When I think about the Democrats in Congress right now, it feels to me like they're on this vast, legalistic treasure hunt.

And they've got just one superpower, subpoena power.

If subpoenaed the president's lawyer, if subpoenaed the president's son, and Trump's bank, and Trump's accounting firm,

it just feels to me like Congress must be running out of a letterhead.

Like they're constantly requesting more from more people.

Yes, that's right. And their requests have begun to escalate in this very sort of polite but pissy democratic way.

Mark Joseph Stern is a writer here at Slate.

I think that could sort of be the motto of the Democratic Party right now, polite but pissy.

Many of these congressional subpoenas focus on Trump's financial records.

Analysis of the president's assets from Deutsche Bank, tax records from Meazar's group, Trump's accounting firm.

Trump has vowed to fight all of them in court.

And it's one of the most remarkable intra branch disputes that we've seen in a really long time because this is not a constitutional crisis, I think.

But it is an example of the president stepping into the judiciary and saying, you got to stop these guys in the house because they're overstepping their bounds.

Last week, congressional Democrats got the first hint that the courts could be on their side.

You had Nancy Pelosi seeming almost giddy at what happened in court last week.

Yes. And Democrats don't know what it feels like to win, so you should never trust them when they say they are winning.

There are a couple of different cases here. One in DC, the other in New York.

And so both of these district courts said, sorry, Trump, but you just don't have the power to force us to quash these subpoenas.

Democrats are going to get what they want, whether or not it's wise policy, that's what the Constitution permits.

So you're saying the Democrats are not legal geniuses here?

Yes, I'm saying that as much as I respect the attorney who's representing the House, Douglas Letter, I think that a half-empty box of Kleenex could have probably won these cases because all of the law and all of the facts are on Democrat side.

For Mark Joseph's turn, these wins might seem a little basic, but they also tell you something about how the Trump administration is working right now.

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