The “Legitimate Legislative Purpose” Edition
Political Gabfest
Slate Podcasts
4.4 • 8.5K Ratings
🗓️ 23 May 2019
⏱️ 60 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Emily Bazelon, John Dickerson, and David Plotz discuss Trump’s refusal to cooperate with Congress; whether Democratic presidential candidates should appear on Fox News; and the new book The Queen with Slate’s National Editor Josh Levin.
Slate Plus members get bonus segments and ad-free podcast feeds. Sign up now.
Topic ideas for next week? You can tweet suggestions, links, and questions to @SlateGabfest. Tweet us your cocktail chatter using #cocktailchatter or post it to our Facebook page. (Messages may be quoted by name unless the writer stipulates otherwise.)
Become a fan of the Political Gabfest on Facebook and follow us on Twitter @SlateGabfest. The email address for the Political Gabfest is gabfest@slate.com. (Email may be quoted by name unless the writer stipulates otherwise.)
Podcast production by Jocelyn Frank. Research and show notes by Bridgette Dunlap.
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 | The following podcast contains explicit language. |
| 0:10.3 | Hello and welcome to the Slate Political Gab Fest from May 23rd, 2019, the legitimate legislative purpose edition. |
| 0:17.2 | I am David Plotz of Atlas Obscura. I'm in Washington, D.C. |
| 0:24.4 | John Dickerson of CBS is 60 Minutes. |
| 0:25.7 | Of 60 Minutes. |
| 0:33.7 | John Dickerson is in Charlottesville, where he is contemplating presidents with various historians and distinguished figures. |
| 0:34.5 | Hello, John. |
| 0:35.7 | Hello, David. |
| 0:36.4 | Hello, Emily. |
| 0:37.3 | Hello, John. And that Emily, of course, is Emily Bazelon of the New York Times Magazine, |
| 0:42.2 | of Yale University Law School, and of the book charged, and Emily is on book tour somewhere. |
| 0:48.7 | Who knows where? I'm actually also in Virginia, though not in Charlottesville, sadly. |
| 0:53.1 | Wait, where are you? |
| 0:54.8 | Where are you? |
| 0:56.4 | I'm in Middleburg, Virginia. Oh, fancy. You're in horse country. Yeah. You're basically in D.C. Outside of D.C. Right? I don't feel like I'm in D.C. Yeah. Yeah. On this week's Gab Fest, the multi-front showdown between the president and Congress over whether he will submit to any oversight, whether the House will attempt to impeach him, whether any Trump administration official will ever speak before a House committee again. |
| 1:23.3 | Then should Democratic presidential candidates appear on Fox News? |
| 1:28.0 | Then we will dig into Josh Levine's brilliant new book, The Queen, the story of the welfare queen of Chicago, made notorious by Ronald Reagan in the 1970s. |
| 1:36.0 | And of course, we would have cocktail chatter. |
| 1:38.4 | And I just didn't have any place to put this. |
| 1:40.4 | But, man, did you guys see the story that Stephen Nuchin is delaying the Harriet Tubman $20 bill until 2026 at the earliest? |
| 1:47.7 | Screw them. Screw those people. It's fucking shameful. |
| 1:52.1 | Screw them because Trump likes Andrew Jackson, one of the great monsters of American life. |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
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.

