Talking Feds

Recorded live at Talking San Diego, Senator Cory Booker charts the personal and political path that led him from the streets of Newark to the well of the Senate—and to the longest speech in congressional history. With urgency and candor, he reflects on what it means to watch democracy erode in real time, and why moral imagination is now a political necessity. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The episode starts with a 20-minute discussion with War Powers expert Rich Bernstein about Saturday's bombing of Iran. From there we go to our Friday roundtable of Talking Feds stalwarts–Jason Kander, Norm Ornstein, & Jacob Weisberg. We focus on both the prospective bombing of Iran and the domestic use of force in CA & elsewhere. The court of appeals opinion green-lighting the federalization of the national guard in CA raises the prospect of an expansion to different big cities in blue states. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Social psychologist Jonathan Haidt joins Harry Litman to discuss his bestselling book "The Anxious Generation" and how the shift to smartphone-based childhood around 2012 triggered a mental health crisis—especially among liberal girls. Haidt explains his moral foundations theory, why Americans can't agree on basic facts anymore, and how social media created a "curse of Babel" that's undermining both democracy and child development. Plus: his four practical norms for rolling back the phone-based childhood and why we may be accidentally training kids for authoritarianism. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A wild, turbulent, and ugly week. Trump used protests to his immigration operations in LA to declare a “rebellion” and federalize the national guard. A court decision rejecting the move was itself stayed, leaving the situation tense and tenuous. Sen. Padilla was roughed up and arrested when he tried to ask a question at a press conference. Meanwhile, the Administration brought Abrego-Garcia back only to charge him with crimes, and an effort to have Congress ratify DOGE cuts looked likely to fail. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Harry sits down with Michael Lewis—author of Moneyball and The Fifth Risk—to discuss Who Is Government?, his new book spotlighting the unsung public servants who quietly hold the country together. They trace the project's roots to Trump's chaotic transition, explore the GOP-led assault on federal expertise, and ask: Can the damage be undone? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It was a week in which events looked to be spinning out of control on multiple fronts. The bromance between Elon Musk and Donald Trump hit the rocks and broke to smithereens, with Musk by week's end calling for Trump's impeachment. The Big Beautiful Bill looked likewise to be at rough shoals, w/ several R's threatening to leave the fold. More courts ruled against the gov, especially in alien cases, and the gov reversed ground and brought Abrego Garcia home, only to charge him with federal crimes. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A special recording from our Talking San Diego event with Rick Wilson. A longtime Republican strategist turned fierce Trump critic, Rick was among the first to sound the alarm on the threat Trump posed to American democracy. For nearly a decade, he's been relentless in his efforts to expose that threat—most memorably through a sharp, unflinching, and often darkly funny series of political ads that take aim at Trump and his enablers. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Elon Musk Era of government came to an abrupt end as the architect of DOGE left the Administration, somewhat the worse for wear and tear. What remains in his wake of DOGE's slash-and-burn agenda is unclear. Sen Barbara Boxer, Mara Liasson, and Stuart Stevens join Harry to assess the Musk experiment. We then move on to Trump's no-holds-barred war against Harvard, and the damage it threatens for the school & American society as a whole. We then turn to the moving target of Trump's TACO tariffs. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It's the latest monthly Molly mashup where Molly Jong Fast of Fast Politics fires legal inquiries at Harry, and Harry counters with political questions.  The two trade vantage points on the Qatari "Palace in the Sky," with Harry explaining its illegality and Molly its political inanity. They move on to the pasting Trump is getting in the courts, and Molly's sense of his quickly declining popularity. Molly explains why Dems are likely to take the House in the midterms.  And both concur that as damaging as the first few months have been, his chance at actually replacing our constitutional democracy with an authoritarian state has passed him by.  Lots more besides! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A terrific round table of Alisyn Camerota, Bill Kristol, and Mike Podhorzer join Harry to analyze a week in which only a couple things went right for Trump this week, but they were big-ticket items. The House R's dragged the “big beautiful bill” over the finish line by a single vote. And the Supreme Court gave Trump a big victory that will permit him to fire leaders of certain important agencies without cause. But otherwise the courts forcefully rejected Trump's overreaching executive orders. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Harry sits down for the first time with Scott Galloway whose wide-ranging influential views encompass politics, psychology, marketing, and technology, to name just a few. They first discuss Galloway's thesis of the current crisis among young men.  Galloway lays out the manifold causes and cross-cutting effects, including eye-popping rates of substance abuse suicide and depression.  They then turn to the link between young men's hardships and disenchantment and the rise of Trump as a dark model of masculinity. That leads Galloway to a harsh critique of the Democratic party's marketing and agenda, and a specific postmortem of the 2024 election. From there, Galloway prescribes a series of proposals that he thinks Democrats should be offering in order to appeal to younger middle-class voters. And those are only the touchstones of a fast moving, provocative discussion chock full of Holloway's thoughts on sundry topics such as social media, the importance of peer groups, the tax code, and why young people should drink more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

