Trump Has a Plan for the Midterms, SCOTUS May Help

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 election results are contested. Suggested reading: protectdemocracy.org/executive-override/ Want more Amicus? Join Slate Plus to unlock weekly bonus episodes with exclusive legal analysis. Plus, you’ll access ad-free listening across all your favorite Slate podcasts. You can

You can listen to Trump Has a Plan for the Midterms, SCOTUS May Help online on Radio and Podcast. Open the player on this page to stream the available audio.

Trump Has a Plan for the Midterms, SCOTUS May Help is an episode from Amicus With Dahlia Lithwick | Law, justice, and the courts by Slate Audio.

This episode is 53:31 long.

This episode was published on Mar 28, 2026.

Yes. Use the heart button on the episode page to add it to your favorite episodes list.

Yes. This page shows related episodes from Amicus With Dahlia Lithwick | Law, justice, and the courts when more episodes are available from the podcast feed.