Power Line

Lucretia, freshly back in the U.S. from her adventures with Steve in Budapest, is in the host chair for this week's episode, and she's not in a good mood. And it's not jet lag. Looking out at the concurrent disasters at home and abroad at the moment—high inflation, an undefended southern border, and now war in Israel—she poses a straightforward question: Would any of this be happening if Trump was still president? And more acute to a certified dog-lover: While Trump has many personal flaws, would he kick a dog? The evidence accumulates that Joe Biden is not just a terrible president, but a terrible human being.From there we take up the inner desires of Kamp Kommandant Hillary Klinton, the good news (for John) of the return of the McRibb, and the demise of Speaker Kevin McCarthy. Which somehow leads to a discussion of President James K. Polk, whom John thinks is an executive to be highly esteemed, drawing immediate 50-cal fire from Lucretia. And we also marvel afresh at the feral genius of Trump's method of co

Settle in with your best chilled Hungarian dessert wine and Philly cheese steak for this cosmopolitan issue, which finds John Yoo—host for this week's episode—tired out from looting in his home town of Philadelphia, while Lucretia and Steve are together in Budapest carrying on with more conspiracies against the international rules-based order. John gives us on-scene reports from ground-zero of the "recreational shopping" going on in Philadelphia, plus an update on his three days of testimony in the incredible John Eastman disbarrment trial going on in California. We also cover the aftermath of our event with Heather Mac Donald at Berkeley Law, which made it all the way to Jesse Watter's show on Fox News, and has gained something like 3 million views online. But that's nothing compared to our beat down on the implosion of Ibram X. Kendi (Sen. John Kennedy's favorite "butthole professor"), which was not only predictable, but was predicted! By Glenn Loury, among others, whose profanity-laced rant about Kendi to

This circuitious episode, hosted by Steve in Budapest with John Yoo in Dallas and Lucretia in her undisclosed desert location, starts off with the entirely predictable news that David Brooks drinks his whisky on the rocks (insert shudders and horror here), and quickly moves on to the news that hasn't broken yet, so we'll fix it: Gavin Newson is running for president. We know—he hasn't offically announced, but he's behaving like a candidate more and more every day. And why has no one noticed that Newsom would also solve the Democrats' Kamala problem? (See the Constitution, Article II, Section 1, especially the passage that reads, "The Electors shall meet in their respective States, and vote by Ballot for two Persons, of whom one at least shall not be an Inhabitant of the same State with themselves." That rules out Kamala as Newsom's running mate, which is okay because Newsom and Harris hate each other.We also devote too much time to the sartorial severity that is the Fetterman Senate Dress code, and you'll jus

Lucretia hosts this week, as the fearsome threesome give a brief summary of a recent law school seminar on natural law and the Constitution we presented last week at Berkeley Law before a group of somewhat skeptical students, and then moving on to assaying the Biden impeachment inquiry and Hunter Biden's smoking gun charge, asking why all the White House spokespeople seem to have come from Nerd Central (we mean you, Ian Sams!), and explaining the fundamental asymmetry of the Administrative State in Democratic and Republican presidencies.And isn't it nice that Virginia Democrats have offered us a whole new definition of a "working family"? Who knew that Only Fans might become a new source for campaign contributions. Also: once again the question—are Biden and Harris both on the Democrats' chopping block for next year?Get this: the latest rationale for federal government censorship of the internet is protecting "cognitive infrastructure," which sounds beyond the perverse imagination even of Orwell. And you know

We're a day late and a person short this week, as we're missing John Yoo because of schedule conflicts. Over morning coffee instead of evening single malt, this shortened, ad-free epiode finds Lucretia and Steve wondering if the Branch Covidians can really be getting ready to impose a mask mandate on all of us again, and pondering whether the COVID case of the multiply-boosted DOKTOR Jill Biden should make us wonder whether anyone knows anything anymore.Could this all be a sign of the deepening panic among Democrats over the latest polls showing Donald Trump stronger than ever, and ever increasing doubts about Joe Biden? And speaking of Democrats, who knew that Democrats have become Carl Schmitt fans, as is seemingly the case with New Mexico Governor Grisham declaring that an "emergency" gives her the power to suspend the 2nd Amendment. This comes on the heels of the latest 5th Circuit Court ruling that the Biden Administration trampled the 1st Amendment with its Covid censorship regime.