If you like your presidential travel mixed with $B self-enrichment for Trump and sons, this is the week for you, guided by a terrific only-on-Talking Feds panel of Peter Baker, Tara Setmayer, & Jacob Weisberg. Trump makes for the Gulf States with bags open for booty before coming back to face the unraveling of his big beautiful bill of tax breaks for the wealthy funded by sacrifices in health & welfare for the rest of us. We end w/ the legal landscape and the DOA scheme to suspend habeas corpus. Read Harry's Substack on the "Palace in the Sky": https://harrylitman.substack.com/p/trumps-palace-in-sky-is-a-clear-constitutional Check out Talking San Diego: https://www.talkingsandiego.net/events Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Harry talks with Maryland Senator Chris Van Hollen, who has been at the forefront of the efforts to keep attention on the nightmarish treatment of Kilmar Abrego-Garcia. Abrego-Garcia was pulled from the car he was driving and next thing he knew was in a notorious prison in El Salvador, the very place that a judge had ruled he could not be sent because of the risk of persecution. Senator Van Hollen went to El Salvador to meet with Abrego-Garcia. Abrego-Garcia has had no other communication with the outside world before or since. Senator Van Hollen discusses his reasons for going to El Salvador, previously undisclosed details of his meeting with Abrego-Garcia, the state of the war of public opinion about the case and Abrego-Garcia's fate, and the prospects for Abrego-Garcia's eventual return to his home and family in the United States.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

It was a week that brought a series of stinging court defeats for Trump and his bevvy of executive orders, which have as a common theme the disregard of constitutional limits. Michael Scherer, Ali Vitali, and Charlie Sykes join Harry to consider whether Trump is adjusting his approach or just erratic. They break down Trump's recent legacy media blitz before moving to the inauspicious mess of his tariff policy. Finally, they take up the significance of the defeat of the Ed Martin nomination.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Harry talks at length with Leah Litman about her new book on the Supreme Court, “Lawless” The book is a funny but biting look at the Court's recent cases in a series of hot-button areas, including voting rights, abortion, and money in politics. Litman (no relation!) contends that the Court is driven mainly by the sentiments and political views of the Republican Party. The two Litmans explore her general approach to analyzing the Court as well as cases in several of the areas of focus on the book. They move at the end to Leah's ideas for constructing a better, more progressive Court and finish with thoughts about the prospect for the Court and country's falling off the cliff during Trump rule.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

