Let’s Get to the Marrow of What Trump Just Did
About this episode
Lind and Yglesias dissect Trump's opening executive-order blitz. On immigration, Lind sees expanded interior-enforcement authority (expedited removal anywhere in the US, detention buildup, visa sanctions on uncooperative countries) aimed less at achievable mass deportation than at creating fear and 'self-deportation'; the birthright-citizenship order pushes a legally dubious theory that would also strip citizenship from children of legal temporary-visa holders. On the economy, Yglesias finds little addressing grocery prices — the energy orders boost fossil-fuel production already at record highs and may raise electricity costs, while tariffs look more like negotiating theater than settled policy. DOGE has shrunk from a $2 trillion cost-cutting crusade to a modest IT-modernization office. Both guests note the administration's striking disinterest in legislation, and Yglesias argues Trump values the performance of action — announcements, fights, dominance — over the durable policy change that only Congress can deliver.