Never mind saving “our democracy"—who's going to save our gerontocracy! With Mitch McConnell and Joe Biden in a contest for Greatest Brain Freeze Moment, while Dianne Feinstein and John Fetterman look on with envy, we are starting to long for the good old days of the youthful vigor of the Soviet Politburo. Is it time for age limits for high federal office (though Sen. Chuck Grassley, still firing on all cylinders two weeks before his 90th birthday, might want a word with us), or do we just need cognitive tests for office?Equally alarming is how the Baude-Paulsen argument for disqualiftying Trump for the presidency under the 14th Amendment is gaining traction. Could a county registrar of voters in some deep blue percinct throw the 2024 election into complete chaos? John has a good article on this scene suggesting the answer is a hard No, which we review. Meanwhile, the whole Georgia case gets curiouser and curiouser, as you'd expect in our current Alice in Wonderland world of "verdict first, trial later" phase

This classic format episode of the Power Line podcast features Steve Hayward all by himself, and breaks some news: Steve is returning to Pepperdine University this academic year as the Edward Gaylord Visiting Professor at the School of Public Policy. Steve will be filling the large shoes of the late Ted McAllister, who passed away earlier this year, leaving a big hole in the SPP program. Pepperdine's SPP Dean Pete Peterson asked Steve to offer the faculty address to this year's incoming class of graduate students during orientation last week, and he spoke on the relevant contemporary lessons from Max Weber's famous lecture "Politics as a Vocation," which intersects perfectly with Karl Rove's Wall Street Journal essay over the weekend on how America has sometimes been in much worse shape than today. True, but not exhaustive, and supposing natural cycles of history will take us out of our current funk is likely a mistake, akin to fiddling while Rome burns.In one sentence, Steve's message to incoming students is

Wondering what to make of the first GOP debate, Trump's arrest and mug shot, and the apparently deteriorating battlefield situation in Ukraine? Then you've come to the right place. John Yoo hosts this week while we break it all down in crisp fashion, partly because our schedules this week prevented us from recording at a time suitable to have our whisky glasses filled. Next week, we promise!

As loyal listeners know, yesterday Steve, John, and Lucretia took over the flagship Ricochet podcast in the absence of both Peter Robinson (still somewhere in the Witness Protection Program) and Rob Long (out walking a Hollywood picket line somewhere), and we made James Lileks' life completely miserable.We decided that a couple of issues we brought up deserved some extended discussion in this bonus episode, starting with the "trust" question: why do Americans now hold nearly all major institutions, both public and private, in such low regard? We run through a number of factors, from ideology, competence, and corruption, but also wonder about whether our ruling elites today don't have the same kind of noblesse oblige that characterized the elites of the 1950s (the Dulles brothers get a special shout-out).Next, we return to the question of "human rights" versus the natural rights of the American Founding, and the mischief that the rise of "human rights" has entailed in modern times. Steve had intended to nitpic

The late week news was so screwball that Steve surrendered to Screwball Peanut Butter Whiskey to cope while Lucretia the Lightweight settled for Irish coffee while John, out of place as usual, passed on a liquid lunch to have a real one. (By the way, the Screwball Peanut Butter Whiskey is not recommended.)And what a lot of screwball news, starting with the designation of a DoJ special counsel to deal with Hunter Biden's special needs, a trial date and mini-gag order for Trump, and the flurry over the proposal of two conservative law professors to ban Trump's eligility for the ballot under Section III of the 14th Amendment about "insurrection." (If you are a glutton for the punishment of a 126-page law review article, you can view the whole thing here.) There's just one problem with this scenario: Trump hasn't been charged with fomenting insurrection or rebellion. Maybe the special counsel is waiting for another bad news dump on Hunter?After some observations about the failed Ohio referendum this week we final

