Can He Do That?

President Trump only has one last way to challenge the results of the election-- and he'll need Congress. How long can he hold onto his influence on GOP leaders and voters in his base? And how might his influence affect Georgia's Senate races?Related reading and episodesDoes Trump’s refusal to concede put national security at risk?What do Trump’s legal threats actually accomplish?In challenging election defeat, Trump cements his control over the Republican Party

How much did Trump’s efforts effect vaccine development? Has Operation Warp Speed done more to help than our government’s pre-existing pandemic response system? Dr. Nicole Lurie of The Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations answers questions.Related reading and episodesWhat you need to know about the Pfizer, Moderna and AstraZeneca vaccinesVirus cases are surging in the U.S. Is our government better prepared now?A president’s push for an unproven cure

President Trump is reportedly considering pardoning himself and his family for potential future Justice Department charges. Can he do that? And where does recent news of a“bribery-for-pardon” scheme fit into a president's limitations on pardon power?Related reading and episodesThe problems with pardon powerTrump’s view of a unilaterally powerful president goes unchallengedGiuliani? Manafort? Himself? Here’s whom a lame-duck Trump could pardon.

Are Trump's major moves during a lame-duck period unprecedented? Professor Jeremi Suri offers an example from history with lessons for today. Plus, reporter Yasmeen Abutaleb on the implications of Trump's approach to the virus for Biden's incoming team.Related reading and episodesWhat do Trump’s legal threats actually accomplish?Does Trump’s refusal to concede put national security at risk?

Experts are concerned that the president's unwillingness to start a transition threatens our country’s safety by denying President-elect Joe Biden resources and intelligence. Shane Harris explains the risks when a president blocks a smooth transition. Related reading and episodesWhat do Trump’s legal threats actually accomplish?Amid Pentagon upheaval, military officers face a fraught few monthsPressure mounts on state Republicans as lawsuits challenging election results flop

Election Day 2020 is behind us, but the presidential election is far from over.Because of increased vote-by-mail and early voting, vote counts are taking longer than usual this year.The race is very tight. The winner of the 270 electoral votes needed to win the presidency is coming down to vote counts with very thin margins in a handful of battleground states.While counts are still trickling in, President Trump has repeatedly made false claims of election fraud, declared victory in states where votes are still being counted, falsely tweeted that any ballots coming in after Election Day won’t be counted and pledged to get the courts to determine the election outcome.The Trump campaign’s legal team has indeed launched efforts in the courts. His team has started a legal blitz — filing suits in Pennsylvania, Michigan and Georgia and requested a recount in Wisconsin.So what do each of these legal moves actually do? Will these suits stop ongoing vote counts? Can they overturn a state’s results? Are they likely to u

As a businessman, candidate Donald Trump said that he was the only person who could deliver major gains for U.S. workers. The stock market and the wealthiest Americans have seen gains during his administration, but at a cost — ever-growing wealth inequalities.Related reading and listening:Will Trump get Americans off of welfare?Jobless claims increase to 898,000, a sign the recovery could be stallingTrump’s Carrier deal fades as economic reality intervenesSubscribe to The Washington Post: www.washingtonpost.com/chdtoffer

Through his administration’s efforts to weaken agencies, control the flow of information coming out of government and shutter scientific programs, we explore how President Trump has increased divisions in our willingness to accept science-based guidance.Related reading and listening:Does the president have much power to control a viral outbreak?CDC feels pressure from Trump as rift grows over coronavirus responseScience ranks grow thin in Trump administrationSubscribe to The Washington Post: www.washingtonpost.com/chdtoffer

President Trump has been surrounded by controversies over his rhetoric when it comes to race. Some hoped he would moderate his tone in office, but four years later, the president has inflamed racial tensions more — through both rhetoric and policy.Related reading and listening Will courts let the Trump administration put a citizenship question on the Census?All four living ex-presidents draw a sharp contrast with Trump on systemic racismAllegations of racism have marked Trump’s presidency and become key issue as election nearsSubscribe to The Washington Post: www.washingtonpost.com/chdtoffer

