
The Gist
Slate
For thirty minutes each day, Pesca challenges himself and his audience, in a responsibly provocative style, and gets beyond the rigidity and dogma. The Gist is surprising, reasonable, and willing to critique the left, the right, either party, or any idea.
Location:
Washington, DC
Networks:
Slate
Description:
For thirty minutes each day, Pesca challenges himself and his audience, in a responsibly provocative style, and gets beyond the rigidity and dogma. The Gist is surprising, reasonable, and willing to critique the left, the right, either party, or any idea.
Language:
English
Episodes
Mike Pesca on The Good Fight Club
9/13/2025
Today on The Gist, we air some of Mikes appearence on The Good Fight Club Podcast. Please note that this was recorded on September 10th, before the shooting of Charlie Kirk. You can listen to the rest of the podcast using the link below.
The Good Fight Club: Russian Drones in Poland, Low Literacy in Schools, and Can Anyone Rein in Trump?
Produced by Corey Wara
Production Coordinator Ashley Khan
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Duration:00:43:40
Bill McKibben: “Energy From Heaven, Not From Hell”
9/12/2025
Bill McKibben discusses his new book Here Comes the Sun: A Last Chance for the Climate and a Fresh Chance for Civilization, making the case for renewables as civilization’s best hope. He has long argued that we can’t save the planet without a massive overhaul of how we live, but here he answers a challenge to whether that was ever right. McKibben dismisses geoengineering as “junkie’s logic,” yet warns it may be forced if clean energy isn’t embraced quickly. Plus, a reflection on cycles of American political violence—reminders that past eras were bloodier, and that public appetite for violence often diminishes rather than escalates.
Produced by Corey Wara
Production Coordinator Ashley Khan
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Duration:00:39:04
Aaron Sibarium on Charlie Kirk, Retribution, and the Cycle of Violence
9/11/2025
Aaron Sibarium of the Washington Free Beacon reflects on his recent full-hour interview with Charlie Kirk, which aired just a week before Kirk’s assassination. He recalls Kirk’s reach across conservative factions and his surprising focus on debate and voter mobilization rather than pure outrage. The conversation widens to the risks of political violence, misperceptions between parties, and how quickly rhetoric escalates online. Plus, a Spiel on what might finally break the cycle of fear hatred and likely recrimination.
Produced by Corey Wara
Production Coordinator Ashley Khan
Email us at thegist@mikepesca.com
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Duration:00:38:46
Ryan Evans on Drones, Ground War, and Ukraine’s Fight for Survival
9/10/2025
Ryan Evans, founder of War on the Rocks, breaks down the grinding land war in eastern Ukraine, the tactical role of drones, and how morale and leadership shape the battlefield. He points to Zelensky’s missteps, the weapons still needed, and what “winning the ground” really means. Also: Russia sends drones into Poland, forcing Trump into a test of NATO resolve with Putin watching every move. Plus, for Pesca Plus subscribers, a conversation on Gaza.
Come See Mike Pesca at Open Debate
Produced by Corey Wara
Production Coordinator Ashley Khan
Email us at thegist@mikepesca.com
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Duration:00:27:59
Nim Shapira: Torn Between Empathy and Erasure
9/9/2025
Filmmaker Nim Shapira discusses Torn, his documentary on the hostage posters put up—and torn down—across New York after October 7th. He reflects on free speech, empathy, and why erasing someone else’s pain won’t shorten a war. Also: a protest in Nepal over a social media ban topples the prime minister. Plus: Israel’s strikes on Hamas leaders in Qatar, where trust craters—and Israel puts its trust in craters.
Come See Mike Pesca at Open Debate
Produced by Corey Wara
Production Coordinator Ashley Khan
Email us at thegist@mikepesca.com
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Duration:00:31:29
Christine Wenz: The Onion’s Straight Face Made It Funnier
9/8/2025
Christine Wenz joins to discuss Funny Because It’s True: How The Onion Created Modern American News Satire, recalling its Wisconsin roots, AP-style discipline, and newsroom battles over absurd details. She traces the paper’s arc from gas-station rent money to online cult influence, and the tension between preachiness and bite. Plus, the Ambazonian separatist movement run from Minneapolis, and a court ruling upholding E. Jean Carroll’s $83 million judgment against Donald Trump.
Come See Mike Pesca at Open Debate
Produced by Corey Wara
Production Coordinator Ashley Khan
Email us at thegist@mikepesca.com
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Duration:00:28:48
Immigration, Nuance, and a Leonhardt Vault Cut
9/6/2025
It’s the Saturday Show: one from the week, one from the vault. Mike revisits his take on immigration—spurred by a CNN piece and a Pesca Profundities post—arguing the media too often flattens a hard issue into easy labels. Courts have now allowed parts of Trump’s approach, forcing a distinction between “shameful” and “unconstitutional.” From the vault, David Leonhardt on why Democrats’ stance can sound like “more is good, less is racist.
