The Oath and The Office

Trump says the pope should stay out of politics. But when Trump posts himself as Jesus, attacks independent moral authority, and demands loyalty from every institution, the real goal is not religious neutrality. It is control.

In this episode of The Oath and The Office, Corey Brettschneider and John Fugelsang begin with Trump’s clash with the pope and what it reveals about the authoritarian impulse: not keeping religion out of politics, but bending religion to serve power.

Then they turn to Hungary, where Viktor Orbán’s loss offers a real sign of hope. Even after gerrymandering and years of democratic erosion, autocrats can still be challenged and defeated.

They also break down two more revealing stories: a judge throwing out Trump’s defamation suit over the Epstein birthday-card report, and the administration’s move to abandon civil-rights settlements protecting trans students. Taken together, these stories show the same pattern: attacks on truth, attacks on vulnerable people, and attacks on any institution unwilling to bend to raw power.

This episode is about more than one controversy. It is about the larger authoritarian playbook — and why resistance still matters.

Can a president commit war crimes? Can a defense secretary? And what would it take to hold either one accountable?

Corey Brettschneider and John Fugelsang open with the Supreme Court showdown over Trump’s attack on birthright citizenship. After Trump became the first sitting president to attend oral arguments at the Court, Solicitor General D. John Sauer faced tough questioning from several justices, including Chief Justice John Roberts, who delivered the line of the day: “It’s a new world. It’s the same Constitution.” Corey and John break down why the administration’s argument looked weak, why Wong Kim Ark remains the key precedent, and what the hearing may signal about the fate of Trump’s effort to gut birthright citizenship.

They also discuss the latest chaos inside Trump’s Justice Department after Pam Bondi was pushed out as attorney general and replaced, for now, by Todd Blanche, another Trump loyalist. From there, they turn to the Supreme Court’s move that could wipe away Steve Bannon’s contempt conviction, and what it says about accountability in Trump’s Washington.

Then Corey and John are joined by Lawrence Douglas of Amherst College, professor of law, jurisprudence, and social thought, and author of "The Criminal State", for a chilling conversation about whether Trump is committing war crimes, whether Pete Hegseth could face exposure as a war criminal, and how leaders who authorize brutality can be held to account. They explore the continuing relevance of Nuremberg, the legal meaning of crimes carried out by the state, and whether American institutions still have the power to confront criminality at the top. This is a sober, urgent discussion about impunity, presidential violence, and the future of the rule of law

Trump’s attack on birthright citizenship is only part of the story. The bigger danger is a decades-long effort to free the presidency from constitutional limits.

Corey Brettschneider and John Fugelsang begin by breaking down Trump’s latest argument against birthright citizenship, why it misreads the Constitution, and what is really at stake in the legal fight.

Then David Sirota joins to trace the deeper roots of Trump’s power grab: the conservative blueprints that helped lay the groundwork for Project 2025, the lessons of Nixon and Reagan, and the long campaign to expand executive power.

In this episode:
Trump’s attack on birthright citizenship
why the constitutional case against it fails
the antecedents of Project 2025
Nixon, Reagan, and the growth of presidential power
why the No Kings protests matter
what reforms could restore real limits on the presidency

This episode is about more than one policy fight. It’s about how the presidency was reshaped, and whether American democracy can still impose meaningful limits on executive power.

Trump’s reaction to Robert Mueller’s death was grotesque. But the deeper question is what Congress failed to do when Mueller was alive: why didn’t it impeach Trump based on the Mueller report? Corey Brettschneider and John Fugelsang revisit Mueller’s findings, the Nixon parallel, and the constitutional failure that still shapes Trump’s presidency.

Then: a major Supreme Court voting-rights case out of Mississippi, ICE at airports as a new front in Trump’s immigration crackdown, and a federal judge’s ruling against Pentagon restrictions on defense reporters.

Plus, a listener from the U.K. asks a question many Americans are asking too: could Trump really defy the Constitution and try for a third term?

This week’s episode connects the week’s biggest legal and political stories into one urgent question: how many constitutional guardrails are still holding?

Learn more about the ACLU and its upcoming Supreme Court case at aclu.org/barbara.

Is the SAVE Act really about election security — or is it a new blueprint for voter suppression?

On this episode of The Oath and The Office, Corey Brettschneider and John Fugelsang break down the latest fight over the SAVE Act, why its proof-of-citizenship requirement could make it harder for millions of eligible Americans to register and vote, and what this battle reveals about the future of democracy.

Then Stacey Abrams joins the show to explain what the bill would do, why it is so dangerous, and how the broader attack on voting rights fits into the Trump-era push to undermine democratic institutions.

Also in this episode: Gregory Bovino is out, Judge Boasberg pushes back against politically charged legal tactics, and Trump lashes out at the courts yet again.

This is a conversation about voter suppression, constitutional democracy, and who gets to decide the future of the country.

Learn more about the ACLU and its upcoming Supreme Court case at aclu.org/barbara.