Friday Round Up! 2/21/25

Newsflash: Just because it's legal doesn't mean it's not dangerous.

I have to keep this round up relatively short, as I am writing this in flight between two conferences at which I am speaking. The first was the National Constitution Center’s annual retreat in Miami, where I was on a panel called “Executive Power in Trump 2.0.” with Ali Velshi, David French, and Josh Blackmun. And I’m headed to the Principles First Summit in D.C., to moderate a panel with Frank Figliuzzi and Glenn Kirschner called “The Law Enforcement and National Security Battlefield.” Yeah, not a ton to discuss on either of those topics. Ha ha.

One thing came up in my executive power panel was the question of whether we are in a “constitutional crisis” and/or whether we could call the system of governance we are experiencing at this moment “authoritarian.” There had already been some legalistic wrangling in previous panels about what lines in the Constitution would need to be crossed to “officially” get to one or both of these designations, and we were asked to give our thoughts.

My response was: Um, WHO CARES? I mean, it’s an interesting intellectual exercise to come up with bright line definitions for these concepts, but honestly, it is an incredibly unhelpful — and even dangerous — lens through which to analyze our current moment. First, framing our political situation in this way suggests that until we have crossed some line, that we shouldn’t be too worried. As though we can all go about our lives, content that no constitutional lines have been crossed and we still live in a functioning democracy, until we get en emergency notification on our phones that say, “OK folks, it’s official! We are in a constitutional crisis and living in an autocracy!” No. We should be vigilant and worried well before we reach that point. Especially before we reach that point.

More importantly, it ignores a huge lesson that has been hitting us over the head for the past eight years that everyone seems to ignore: The path to authoritarianism is paved with a million “legal” acts. For example:

• Pardoning 1,500 insurrectionists: Legal

• Putting people who wouldn’t pass a basic FBI background check in charge of….everything: Legal

• Choosing not to pursue investigations or enforce laws/regulations against people who will “help” the regime: Legal

• Pulling security from “disloyal” former officials who are under threat of assassination: Legal

• Changing our foreign policy on a dime to become an ally with a hostile foreign power in an ongoing military conflict: Legal

• Firing top military officers and lawyers: Legal

I could go on, but you get the point. Of course there are and will be things that are illegal, and we can only hope that the courts will step in to stop them. But the bigger danger is that our democracy will be subverted, even as it operates in the established constitutional framework — a “paper democracy,” as one panelist astutely characterized it. As I wrote in my piece comparing our democracy to the supposedly unsinkable design of the Titanic, our system rests on a very basic assumption that the people who would be put in power would operate in good faith — and that certain failsafes — like congressional checks, impeachment, or court decisions — would kick in if that assumption proved wrong. Sadly, we are learning that the failsafes have failed, which is really the constitutional crisis we should be talking about.

One thing I am very grateful for with both of these conferences is that they put me around a lot of people from across the political spectrum who really care about what is going on right now, whether we have crossed any “official” lines, or not — and that gives me hope. (Seriously, check out this lineup!) Building coalitions with people who share fundamental values — even if we disagree on particular policy preferences — is going to be the only way we get out of this mess. And we will.

For now, Renato and I dived into the mass firings at the Justice Department, and why they should make people pay attention:

My articles this week:

• I wrote this piece for the San Francisco Chronicle warning about the lack of legal guardrails on the FBI, which makes it a particularly dangerous agency in the wrong hands

Other articles worth reading:

• Apropos of my CAFE Note last week on speaking truth to power, this resignation letter from an AUSA in the Criminal Division, Denise Cheung, shines sunlight on yet another attempt by the newly installed lawyers at the Justice Department to get line prosecutors to violate department policies and their oath. I’ll write more about the AG Guidelines, the importance of “predication” in launching investigations, and what lies ahead if the DOJ/FBI purge continues

Upcoming events:

• Freedom Academy Book Club, Date/Time TBA (sometime in March). I’m so excited that the Freedom Academy Book Club selection for this quarter is Breaking Twitter: Elon Musk and the Most Controversial Corporate Takeover in History by Ben Mezrich. You are likely already familiar with Ben’s work, as his book, The Accidental Billionaires: The Founding of Facebook was the basis for the hit movie The Social Network, and his more recent book, The Antisocial Network, was the basis for the hit movie Dumb Money. I am fortunate to get to hang with Ben and his wife, Tonya, up in Quechee, Vermont, and we are very lucky to have him join us (sometime in March) to discuss Elon, Twitter, social media, and billionaires more generally! (I am actually also reading his other book, Bitcoin Billionaires, because I’m now kind of obsessed with the rise of the broligarchs.) The Freedom Academy Book Club discussions are open to all paid subscribers and recordings of the talks are posted after in case you can’t make it live!

WHAT CAN YOU DO?

I am getting a lot of questions from friends and colleagues asking what they can do in this urgent political moment. I have three potential actions steps you can take now:

1. Pro bono lawyers are on the front lines to stop Trump and Musk’s breakdown, takedown, and shakedown of the federal government. You can contribute to this effort on the donation page of State Democracy Defenders Action

2. Start a democracy group! My college class has started a WhatsApp chat where we share resources on how we can push back. We are also starting a book and movie discussion group (first up, Join or Die, which I recommended in a Round Up not too long ago!). The bonus is that you will create an important support system that you will need as we get through this difficult time (and we will get through it!)

3. Self care tip of the week: Meditate! I have had an off-on (ehhhh mostly off) meditation practice for the last several years, but since January I have been much more consistent, taking 10 minutes a day to get grounded — it’s actually made a huge difference in reducing my anxiety. There are tons of apps out there if you need guidance. I use Headspace, and you can use this link for a 30-day free trial.

Hang in there, everyone — we will make it through this!