BEST OF THE GIST: Dog Food Edition

Normally, each weekend on Best Of The Gist, we listen back to an archival Gist segment from the past, then we replay something from the past week, but this weekend we’re scraping that formula and instead listening to an interview Mike did with a podcast called The Commercial Break, hosted by Bryan Green and Krissy Hoadley. It’s a fun conversation, and we hope you enjoy it.    Produced by Joel Patterson and Corey Wara  Email us at [email protected]  To advertise on the show: https://advertisecast.com/TheGist  Subscribe to our ad-free and/or PescaPlus versions of The Gist: https://subscribe.mikepesca.com/  Follow Mike’s Substack: Pesca Profundities | Mike Pesca | Substack  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Django Gold is a stand-up comedian, a former writer for The Late Show With Stephen Colbert, and a veteran of The Onion. In his stand-up special "Bag of Tricks," he explores not being cool, show-off toilet seats, and the privilege of owning multiple pairs of scissors. His comedy has been described as "cynical and bizarre" but also "surprising, insightful and properly deranged." We discuss the right amount of weird to present to the audience without seeming too weird, and the evolution of the archetype of nerd to IT guy to incel. Produced by Joel Patterson and Corey Wara Email us at [email protected] To advertise on the show, visit: https://advertisecast.com/TheGist Subscribe to The Gist: https://subscribe.mikepesca.com/ Subscribe to The Gist Youtube Page: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC4_bh0wHgk2YfpKf4rg40_g Follow Mikes Substack at: Pesca Profundities | Mike Pesca | Substack  Tile- Use Code THEGIST to get 15% off Smalls- Use Code THEGIST to get 50% off your first order + Free Shipping Manscaped- Use code THEGIST to get 20% off + Free Shipping True Classic- Perfect fit or your money back Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The nomination of Matt Gaetz to be United States Attorney General is shocking, confusing, and tumultuous, but not necessarily a non-starter. Plus, the Democratic Party is the HR department of politics. And, with government efficiency in the news, Richard Coffin of USAFacts stops by to give us the actual facts on where there is fat (or even muscle and sinew) to cut in the Federal budget. Produced by Joel Patterson and Corey Wara Email us at [email protected] To advertise on the show, visit: https://advertisecast.com/TheGist Subscribe to The Gist: https://subscribe.mikepesca.com/ Subscribe to The Gist Youtube Page: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC4_bh0wHgk2YfpKf4rg40_g Follow Mikes Substack at: Pesca Profundities | Mike Pesca | Substack  Tile- Use Code THEGIST to get 15% off Smalls- Use Code THEGIST to get 50% off your first order + Free Shipping Manscaped- Use code THEGIST to get 20% off + Free Shipping True Classic- Perfect fit or your money back Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Peter Hegseth is Donald Trump's nominee to be Secretary of Defense. It's an impossible job, one that he can't possibly fulfill, and maybe that's the point. Plus, Israelis in Amsterdam chased and beaten, but some in the press say they (more or less) deserved it. And we are joined once more by Ben Wittes of Lawfare to talk about Trump's possible prosecutions. Produced by Joel Patterson and Corey Wara Email us at [email protected] To advertise on the show, visit: https://advertisecast.com/TheGist Subscribe to The Gist: https://subscribe.mikepesca.com/ Subscribe to The Gist Youtube Page: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC4_bh0wHgk2YfpKf4rg40_g Follow Mikes Substack at: Pesca Profundities | Mike Pesca | Substack  Tile- Use Code THEGIST to get 15% off Smalls- Use Code THEGIST to get 50% off your first order + Free Shipping Manscaped- Use code THEGIST to get 20% off + Free Shipping True Classic- Perfect fit or your money back Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Ben Wittes, Editor-in-Chief of Lawfare, discusses what Trump can actually do and where the protections are for those he's threatened to criminally prosecute—Kamala is probably safe, but Jack Smith could be quite inconvenienced. Plus, Kristi Noem for DHS, and to California ballot counters: your torpor is not a virtue. Also, today The Atlantic published Mike's piece about the "HR-ification" of the Democratic party. Produced by Joel Patterson and Corey Wara Email us at [email protected] To advertise on the show, visit: https://advertisecast.com/TheGist Subscribe to The Gist: https://subscribe.mikepesca.com/ Subscribe to The Gist Youtube Page: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC4_bh0wHgk2YfpKf4rg40_g Follow