But he is really a knee jerk apologist for liberalism. His constant exhortations about how fair minded he is while he takes swipes at progressives seems self hating and unnecessary. Exhausting to listen to and it is annoying the number of assumptions he makes about the listeners and how little he thinks of us. Emily Bazelon is the saving grace. John Dickerson tends to live in the same bubble as David.

The episode about Trump voters was awful. The guest spent the entire time insulting liberals to prove that liberals shouldn’t think Trumpsters are delusional racists. Frank Buckley offered zero insight into how Trump MAGA are anything other than delusional racists.

Love the pod, but… What happened to the volume?? It’s so loud that it can hardly be heard.

Love most of the shows but why does the feed now have 3-4 versions of the exact same episode? It’s very annoying.

The British host is arrogant. The two women lean on him for confidence. They all lack any real knowledge about what they discuss. It’s a toxic combination of arrogance and ignorance.

More Progressive Liberal opinion. What about the working class ? What about, for example, the black sanitation men, “garbage men”, who pick up our trash, & without whom there would be disease & no “civilization” ? How about some stories about black cops & firefighters ? (I’m a 70 year old white West Point grad & retired USAF Flight Surgeon who is tired of reading endless stories for white hyper-educated Ivy League grads who don’t really care about the women & men who actually work for a living, at poverty wages & care more about “running the world” than the homeless & hungry without hope here in America.)

The lawmakers texting Mark Meadows about stealing the election are REPUBLICAN lawmakers.

The Gist was stellar, but you let go the one unorthodox person at Slate. The remaining shows have only gotten worse since his departure.

As a long-time listener to Slate’s podcasts, it pains me to voice my concern over their direction during the past year or so. I still listen to and enjoy the older “core” podcasts such as Amicus, the Political and Culture Gabfests, etc. And I’ve been tremendously impressed with their Slow Burn series. Where Slate has really gone off the rails is with their newer generation of podcasts, particularly their human interest ones such as “Big Mood, Little Mood” and “How to Do It”. These have been almost uniformly dull and awful. Listening to these über-chatty hosts evincing a fake jokiness, all while talking about banal trivia is like chewing on tinfoil. Even when the hosts are supposedly talking about truly relevant and potentially interesting cultural and/or technological phenomena (as in ICYMI), they show an almost uncanny knack of imparting almost no really useful information! Finally, I want to touch on the departure of two podcasts, John McWhorter’s “Lexicon Valley” and Mike Pesca’s “The Gist”. Both highlight the recent misdirection at Slate, although perhaps in different ways. The reason for McWhorter’s departure from Slate seem to be a bit clouded, but I will note that “Lexicon Valley”, a show characterized by witty erudition, has been replaced with “Spectacular Vernacular”, another podcast mediocrity seemingly designed to appeal to the lowest common denominator. As for “The Gist”, I will admit that I never particularly cared for its host, Mike Pesca. But I was nevertheless appalled by the way in which he was unceremoniously kicked to the curb by his superiors. Maybe, just maybe, his actions merited some sort of slap on the wrist, but to essentially fire him represented an egregious overreaction that reflected very poorly on the management philosophy and business ethics of the Slate organization.

After the deranged cancellation of their best show, Slate’s podcasts are an entertainment desert.

Slate podcasts keep getting worse and worse ( except the gabfest shows). There was a time when most slate podcast were great and competed against the best in the internet. No longer. The new management has taken these podcasts in a much worst direction

Mike Pesca always encouraged thoughtful discourse and nuanced debate. These are things that drew me to Slate in the first place and made me an early Slate Plus subscriber. Now Slate seems more concerned with promoting a single, dogmatic point of view rather than robust, diverse discussion. I’ve cancelled my Slate Plus membership until you bring back Mike.

Slate used to be great but now it’s run by fragile leftists that can’t handle the softest critique of themselves. Mike Pesca is an incredibly thoughtful and intelligent person and CLEARLY cares deeply about human beings and I won’t be listening to any of their podcasts until they reinstate him and apologize

How about Slate bring Mike Pesca back?

Please bring back Mike Pesca. My favorite Slate Show. His suspension makes no sense.

I miss Mike Pesca’s The Gist. Aside from The Gist, I recommend Slate Political Gabfest and Slate Money

Core gabfests are great, pesca is always entertaining, newer gabfests are good and give a nice perspective from alternative and under-heard points of views. Would be nice to tease series instead of posting the full episodes of the entire series (e.g. slow burn, decoder ring). Might get a more accurate listener/downloaded count. (Or is this a strategic juking of the stats by counting the daily feed download and the individual podcast feed download?) Thirst aid kit is garbage, I can’t believe this is a Slate show. Update: bring back Pesca

Not nearly as interesting as the much-missed Mike Pesca podcast, The Gist.

