Three weeks ago, who would have thought the Epstein controversy would be dragging on, and perhaps even picking up momentum. And yes, I’ll mention it in the weekly summary, but I’m not going to focus on it.
Instead I want to take a step back and connect two ideas that should be bound together in the public mind: the unitary executive legal theory that gets argued before the Supreme Court, and the Trump administration’s increasing authoritarianism. I want to argue that those are simply different faces of the same fascist tendency: “unitary executive” is a euphemism for “tyrant”. In the modern era, a traditionally American vision of liberty is only possible when government power is divided not only between the three branches of government, but when the power of the executive branch itself is divided among agencies that retain a high degree of independence.
The unitary executive, then, is not some esoteric legal notion. It’s a fundamental assault on American freedom.
That post should be out by 10 EDT. (Yes, I’m back home.) The weekly summary will include the Epstein developments (briefly), what’s been going on in Gaza, the recently announced trade deals with Japan, and the EU, and various other developments, closing with a remembrance of musical satirist Tom Lehrer.
The Weekly Sift 