Deja Coup: Donald Trump and the Slow Civil War
Amicus With Dahlia Lithwick | Law, justice, and the courts
Slate Audio
4.6 • 3.4K Ratings
🗓️ 6 January 2024
⏱️ 57 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
On January 6, 2021, supporters of Donald J Trump stormed the U.S. Capitol building hoping to stop Joe Biden from becoming president. Three years later, a quarter of Americans believe the FBI instigated the events of that day.
This week on Amicus, we’re trying to understand the myth-making that helped foment the riot, and the religious fervor that binds and buoys Trump’s supporters today. Dahlia Lithwick is joined by Jeff Sharlet, author of “The Undertow: Scenes From a Slow Civil War” to explore the stories and symbols that are shaping Trump’s march toward fascism, and to figure out what place the rule of law has in this struggle.
In this week’s Amicus Plus segment, Slate’s dynamic legal duo of Mark Joseph Stern and Jeremy Stahl break down the latest in Trump’s cascading court cases, and the Texas abortion case that’s on a fast track to the Supreme Court.
Sign up for Slate Plus now to listen and support our show.
Need to set up your Slate Plus feed? If you subscribed through Slate.com, check out our FAQ at slate.com/podcastfaqs for easy instructions. Members subscribed via Apple Podcasts get automatic access—no setup required.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Spark your creativity with the Sims. Sometimes you might feel like you're not creative |
| 0:06.7 | and you have to go in search of your creative spark again. Maybe this is catching up with |
| 0:11.3 | creative friends, experimenting with a new look or trying out a new recipe. |
| 0:15.7 | And thanks to The Sims, inspiration is just one game and one spark away. |
| 0:21.1 | Ready to spark something? Download the Sims 4 and play for free. Hi and welcome back to Amicus. This is Slate's podcast about the courts and the |
| 0:39.8 | law and democracy and the US Supreme Court. |
| 0:43.0 | I'm Dahlia Lithwick and that is my beat and I should note that I have my annual |
| 0:49.0 | January bronchitis so I sound a little like Kermit I'm sorry we at the show want to wish you a happy |
| 0:57.2 | 2024 and we enter this new year a presidential election, with all the glittering hope and hollow-eyed panic |
| 1:06.8 | that has become the amicus brand. |
| 1:10.0 | Over the week, since we last checked in, former President Donald J. Trump petitioned the Supreme Court to intervene in that |
| 1:16.4 | Colorado 14th Amendment case that had determined under Section 3, |
| 1:20.8 | aka the Disqual clause, that he did indeed do an insurrection in 2021 and is |
| 1:28.4 | thus kicked off that state's primary ballot. |
| 1:31.7 | The state of Maine has jumped on that same train. |
| 1:35.7 | The Supreme Court also, as our friend Jeremy Stahl predicted in a recent show, told Jack |
| 1:41.0 | Smith to slow his role on the appellate front in a different case |
| 1:46.2 | That appeal from the Special Counsel of Donald Trump's claim to immunity will be heard by the DC Circuit Court of Appeals January 9th. |
| 1:57.4 | In a filing just this past weekend, Jack Smith warned that if the former president was |
| 2:02.3 | granted broad immunity for all of his actions around January 6th, 2021, |
| 2:07.5 | there would be nothing stopping a future president from ordering the National Guard to murder his prominent critics, direct |
| 2:15.2 | the FBI to plant evidence on a political enemy, or quote, incite his supporters during a |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Slate Audio, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of Slate Audio and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.