Trump’s War and the Imperial Presidency

About this episode

The episode discusses the implications of Trump's war aims on democratic accountability and the influence of executive power in American politics.

Trump’s shifting war aims are a warning sign of the imperial presidency. We examine how changing justifications for war weaken democratic accountability, whether Congress can still use the power of the purse to stop an illegal war, how the Anthropic story reflects resistance to expanding executive power, why the growing influence of billionaires in American elections is making constitutional democracy even more fragile, and why Kristi Noem’s exit at Homeland Security was a rare reminder of how congressional oversight is supposed to work—even if her replacement may not be better. This episode is sponsored by Princeton University Press. Learn more about Mark Peterson’s new book, The Making and Breaking of the American Constitution: A Thousand-Year History: https://hubs.ly/Q0432vyk0

Topics covered

• imperial presidency
• democratic accountability
• Congress power
• executive power
• billionaires influence
• congressional oversight

Keywords

• Trump
• war aims
• democracy
• Congress
• executive power
• billionaires
• oversight

Sponsors

Princeton University Press

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Anthropic

Books & works: The Making and Breaking of the American Constitution: A Thousand-Year History

Places: American

More episodes of The Oath and The Office

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• Trump’s Bad Week Is Democracy’s Opening · June 4, 2026 · 57 min
• Trump’s Imperial Presidency: Bogus Charges and Foreign Wars · May 28, 2026 · 1h 1m
• The Secret Memos Behind the Supreme Court’s Shadow Docket (with Jodi Kantor) · May 21, 2026 · 1h 4m
• Can Trump Undo Our Citizenship Rights? (with ACLU’s Cecilia Wang) · May 14, 2026 · 1h 6m
• The Supreme Court’s Assault on Our Rights (with Kate Shaw) · May 7, 2026 · 1h 13m