Can Congress Stop Trump's Takeover?
What Next | Daily News and Analysis
Slate Podcasts
4.3 • 2.4K Ratings
🗓️ 3 September 2025
⏱️ 31 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Donald Trump has been working to expand his presidential influence into places that are supposed to operate independently, like the Bureau of Labor Statistics and the Federal Reserve, and even into Congress’s constitutionally appointed “power of the purse.” As Congress returns to Washington, is this nominally co-equal branch of government willing to wrest its power back?
Guest: Luke Broadwater, reporter covering the White House for The New York Times.
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Podcast production by Elena Schwartz, Paige Osburn, Anna Phillips, Madeline Ducharme, and Rob Gunther.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Ah, Benny's parents, thanks for coming. |
| 0:02.3 | Hiya. |
| 0:02.9 | So, Benny has really blossomed this term. You're telling me, he outgrew his bike. We sold it, on eBay. Oh, that's not quite what I meant. It's free to sell on there. Free to sell? Easy too. Sold Benny's bike, your guitar, my jacket. You sold my guitar? Shall we talk about Benny? |
| 0:22.1 | When it's this easy to sell for free, you can't help but say when it's eBay. |
| 0:26.7 | Things people love. T's and Cs apply, excludes vehicles. |
| 0:30.8 | Abby's just woken up. It's 7.31 and she's forgotten to ring the doctor. |
| 0:35.1 | There's no point ringing now. She needs to get to work. |
| 0:54.2 | But she's not worried. She's got an HSBC Premier bank account with access to digital GP appointments, plus two second opinions a year should she need them. Everything's Premier when your bank account is. Search HSBC Premier. HSBC UK, opening up a world of opportunity. The doctor will see you now. |
| 0:59.4 | Apply with £100,000 annual income or £100,000 savings or investments with HSBC UK or Premier Status Broad. |
| 1:05.7 | If you were hanging out on the internet this weekend, you might have noticed a whole lot of |
| 1:10.3 | discussion about President Trump's health. have noticed a whole lot of discussion about |
| 1:11.0 | President Trump's health. To be blunt, it was discussion about exactly how alive the president |
| 1:17.0 | is these days. So after the long weekend, I called up someone who would know, Luke Broadwater. |
| 1:23.3 | He covers the White House for the New York Times. The pool says they saw him on the weekend playing golf. |
| 1:28.7 | I don't, you know, I know the Internet believes that if Trump hasn't had a press conference in three days that he's dead, |
| 1:35.3 | but all indications point to signs of life on our end. |
| 1:50.0 | To be fair, the president has been the subject of speculation for weeks. |
| 1:53.5 | Some have been commenting on what looked like swollen ankles. |
| 1:59.0 | Others have focused on sloppily applied concealer, covering up a bruise on his hand. |
| 2:01.8 | There's something going on with the hand, for sure. |
| 2:05.9 | I mean, some people think it looks like an IV that maybe he's getting medicine through there. |
| 2:06.3 | The White House denies that. |
... |
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