Is It Time to Panic?

The Dispatch Podcast

The Dispatch

News, Politics

4.6 • 3.3K Ratings

🗓️ 6 February 2026

⏱️ 72 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Steve Hayes is joined by Jonah Goldberg, Megan McArdle, and David French to discuss Donald Trump's second term and when a cycle of norm violations turns into authoritarianism. The Agenda:—DHS targeting of Americans—Administrative subpoenas, explained—Abuses in immigration detention centers—Megan McArdle on fascism—Why language matters—Totalitarianism vs. fascism—NWYT: The Superbowl Show Notes:—A listener's injury story—David French: "This Is Not a Drill" The Dispatch Podcast is a production of ⁠The Dispatch⁠, a digital media company covering politics, policy, and culture from a non-partisan, conservative perspective. To access all of The Dispatch’s offerings—including access to all of our articles, members-only newsletters, and bonus podcast episodes—⁠click here⁠. If you’d like to remove all ads from your podcast experience, consider becoming a premium Dispatch member ⁠by clicking here⁠. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	The Dispatch podcast is presented by Pacific Legal Foundation, suing the government since 1973.
0:07.6	Welcome to the dispatch podcast. I'm Steve Hayes. On this week's roundtable, we'll discuss a troubling Washington Post report about a man named John from suburban Philadelphia visited by Department of Homeland Security officials after he sent
0:22.1	an innocuous email to the government. Is this creeping authoritarianism? Is it fascism?
0:29.4	We'll debate the utility of using those words. And finally, not worth your time. We'll talk about
0:36.2	the Super Bowl and revisit some emails we got
0:39.2	about bizarre injuries. I'm joined today by dispatch editor-in-chief Jonah Goldberg, New York Times
0:45.5	columnist David French, and Washington Post columnist Megan McArdle, both dispatch contributors.
0:52.8	Let's dive right in.
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2:08.3	I want to start with a Washington Post article that I read earlier this week that has been on my mind since I read it.
2:16.0	And I'll give a brief description of it. The article is about
2:19.1	John, a 67-year-old retiree who had read an article in the Washington Post as it happens, about plans
2:25.2	for the U.S. to deport an Afghan identified as H in this piece, despite this Afghan refugee's concerns
2:32.9	that he'd be targeted by the Taliban if he were returned to Afghanistan.
2:37.7	John found the email address of the Department of Homeland Security prosecutor named in the case
	...

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