It's our monthly Contrarian episode, and it comes at a natural pivot point entering the second 100 days of Trump 2.0. Three of the core members of the Contrarian — Norm Eisen, Jen Rubin, and Steve Vladeck — join Harry to break down Trump's dismal record in the courts & plunging polls against his continuing flurry of executive orders unmoored from the law and the constitution. After careful focus on recent events, the group turns to a prediction of the themes that will dominate the coming 100 daysSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In a very unusual one-on-one--make that one-on-two--Harry sits down with Penn law professor Kate Shaw and Pennsylvania congresswoman Mary Gay Scanlon to discuss the recent hearing in Congress at which Professor Shaw testified and Congresswoman Scanlon posed questions for the minority. The hearing was a tendentious and contrived set piece directed by Republican Congressman Jim Jordan with the clear goal of supporting the Trump administration's claim that federal judges such as Jeb Boasberg are improperly enjoining administration action. From their respective vantage points Professor Shaw and Congresswoman Scanlon explain the rules of the road about how to counter false claims about the constitution and the role of judges in it. Then with general discussion of ways in which the minority can be effective in the sharply constrained roles that the system forwards them.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

It was a week in which Trump's power-mongering again achieved little but left the country and world in far worse shape. In a wide-ranging, insightful discussion, a great panel of Ted Lieu, Beto O'Rourke, & Tara Setmayer explain why & what's to come. We begin with the gun-to-the-head offer to Ukraine and its implications for the U.S.'s global role. We move on to the Hegseth resignation watch & Trump's abysmal record in the courts, ending w/ thoughts about what concerned citizens can be doing now.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this 1-on-1, Harry sits down with Congressman Dan Goldman, who previously worked on Trump's first impeachment and before that was an AUSA in New York City. Goldman gives a sobering analysis of a series of stealth moves from the Trump Administration that are pulling us closer to authoritarian rule, including secret IRS-ICE data deals that shred privacy, economic sabotage through chaotic tariffs, and a GOP too scared to stop him. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The stage seems just about set for us to get the answer from the Supreme Court whether it will permit the judiciary to get rolled by an administration looking to use the label "foreign policy" to avoid all accountability. Elsewhere, the administration's campaign to take control of large civil institutions hit a roadblock with a pushback from Harvard. Jon Alter, Susan Glasser, and Katie Phang join Harry to take stock of how far from the private precipice we are and our prospects for going over.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Harry talks with Mark Tushnet, the William Nelson Cromwell Professor of Law, Emeritus at Harvard Law School, and one of the country's leading constitutional scholars. After a brief discussion about his new book, “Who Am I To Judge,” the two dive in to the law and politics of the Trump administration assault on elite universities, in particular Harvard and Columbia. Tushnet explains why he thinks that the Administrations' broad-gauged demands are unconstitutional on several grounds, including a somewhat underdeveloped principle in the law of fit between Government objection and proposed remedy, i.e. here that the administration is stating concerns about antisemitism to justify an extremely broad range of demanded changes. Tushnet describes the fervent opposition on campus and in the Harvard alumni community to the Administration's demands, and lays out Harvard's overall strategic thinking in the short, medium, and long terms. The two then turn to the very different response from Columbia, including discussion of the Administration's apparent consideration of a very novel approach to continuing supervision of the university under the model previous Departments of Justice have employed for corrupt police departments.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

It was a week in which Trump's broad and malign influence on civil society took another giant step forward. He single-handedly brought the economy to the edge of a recession w/ erratic and ill-considered tariffs; commandeered several more large law firms; initiated criminal investigations of two former officials for daring to oppose his views; and issued an executive order on showerhead pressure. A fantastic panel of Jason Kander, Zoe Lofgren, and Charlie Sykes joins Harry to break it all down.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Harry talks with Dr. Kavita Patel, professor of medicine at Stanford and a previous official overseeing public health in the Obama Administration. In the short tenure of Robert F Kennedy, Trump's controversial head of HHS, we have seen several potential national and international health crises, involving measles, bird flu, and tuberculosis. Dr. Patel discusses all of them, and explains what a traditional federal government approach would be to each and the contrasting and frightening approach of Kennedy and the Trump Administration. The two end by discussing a potential parade of horribles to which Kennedy's stewardship of the nation's public health system could give riseSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Many federal agencies have new leadership that are hostile to the career personnel. For this special episode, we go inside the DOJ, or as close as we can, w/ the help of 2 of the country's most respected reporters, Devlin Barrett and Evan Perez, and a recent DOJ exile, Stacey Young, who has an organization to help her erstwhile colleagues. We get a concrete sense of what life & work are like now; the day-to-day relationships b/t new guard and the old staff; & the state of mind of the workforce.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Harry talks with Jake Auchincloss, a relatively young Demoratic member of the House who is drawing a lot of attention for his ideas about how the Party needs to proceed to win back a majority of the American people. They first discuss the issue of Generation-Z men, who are shaping up to be a conservative cohort of Republicans for the next 50 years. Auchincloss believes there are ways to provide them attractive alternatives without in any way mimicking or appropriating the MAGA rhetoric. Auchincloss follows up with his own defining themes, leading with housing, as well as corrections to democratic processes (such as the elimination of gerrymandering), that he believes could drive a shift back to Democrats. One concrete opportunity for multiple reforms could come from 2026-28, if the party establishes majorities in Congress and Trump is a lame duck. Auchincloss's overall prescription for the party is it needs to focus on economic opportunities and an “abundance agenda” to contrast favorably to the overall scarcity ideology that has come to dominate the Republican Party.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

