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The Lincoln Project

America at 250: This Is the Part of History They'll Ask You About

The Lincoln Project

The Lincoln Project

Politics, Government, News Commentary, News

4.69.1K Ratings

🗓️ 3 July 2026

⏱️ 76 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

America is 250 years old and the guardrails are cracking in real time — the courts, the rule of law, the FBI, the DOJ — and the people doing the cracking are counting on you not to notice. This week Rick Wilson pulls up two of the sharpest legal minds in the country: Jeffrey Toobin, who's spent a career dissecting the Supreme Court, and Asha Rangappa, a former FBI special agent who knows exactly how democracies get gutted from the inside. No hand-wringing, no doomscrolling — just a straight, unsparing conversation about what's already broken, what's still worth saving, and how we reclaim, revise, and reinforce the whole rickety machine before the next crisis finishes the job.
Here's what the fireworks won't tell you: the republic doesn't defend itself. Every generation either fights for it or hands it to whoever's willing to burn it down — and at 250, that generation is us. This is the last clean shot we get to take it back. Sit down, buckle up, and let's talk about saving the country.





Jeffrey Toobin — lawyer, legal analyst, and bestselling author @JeffreyToobin

Asha Rangappa — former FBI special agent, attorney, and Yale lecturer @AshaRangappa_ or asharangappa.substack.com

Rick Wilson is on X @TheRickWilson, Bluesky @TheRickWilson.bsky.social, and Substack at therickwilson.substack.com

More from LP at www.lincolnproject.us and @ProjectLincoln.

#America250 #JeffreyToobin #AshaRangappa #RickWilson #LincolnProject #TakeItBack #RuleOfLaw #SupremeCourt #Democracy #FBI #Politics #July4th #Podcast

Transcript

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0:00.0

Hi, it's Zoe and Joe from Digit, and this week we're sponsored by Sainsbury's Taste the Difference.

0:05.6

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1:05.7

Available in selected stores and online. I've sort of been forcing the 250th celebration, if you want to call it

1:15.3

that, out of my head. I mean, it is such an ugly time. And the public celebrations, starting with

1:24.5

that ridiculous UFC event, have been so, at least to me, repugnant to what we should be

1:32.4

celebrating that, you know, I had to sort of force myself to try to come up with, you know,

1:41.1

the genuine reasons to celebrate, and there are reasons to celebrate.

1:46.2

Your task will not be an easy one. Your enemy is well trained, well equipped in battlehardt.

1:52.3

There is not a liberal America and a conservative America. There is the United States of America.

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