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On this week’s Slate Political Gabfest, Emily Bazelon, John Dickerson, and David Plotz discuss the media attention over Fire and Fury by Michael Wolff, partisanship in the Russia investigation, and the impact of fake news.
Here are some of the links and references from this week’s show:
- Fire and Fury, by Michael Wolff
- Sharon LaFraniere, Mark Mazzetti, and Matt Apuzzo for the New York Times: “How the Russia Inquiry Began: A Campaign Aide, Drinks and Talk of Political Dirt”
- Andrew Guess, Brendan Nyhan, and Jason Reifler’s “Selective Exposure to Misinformation: Evidence from the consumption of fake news during the 2016 U.S. presidential campaign”
- Benedict Carey for the New York Times: “‘Fake News’: Wide Reach but Little Impact, Study Suggests””
Here are this week’s cocktail chatters:
- Emily: Two books by Jesmyn Ward, Salvage the Bones and Sing, Unburied, Sing. 2020’s census may include a citizenship question, which some experts say is a bad idea. The Trump administration has disbanded the voter fraud commission.
- John: A man posing as a Nigerian prince, based in Louisiana, was arrested on 269 counts of wire fraud and money laundering
- David: Nora Krug’s story in the Washington Post, “Two dying memoirists wrote bestsellers about their final days. Then their spouses fell in love.”
For this week’s Slate Plus bonus segment, the hosts debate the value of a college education, inspired by a recent piece in the Atlantic. Join Slate Plus! Members get bonus segments, exclusive member-only podcasts, and more. Sign up for a free trial today at slate.com/gabfestplus.
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Podcast production by Jocelyn Frank. Links compiled by Izzy Rode.