Come See Mike Pesca at Open Debate
Produced by Corey Wara
Production Coordinator Ashley Khan
Email us at thegist@mikepesca.com
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Duration:00:31:46
Mike Hayes on Purpose, Grit, and Mission
9/5/2025
Today on The Gist. Trump’s push to rebrand the Pentagon as the “Department of War”. Then a full-length interview with Mike Hayes—former commanding officer of SEAL Team 2, White House Fellow, and author of Mission Driven: The Path to a Life of Purpose. Hayes lays out how to define the “who” before the “what,” why 1% better beats overnight breakthroughs, and how grit, EQ, and team-first leadership scale beyond the battlefield to business and life. Plus: talent vs. credentialism, learning from failure without ego, and why calm thinking under pressure is a trainable skill.
Come See Mike Pesca at Open Debate
Produced by Corey Wara
Production Coordinator Ashley Khan
Email us at thegist@mikepesca.com
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Duration:00:38:45
Not Even Mad: Galen Druke and Josh Barrow
9/4/2025
Today on The Gist: It’s Not Even Mad. Mike Pesca welcomes Galen Druke and Josh Barrow for a sharp yet civil debate on Trump’s immigration strategy, crime, and the charge of creeping autocracy. They weigh whether cruelty brings Trump political advantage, how Democrats should frame their response, and what “autocracy makes you poor” really means for voters. Plus, Mike spotlights where polls mislead, why midterms punish incumbents, and why branding matters as much as policy.
Come See Mike Pesca at Open Debate
Produced by Corey Wara
Production Coordinator Ashley Khan
Email us at thegist@mikepesca.com
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Duration:00:49:47
Miles Taylor on Resistance Cascades, Rubio’s Turn, and Testing the Judiciary
9/3/2025
Former DHS official Miles Taylor, author of the “Anonymous” op-ed, returns to discuss Trump’s second term agenda, the courts, and the missing “axis of adults.” Pesca opens with a theory on why deportees landed in Eswatini, then closes with a spiel on the immigration conundrum: border deterrence versus humane policy. Taylor explains “permission structures,” why resistance cascaded in 2020 but not 2024, how this White House could test the judiciary, what Rubio’s evolution signals, how patronage is used to quiet critics, and why satire can move persuadables better than lectures.
Come See Mike Pesca at Open Debate
Produced by Corey Wara
Production Coordinator Ashley Khan
Email us at thegist@mikepesca.com
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Duration:00:35:15
Ex-DHS Chief Miles Taylor: Trump, Treason, and Executive Power
9/2/2025
Trump health rumors, media scrutiny, and what counts as news kick off the show before a wide-ranging interview with Miles Taylor—former DHS Chief of Staff and author of Blowback—about the April 2025 White House memo labeling him “treasonous,” the threats that followed, alleged blacklisting, and how executive power can be bent to punish speech. We discuss investigations vs. “fishing expeditions,” loyalty scorecards for companies, and why institutions cave—or don’t. In the spiel, Mike reframes the immigration fight: policy trade-offs, public opinion, and what data actually say about enforcement. Plus, a critique of a viral CNN segment on a deportation case and how storytelling choices shape perceptions. Keywords: Miles Taylor, DHS, Trump memo, treason label, blacklists, executive power, media coverage, polling, immigration policy, CNN report.
*Please Note that Mike is on assingment, which is why his audio is not ideal*
Come See Mike Pesca at Open Debate
Produced by Corey Wara
Production Coordinator Ashley Khan
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Duration:00:36:41
Governor Wes Moore on Baltimore’s Historic Drop in Homicides, Plus Laura Loomer’s Lunacy
8/30/2025
Maryland Governor Wes Moore has overseen one of the steepest homicide drops in America. Baltimore, long plagued by 300-plus murders a year, has seen killings fall more than 40 percent since 2023. In this archived conversation, Moore explains how a data-driven, all-of-the-above approach—boosting local police, investing in technology, and supporting victims—helped reshape the city’s fight against violent crime.
Plus: Mike Pesca’s spiel takes on the bizarre press orbit around Laura Loomer, a figure whose influence is as erratic as her antics. From dog food taste-tests to Shakespeare protests to depositions about Arby’s, coverage of Loomer often reveals more about the media’s hunger for spectacle than about her.