In the upcoming 2020 election, 35 U.S. Senate seats and 435 seats in the U.S. House of Representatives are up for grabs. Plus, 44 states with seats in their state legislative chambers are also on the ballot.Many of these races have an impact on the agenda of the next president and the future of the American political landscape.Yes, the makeup of Congress will, of course, affect the way the next president can govern. Parties in control of each house of Congress can help a president carry out his agenda. They can also impede a president from legislative accomplishments.But it’s not just the national-level races that lay the groundwork for a president’s influence. And it’s not just the national-level races that can be influenced by a sitting president or a party’s presidential candidate.The reality is, the outcome of state house races across the country will also end up carrying significant meaning for the future of our electoral landscape. And they might carry more weight for the power of the next president tha

The 2020 election and its lead-up have not exactly been your run-of-the-mill election season. American elections often face various challenges, but this year that list of challenges is quite long.First, the world is still in the middle of a pandemic. That’s meant that many states have ramped up mail-in voting, added ballot drop boxes or laid out plans for safety measures around in-person voting. But those pivots and new plans have meant some errors and mix-ups. And some of these voting changes have faced legal challenges.Plus, this week, as early voting has gotten underway around the country, voters have endured long lines, hours and hours of waiting and even some technical delays.Keeping track of all of these voting issues, all the stories from around the country about the challenges our electoral system faces this time around, can seem pretty impossible. And understanding which of these pieces matter most to the outcomes of the election can be even harder.On this episode of the“Can He Do That?” podcast, nat

For months, President Trump avoided the novel coronavirus. He did this even without taking basic steps to prevent the virus’s spread, like wearing masks and staying away from large indoor crowds.But, last week, that changed. Trump told the American people via tweet very early Friday morning, that he had tested positive for the coronavirus. Later that day, he was hospitalized at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center.On Monday, after he’d been administered a cocktail of steroids and therapeutic drugs, Trump left the hospital and returned to the White House.Yet questions about the severity of the president’s condition remain.Although Trump has tried to project the image of a president hard at work — posting videos and photos of himself clad in a full suit, repeatedly tweeting that he’s feeling great, declaring himself recovering — it’s hard for reporters and the public to know exactly where Trump’s health stands.But how much should the public know when it comes to the health and the fitness of our co

President Trump is not exactly known for his adherence to Washington norms.And his ongoing rhetoric around perhaps the most significant norm of American democracy — the peaceful transition of power — brushes against centuries-old precedent.Though we’ve faced several electoral challenges in our country’s short history, presidential power has always passed peacefully from one commander in chief to the next.This year, though, Trump has declined to agree to accept the results of the 2020 election, whatever they may be.He’s relentlessly tried to sow doubt in the electoral process, baselessly attacked the security of mail-in balloting and suggested the outcome will be rigged.And again, on Tuesday, in an incredibly heated and contentious debate with Democratic nominee Joe Biden, during a major nationally televised event, Trump again questioned the legitimacy of the upcoming election and refused to agree to accept its results.We’ve asked quite a few “Can He Do That?” questions on this show over the past nea

The passing of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg last week, has created a vacancy on the bench. President Trump and the Republicans have since taken steps toward quickly confirming a conservative replacement for Ginsburg, who was a liberal icon.Trump is expected to announce a nominee late this week, and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) has suggested confirmation hearings in the Senate Judiciary Committee could begin mid-October.Republicans hope the Supreme Court fight will inject a last-minute boost into both Trump’s reelection bid and the battle for the Senate majority.Meanwhile, Democrats have vowed to fight in the hearings and on the Senate floor, citing precedent set by Senate Republicans who refused to consider President Barack Obama’s Supreme Court nominee during an election year. But beyond procedural tactics to slow the process, there may not be much that Democrats can do to stop Trump’s pick for a conservative justice from filling the seat on the court.Is such a speedy

Reporter Seung Min Kim on how Trump’s refusal to acknowledge human-caused climate change affects the country’s wildfire management and response plans. Plus, environmental analysis professor Char Miller on who's really responsible for fire mitigation.