Mikes Substack at: Pesca Profundities | Mike Pesca | Substack Tile- Use Code THEGIST to get 15% off Smalls- Use Code THEGIST to get 50% off your first order + Free Shipping Manscaped- Use code THEGIST to get 20% off + Free Shipping True Classic- Perfect fit or your money back Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Revelations from campaigns that could have been shared a while ago are being unearthed now. It turns out CNN knew Kamala Harris wasn't inspiring Pennsylvanians, but ... now they tell us! Plus, Seth Moulton gets pilloried for saying Dems need to talk about more issues openly. And Vic Michaelis of Very Important People stops by. VIP is an amazing show on Dropout TV, in which improvisers in heavy makeup discover they have been turned into werewolves or rocks, and then sit for an in-depth interview on the character they just learned they were. Produced by Joel Patterson and Corey Wara Email us at [email protected] To advertise on the show, visit: https://advertisecast.com/TheGist Subscribe to The Gist: https://subscribe.mikepesca.com/ Subscribe to The Gist Youtube Page: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC4_bh0wHgk2YfpKf4rg40_g Follow Mikes Substack at: Pesca Profundities | Mike Pesca | Substack Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This weekend on Best Of The Gist, we listen to part two of our interview with Washington Post investigative reporter Albert Samaha about his deep dive into the NIL economy. Then we rewind exactly eight years, to the morning America woke up to realize Donald Trump was President.    Produced by Joel Patterson and Corey Wara  Email us at [email protected]  To advertise on the show: https://advertisecast.com/TheGist  Subscribe to our ad-free and/or PescaPlus versions of The Gist: https://subscribe.mikepesca.com/  Follow Mike’s Substack: Pesca Profundities | Mike Pesca | Substack  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Donald Trump knows how to speak so he's heard. Democrats ... much less so. Plus, there are many legitimate recriminations for the Democrats to engage in, but "Elon Musk's money made things unfair" is not one of them. And we speak with Albert Samaha of the Washington Post about the hidden economy of college sports. Produced by Joel Patterson and Corey Wara Email us at [email protected] To advertise on the show, visit: https://advertisecast.com/TheGist Subscribe to The Gist: https://subscribe.mikepesca.com/ Subscribe to The Gist Youtube Page: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC4_bh0wHgk2YfpKf4rg40_g Follow Mikes Substack at: Pesca Profundities | Mike Pesca | Substack Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The polls were really very accurate, despite what the Nate-haters say. Amy Walter, Publisher and Editor-in-Chief of the Cook Political Report, explains why a clean sweep was not a surprise, assuming you understand concepts like margin of error and correlation. Plus, the offended Puerto-Rican vote failed to materialize, and unmarried women were overwhelmed by the voting preferences of their dads, boyfriends, and guys they went to high school with. Produced by Joel Patterson and Corey Wara Email us at [email protected] To advertise on the show, visit: https://advertisecast.com/TheGist Subscribe to The Gist: https://subscribe.mikepesca.com/ Subscribe to The Gist Youtube Page: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC4_bh0wHgk2YfpKf4rg40_g Follow Mikes Substack at: Pesca Profundities | Mike Pesca | Substack Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Donald Trump has won, his coalition is actually more diverse than any Republican since Nixon, and his share of the popular vote could be larger than any Republican since George H.W. Bush in 1988—it was certainly the largest in 20 years. Today, Mike has a critique of the media, hope for the republic, and a pair of interviews. First, he talks with not-Trump-nor-Harris voters Kemele Foster, of The 5th Column podcast, and Coleman Hughes, author of The End of Race Politics: Arguments for a Colorblind America, and we get to hear them react to Trump's victory in the moment. Then Peter Meijer, one of ten House Republicans to vote to impeach Donald Trump, says he stands by his vote, but understands Trump's success. Produced by Joel Patterson and Corey Wara Email us at [email protected] To advertise on the show, visit: https://advertisecast.com/TheGist Subscribe to The Gist: https://subscribe.mikepesca.com/ Subscribe to The Gist Youtube Page: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC4_bh0wHgk2YfpKf4rg40_g Follow Mikes Substack at: Pesca Profundities | Mike Pesca | Substack  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices