Trump Has a Plan for the Midterms, SCOTUS May Help

About this episode

Dahlia Lithwick discusses the threats to democracy and election integrity with Ian Bassin, focusing on Trump's strategies and the role of the courts.

On this week’s Amicus, Dahlia Lithwick checks in with Protect Democracy co-founder Ian Bassin about the United States’ speedy retreat from democracy, and how lawyers seeking to protect the constitution are adapting their strategies for Trump 2.0. While Trump’s second term is following an authoritarian playbook, some courts are acting as speed bumps, while others (we’re looking at you, SCOTUS), are increasingly pickled in right-wing brine. The velocity of America’s descent into illiberalism is startling and dangerous, but Bassin argues it is also potentially self-defeating, thanks to Trump’s historic unpopularity that is growing faster than his ability to consolidate power. The two discuss Protect Democracy’s shift from a litigation-heavy strategy to combining court fights with coalition-building, and Ian outlines threats to the 2026 elections—“deceive, disrupt, deny”—including efforts like the SAVE Act and why the President’s decision to deploy ICE to stand around in airports around the country is a clear effort to normalize their presence at polling places in November. But he also stresses that overwhelming participation and public organizing are the ultimate backstops if…

People in this episode

Host: Dahlia Lithwick

Guest: Ian Bassin

Topics covered

• democracy
• Trump
• SCOTUS
• elections
• law
• coalition-building

Keywords

• democracy
• Trump
• SCOTUS
• elections
• law
• Protect Democracy
• coalition-building
• 2026 elections
• ICE
• SAVE Act

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Protect Democracy, SCOTUS, ICE, SAVE Act

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