Produced by Corey Wara
Production Coordinator Ashley Khan
Email us at thegist@mikepesca.com
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Duration:00:20:27
Edward Wong: At the Edge of Empire, China, Family, and Power
8/29/2025
New York Times correspondent Edward Wong has reported from Beijing to Baghdad, covering the rise of China and the reach of American power. In his new book At the Edge of Empire: A Family’s Reckoning with China, Wong blends geopolitics with personal history, from his father’s time in Mao’s army to his own years navigating censorship and nationalism in modern China. Mike talks with Wong about ideology, disillusionment, and what China’s trajectory means for the United States and the world. Plus: On the 20th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, Mike reflects on how rumors and misinformation shaped the disaster response, and what lessons still echo in today’s media landscape.
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Come See Mike Pesca at Open Debate
Produced by Corey Wara
Production Coordinator Ashley Khan
Email us at thegist@mikepesca.com
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Duration:00:33:59
Nick Foster on How We Really Think About the Future
8/28/2025
Mike Pesca examines the political spin after a Minnesota school shooting and the debate over trans identity and mass shootings. He then speaks with designer and futurist Nick Foster (Apple, Google, Dyson) about his new book Could Should Might Don’t: How We Think About the Future and why tech culture misunderstands futurism. Plus, a spiel on how RFK Jr.’s administration is hollowing out Health and Human Services and why missing mice reveal a bigger problem.
Produced by Corey Wara
Production Coordinator Ashley Khan
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Duration:00:32:48
Inside a Fat Camp named Shame
8/27/2025
Donald Trump’s allies are weaponizing the machinery of government against opponents, eroding faith in American institutions. But does every abuse demand the “dictatorship” label? Mike weighs in on the rhetoric of tyranny, then turns to Camp Shame, a new podcast by Kelsey Snelling about the notorious weight loss retreat Camp Shane, its false promises, and its lasting scars.
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Produced by Corey Wara
Production Coordinator Ashley Khan
Email us at thegist@mikepesca.com
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Duration:00:52:01
Trump’s Mortgage Attacks and Kessler on Weight Loss
8/26/2025
Trump has fired Fed governor Lisa Cook for lying on her mortgage, part of a broader pattern of using mortgage fraud as a political weapon while allies skate by. Former FDA head David Kessler joins again to explain how GLP-1 drugs reshape the fight against obesity and what they mean for health long term. In the Spiel, the spectacle of Laura Loomer’s chaotic influence.
Produced by Corey Wara
Production Coordinator Ashley Khan
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Duration:00:38:05
David Kessler on Why Junk Food Is America’s Nicotine
8/25/2025
Today on The Gist, the Trump administration’s lowering of FBI recruitment standards, where irony gives way to petty tyranny. Former FDA Commissioner David Kessler joins to discuss his new book Diet, Drugs, and Dopamine and his petition urging the FDA to strip refined carbohydrates of their “generally recognized as safe” status. Kessler explains why ultra-processed foods act more like narcotics than nourishment, how GLP-1 drugs change the weight-loss landscape, and why toxic fat may be the new tobacco.
Produced by Corey Wara
Production Coordinator Ashley Khan
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Duration:00:41:01
Trump’s Long Game and Miles Taylor’s Warning
8/23/2025
Mike revisits an old worry: Trump’s policies are built for payoffs far beyond his term—and that’s a problem for a man who won’t share credit. From tariffs to civil service purges, the risks linger. To set the stage, we go back to a 2018 interview with Miles Taylor, once “Anonymous,” whose warnings still resonate as he returns with his new book Blowback.
Produced by Corey Wara
Production Coordinator Ashley Khan
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Duration:00:31:46
The Working Class Party with the Post-Graduate Jargon
8/22/2025
McKenzie Wilson of Blue Rose Research joins to dissect Democrats’ branding failures, from alienating language to ignoring cost-of-living pain. She explains why Gen Z may be drifting rightward, why “when we all vote we win” no longer holds, Plus: Trump’s doomed “Alligator Alcatraz” detention center, shut down not for human-rights abuses but for threatening orchids and panthers. And in the Spiel it's an antwentig covering Israel, conspiracy theories and "punching left".
Produced by Corey Wara
Production Coordinator Ashley Khan
Email us at thegist@mikepesca.com
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Duration:00:54:12
Not Even Mad: Rikki Schlott and Isaac Saul
8/21/2025
New York Post columnist Rikki Schlott and Tangle founder Isaac Saul join Mike to discuss policing Washington, D.C.—who's in charge, who gets blamed, and why federal takeover is more problem multiplier than solution. Then: scalpel or a chainsaw on the syllabus for higher ed. Plus, using the concept of toxic empathy to explain both a recidivist subway-jacker and a diplomatic move toward Palestinian statehood. In Goat Grinders, air travel with babies, The Naked Gun while lying down, and airlines that lie—but only once you’re already trapped in seat 27B.
Produced by Corey Wara
Production Coordinator Ashley Khan
Email us at thegist@mikepesca.com
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Duration:01:01:13