Exploring the 14th Amendment: Historical Context and Contemporary Debates

It’s the first Politix podcast of Donald Trump’s second presidency, and it began more or less how we expected: with a lot of bluster and bullshit, but also real demonstrations of lawlessness. Thanks John Roberts?

In this episode, Matt and Brian discuss:

* Trump’s immigration executive orders, with a special focus on his effort to unilaterally suspend the Constitution’s birthright citizenship guarantee;

* Will Trump follow the law if and when this and other orders are enjoined by federal judges?

* Why does birthright citizenship make the United States a better country?

Then, behind the paywall, where does Trump’s appetite for lawlessness leave things going forward? Will there be any consequence for his day-one decision to pardon over 1,500 January 6 insurrectionists, even exceptionally violent ones? Will Democrats come to the defense of any affected immigrants, or will they remain divided (as they were through the GOP push to pass the Laken Riley Act)? And why did Biden fritter away the lame duck period instead of doing more to protect the country?

All that, plus the full Politix archive are available to paid subscribers—just upgrade your subscription and pipe full episodes directly to your favorite podcast app via your own private feed.

Further reading:

* Brian argues House Democrats should move to impeach Donald Trump over the January 6 pardons, even knowing Republicans will rally to protect him.

* Matt on the basic fact that because Trump is so self-serving and dishonest, nobody actually knows what he’s going to do. thinks Democrats can just follow Joe Manchin’s lead.

* Greg Sargent on Trump’s executive order to declare illegal crossings an “invasion” and thus justify the deployment of troops to the southwestern border.