They Messed with Texas
Political Gabfest
Slate Podcasts
4.6 • 242 Ratings
🗓️ 28 May 2026
⏱️ 53 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
This week, Emily Bazelon, John Dickerson, and David Plotz discuss what Ken Paxton's dominant win over John Cornyn could mean when he faces Democrat James Talarico for the Texas Senate seat in November, how Trump has no good options in the ongoing negotiations over a possible deal with Iran, and why lawmakers need to act on AI before it's too late with guest Alex Bores, New York Assemblymember and Democratic candidate for Congress.
For this week’s Slate Plus bonus episode, Emily, John, and David discuss the content and context of Pope Leo's first encyclical letter, "Magnifica Humanitas," its warnings against the dangers of ungoverned AI, and the realism of its approach to technology that outpaces our ability to solve very human problems.
In the latest Gabfest Reads, John Dickerson talks with Bloomberg columnist Adrian Wooldridge about his new book The Revolutionary Center: The Lost Genius of Liberalism. In a moment when American democracy is under assault from authoritarian populists and dogmatic progressives, Wooldridge argues that liberalism itself offers the most resilient framework for pluralistic, self-correcting societies.
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. |
| 0:06.9 | May 28th, 26, the They Mess with Texas edition. |
| 0:20.4 | I'm David Plotz of Citicast here in Washington, D.C. |
| 0:23.0 | I have this odd condensation on my glasses that really makes me look strange. |
| 0:27.9 | Hmm. |
| 0:29.0 | I don't think anybody... |
| 0:29.9 | Are you... |
| 0:30.4 | Are you overheated? |
| 0:33.7 | Yeah, I'm just post-workout, and now I have, like, extra eyebrows that are white caused by condensation. Anyway, that's John Dickerson, who I've discovered looks amazing in a suit. John, even though you're not on TV every day, you still look great in a suit. Oh, thank you. Well, I don't have to wear it very much, so I can wear the best of the rack. Some men can really carry off a suit. |
| 0:54.9 | John Dickerson is one. |
| 0:56.1 | Emily Bazelon of the New York Times Magazine, Yale University Law School. |
| 1:01.1 | I don't know if you wear suits. |
| 1:03.1 | Do you have any power suits? |
| 1:05.0 | I really was never a suit person. |
| 1:07.1 | In law school, I had one. |
| 1:08.8 | Huh. |
| 1:09.4 | Did you interview in it? |
| 1:12.0 | Uh-huh. Yeah. |
| 1:13.6 | Why wouldn't you're so well? |
| 1:14.9 | You could wear a suit. You're tall. You're tall. You carry it off. |
| 1:18.0 | Yeah. I guess so. Anyway, wait, the interview didn't... |
| 1:21.1 | How I think about it. |
... |
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