The Gist

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, fo...

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 i...

Christine Wenc 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 cou...

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...

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 sc...

Today on The Gist: It’s Not Even Mad. Mike Pesca welcomes Galen Druke and Josh Barro 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 s...

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 tes...

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,” loy...

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 vi...

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 ideolog...

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 H...

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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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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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 fo...

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 Coordin...

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, con...

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 re...

Christopher Giancarlo—former CFTC chair and known as “CryptoDad”—joins to explain why the U.S. should build a crypto reserve, just like oil or gold. He recalls a White House summit that treated digital assets with the pomp of a state visit—and unveils a swashbuckling plan to revive the Constitution’s old letters of marque to hunt today’s digital pirates. Plus murder has almost doubled in D.C. since 2012  but officials and media ins...

Harry Siegel joins to break down the chaotic New York mayoral race, where Zohran Mamdani looks like the presumptive next mayor but hasn’t been fully tested. Siegel warns that old tweets, rent-stabilized housing, and city-run grocery promises could become liabilities once federal pressure mounts. Plus, Trump’s trade war bets on an eight-to-eleven-year payoff, a timeline that outlasts his legal term limit and raises questions about i...