |
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