I am deleting all of my sleep apps until Mike Pesca gets reinstated

Slate always advocates for discussion. Mike Pesca seems to share many of the same opinions as everyone else at the site. Yet as he promotes discussion, he gets suspended. Bring Pesca back.

Bring Pesca back

Very disappointed to hear the last podcast discussing the status of the latest Stimulus package. The host & guest seemed very flippant & sarcastic about something that is actually very serious to many people in this country. The extra $300 that Donald Trump ordered may not seem like a lot to you (obviously you are employed & receiving a paycheck), but as someone in NYC who is receiving it this week, at least it’s something. It’s a sad state of affairs when the representatives we elect can’t be bothered to find a compromise - something they are elected to do. And this is coming from a Democrat who is not a Trump supporter.

Excellent interview of Mary Trump on Trumpcast today.

I’m not a fan of the woman who proselytizes for unfettered free markets, though...I can read Supply Side Jesus for that.

When the one lady host talked I thought the report kicked into x2 play mode.Chill out and talk normally please!

Slate podcasts are the best, informative, entertaining, professional yet personal. I listen to a lot of podcasts, and they are pretty much all Slate.

Long time subscriber to Slate Plus. The quality and variety of content in their daily feed is really awesome.

I grew up being told I was full of beans 😁 Great Show!

Wow, the Represent #48 interview with Betty Gilpin is hard to watch. The interviewer who clearly has not seen this actresses’ work and other podcast interviews and she asks these stupid questions, at one point saying that because the actress is blonde and young, how does she feel how easy it is to get roles, while for years Gilpin has written a Lenny Letters and has spoken out about the harassment, sexism, objectification, and immense difficulty she has getting roles where she plays something other than a Barbie. It was painful to hear an intelligent actress be interviewed by an idiot in the Represent series. She makes the stupid assumption that if a woman is young and white then her life is super easy.

Well done!

This is a horrible show hosted and produced by horrible and shameful people the hosts are horrible people and everyone involved is a hack

Sadly intense vocal fry makes this unlistenable

I love most of Slates podcasts and was excited at the prospect of a daily pop of content - but, this seems to only come out weekly? Then why call it the “Daily Feed”?

Jesse Eisenberg said he was a shooting guard. Michael Jordan was the point guard.

I subscribe to Slate Plus and suggest you do to. Part of the fun is the stream of interesting, ad-free podcasts, from Mike Pesca's "The Gist" to Slate Academy courses. Highly recommended.

I subscribe to a lot of Slate pods but check this every day for a new gem and I often find it. How else would I find so many Slate podcasts?

Josh had a great format - listen, read & not so important but interesting need to know news - he also has a great ‘radio’ voice. Thanks for reconsidering the ‘old’ format and the ‘cool voice’ dude! 😊

Enjoy this informed team

2/3 of the episode was very good and I enjoyed hearing John’s perspective especially. 1/3 of the episode was painful: pretty much every time Emily interjected anything. If she could turn her volume down and speak more thoughtfully without interrupting, it would make her presentation much better and improve the episode and podcast.

This is a good resource for finding new podcasts. Just when I think I have all the Slate podcasts I am interested in, a new one comes along.

This is a mediocre podcast that is fraudulently wrong. It was better when it was 90 seconds.

pledge week, really? you already have slate plus and plug it during every show and sponsors scattered throughout. You aren't a non-profit. Not feeling it.

Can't live in a Trumpy world without this podcast. Thanks, Jacob, Virginia, Jamelle et al...

As folks who refuse to normalize the malevolent idiocy of this kleptocratic blunderbuss of a President, Trumpcast makes each day of this administration a bit more bearable.

Great way to catch subjects or discussions you might miss if you don't subscribe to the individual podcasts. Love Pike Pesca's The Gist (usually, unless there is a sports segment) and 90 Seconds. Was thrilled to catch the one about how contemporary librarians (or one librarian in particular) see their mission in this presidency's knowledge-busting and research-destroying climate.

I really look forward to this every two weeks. It's like sitting around (possibly with a bottle of wine) with your really smart and funny friends discussing politics, culture, current events, etc., as they relate to women.

Slate's podcasts are the best of the lot. And this one is so great. It has almost surpassed the Culture Gabfest podcast as the leading one. Keep up the excellent research, the depth of the subject. Love it.

Love the reporters and their ability to impart complex issues simply. Thank you for this podcast

Enjoy listening to as I head out to Parking lot after work

I love Slate podcasts so I thought I would give this one a turn. Sounds like InfoWars for the left. What a joke!