This isn’t our normal 3WHH; John isn’t here, just Steve and Lucretia. So maybe a 2WHH. The occasion for today’s extra episode—since we moved up our usual weekly offering on account of the latest weekly Trump indictment, is to take note of two related items.First, did you know that Italy’s new and very popular prime minister Giorgia Meloni recently visited Washington and had a brief meeting with President Biden? I missed this too, as the meeting took place behind closed doors, probably to cover up the fact that Biden either fell asleep or sniffed PM Meloni’s blonde hair, and there was apparently no press availability or public photo op. Of course, Biden called Meloni a fascist when she was first elected, so I expect there was no enthusiasm for noting her visit.The second item is an article in National Review ("The Italian Option") recently on Meloni, where Dalibor Rohac argues that Meloni is a better model for nationalist conservatives than Hungary’s Viktor Orban, because Meloni’s positions on various matters

Our normal weekend rendezvous at the whisky bar was convened early this week to get out our fresh reactions to the Trump indictment for his role in the events of January 6, and our general reaction after reading the filing is—is this all there is? Where is incitement? Where is conspiring with violent groups like the Proud Boys and Barbie and Ken? There is very little if any new evidence or facts in the filing, and there are some stunning assumptions of fact that will surely fall apart in the courtroom.More seriously, John Yoo rightly describes this filing as the most serious political-criminal trial since the trial of Aaron Burr way back in 1807—a trial that, keep in mind—acquitted Burr on the charge opf treason. And the timing, coming amidst a lot of new revelations of Biden corruption this week—seems suspicious.Where do we go from here? Should the GOP House move right away to an impeachment investigation of Biden, before the Justice Department names a special counsel that would ironically lock down a House

After clearing the decks of the latest headlines from the week involving Biden trials and Trump tribulations, we get down to business discussing John's new book The Politically-Incorrect Guide to the Supreme Court (co-authored with Robert Delahunty). Naturally Steve and Lucretia have some issues to pick with John.Steve manages to annoy everyone by noting the Statute-That-Cannot-Be-Named-On-This-Podcast (rhymes with Lean Fair Fact) and connecting it to the "L-Word," meaning the Lochner case. You thought it meant something else? How old fashioned and quaint in this Age of Infinite Pronouns. And did Kamala Harris set a new low in hypocrisy and bad faith this week with her attack on Florida's African-American history standards? Let us count the ways. . .

I knew when I saw news of Vice President Kamala Harris claiming that Florida's new African-American history standards for public schools taught that "enslaved people benefitted from slavery," I knew instinctively that this was a lie of unusual medacity even for her. Don't take my word for it: read the curriculum guide for yourself, especially page six, where Harris and the rest of the race-obsessed educrat-complex twists one sentence in the most grotesque way imaginable. The real sin of the curriculum guide, from the left's demented point of view, actually can be seen page eight, where the curriculum mentions including the history of slavery before 1619. Ah—there's the rub. The real reason Harris attacks the Florida curriculum is that it dares to correct the distortions and omissions of the 1619 Project, which has become the platform for saying that America was, and is, purely a slavocracy, and that American capitalism practically invented slavery.One of my principal teachers in graduate school (and a past gu

Are the anticipated coming Trump indictments serious? Defrauding the federal government? Obstructing Congress? Violating the Ku Klux Klan Act? This is indeed John McEnroe territory—"You cannot be serious!" But is it going to work?Let's just say this episode revisits the events of January 6 with considerable disagreement among the panel about how it should be understood, what we still don't know, and how it is afftecting the next election cycle, concerning which, Luretia road-tests her latest outlandish theory. ("We're going to get comments on this one!", she promises.)Then we assay the state of the widening Biden scandals, with Lucretia scorning Steve's "eternal infernal optimism" that sooner or later the media is going to jump on this scandal. Lucretia and John are skeptical. . .Finally, are the dividends of the Harvard affirmation action admissions ruling already growing and spreading to the private sector? Have you noticed the news of the growing number of layoffs and shrinkages of corporate DEI offices? W