After revealing details of a military operation on a Signal group chat that included a reporter, the Administration circled the wagons, minimizing the episode & declining to undertake a real investigation. A terrific panel of Jonathan Alter, Alisyn Camerota, & David French joins Harry to discuss the potential political & legal fallout. We then take up the effort to whisk people to a hellhole prison in El Salvador, inc the courts' pushback, and end w/ general thoughts about the state of the UnionSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Harry talks with Michael Waldman, president and CEO of the Brennan Center for Justice, about the possibly imminent introduction by House of the “Safeguard American Voter Eligibility” (SAVE) Act. The legislation, which passed the House last year but wasn't taken up in the Senate, would require every citizen registering or re-registering to vote to produce a birth certificate or passport in order to vote. It's defended as a way to ferret out voting by non-citizens, but that turns out to be a virtually non-existent problem, as does the casual charges by Trump and others of widespread voting fraud. The effect, and likely intent, of the legislation would be to disproportionately disenfranchise Democrats. Waldman explains the manifold problems the SAVE Act would engender, including huge headaches for state and local authorities.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The week featured the expansion of Trump's shakedowns of prominent sectors of civil society. The legal industry was stunned when prominent law firm Paul Weiss agreed to terms to in order to get Trump to withdraw a blackballing order. Columbia U. also capitulated to Trump's demands to save $400 million in federal grants. Where does it stop? A great panel of Emily Bazelon, Susan Glasser, & Carol Leonnig joins Harry to dig into that issue and the brighter side of highlights of the legal landscape.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Harry sits down with Steven Pinker, who wears many intellectual hats, all well: linguist, psychologist, political philosopher, historian, and social critic, for starters. After some brief discussion of his childhood and background, they dive into Pinker's best-selling “The Better Angels of Our Nature,” (Bill Gates's favorite book at the time), “Enlightenment Now,” and Rationality” (Bill Gates's new favorite book). In those works, Pinker lay out an argument that by and large, in fits and starts, society is advancing incrementally in health, safety, knowledge, and other key benchmarks of Enlightenment values. The two also touch on Pinker's strong if idiosyncratic views about writing (he rejects much of modern pedantry about correct usage); his original Promethean work in linguistics; and his views about certain human cognitive biases. A wide-ranging and provocative discussion with one of the great public intellectuals of our time.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

