Are We Cooked?

Politix

News, News Commentary, Politics

4.6 • 1.4K Ratings

🗓️ 2 April 2025

⏱️ 40 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.politix.fm

There are signs of life in the Democratic Party, and if Republicans continue to badly underperform in special elections, the vibes could shift. But there are some things even a robust opposition can’t really stop, when a president claims autocratic power, and is insulated from normal political considerations

After a brief discussion of Cory Booker’s filibuster, and the Supreme Court race in Wisconsin, Matt and Brian discuss the unitary executive theory. Specifically:

* What is the unitary executive theory?

* Is a rogue presidency really what Republicans had in mind when they concocted this theory a few decades ago?

* Would adverse court rulings establishing an all-powerful, unaccountable executive mean the end of Fed independence, and a ruined economy?

Then, behind the paywall, are there any legitimate reforms to our political system that would be both wise and make the government more responsive to election outcomes? Is there any circumstances under which this kind of king-like presidency would not devolve into criminality and corruption? Will any constitutional checks remain if the Supreme Court grants Trump’s unitary executive claims, or will it be entirely up to the masses?

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Transcript

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0:00.0	It's my wedding anniversary tomorrow, so should I, like, make a big show about Telling Kelly.
0:04.0	It's Liberation Day. You should get her as many foreign-made goods as you can.
0:13.7	Hey, everyone, you're listening to a free preview of the politics podcast. This week, we're going to talk
0:18.5	about the unitary executive theory of the presidency and how it's
0:22.3	working out for us in practice. Should we lay responsibility for all the damage Trump is doing
0:27.1	at the feet of the right-wing legal elites who popularize the idea? Are the incentives and
0:32.8	arguments they created for Trump going to make it impossible for the U.S. to claw its way back to
0:39.3	great nation status, even after four long years or more. We'll try to answer those and other
0:46.4	questions this week. So if you want to hear the whole conversation, you can upgrade your
0:49.3	subscription to paid at politics.fm.
0:56.1	Hey, everyone. Welcome to the politics podcast.
0:58.3	I'm Brian Boiler.
0:59.2	I'm Matthew Vecis.
1:00.2	So this week, we are once again thinking it was kind of stupid to launch a weekly
1:05.3	politics podcast that runs Wednesday mornings because that means that like several
1:09.9	times a year we're recording
1:12.1	on an election day of some special election or other.
1:15.5	And so the news is going to be super different by the time this runs tomorrow.
1:19.6	Vibes may have shifted.
1:21.9	And like if you're listening to us prattle on about the unitary executive theory, you just
1:27.3	like never know. Like maybe Elon Musk will
1:30.1	be humiliated, slink away from the White House in shame, or maybe like it'll be all over for the
	...

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