Let’s start with this wide-ranging and lively conversation with Julian Zelizer.
A professor of history and public affairs at Princeton, Julian contributes to Foreign Policy and NPR, is the author/editor of 27 books, and now publishes “The Long View” on Substack. I’m skeptical that he ever sleeps.
We cover everything from Elon Musk’s endless search for baby-mamas to Trump’s attack on Harvard, Big Law, and the Supreme Court — and end up with a discussion of Arthur Schlesinger’s prophetic warnings in “The Imperial Presidency,” which was published more than 50 years ago.1 You can watch or listen right here or on YouTube / Listen (and subscribe) on Apple/ Spotify / iHeart / RSS Feed.
Happy Thursday.
Your daily reminder that you are not the crazy ones.
You may disagree with me from time to time (and I expect you will, because I’m not promising you a safe space here). But I’ll always try to give it to you straight.
We’ve been here since the beginning, so you know we won’t surrender or bend the knee.
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April 17, 2025
An so it came to pass…
As the tectonic plates of the world order shifted, Donald Trump attacked the chairman of the Federal Reserve; and continued to scoff at the Supreme Court, even as we see a new Trump Doctrine taking shape before our eyes. Steve Inskeep sums it up thusly:
If I understand this correctly, the US president has launched a trade war against the world, believes he can force the EU and China to meet his terms, is determined to annex Canada and Greenland, but is powerless before the sovereign might of El Salvador. Is that it?
Yes, that is it. Welcome to this new level in our post-reality simulation.
In the category of who-could-possibly-have-foreseen-this, some of the Big Law Firms are just now realizing that if you lie down with Trump you get up with more than fleas. Meanwhile, Judge James Boasberg ruled that “probable cause exists” to hold Trump administration officials in criminal contempt for willfully disregarding his order halting deportation flights. “The Constitution does not tolerate willful disobedience of judicial orders – especially by officials of a coordinate branch who have sworn an oath to uphold it,” he wrote.
On Wednesday, Trump took time out from fuqqing the world economy to order the IRS to rescind Harvard’s tax-exempt status. He’s already frozen billions of dollars in grants, because nothing says War on Woke like cutting funding for research into Tuberculosis and ALS.
Nota bene for the handful of actual conservatives out there:
And in the annals of science: even as thousands of actual NASA scientists were being fired, we were gifted the inspirational sight of a brief trip to space by a gaggle of influencers and celebrities along with Jeff Bezos’s fiancé, Lauren Sanchez.
And while the blast was not exactly a “giant leap” for womankind, it did result in this headline in the Daily Beast that succinctly captured the moment:
Lauren Sánchez in Space Was Marie Antoinette in a Penis-Shaped Rocket
Chef’s kiss.
**
ICYMI:
New York Times: Law Firms Made Deals With Trump. Now He Wants More From Them.
NBC: Federal judge calls Trump's order targeting prominent law firm a 'shocking abuse of power'
Above The Law: Associates At Kirkland And Latham Latest To Quit Biglaw Gigs Because Of Cowardly Deals With Trump
New York Times: Facing Confirmation Fight, Trump-Allied Prosecutor Hires ‘Smashmouth Politician’
New York Times: Schumer Moves to Block Trump Picks for Two Key Prosecutor Positions
NOTUS: Nearly a Billion Dollars in DOGE ‘Savings’ Disappeared Overnight
Forbes: DOGE Is Formally Detailing Staffers To NLRB After Explosive Whistleblower Report
Washington Post: Trump’s tariffs are ‘highly likely’ to push prices up, Fed chief warns
CNBC: Global trade outlook has ‘deteriorated sharply’ amid Trump tariff uncertainty, WTO warns
Bloomberg: Trump’s Attack on Elite Colleges Threatens Safest Corporate Bonds
Thursday dog
We’re spending a lot more time playing outside these days.
Back in 1973, historian Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr. issued a warning.
In his classic book, “The Imperial Presidency,” Schlesinger confessed that —like many liberals — he had once been too enamored with presidential power, a reverence that took root during Franklin Roosevelt’s era. While he still believed a strong executive was necessary to move the political system forward on critical issues, he had come to see more clearly the dangers the founders had warned against: that without effective checks and balances, too much power concentrated in the presidency could threaten American democracy itself.
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