Trump’s Bad Week Is Democracy’s Opening
The Oath and The Office
Corey Brettschneider
4.9 • 591 Ratings
🗓️ 4 June 2026
⏱️ 58 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
This week on The Oath and The Office, Corey Brettschneider and John Fugelsang break down a rare hopeful stretch for democracy: a judge blocks payouts from Trump’s so-called “anti-weaponization” fund, another judge reopens questions around Trump’s IRS settlement, courts reject Trump’s attempt to put his name on the Kennedy Center, and thousands of federal lawyers are leaving rather than serve an authoritarian agenda.
Corey and John also discuss the fight inside CBS and 60 Minutes, the role of independent journalism, and why democracy depends not just on courts, but on citizens willing to expose corruption, demand accountability, and keep the constitutional system alive.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Welcome to another episode of The Oath and the Office. |
| 0:13.7 | I am John Fuglesang. |
| 0:15.1 | So great to have you with us. |
| 0:16.8 | Donald Trump's Freedom 250 concert is collapsing. It looks like not really a patriotic celebration, friends. |
| 0:24.3 | It's like the last night at a bankrupt casino that's trying to pay their electric bill with expired Arby's coupons. |
| 0:30.8 | And I'm here to announce that Professor Corey Brett Schneider has pulled out of Donald Trump's Freedom 250 concerts. |
| 0:36.5 | He will not be performing on stage. So now it's |
| 0:39.3 | just going to be vanilla ice and the animatronic rat band from Chuck E. Cheese. Folks, please welcome |
| 0:44.3 | the star of this podcast, the author of The Oath and the Office, my favorite Ivy League |
| 0:49.8 | political science professor, Gory Brechtniter. Hello, sir. Thanks, John. You know, I was going to be |
| 0:54.8 | doing my spoken word verse at the concert. I was so excited. But I just, I had to pull out. And, you know, |
| 1:01.6 | one reason I'm pulling away from Donald Trump is because he is a sinking ship. And today, I'm just so |
| 1:07.8 | excited for this discussion because so often it's just looking bleak and how |
| 1:12.5 | are we going to survive this. Today, it's really all about the checks and balances working, |
| 1:18.5 | judges fighting back, lawsuits, including one that I'm proud to have work with the group that |
| 1:23.1 | brought it, democracy forward, winning in court, Congress pushing back. And so, you know, this |
| 1:28.5 | nightmare that we've been living through, and I'd really call it that, we're seeing some light |
| 1:33.6 | at the end of the tunnel. So this really is an episode about hope and about constitutional resistance |
| 1:38.6 | that works. That's not just principle. I agree. I hope our listeners are ready for all of the |
| 1:43.6 | relentless good news. |
| 1:45.3 | That's going to, we're just going to be a big up on people show for the next hour. |
| 1:49.0 | Because let's talk about our tattered, torn, and freight guardrails professor. Donald Trump |
... |
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