Month: July 2024

A View From Abroad as Biden Stands Between the Survival of Global Democracy and the Rule of Law and Dictatorship

We begin on the fourth of July and go to London to speak with Sarah Churchwell, a Professor of American literature and ­humanities at the School of Advanced Study of the University of London. She is the author of Behold America: The Entangled History of America First and The American Dream and her latest book is The Wrath to Come: Gone with the Wind and the Lies America Tells. We discuss how much of the rest of the world sees American democracy hanging by a thread with President Biden standing between the survival of global democracy and the rule of law and dictatorship. Meanwhile Trump and a pantheon of fascist wannabes in France and across Europe and the world are at the gates of power, jutting out their chins like Mussolini with America’s Orange Duce leading the pack.

Even If Biden Could be Convinced to Step Down Soon, He Would Be Making Himself a Lame Duck President

Then we examine the possibility of the Democrats, with or without Biden, running against the Supreme Court in the upcoming election and the problem posed by Biden stepping down soon, even if he could be convinced to do so, because he would be making himself a lame duck, paralyzing the presidency. Joining us to discuss the increasing chorus from vulnerable Democrats in the House and Senate who see Biden’s coattails vanishing is Lawrence Douglas, the James Grosfeld Chair in Law, Jurisprudence and Social Thought at Amherst College and a contributing opinion writer for The Guardian. His latest book is Will He Go? Trump and the Looming Electoral Meltdown in 2020 and we discuss his forthcoming article at The Guardian, “SCOTUS hands Trump a carte blanche to destroy American constitutional democracy.”