Background Briefing: November 10, 2020

On By gram

 

A Self-Pardon Or One By a President Pence?

We begin with Attorney General Barr dispatching U.S. Attorneys across the country to look into voter fraud in an effort to lend credibility to Trump’s bogus claims that the election he lost was stolen. Joining us is Harry Litman, a former United States Attorney and Deputy Assistant Attorney General in the Justice Department who is the Executive Producer and Host of the “Talking Feds” podcast and a columnist at The Los Angeles Times where his latest articles are “Trump’s lawsuits won’t make a difference” and “Can Trump self-pardon? He can try…” We discuss the principle that no person can be a judge in his own cause and since a self-pardon would put the president above the law, it is clearly not what the framers of the Constitution intended. However Trump could resign before January 20th and have a President Pence pardon him and his family of all federal crimes, leaving our criminal-in-chief subject to state prosecutions. 

 

The GOP and Most of Trump’s 71 Million Voters Refuse to Accept Defeat

Then we speak with Sidney Blumenthal, a former assistant and senior advisor to President Bill Clinton and Hillary Clinton who was a national reporter for The Washington Post and Washington Editor for The New Yorker and a bestselling author whose latest book is All the Powers on Earth: The Political Life of Abraham Lincoln 1856 – 1860. He joins us to discuss his article at The Guardian “Trump’s pathetic attempt to fight the election result will fail. The president’s bid to crown himself king will be his last reality show.“

 

Our Weak Strongman is Taking His Defeat Poorly But Predictably

Then finally as Trump goes to war against American democracy in a full on fascist assault on the will of the people, we speak with Ruth Ben-Ghiat, a Professor of History and Italian Studies at New York University whose latest book, out today, is Strongmen: Mussolini to the Present. She joins us to discuss her article at The Washington Post “Strongman leaders take defeat poorly – just like Trump.”