Why Don Jr.’s Wedding Photos Have Zero Russians in Them

This week, Emily Bazelon, John Dickerson, and David Plotz discuss whether this week’s Supreme Court intervention rejecting Trump’s mail-in ballot restrictions will prevent midterm chaos, explore the fast-evolving dynamics of public and political anxieties about AI, and dissect remarkable new reporting from ProPublica exposing the Putin-adjacent Russian oligarch who paid for much of Donald Trump Jr.’s private island wedding. Here are some notes and references from this week’s show: Quinta Jurecic for The Atlantic: The Supreme Court Recognizes the Danger of Trump’s Election Plan Harry Litman for Talking Feds (Substack): Dodging a Cannonball Zolan Kanno-Youngs for The New York Times: Trump’s Effort to Assert Control Over Elections Continues, Despite Court Loss Julia Curlee for Lawfare: Laundering Federal Election Interference in the Midterms Clara Ence Morse, Gregory S. Schneider, and Theodoric Meyer for The Washington Post: GOP candidates are largely ignoring Trump’s midterm advice, Post analysis shows Robert McMillan, Amrith Ramkumar, Keach Hagey, and Erin Woo for The Wall Street Journal: How the Clash Between Money and Safety Created a Monumental Crisis for AI Toluse Olorunnipa for The Atlantic: AI Is Running Laps Around Our Political System Elena Schneider, Alex Roarty, and Jeff Stein for The Washington Sun: Surging AI Fears Are Scrambling the Early 2028 Campaign Louise Matsakis for Wired: China Isn’t Buying Silicon Valley’s Call for an AI Slowdown Gerard Baker for The Wall Street Journal: Opinion: AI Promises Boom, Doom and Both at Once Holly Otterbein, Andrew Solender, and Stef W. Kight for Axios: An aging Congress attempts to regulate AI without using it Justin Elliott, Brett Murphy, Joshua Kaplan, and Alex Mierjeski for ProPublica: Donald Trump Jr.’s Bahamas Wedding Was Secretly Bankrolled by Russian Oligarch Close to Putin Brett Murphy, Joshua Kaplan, Justin Elliott, and Alex Mierjeski for ProPublica: Top Oversight Dem Opens Investigation of Donald Trump Jr.’s Russian Oligarch-Funded Wedding Ellie Quinlan Houghtaling for The New Republic: “Investigating What?”: Todd Blanche Brushes Off Trump Jr.’s Wedding Pjotr Sauer for The Guardian: Who is Umar Kremlev, the Russian oligarch who reportedly helped pay for Donald Trump Jr’s wedding? Here are this week’s chatters: Emily: New podcast Examined: The Backfire Effect, by Josie Duffy Rice; Supremacy: How Rule by the Court Replaced Government by the People by Nikolas Bowie and Daphna Renan John: Wild Card with Rachel Martin (NPR): John Dickerson says doubt only helps to solidify his faith; Derek DelGaudio’s In & Of Itself (Trailer on YouTube) (Streaming on Hulu); Linda Holmes for NPR: ’In & Of Itself’ Is A Study Of Identity And Magic; AMORALMAN: A True Story and Other Lies by Derek DelGaudio David: Colin from Accounts on Paramount Plus; Daniel Wu for The Washington Post: Pollution spikes after Trump halted global air-monitoring efforts, report says Listener chatter from Julian Ozen in Brooklyn, NY: Ordinary Abundance For this week’s Slate Plus bonus episode, Emily, John, and David discuss what California Gov. Gavin Newsom told Jake Tapper about running for president in 2028. They discuss the signaling work of the fly-fishing tableau, what Newsom is really saying about Harris, and whether there’s an appetite in the Democratic party for either of them to run. In the latest Gabfest Reads, David Plotz talks with John Lanchester about his new novel, Look What You Made Me Do, a darkly funny psychological thriller about two couples in modern-day London whose lives collide in a story of infidelity, obsession, and revenge. The book explores the performance of niceness, class, intergenerational frictions and how technology makes vengeance not just possible but almost exceedingly easy in the modern age. 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.