As William Barr and Don McGahn have now both defied the constitutional power of Congress to hear witnesses to possible crimes, are we another step closer to a strongman form of government, and the end of American democracy?
The Hartmann Report
Thom Hartmann
4.5 • 1.3K Ratings
🗓️ 21 May 2019
⏱️ 62 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Thom considers a scenario in which Trump refuses to honor the traditions of our nation; will Trump follow the oath he took to faithfully enforce the laws of the United States? If not, then what then?- or what now? ~~~~ Thom fact-checks his scenario with Talk Media News' Luke Vargas. And why is Iran talking about uranium? ~~~~ Thom asks his listeners what we should do if we are watching a slow-motion coup leading to a strongman form of government. ~~~~ Thom reads from 'State of Confusion: Political Manipulation and the Assault on the American Mind' by Brian Welch. ~~~~ As Don Mcgahn refuses to answer a congressional subpoena, Thom looks deeply into the state of the constitutional crises- what is the history, and what are our options? ~~~~ Paul in New York thinks our military generals will intervene if Trump challenges the constitution.... and the discussion continues. ~~~~ Dawn in Georgia is pissed that Trump is working to become an oligarch and rule over all of us like a king.
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | This is the Tom Hartman program. |
| 0:15.0 | And greetings my friends, patriots, lovers of democracy, truth and justice, |
| 0:20.0 | believers, and peace, freedom and the American way way Tom Harbin here with you. |
| 0:25.0 | Wow. What do we do if the executive branch refuses to carry out the law. |
| 0:35.0 | I put this forward as a serious question. |
| 0:38.6 | I have an article that is running all over the internet right now. |
| 0:41.7 | It's on a number of sites I think right now |
| 0:45.0 | it's probably easiest to find uncommon dreams or on Truth Dig or Raw story. |
| 0:49.1 | How our republic could die in the age of Trump in a stunning parallel to the fall of Rome is the |
| 0:55.2 | title. And what I'm pointing out here, and I think this is really worth pointing out because I think most Americans, you know, frankly, didn't study Civics. |
| 1:10.0 | And so they don't get all this stuff. |
| 1:12.0 | But it's pretty important stuff. |
| 1:15.0 | Is that the only branch of government that actually has legal enforcement power that has the power of the police |
| 1:26.0 | is the executive branch. You know the Constitution divides our government into |
| 1:31.0 | three parts articles one article two article two, Article three, right? |
| 1:34.0 | Articles one, two, and three. Article one is Congress. |
| 1:37.2 | Congress has no police power. You know, they've got the Sergeant-at-arms, basically. |
| 1:41.0 | They can control their own chamber, but they have no meaningful |
| 1:43.7 | police power. That's Article 1. Article 3 of the courts. The courts have no |
| 1:48.8 | police power. They can make court orders all day long, bang their gavels, yell and scream, but if the Article 2 |
| 1:54.9 | branch of government, the executive branch of government, the president and the agencies |
| 2:00.7 | unto the president, all of the police agencies, the |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Thom Hartmann, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of Thom Hartmann and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.