About this episode

The episode discusses red flags in political candidates, Trump's income revelations, and the implications of presidential decisions on World Cup rules, along with interviews about significant political literature.

This week, Emily Bazelon, John Dickerson, and David Plotz discuss why an insurgent candidate with so many red flags got so far, how shocking new details about Trump's 2025 income show billions in earnings while those who bought his crypto lost billions, and what everyone lost when the president decided World Cup rules didn't apply to us. For this week’s Slate Plus bonus episode, Emily, John, and David talk with guest Jesse Wegman , Senior Fellow at the Brennan Center for Justice, about his new book The Lost Founder: James Wilson and the Forgotten Fight for a People's Constitution . Wilson, a Scottish-born delegate at the Constitutional Convention, argued that the people—not the states—held true governing power, pushing for a directly elected president, only to be erased from history after his career collapsed into debt and disgrace.   In the latest Gabfest Reads , Emily Bazelon talks with Senator Chris Murphy about his new book, Crisis of the Common Good: The Fight for Meaning and Connection in a Broken America . Murphy lays out a provocative agenda for Democrats to call Americans to national service, break up corporate power, rebuild local communities, and create a bigger…

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