A roundtable of 3 great commentators--Josh Marshall, Charlie Sykes, and Ali Vitali--assesses the state of play in politics and U.S. society after 2 months of hyper-aggressive moves by Donald Trump. Minority leader Charles Schumer opted to go along with Republican plans to find the government, to the consternation of many Dems. Trump is trying to exercise control in large parts of civil society, including law, media, and the academy. Popular opposition is expanding, but can it make a difference?See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Harry talks to Congresswoman Mikie Sherrill, whose extensive experience includes a long stint in the Navy as a helicopter pilot and Russian policy officer, a stretch in the US Attorney's office, and a current candidacy for New Jersey governor. Sherrill's cross-cutting resume position her to discuss a series of worrisome maneuvers by the new administration, beginning with the party line budget vote and its immediate and grave implications for New Jersey. The two also discuss the state of morale at the Department of Justice, the Administration's abandonment of Ukraine and its global implications, and the role for state officials to play as counterweights to monolithic Republican federal power. Sherrill also addresses at length the performance of the democrats in Congress and what more they need to do.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Our monthly all-contrarian episode with Norm Eisen, Jen Rubin, & Katie Phang first analyzes Trump's address to Congress, which clocked in at about 2 hours and featured a series of lies and low blows. We then take up to the Supreme Court's narrow affirmance of the district court order to walk back the USAID withdrawal before moving to the series of cases, many litigated personally by Norm, in which courts for the main part are calling the Administration out for ignoring the commands of Congress.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Harry talks with Max Boot about his latest article, “US soft power took decades to build. Trump is dismantling it in weeks.” Boot explains the critical source of U.S. influence in the world, more than military might, is “soft power,” foreign aid and other far-seeing acts of altruism for people around the world. Soft power is the key to the country's diplomatic, commercial, and cultural success. It was built up painstakingly over decades with programs like the Marshall Plan and in 3 short weeks Trump has taken a battering ram to it, acutely harming our international standing. Allies such as Canada are perplexed at the U.S.'s bullying tactics, and people around the world dependent on U.S. aid have been gravely harmed. The chief beneficiary of this short-sighted abandonment of longstanding U.S. policy is China, which will aim to fill the void left by the end of U.S. aid programs. Boot concludes, “[i]t is staggering to see how much damage Trump has done to U.S. soft power in just two weeks and painful to imagine how much ore he could do in the next 206 weeks.”See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The Administration and congressional republicans continued to wreak havoc with the federal workforce, international relations, limited executive power, and the constitution, not necessarily in that order. Tara Setmayer, Bob Shrum, and Jacob Weisberg join Harry to analyze the party-line House budget that seems DOA in the Senate; tension within the Executive Branch over Elon Musk; growing popular opposition to the Administration and especially to Musk's untethered and unaccounted role; and more.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Harry talks once again with constitutional patriot and House Oversight Committee member Jamie Raskin about the tight spot we are in after just one month of Trump rule. Harry presses the Congressman for thoughts about communicating to the country the perils to the rule of law and constitutional scheme themselves. Raskin sets out a short range, mid-range, and long-range agenda for clawing the country back and restoring the rule of law. They go over the most promising and the most worrisome of the 60+ lawsuits against the Administration. They focus at length on the mischief and illegality of the Elon Musk DOGE operation and how that seems to be hitting home with more people daily. And they end with detailed discussion about the terrible perversions at the Department of Justice and what it will take to return the Department to its full institutional footing in the future.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

It's time for our periodic episode on foreign policy, in fact the nick of time, b/c while we've been chiefly focused on the damage Trump has done to domestic constitutional rules, he's been taking as big a sledgehammer to longstanding foreign policy relationships. A superb panel of Anne Applebaum, Michael McFaul, & Stephen Sestanovich breaks it all down and, with special focus on Ukraine, Russia, Europe, & China, details the enormous risks for the country and the world of Trump's abrupt reversals.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Harry talks with Rich Cordray, the first director of the Consumer Protection Financial Bureau, about the Bureau's achievements for American consumers and the concerns that its functions now may slow dramatically or even stop. Trump recently fired the Bureau's director and appointed a new director who ordered a halt to all Bureau actions; a new acting Director later instructed all staff to cease work. Cordray sketches out the Bureau's general achievements in the mortgage, credit card, and banking industries, in which individual consumers had so often been victimized with little recourse until the CFPB came online. Cordray explains the lawsuit now pending in the district court in Washington DC to prevent the Administration from mass firings and destruction of agency data. He ends by emphasizing the importance during this time of feverish activity within the Executive Branch to keep watch on enforcement of consumer laws and Administration action to weaken consumer protection.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