John Yoo is away overseas this week, so Steve and Lucretia are joined by Glenn Ellmers, author of the brand new book The Narrow Passage: Plato, Foucault, and the Possibilty of Political Philosophy. Do not be intimidated by the mention of Foucault or anything else in the title, as this crispy-written and very accessible book comes in at a reader-friendly 79 pages (Glenn admits that it began as an essay that grew a little out of control). It sheds a lot of light on our current culture war, which is really a continuation of the ructions in the country from the left that began in the 1960s but fooled us by receding briefly in the shadows for a time when the Cold War ended. More than that, though, the roots of our current contentions trace all the way back to Plato, and from whom we may also find some answers. As as we say, all this in 79 pages!Steve and Lucretia also dilate the Farce of the Week in Washington, the latest lower court rulings that look like promising attacks on the administrative state, and why the

You've heard of the Avengers. And the Incredibles. We at the 3WHH consider ourselves The Uncensorables. (Only because Justice League is taken.) In any case, just when you thought it was safe to pass by the courthouse and law library because the Supreme Court term has finished, along comes a bracing district court opinion slapping the Biden Administration hard for its collaborating with social media companies to censor COVID dissenters who turned out to be right about nearly everything. We also work through the aftermath of the Harvard/UNC decision, which is forcing the left to transfer their hated for Citizens United to this case. And what's up with the left's complaint that the 303 Creative case was a phony case? What's phony is the left's argument, which John Yoo (this week's show host) dispatches with ease, while Steve reminds us that the left has been contriving phony cases for decades. Finally, since it was Fourth of July week, we reflect on the holiday this year, Steve gives a foerboding prediction for

It's over. The fat lady has sung. The Supreme Court ended its current term with a big bang, delivering a long-overdue smackdown of affirmative action that with any luck history will say was a turning point for restoring the proper understanding of equality in our Constitution, though the follow up to overcome ther massive resistance of universities and their epigones in HR and DEI departments everywhere will be crucial—and exhausting.But wait! There's more! The Court also smacked down Biden's student loan power grab, and vindicated the principle of free speech the right of conscience in turning back the coercive identitarian demand that a Christian website designer must be compelled to produce offensive products.The 3WHH hosts were actually together in person this week for this episode, and marked the end of the Supreme Court term with a several nice rounds of Makers Mark. Next week we'll be back to our more "diverse" (heh) scope of wine, whisky, and wonkery, and we'll also get back to our slow-rolling "best

The submersible that is the Biden presidency looks to be under as much increasing pressure as the Trump reboot tour, and maybe both will implode? And when is the Supreme Court going to end the suspense and deliver the rulings on the big cases we've all been waiting for?The Court did deliver a disappointment of sorts in U.S. v. Texas, which rejected the state challenge to the Biden Administration's complete implosion of border enforcement, ruling that while states along the border have indeed suffered injury, they lack standing to sue, and/or the Court lacks a remedy it can supply, so the Biden Administration wins this round. But we break down the convoluted reasoning of the majority opinion (can it really be right that if the executive branch arrested just one person crossing the border instead of zero, states would lose standing to sue, or the Court any remedy whatsoever?), and wonder whether the case is nearly as good for liberals as they think, and whether the next item on the agenda for conservative juris

By the end of the week when our three bartenders assembled, the Trump indictment had been pretty well munched and masticated, so there wasn't much left to say about the matter for the moment. But John Yoo has a wild idea to resolve the controversy: President Biden, he says, should pardon Trump right now, and say "Let's put everything before the voters next year on the issues."Of course the last thing Biden wants to do right now is run on the issues, since he's doing such a dreadul job, and in any case there is no chance Trump will agree to any conditions for a pardon (such as admitting guilt or agreeing to drop out of the presidential election altogether). And it is doubtful Biden has either the statesmanship or the cynical wit to see the mischievous possibilities of a pardon.From there the gang tries to read the tea leaves at the Supreme Court, which handed down another puzzling ruling this week regarding Indian adoptions, and finally we continue our "best of" recommended reading list with some nominations f