There's a lot going on in the world right now, and there is no one better to talk about it with

than my good friend, Harry Littman. Harry, welcome back to defending democracy. Mark, it's so good to be with you, and I know you have a great and deep bench at Democracy Docket, but can I just say, for lovers of democracy, we're really glad you're back from vacation. Well, I wish I could say I'm glad I'm back, but I am back and I'm rested and I'm refreshed

and I'm ready to roll.

What was the old Nixon line, tan tested and ready or whatever?

That's you.

There you go.

So while I was gone, you know, we got a bunch of news, and all of it seemed to be further evidence of the Trump

administration's effort to kind of like to seize powers it doesn't have.

We've got the executive order out voting, voting by mail, which my law firm and I are challenging

in court.

We've got the flush fund, just a little

$1.8 billion between friends. We've got Bill Pooley. Plus a no audit policy. No audit policy.

We've got Bill Pulte, you know, from the housing administration now being appointed

the Director of National Intelligence. Kind of what is your overall take of like, where are we?

Where are we in the authoritarian matrix here? I'm glad you ask, and it really is when you're

here day to day, you're bobbing and weaving and trying to register

the outrages on scale. I don't know if you have this impression being away, Mark, but I found

the slush fund really a bridge farther than he'd gone so far. It's always the case. I would say

90% of the things he does, you would know better, but he's just completely

steamrolling Congress, ignoring their constitutional authority and responsibility. And that was

the case here. But the overall confluence of the, again, transgressing Congress's appropriation responsibility, completely, not just bypassing,

but defrauding the federal courts and its policy of not being able to act on collusive lawsuits,

...