The Justice Department on Tuesday intervened in the defamation lawsuit brought by a woman who says President Trump raped her years ago, moving the matter to federal court and signaling it wants to make the U.S. government — rather than Trump himself — the defendant in the case. In this segment from "Post Reports," Matt Zapatosky talks about the unusual move, and where it fits into the larger story of Trump's Justice Department.

Jacob Blake was shot seven times in the back by a Kenosha, Wis., police officer in late August.Since that shooting, Kenosha has been the site of unrest, protests, vandalism and violence.Days after the protests and unrest began, 17-year-old Kyle Rittenhouse traveled a short trip from his home to Kenosha where self-declared militia members and armed counterprotesters had been appearing. Rittenhouse was armed with a rifle. Later, authorities say Rittenhouse shot three protesters, killing two of them.President Trump has condemned the violence from those he calls“rioters” and“looters,” yet Trump suggested Rittenhouse acted in self-defense.Trump has emphasized what he calls his message of“law and order,” defending law enforcement, condemning protesters and insisting Democratic leaders, and Democratic nominee Joe Biden, are responsible for the country’s turmoil.Biden, meanwhile, has focused on a message of unity. He’s sought to strike a difficult balance between condemning violence on all sides of the political

Faith in the U.S. electoral system is one of the most important fundamentals of this country’s democracy.And this year, it’s being tested in unprecedented ways.Some of those challenges are emerging from the rhetoric of the president himself. President Trump has discredited mail-in voting, suggested rampant voter fraud and said he might not accept the results of the election.Most recently, Trump has threatened to use law enforcement officers to patrol polling places.In an interview last week with Fox News host Sean Hannity, Trump said,“We’re going to have everything. We’re going to have sheriffs, and we’re going to have law enforcement, and we’re going to hopefully have U.S. attorneys and we’re going to have everybody, and attorney generals. But it’s very hard."The suggestion raised concerns about voter intimidation and voter suppression.And while reporting suggests the president isn’t actively making plans to send federal law enforcement to polls, it raised significant questions about whether he could, and th

President Trump’s rhetoric about the Postal Service has grown bolder. He’s said that if he stops the Democrats from providing emergency funding to the Postal Service, it’s harder for them to process a surge in mail-in ballots. And according to Trump himself, he wants less mail-in voting, because he thinks too much vote by mail may cost him the election.Meanwhile, a new postmaster general has taken over the agency. Louis DeJoy, previously a logistics executive, was named to head the Postal Service in May, He’s also a major Republican donor.In his short time in the new role, DeJoy has upended the mail system. He has shaken up USPS leadership, ordered the removal of hundreds of high-speed mail-sorting machines, eliminated overtime hours for delivery workers and banned them from making extra trips for on-time delivery.The cumulative effect of Trump’s words and mail delivery slowdowns caused by DeJoy’s changes left many Americans uneasy about the ability of the Postal Service to deliver mail-in ballots effectively

Usually, in presidential election years of the past, August marks a new phase in election season. Conventions wrap up, rallies and events pick up on the campaign trail and candidates debate in front of large audiences, all leading up to the moment voters go to the polls.But this year, pretty much none of those things will happen in the way that we’re used to. The novel coronavirus fundamentally changed this election year. Many of the traditional events still populate the calendar between now and Election Day, but they will look a lot different: less door knocking, no mega rallies, an increase in mail-in voting, among lots of other tweaks.But the pandemic isn’t the only thing that makes this election unique. President Trump has disrupted political norms since his first run at the presidency. No president in modern times, perhaps ever, has been as dominant a figure on the national stage as Trump. He creates conversations and controversy.He’s also the incumbent. Historically, being the incumbent has been a major