It's our regular mash-up with none other than Molly Jong-Fast, in which Molly fires legal question that have been occupying her at Harry, and Harry reciprocates with political questions for Molly. This mash-up is in the middle of the burgeoning Department of Justice scandal over the Eric Adams prosecution, and Harry presses Molly on whether the scandal will have political legs. Molly meanwhile seeks to understand whether some of Musk's crazier antics are legal and how they could be challenged. And that's just the beginning! Always a lively and informative back-and-forth when these two interrogate each other!See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Trump continued to bend the political system to his will, but the courts and his own Dept of Justice pushed back. Alisyn Camerota, Norm Ornstein, & Jacob Weisberg join Harry to assess Trump's checkered week. A series of federal courts temporarily froze some of Trump's more brazen power grabs, and a cascade of DOJ prosecutors resigned rather than comply with a lawless order to dismiss well-supported charges. But Trump was able to push through cabinet nominees whose prospects had been in doubt.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Harry talks to Kristy Greenberg, former Deputy Chief of the Criminal Division in the Southern District of New York, about the burgeoning scandal involving the resignation of the acting United States Attorney and multiple other officials in her office and at Main Justice. The resignations all come in response to an improper command by the acting deputy Attorney General, Emile Bove, to dismiss charges against New York Mayor Eric Adams, notwithstanding that there is no question about the righteousness – i.e. the solid facts and law –that undergird the prosecution. Through Greenberg's experience in the Southern District and Harry's at Main Justice, they are able to piece together what has happened behind the scenes to date and what may transpire in the future, and all of it pits Bove, Bondi and Trump on the wrong side of the rule of law and Sassoon and Company on the right side. This is not going away.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In the latest conversation in the Talking San Diego series, Harry sits down with Chris Hayes before a live San Diego audience on the evening when Hayes's new book, “The Sirens' Call,” was named to the top position on the New York Times's Bestseller List. Hayes's focus is attention – how it has become our scarcest resource and the constant bombardment from different forces vying for it and leaving us all a little insane. Be sure to catch the “lightning round” towards the end of the discussion when Harry serves up a rapid-fire series of lighter-side personal questionsSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Harry sits down with Jeff Toobin on the day of the publication of Toobin's latest book, “The Pardon: The Politics of Presidential Mercy.” Toobin's work spans the history of controversial pardons over the last 50 years, with a ground-setting, detailed focus on President Gerald Ford's pardon of Richard Nixon. The conventional wisdom about that pardon has come to be that it was a salutary statesmanlike gesture to put the national turmoil of Watergate behind us. Toobin has a contrary take: he is harshly critical of the Ford pardon of Nixon, and his analysis leads to similar critiques of the recent Biden and Trump pardons, and endorsements of pardons by Carter and Obama.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

