Federalist 51: Ambition Versus Ambition

Chuck Todd breaks down the ongoing government shutdown and the deep dysfunction gripping Washington. With the shutdown dragging into late October, Trump is reportedly tapping private donors to pay the military, while Speaker Mike Johnson keeps the House out of session — a move Chuck calls a major political blunder. As Trump consolidates control over both the presidency and Congress, Republicans appear more focused on shielding him than exercising oversight. Meanwhile, the Oversight Committee under James Comer has devolved into partisan theater, investigating the Bidens while ignoring blatant corruption in Trump’s orbit. Chuck argues that without real congressional checks, America risks drifting toward the kind of pre-revolutionary rot the Founders warned about — where power, privilege, and impunity rule unchecked.

Then, filmmaker Raoul Peck joins Chuck to discuss his powerful new documentary Orwell: 2+2=5 — an exploration of truth, propaganda, and power in the age of Trump. Peck, whose work often examines systems of control and colonialism, draws from Orwell’s life and letters to reveal how 1984 was never just a warning about the future — it was a reflection of the present. He and Chuck unpack how doublespeak, “alternative facts,” and the rewriting of history have crept into modern democracies, from the U.S. to Russia, and what Orwell’s insights reveal about the fragility of truth today.

Peck also reflects on his own Haitian roots and how the legacy of colonialism still shapes global politics, from America’s interference in Haiti to its uneasy role as an arbiter of democracy abroad. The conversation turns to the media’s complicity in enabling authoritarian narratives, the dangers of AI-driven misinformation, and why reclaiming truth — and teaching future generations to defend it — may be the defining struggle of our time.

Finally, he hops in the ToddCast Time Machine to revisit the publication of the Federalist Papers and why their lessons are extremely pertinent in the Trump era, answers questions in the “Ask Chuck” segment and gives his college football recap. 

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Timeline:

(Timestamps may vary based on advertisements)

00:00 Chuck Todd’s introduction

06:00 The government shutdown continues into the end of October

06:45 Trump tapping private donor to pay the military

07:45 Democrats have earned the leverage to reopen the government

08:15 Mike Johnson making a huge mistake by keeping House out of session

10:00 Voters want Congress to serve as a check on an unpopular president

11:45 House Republicans look like they’re out to lunch & on vacation

12:45 Trump says he’s both the speaker and the president

15:30 Sen. Lankford admits R’s would be furious if Biden was doing what Trump is

16:30 Everything now is viewed or ignored through a partisan lens

18:45 Without congressional oversight, we lose our founding framework

19:30 Qatari jet gift was the type of bribe our founders warned about

20:30 Republicans in charge of oversight ignoring plane bribe

21:30 Trump using coin scheme to build international bribery racket, R’s ignore it

23:00 The oversight committee under Comer has become a partisan weapon

23:45 Trump is ordering the DOJ to compensate his own business

25:15 Trump is using his power to direct money to his companies

26:00 The double standard from Republicans is insulting to the American people

28:45 Trump’s orbit is giving pre-revolutionary France vibes

29:30 Oversight is still investigating the Biden family

30:15 Democrats aren’t on moral high ground after Biden’s family pardons

31:15 If the Bidens were doing anything Trump was doing, R’s would impeach

32:00 Oversight has become partisan entertainment

32:45 Democrats weren’t interested in Epstein until it entangled Trump

33:30 Trump’s desperation to hold the house is to avoid oversight

34:15 Trump could stonewall oversight, but private companies can’t

35:00 Private companies can’t go to law enforcement when extorted

35:45 Mike Johnson is the weakest speaker in the modern era

37:45 Raoul Peck joins the Chuck ToddCast 

39:15 How did you end up directing Orwell 2+2=5? 

41:15 Coming from Haiti, you have a real understanding of abuse of power 

42:45 Working with legendary documentarian Alex Gibney on the project 

44:15 Would the film have been released if Kamala Harris had one? 

45:45 Americans are becoming familiar with "doublespeak" under Trump 

46:45 The contradiction of leading democracies being colonial 

47:30 Orwell grew up in India, saw colonialism firsthand 

48:45 Orwell joined Imperial Police Force in Burma 

50:00 Orwell's letters revealed his inspiration and thought process 

51:00 Orwell struggled to finish 1984 while very sick 

52:00 Using historical media to create the documentary, no re-enactments 

54:30 Why not tell this story in a movie? Does 1984 need to be re-made? 

55:45 1984 was only a portion of the story 

56:45 Orwell was writing about the present and warning about the future 

58:30 US story starting with lies about the Iraq War using propaganda 

1:00:00 Americans think authoritarianism only comes from "the other side" 

1:00:45 Language sets the stage for the erosion of democracy 

1:01:30 Authoritarians seek to remake and revise history 

1:02:30 Russian citizens have basically given up on truth, don't believe anything 

1:03:15 Trump's use of "alternative facts" is incredibly Orwellian 

1:04:15 Trump accuses any negative coverage of being "fake news" 

1:05:00 U.S. government purging certain words from their websites 

1:07:00 Authoritarian takeovers can move very quickly 

1:07:45 Journalism and discourse are controlled by a few tech companies 

1:08:30 Trouble distributing the documentary in the current political climate? 

1:10:00 Documentary breaking records…. But what does that say? 

1:11:30 Too many people are tuning out during Trump's second term 

1:12:00 People take democracy and their freedoms for granted 

1:13:15 Mike Pence saved democracy… temporarily 

1:14:15 AI generated videos will make people questions everything 

1:15:15 Most of the press is captive to a few billionaires 

1:16:15 The technology isn't the problem, lack of regulation is 

1:17:45 Humans will want interpersonal contact in AI era 

1:19:45 There is no such thing as neutrality in politics 

1:21:15 Beating authoritarianism will take a generation in America 

1:23:00 Why have Haiti and the Dominican Republic gone so differently? 

1:24:45 The slave rebellion caused the U.S. to treat Haiti as a pariah 

1:26:15 Haiti suffered from "cannon diplomacy" from colonial powers 

1:27:00 The U.S. meddling in Haiti has always caused problems 

1:29:15 U.S. has always asserted control in the western hemisphere 

1:30:45 Next project is doc about assasination of Haiti's president 

1:31:45 Using AI as a tool in creating films? 

1:33:45 Government has performed almost no oversight of AI

1:36:00 ToddCast Time Machine 

1:36:45 This week, in 1787 was the initial publication of the Federalist Papers 

1:37:30 The papers were America's first political blog 

1:38:30 Hamilton began by debating whether reason or rage would win out 

1:39:45 Federalist #51 argued ambition must be made to counteract ambition 

1:41:00 America's biggest problem now is an extraordinarily weak congress 

1:41:45 Hamilton warned of political parties & can't limit it to one or two 

1:42:45 Federalist #70 warned against an overly powerful executive 

1:43:45 Federalist #65 worried that impeachment would become a partisan exercise 

1:45:45 Federalist #78 argued that judges should never be elected 

1:47:00 Madison argued in favor of slow deliberation 

1:48:30 Founders warned that too few representatives breeds corruption 

1:50:00 Hamilton argued that rights are only guaranteed by people enforcing them 

1:52:00 Ask Chuck 

1:52:15 Should Democrats flip the script and use "America First" messaging? 

1:54:45 Should Democrats reign in ActBlue for advertising? 

1:58:45 Why are there no consequences for cabinet members lying to congress? 

2:00:45 Will Trump governing only for supporters backfire in the midterms? 

2:04:15 College football update

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