The “Most Abusive and Destructive” Edition

Here are some of the links and references from this week’s show:

Meltdown: Why Our Systems Fail and What We Can Do About It, by Chris Clearfield and András Tilcsik

John Dickerson for Slate:  “Where is Mitt Romney’s Faith?”

Mark Leibovich for the New York Times: “Romney, Defying the Party He Once Personified, Votes to Convict Trump”

Emily Bazelon for the New York Times Magazine: “Should Prostitution Be a Crime?”

Here are this week’s cocktail chatters:

Emily: Zolan Kanno-Youngs and Jesse McKinley for the New York Times: “Trump Administration Freezes Global Entry Enrollment in New York Over Immigration Law”

John: Politics Is for Power: How to Move Beyond Political Hobbyism, Take Action, and Make Real Change, by Eitan Hersh; A Time to Build: From Family and Community to Congress and the Campus, How Recommitting to Our Institutions Can Revive the American Dream, by Yuval Levin; Why We’re Polarized, by Ezra Klein

David:  Zachary Marx for Liverpool Offside: “Liverpool’s Success This Season Defies Explanation”

Listener John Hendog, @turkeyfunk: Alexander Matthews for the BBC: “The South African Plant Fighting Climate Change”

For this week’s Slate Plus bonus segment, Emily, David, and John discuss George Packer’s acceptance speech for the Hitchens Prize, published in the Atlantic: “The Enemies of Writing.”

You can tweet suggestions, links, and questions to @SlateGabfest. Tweet us your cocktail chatter using #cocktailchatter or post it to our Facebook page. (Messages may be quoted by name unless the writer stipulates otherwise.)

The email address for the Political Gabfest is gabfest@slate.com. (Email may be quoted by name unless the writer stipulates otherwise.)

Podcast production by Jocelyn Frank.

Research and show notes by Bridgette Dunlap.