An all-contrarian roundtable—Paul Krugman, Norm Eisen, and Jen Rubin—chronicles the first signs of pushback against Trump's constitutional assaults and analyzes the vacuous tariffs initiatives. Norm provides some dispatches from the litigation front, which has secured multiple injunctions against Trump's lawless, harmful policies. Paul proceeds to explain how tariffs work and why they are at best counter-productive before considering Elon Musk's strange role through the prism of economics.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Harry talks with Andrea Pitzer, who has reported extensively on democratic decline in countries such as Chile, Russia, and Hungary, and has written extensively about historical examples especially Nazi Germany. She discusses signal developments in authoritarian democracy that degraded into authoritarian rule, bringing the illustrations back to compare and contrast with Trump's first few days of rule and the landscape ahead. The two discuss the most important developments that signify dramatic social and political degradations, as well as the most important indications of decline so severe as to take countries to the other side of the democracy/authoritarian divide. Harry analyzes the particular assaults on the department of justice and the judiciary that Trump is pursuing, and how they dovetail with strong man moves in authoritarian regime. A fair bit of a discussion concerns the potential analogy between Hitler's brownshirts, who played such a major role in destroying the rule of law in Germany, and the hundreds of pardoned January 6 rioters who now stand ready to resume their violent support of Trump's agenda.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The worst assault by a president on constitutional norms of any week in history, save possibly only last week. A great panel stocked with political experience & law enforcement experience—Asha Rangappa, Stuart Stevens & Rick Wilson—join Harry to analyze the dregs of Trump's nominees, whose prospects for confirmation cannot be counted out given Trump's vice grip on Senate Rs. They then take up other of the weeks follies, including Trump's blaming the terrible plane accident on Dems' DEI policies.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Trump's anticipated reprisal campaign against the DOJ began with a series of moves aimed at punishing professionals involved in his prosecutions while simultaneously destabilizing the department as a whole. In this special emergency episode, some of the most outstanding and experienced DOJ alumni—Paul Fishman, Amy Jeffress, Mimi Rocah—take stock of the damage inflicted and assess the department's ability to recover after enduring the chaos of Trump's rule.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Harry talks with federal courts and constitutional law expert Steve Vladeck about the hailstorm of Trump executive orders in the first week. Professor Vladeck explains in general terms what executive orders can accomplish and what they can't. The two then zero in on the orders concerning birthright citizenship, TikTok, and immigration. They finish with some up-to-the-minute accounts of the harrowing goings-on in the Department of Justice, where new political appointees are issuing orders for DOJ litigators that are designed to implement some of the farthest reaching Trump edicts.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

No need to mince words: it was the most damaging week for the constitution, and the Founders' carefully calibrated system of checks & balances, since at least the Civil War. Trump put into place a series of executive orders & actions that if upheld will expand his power enormously and cut out the legs from most opposition. A great roundtable of Susan Glasser, David Jolly, and Bill Kristol joins Harry to assess the damage and what it portends for degradations of American law, politics, and life.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Harry talks with Mark Greenblatt, one of the Inspectors General fired suddenly in the “Friday night purge” of the vast majority of Senate-confirmed IG's. They discuss the origin, function, and nature of Inspectors General, who have saved taxpayers nearly $700 billion. Greenblatt talks about his own 20-year + service in the IG community, during which he rotated through several agencies and was elected by his peers to lead the IGs' council. Then they zero in on Friday night and exactly what happened before moving to Greenblatt's current thoughts about how the IG community, Congress, and country should respond to the purge, and whether and how it is possible to safeguard the paramount goal of oversight with integrity and credibility. It's the longest and most detailed and nuance discussion with any of the fired IGs, going well beyond quick sound bites to an in-depth examination of who IGs are and what the country has lost in the purge.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

There is understandable frustration at the failure to release volume 2 of the Smith Report dealing with the Mar-A-Lago documents case, but we are able to construct strong surmises about what is in that volume based on already available material. Harry checks in again with Marcy Wheeler, whose blog, emptywheel.net, consistently presents the most in-depth and comprehensive accounts of the public record. Through a methodical scrutiny of documents that have come to light in various ways – including a FOIA request from Donald Trump that produced 60 important emails and other documentary records – we can make a detailed sketch of much of the information that Smith likely passed along to Merrick Garland. Critically, some of the information bears on the qualifications for FBI director of Kash Patel, who asserted the 5th Amendment when called to testify about his claim that Trump had declassified the records he took away. Listeners' alert: some of the discussion is fairly microscopic but that's because some of the known information is quite detailed.Read Marcy's blog: https://www.emptywheel.net/2025/01/19/found-dozens-of-damning-documents-about-trumps-hoarding-of-classified-documents/See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Published on the day of Trump's inauguration, this episode takes brief stock of Biden's unusual farewell address before pivoting to the perilous future. A great roundtable of Talking Feds stalwarts--Jonathan Alter, Norm Eisen, & Jen Rubin--assesses the confirmation hearings & what they suggest about the nature of Trump rule, as well as the prospects for the most controversial nominees, especially Kash Patel. We end with a set of open-ended reflections about what to expect in the next few months.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.