Talking Feds

As scandals shake Trump’s cabinet, Harry sits down with Emily Bazelon, Conor Lamb, and Charlie Sykes to discuss the revelations about Kash Patel, a Democratic redistricting win in Virginia, and the administration’s latest retaliations. Along the way, the trio discuss what it will take to revive the rule of law and whether there’s a path away from endless gerrymandering. They close by digging into the jaw-dropping details from Emily’s reporting about how Trump turned DHS into an agency incompetent at real law enforcement but adept at inflicting suffering.

Mentioned in this episode:

Harry’s Substack on the SPLC indictment:  https://harrylitman.substack.com/p/funding-extremism-pleaseEmily’s reporting:  https://www.nytimes.com/by/emily-bazelon#latest

Charlie’s Substack:  https://charliesykes.substack.com/

Emily's DHS article:  https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2026/04/14/magazine/trump-dhs-ice-officers-immigration-deportations.html   Emily’s conversation with Harry about her oral history of the DOJ under Trump:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0PDKeMe1mXU
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Nearly 100 days into her tenure, New Jersey Governor Mikie Sherrill thinks she’s cracked the code for handling Trump. She tells Harry how she’s used the president’s negotiating tactics against him, why she’s putting in place some of the nation’s most ambitious bulwarks against ICE abuses, and how she ended up in a high-stakes battle with another venal, unpopular entity: FIFA. Plus, Governor Sherrill delivers her thoughts as a former federal prosecutor on the legal wreckage left by ousted U.S. attorney and Trump crony Alina Habba.
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In our latest Contrarian episode, Norm Eisen, Norm Ornstein, and Jen Rubin join Harry to assess new flashpoints in Trump's nonstop quest to escape accountability and his hasty efforts to claw free of his war in the Middle East. The group takes stock of Trump's stumbling attempts to find a deal with Iran, which seem likely to leave the U.S. weakened and isolated. The panel also weighs the bombshell state charges against an ICE agent and the odds that Trump could name two new Supreme Court justices before year's end. 

Mentioned in this episode:

The Contrarian:  https://contrarian.substack.com/

Norm Ornstein's podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/dsrs-words-matter/id1420216970

The Robert Kagan article about America's changing place in the world: https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/2026/03/trump-national-security-greenland-spheres-of-interest/685673/ 

The profile of Justice Alito: https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/04/samuel-alito-supreme-court-conservative/686756/ 

Norm Ornstein's kakistocracy article: https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2017/10/american-kakistocracy/542391/
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Harry talks with Leah Greenberg and Ezra Levin, the principal force behind the massive and wildly successful No Kings protests. They fill Harry in on the politics and mechanics of building one of the biggest popular mobilizations in American history, and how to harness the popular forces in a concrete way to defeat Trump.
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With Trump's two-week ceasefire hanging in the balance, Harry turns to Kristy Greenberg, Jason Kander, and Jasmine Wright to make sense of a week of reversals and u-turns for Donald Trump. What are the new revelations about how Trump decided to strike Iran? And if the status quo stands, will the U.S. have lost its war of choice? Can new Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche do any better than Pam Bondi at sating Trump's appetite for retribution? And what do another pair of Democratic overperformances in off-cycle elections augur for November? 

Mentioned in this episode:

Courtside with Kristy Greenberg: https://www.youtube.com/@CourtsidewithKG 

Jason's podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/majority-54/id1309354521 

Jasmine's reporting: https://www.notus.org/jasmine-wright

New York Times reporting on Trump's decision to go to war with Iran: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/04/07/us/politics/trump-iran-war.html
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