This week, Emily Bazelon, John Dickerson, and guest host Juliette Kayyem discuss what we learn from Trump’s escalating battle with the press and its track record in the courts, the likely outcomes of this week’s Trump-Xi summit with former New York Times Beijing Bureau Chief and host of Face-Off: the US vs. China, Jane Perlez, and the role of voter trust as the midterm elections approach.

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

Victoria Craw and Scott Nover for The Washington Post: CNN, MS NOW, Politico reporters regain entry to White House

Victoria Craw for The Washington Post: Trump tells judge media ban is necessary to protect national security

Steve Vladeck for One First (Substack): The One First “Long Read”: Newsgathering and the First Amendment

Jon Allsop for The New Yorker: The Lede: Is Trump’s Latest Press Attack Just Another Distraction?

Juliette Kayyem for Early Warning (Substack): Trump is an Ostrich

David Pierson for The New York Times: Analysis: With Time on His Side, Xi Seeks to Extend Truce With Trump

Keith Bradsher for The New York Times: China’s Continued Control of Rare Earths Looms Over Trump-Xi Meeting

Ian Duncan, Riley Beggin, and Cat Zakrzewski for The Washington Post: AI leaders say U.S. and China need a deal. That probably won’t happen.

Scott Waldman and Ben Lefebvre for Politico: Chinese president arrives in US with new energy leverage as war rattles global markets

The Editorial Board of The Wall Street Journal: Opinion: What Does Trump Want From Xi?

Sabrina Tavernise for The New York Times: News Analysis: ‘I Was Sold a Bill of Goods’: Americans and the Distrust Election

Katrin Bennhold and Nate Cohn for The New York Times: Newsletter: The World: A Power Shift in America?

Nate Silver for Silver Bulletin (Substack): Expert ratings are ignoring signs of a blue wave

Aaron Blake for CNN: Analysis: The GOP stampede away from Trump is growing — including in pretty red districts

Lauren Egan for The Bulwark: The Opposition: The One Legit Reason for Dem Panic

Matthew Continetti for The Wall Street Journal: Opinion: Commentary: Good News for the GOP: Some Politics Is Still Local

John Dickerson for The Atlantic: The Pinball President

Here are this week’s chatters:
 
Emily: Kohelet Rabbah 7:1, The Sefaria Midrash Rabbah, 2022

John: History Channel: Grant; John Anderson for The Wall Street Journal: ‘Grant’ Review: The Wisdom and Weaknesses of a Warrior

Juliette: Madeline Puckette for Wine Folly: Everything You Want to Know About Orange Wine; Winecountry Collective: Exploring the World of Orange Wines

Listener chatter from John McMillian in Atlanta, Georgia: Rick Perlstein for Smithsonian Magazine: An Interview With ‘Playboy’ Magazine Nearly Torpedoed Jimmy Carter’s Presidential Campaign; Robert Scheer for Playboy Magazine: The Playboy Interview With Jimmy Carter

For this week’s Slate Plus bonus episode, Emily, John, and guest host Juliette Kayyem discuss reactions to Nikole Hannah-Jones’s New York Times Magazine essay, In Fighting for Every Black Child, Did I Betray My Own?, and why the online hostility looks so different from what she actually wrote. They dig into the research on socioeconomic integration, the tendency to conflate race and class, and the problem with asking individual parents to solve what is really a policy problem.

In the latest Gabfest Reads, David Plotz talks with journalist Annie Lowrey about her new book, The Time Tax: How the Government Wastes Our Time - and How to Fix It, an investigation into the hours Americans lose to broken bureaucracy, from 12-hour tax filings to multiyear waits for housing vouchers and building permits.

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.

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