Trump’s Imperial Presidency: Bogus Charges and Foreign Wars

Trump’s claim of power above the law is showing up on every front: bogus prosecutions, deportation threats, attacks on speech, war powers, and military escalation abroad.

This week on The Oath and The Office, Corey Brettschneider and John Fugelsang start with the dismissal of human trafficking charges against Kilmar Abrego Garcia. A federal judge found the prosecution vindictive and selective, a major rebuke to a Trump DOJ that tried to punish a man after he fought back against his unlawful deportation.

Then Corey and John turn to Mahmoud Khalil, where the Trump administration is pushing another dangerous claim: that noncitizens can be detained and deported for political speech. They also discuss new congressional pushback against Trump’s war in Iran and the DOJ indictment of Raúl Castro, as the administration invokes “law and order” while expanding American military power in Latin America.

Then filmmaker Andrew Glazer joins the show to discuss "Spring of the Vanishing", his investigative documentary on the American military’s alleged complicity in killings of innocent civilians by the Mexican military during the drug war. The conversation becomes a broader warning about how the war on drugs has been used to destroy civil liberties at home and abroad.

The theme running through all of it: Trump’s imperial presidency is not just a foreign policy problem. It is a threat to constitutional democracy here at home.

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Watch Spring of the Vanishing: https://www.primevideo.com/detail/0LAGR1QS4QZ2PIWOMLFK18KJ2K