Show Notes
A new series from Lawfare
After 20 years of war, the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan ended in chaos at an airfield in Kabul. Thousands of Afghans who worked with the American soldiers as translators, interpreters and partners made it onto U.S. military planes. But despite the decades-long efforts of veterans, lawmakers and senior leaders in the military, even more were left behind. Now they live in hiding from the Taliban.
From Lawfare and Goat Rodeo, this is Allies. A podcast about America’s eyes and ears over 20 years of war in Afghanistan. This show will take you from the frontlines of the war to the halls of Congress to find out: How did this happen? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
More from After Trump
We’ve taken you on a Dantean journey in this series, revisiting the damage done to the Republic by the presidency of Donald Trump. Other the last five episodes, we’ve chronicled how norms were shattered; loopholes exploited; and the constitution’s ambiguities laid bare. But Jack Goldsmith and Bob Bauer, whose book “After Trump” gives the series its name, have not just catalogued damage. They’ve laid down practical plans for reconstructing the presidency.
It’s a cliché now that the Justice Department should be independent of the president. Everyone says it—constantly. There’s just one problem. As a legal and constitutional matter, this “independent” Justice Department is a lot of nonsense. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
In one sense maybe we should be thankful we’ve never had to grapple with these perplexing issues because a President has never run as wild as Trump did. But there’s a real precedent being set in the government’s approach to presidential criming.
The pardon power was designed to be a tool for correcting wrongs. Any system of justice applied to a whole nation is going to have failures. A pardon is there to correct miscarriages of justice—and injustice. It was always believed that if a president abused his pardon authority, it would be so appalling to so many, at such a gut level, that the checks on the President would instantly kick in: He’s be impeached, forced to resign, voted out. Trump pushed this theory. And the results were worrisome—to say the least. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.