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Graham Platner has a lot of things in his favor as he runs for a US Senate seat in Maine: it’s an off-election year, the president’s approval rating is slumping and dragging down the whole GOP. Should be a breeze as soon as Platner gets through this latest scandal.

Guests:
Danielle Kurtzleben, White House Correspondent for NPR and “Masculinity politics expert.”

Ken Klippenstein, independent journalist covering national security and U.S. politics.

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Podcast production by Evan Campbell, Madeline Ducharme, Patrick Fort, Rob Gunther and Paige Osburn.

This conversation took place on June 3 and does not reflect new reporting in the New York Times from June 4.
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This week, Emily Bazelon, John Dickerson, and David Plotz discuss whether Graham Platner's accumulating self-inflicted wounds will cost Democrats their best shot at Senate control, how Trump's evolving plans for America's semiquincentennial are giving us all a real time lesson in what the Founders were trying to avoid, and the political and social dimensions of being an American World Cup soccer fan.

For this week’s Slate Plus bonus episode, Emily, John, and David discuss consuming escapist vs. difficult art and the turmoil of modern marriage through The Drama and Beef Season 2.

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.

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Podcast production by Nina Porzucki

Research by Emily Ditto

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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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On this episode: Lucy Lopez, Elizabeth Newcamp, and Zak Rosen open up the mailbag and find a variety of questions. They give tips for teaching an eleven-year-old how to ride a bike, discuss how to keep a toddler from terrorizing the family pet, and offer advice to a mom looking for community in a new city.
Mentioned in the Show:
How to Make Friends as an Adult - How To!
How to Make Friends and Find Your People - Weirdly Helpful
My Kid Forgot How to Ride a Bike - Care and Feeding
Podcast production by Cheyna Roth and Rosemary Belson.
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The Supreme Court’s Republican-appointed justices seem to be in a big rush to dismantle voting rights for non-white people. On Tuesday night, the right-wing supermajority handed down an unsigned shadow docket order that greenlights racial gerrymandering in Alabama and dramatically undermines voting rights protections nationwide. In this Opinionpalooza bonus episode exclusively for Slate Plus members, Dahlia Lithwick and Mark Joseph Stern examine the details of the case. They also explore how we got here, and what this court’s jurisprudential arrogance and voracious appetite for power means for democracy itself. By approving racially discriminatory maps, the high court’s MAGA wing has exposed its willingness to rewrite long established legal rules in darkness—without transparency or accountability. This order also reveals a disturbing disregard for extensive factual findings from lower courts—and flips the legal terrain for voting rights from protection to peril.
This is part of Opinionpalooza, Slate’s coverage of the major decisions from the Supreme Court. The best way to support our work is by joining Slate Plus. (If you are already a member, consider a donation or merch!)

This episode is member-exclusive. Listen to it now by subscribing to Slate Plus. By joining, not only will you unlock weekly bonus episodes of Amicus—you’ll also access ad-free listening across all your favorite Slate podcasts. You can subscribe directly from the Amicus show page on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Or, visit slate.com/amicusplus to get access wherever you listen.

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This week Steve, Dana, and Julia convene once again—this time with some big news. Also, they make a classic Gabfest episode.

First up, it's the alienating fluorescent buzz, infinite carpeted sprawl, and liminal horror of Backrooms. The new release from A24 is directed by 20-year-old Kane Parsons based on his YouTube series which itself was inspired by deep internet lore and a viral piece of creepypasta. Does the uncanny maze of Backrooms go anywhere? They step into the labyrinth to find out.

Next, they’re joined by Gabfest fave Leon Neyfakh to get into another parallel dimension: the world of OnlyFans. They discuss Leon’s new podcast about the ubiquitous platform OnlyFantasy—produced with comedian and OF creator Gracie Canaan.

Finally, it’s a conversation that’s as lively as… well, that’s the question. They take up a recent piece of data journalism in The Pudding analyzing the most common similes.

In a bonus episode, Carl Wilson joins the call (as well as a special endorsement segment) to talk taste. Specifically, they get into how discussions of taste have changed since Carl wrote authoritatively on it 18 years ago in his book Let’s Talk About Love: Why Other People Have Bad Taste.

Endorsements

Dana: The recent Zadie Smith essay in The New York Review of Books "Art for Our Sakes."

Carl: The live album Happy Today by Jeff Parker and ETA IVtet as well as the anthology of poetry On Occasion: Poems for the People, with a special Canadian shoutout to the poem "Oh Americans" by Gary Barwin.

Julia: The tranquil, koi fish-rich, and very SoCal Self-Realization Fellowship Lake Shrine. Also, L.A. listeners should join the folks of L.A Material, Punch List, and New York Review of Architecture on June 7 for the event LACMA Therapy Session to process all their complicated feelings about the new David Geffen Galleries.

Steve: The band The Durutti Column as sampled in the Blood Orange song "The Field." Plus, Steve would love to know what listeners make of the author J.M. Coetzee, particularly his novel Disgrace.

(Also, make sure to subscribe to Carl's fantastic newsletter Crritic!)

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Podcast production by Benjamin Frisch. Production assistance by Daniel Hirsch.
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