The “Degenerate Gambler” Edition

This week, Emily Bazelon, John Dickerson, and David Plotz discuss how policies of anger and dominance structure President Trump’s approach to adversaries, allies, and the independent press alike, how the dangers of the online sports-betting industry are outrunning limited guardrails with guest McKay Coppins, and how a federal judge just handed RFK Jr.’s war on vaccines its biggest setback yet.

Here are some notes and references from this week’s show:

Laurence Norman and Bertrand Benoit for The Wall Street Journal: U.S. Allies Rebuff Trump’s Demand for Help Opening Strait of Hormuz

Isaac Stanley-Becker for The Atlantic: Trump Is Learning That His Bullying Has Consequences

The Editorial Board of The Wall Street Journal (Opinion): The Allies Take a Pass on Iran

Lily Kuo for The New York Times: War in the Gulf Is Now Churning the U.S.-China Relationship

William M. LeoGrande and Peter Kornbluh for Foreign Policy (Analysis): The United States Might Settle for Less Than Regime Change in Cuba

Peter Baker for The New York Times: In Choosing ‘Epic Fury,’ Trump Names a War and Defines His Presidency

Nick Catoggio for The Dispatch: Dominance as Strategy

Caitlin Vogus for The Guardian (Opinion): Trump’s FCC chair wants American media to work like Iran’s state TV

Mark Penn and Andrew Stein for The Wall Street Journal (Opinion): On Iran, Is Only Bad News Fit to Print?

NPR Washington Desk: Joe Kent, a top counterterrorism official, resigns citing Iran war

McKay Coppins for The Atlantic: Sucker: My year as a degenerate gambler

John Gramlich for Pew Research Center: Americans increasingly see legal sports betting as a bad thing for society and sports

Isaac Rose-Berman for STAT (Opinion): The rise of sports betting is a growing public health crisis

Lena H. Sun and Rachel Roubein for The Washington Post: Judge halts RFK Jr.’s vaccine overhaul, citing flawed process

Jonathan Cohn for The Bulwark: Somebody Finally Stood Up to RFK Jr.

Rob Stein for NPR (All Things Considered): Vaccine critics keep the pressure on, even as RFK Jr. shifts focus

Here are this week’s chatters:

Emily: BBC Audio Podcast In Our Time: On Liberty (episode Jan. 15, 2026, 49 minutes); Manny Fernandez and Sarah Hurtes for The New York Times: Cesar Chavez, a Civil Rights Icon, Is Accused of Abusing Girls for Years; Sarah Hurtes and Manny Fernandez for The New York Times: ‘We’re Just Seen as Sex Objects’: Dolores Huerta’s Years in the U.F.W.

John: John Dickerson on Substack: The Monk in the Marriott; 26th Annual 4th & Walnut Lecture: Finding Thomas Merton on the Campaign Trail with John F. Dickerson; The Thomas Merton Center at Bellarmine University: Thomas Merton’s Life and Work; John Dickerson on Instagram

David: Robert Frank for The Wall Street Journal: Settled Paternity Suit Makes A Millionaire Out of Junior Hillblom, Despite Downside; Mary Curtius for Los Angeles Times: Asian Children Finally Get Part of $550-Million Estate

Listener chatter from João Cancela in Lisbon, Portugal: U.S. Embassy Lisbon on X: Exclusive interview of Ambassador Arrigo with @CNNPortugal : “I only chose one country, and it was here that I wanted to be.”; Kimberly Miller for The Palm Beach Post: President-elect Trump names local car dealer John Arrigo to be ambassador to Portugal

For this week’s Slate Plus bonus episode, Emily, John, and David discuss what the conventional postmortems of USAID are missing and where global development might go from here with guest Tim Hirschel-Burns.

In the latest Gabfest Reads, John Dickerson talks with Father James Martin about his new book, Work in Progress: Confessions of a Busboy, Dishwasher, Caddy, Usher, Factory Worker, Bank Teller, Corporate Tool, and Priest. They discuss the spiritual lessons learned through eight different jobs, Martin’s controversial LGBTQ ministry that made him a target of criticism within the Catholic Church, and what the Gospels demand about welcoming strangers and caring for the marginalized.

Email your chatters, questions, and comments to gabfest@slate.com. (Messages may be referenced by name unless the writer stipulates otherwise.)

Podcast production by Nina Porzucki

Research by Emily Ditto

You can find the full Political Gabfest show pages here.

Want more Political Gabfest? Join Slate Plus to unlock weekly bonus episodes. Plus, you’ll access ad-free listening across all your favorite Slate podcasts. You can subscribe directly from the Political Gabfest show page on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Or visit slate.com/gabfestplus to get access wherever you listen.

Find out more about David Plotz’s monthly tours of Ft. DeRussy, the secret Civil War fort hidden in Rock Creek Park.

Bonus Episode

Bonus: What Really Killed USAID?

Guest Tim Hirschel-Burns argues that democratic breakdown and right wing culture war radicalization in the hands of DOGE, rather than inherent faults in development policy, are what destroyed USAID.