This week, Emily Bazelon and David Plotz are joined by Jamelle Bouie of The New York Times to discuss the absence and silence of Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, school absenteeism with Alec MacGillis of ProPublica, and Donald Trump’s claim of absolute presidential immunity. 
 
Here are some notes and references from this week’s show:
Politico: Austin’s hospital debacle: A timeline of events
Fred Kaplan for Slate: Why the Secretary of Defense’s Mysterious Disappearance Means He Needs to Go
Max Boot for The Washington Post: Lloyd Austin doesn’t deserve to be the piñata of the day in Washington
Major General Patrick S. Ryder, Department of Defense Press Secretary
Alec MacGillis for ProPublica and The New Yorker: Skipping School: America’s Hidden Education Crisis
Jay Greene, Ph.D. and Jonathan Butcher for The Heritage Foundation: The Alarming Rise in Teacher Absenteeism
Natalie Kitroeff and Adam Liptak for The New York Times Daily podcast: Trump’s Case for Total Immunity
Bill Rankin and Katherine Landergan for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Could Willis allegations sink Trump case? Legal experts weigh in
Mariana Alfaro and Amy B Wang for The Washington Post: Chris Christie caught on hot mic, says Nikki Haley will ‘get smoked’

Here are this week’s chatters:
Emily: Past Lives and Anatomy of a Fall
Jamelle: Fist of the Condor
David: Amsterdam; EnglishLearning on reddit: Is there any English word that has three or more same and consecutive letters?
 
Listener chatter from Erin Bumgarner in Arlington, Massachusetts: The Art of Noticing by Rob Walker
 
For this week’s Slate Plus bonus segment, David, Emily, and Jamelle talk about which presidents should be on a new Mount Rushmore. See The White House Historical Association: The Presidents; John Quincy Adams; Ulysses S. Grant; Franklin D. Roosevelt; Dwight D. Eisenhower; and Lyndon B. Johnson. See also National Park Service: Why These Four Presidents?; Mario Canseco for Research Co.: Americans Pick Four Presidents for “New Mount Rushmore”; Politico Magazine: Who Should Be on the Next Mount Rushmore?; and Chauncey Alcorn for Capital B: What to Do About Stone Mountain? Black Residents Talk Park’s Racist Past.

In the latest Gabfest Reads, John talks with Christine Coulson about her book, One Woman Show: A Novel.
 
Email your chatters, questions, and comments to gabfest@slate.com. (Messages may be referenced by name unless the writer stipulates otherwise.) 
Podcast production by Cheyna Roth 
Research by Julie Huygen
 
Hosts
Jamelle Bouie, Emily Bazelon, and David Plotz
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Should Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin Be Fired?

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