Welcome to the political scene, a weekly discussion about the big questions in American politics.

I'm Evanosnos, and I am joined as ever by my colleagues Jane Mayer and Susan Glasser.

Hi, Jane, and hi Susan.

Hey there. Good to see you guys. Ah, great to be with you. Another

crazy week. He who saves his country does not violate any law. That, of course, is a comment

attributed to Napoleon Bonaparte, the military general turned dictator of France. Well, two

centuries later, President Donald Trump has

embraced that very quote, posting it to his truth social account at a moment when his administration

is claiming in court that its effort to dismantle USAID and end the right of birthright citizenship

are legal, that they do not defy the law and the Constitution.

Over the past few days, we've seen the impact of his attempts to claim broader powers

playing out across the country.

This afternoon, the Senate narrowly confirmed Cash Patel to be the next FBI director.

Talk about an uprising over at DOJ where there's basically a civil war going on inside that building.

The White House has indefinitely banned one of the biggest media organizations in the U.S.,

the Associated Press from the Oval Office and from Air Force One.

In many ways, this country feels already like a different place than it was even a week ago.

And this isn't just rhetoric, according to the democracy expert Larry Diamond, who published

an important piece this week called The Crisis is Here.

He'll join us today to explore all of this.

Jane, before we bring in Larry to this conversation, I want to get your sense about why it

is that the events of recent days struck so many of us as a kind of tipping point, a real

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