Nevertheless, Xi Persisted
Political Gabfest
Slate Podcasts
4.6 • 242 Ratings
🗓️ 14 May 2026
⏱️ 57 minutes
🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
This week, Emily Bazelon, John Dickerson, and David Plotz discuss the geopolitical dynamics and possible outcomes of the Trump-Xi summit with former New York Times Beijing Bureau Chief and host of Face-Off: the US vs. China, Jane Perlez, whether or not the United States has essentially lost the war it started in Iran, and how badly the latest round of gerrymandering will hurt the Democrats and America as a whole in the upcoming midterms and beyond.
For this week’s Slate Plus bonus episode, Emily, John, and David discuss who actually benefits from this week's resignation of FDA chief Marty Makary amid overlapping pressure campaigns from the tobacco industry and anti-abortion groups.
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.
Want more Political Gabfest? Join Slate Plus to unlock weekly bonus episodes. Plus, you’ll access ad-free listening across all your favorite Slate podcasts. You can subscribe directly from the Political Gabfest show page on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Or visit slate.com/gabfestplus to get access wherever you listen.
Find out more about David Plotz's monthly tours of Ft. DeRussy, the secret Civil War fort hidden in Rock Creek Park.
Follow
@SlateGabfest on X / https://twitter.com/SlateGabfest
Slate Political Gabfest on Facebook / https://www.facebook.com/Gabfest/
Need to set up your Slate Plus feed? If you subscribed through Slate.com, check out our FAQ at slate.com/podcastfaqs for easy instructions. Members subscribed via Apple Podcasts get automatic access—no setup required.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Hello and welcome to the Slate Political Gab Fest. |
| 0:11.1 | May 14th, 26, Nevertheless, She Persisted Edition. |
| 0:24.9 | I am David Plotz of CityCast in Washington, D.C., uh, |
| 0:29.2 | from Yale University Law School, the New York Times Magazine, and most importantly, book leave. |
| 0:36.1 | Yes. Emily Basslon. You really embrace that book leave bit there. That was good. I, I like that. I need all of the encouragement I can get. |
| 0:39.6 | Thank you very much. |
| 0:41.6 | And now, he still |
| 0:43.4 | doesn't have a job and I'm giving up. |
| 0:46.6 | Yes, I outlasted him. |
| 0:48.8 | Longer than Justice Breyer. |
| 0:51.3 | I actually wrote one for this week and I was like, you know what? |
| 0:53.4 | I just don't care anymore. |
| 0:55.2 | I don't care. |
| 0:56.7 | He's just unemployed, whatever. |
| 0:59.5 | He had a meeting with an editor this week. |
| 1:01.6 | He just told us that. |
| 1:02.6 | That's something. |
| 1:03.3 | This is John Dickerson. |
| 1:04.2 | You congratulations, John. |
| 1:06.1 | You are greater than my imagination. |
| 1:09.9 | I feel this is a triumph. |
| 1:12.9 | I think I might just wallow in this success. |
... |
Transcript will be available on the free plan in 8 days. Upgrade to see the full transcript now.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Slate Podcasts, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of Slate Podcasts and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.