The Oath and The Office

One Republican. One Democrat. Two former governors asking whether Americans can still find common ground.In this special bonus episode of The Oath and the Office, Corey Brettschneider welcomes former Tennessee governors Bill Haslam and Phil Bredesen, hosts of You Might Be Right, for a conversation about political division, democratic principles, and the possibilities and limits of bipartisan cooperation.

What brought these two governors together? What can Americans accomplish across party lines? And where should compromise end when fundamental principles are at stake? We explore what it means to listen to political opponents, reconsider your own assumptions, and stand firm when democracy demands it.

Can Trump use the Postal Service to control how Americans vote by mail? And when does a campaign promise cross the line into an attempted bribe? Democracy Forward President and CEO Skye Perryman joins Corey Brettschneider and John Fugelsang to discuss the Supreme Court’s order keeping Trump’s Postal Service restrictions on mail voting blocked ahead of the midterms. She also provides an update on her organization’s challenge to Trump’s slush fund and discusses her new book, Ordinary People, Extraordinary Times. Before the interview, Corey and John break down the news:
The Postal Ruling: What the Supreme Court’s decision means for voters this November.
Pardons & Bribes: Trump’s promise of $5,000 checks if Republicans keep Congress and the big business of pardon lobbying. Does calling the pardon power “plenary” excuse corrupt use?
AI & Autocracy: Mike Johnson’s hands-off approach to AI safety, and what Hungary’s fight against corruption can teach us about defeating authoritarianism.
Timestamps:
7:18 – The $5,000 Dividend

14:32 – Trump is Selling Pardons
23:52 – The Call to Slow AI Progress
32:37 – An AFD Victory in Germany: What Does This Mean for Us?
40:14 – The Courts Kept Trump’s Mail-In Ballot Interference At Bay (With Skye Perryman)
51:11 – Democracy Forward’s Suit Against Trump’s Slush Fund & A Peek Into Skye’s New Book

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Skye Perryman’s book: Ordinary People, Extraordinary Times

Could the Supreme Court help Trump disrupt the 2026 election?

In this episode of The Oath and The Office, Corey Brettschneider and John Fugelsang examine a new fight over mail ballots and postal rules that could create chaos, disenfranchise lawful voters, and give the administration new leverage over the election process.

We also look at why the Supreme Court’s shadow docket matters so much here, what happens when major election rules are decided without full briefing or argument, and why the Court’s own effort to restrict access to its historical records matters for democratic accountability.Plus, we examine a separate legal strategy that could threaten the tax exempt status of major institutions.

Subscribe to The Oath and The Office for weekly analysis of Trump, presidential power, the Supreme Court, democracy, and the Constitution.

Timestamps:
0:30 – SCOTUS Will Decide if Trump’s Mail-In Voting Restrictions are Constitututional
28:00 – Why Are Supreme Court Records Sealed for Decades?
38:07 – House Democrats’ Push to Expand the Court
45:40 – The Treasury Wants to Revoke Tax-Exempt Status For Anti-Racist Universities

56:36 – Why These Conversations Give Us Hope

Trump’s abuses of power keep colliding with the law. But even when courts recognize the danger, procedural barriers can prevent them from stopping it.

Corey and John examine how standing doctrine blocked a challenge to Trump’s ballroom project, despite an unusual dissent from Chief Justice John Roberts. They also discuss a major free speech victory at Stanford that, like the Khalil case, was weakened by procedural limits. Next, they turn to Trump’s effort to seize control of the Postal Service and refuse delivery of valid mail ballots, using the unitary executive theory to threaten voting rights.

Then, former U.S. Attorney Barbara McQuade joins the show to explain why Trump governs less like a president and more like a mafia boss. Drawing from her new book, "The Fix", she connects Trump’s mob style campaign against dissent to the attack on the Southern Poverty Law Center, the Justice Department’s subpoenas targeting New York Times journalists, and the administration’s attempt to undermine voting by mail.

Barbara McQuade’s new book, The Fix: Saving America from the Corruption of a Mob-Style Government: https://www.barbaramcquade.com/

Why did the January 6 Committee underplay the role of Christian nationalism in its final report?

Rep. Jared Huffman, the only openly nonbelieving member of Congress, joins Corey Brettschneider for a deep dive into the Christian nationalist movement threatening American democracy. Drawing from his new book, No Prophets, Huffman breaks down the specific factions that make up this movement, how they are capturing political power, what they want, and what comes next. We also examine the central role Christian nationalism played in January 6 and why that crucial part of the story was largely left out of the Committee’s final report.

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You can find Rep. Jared Huffman’s new book, No Prophets, here: https://wwnorton.com/books/9781324130499

3:43 – Religious Nationalism & January 6th
11:40 – Who Are the Christian Nationalists?
18:18 – Where Christian Nationalism Appears in Congress
24:43 – The Policy Implications of Theocratic Movements
29:42 – Why Congressman Huffman Still Has Hope