Is This Democracy

About Is This Democracy

Welcome to Is This Democracy, the podcast where we discuss the ongoing conflict over how much democracy, and for whom, there should be in America. Hosted by Lilliana Mason and Thomas Zimmer

Publisher

Lilliana Mason and Thomas Zimmer

Category

news

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

4 Nov 2022

Latest episode

4 Jun 2025

Latest episodes

14 of 44 episodes have a transcript.

1. 

   4 Jun 2025TRANSCRIPT

   44. Is Trump Winning or Losing – or Should We Ask a Different Question?

   The hosts of "Is This Democracy" analyze the state of American democracy, questioning if viewing Trump's influence as simply winning or losing is helpful for understanding the country's political trajectory.

2. 

   25 Apr 2025TRANSCRIPT

   43. Mass “Deportation” Is the End of Constitutional Government

   Since early March, the Trumpist assault on the rule of law and the constitutional order has been most visible in the radicalizing attempt to purge the nation from anyone this regime deems unwelcome or “undesirable.” Foreign students who are labeled a threat to American foreign policy, Venezuelan migrants who are declared foreign “invaders,” innocent people like Kilmar Abrego Garcia who are treated as “terrorists.” Every day brings new horror stories of the Trump administration’s complete disregard for the fundamental rights of people who live in the United States, of the gleeful cruelty with which the government is destroying their lives. What is happening to these people isn’t adequately described as “deportation”: The U.S. government strips them of all rights and imprisons them in a brutal labor camp in a foreign country. A regime that so aggressively curtails and ignores fundamental rights for one group today will not hesitate to violate and suspend them for others tomorrow, or the day after tomorrow. It’s never far from “illegal aliens” and “alien enemies” to “the enemy within.” We talk about how all these cases are connected, about the role of the courts and what to make of the Supreme Court’s interventions, about the response from Democrats and the American public. And we discuss why this constitutes such an acute threat to constitutional government – a threat to the very survival of the Republic. To what extent is the constitutional order still in effect? If we must ask, we are fully in a crisis situation; once we don’t have to ask anymore, the constitutional order will have already been overthrown. Show notes: “He Was Deported by Administrative Error. We Talked to His Lawyer,” Amicus Podcast, April 5 https://slate.com/podcasts/amicus/2025/04/trump-tariffs-are-they-legal (https://slate.com/podcasts/amicus/2025/04/trump-tariffs-are-they-legal) Mark Joseph Stern, “The Crisis Over Trump’s Salvadoran Gulag Has Reached a Terrifying Breaking Point,” Slate, April 14 https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2025/04/trump-defying-supreme-court-el-salvador-bukele.html (https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2025/04/trump-defying-supreme-court-el-salvador-bukele.html) Trump v J.G.G, 5-4 Podcast, April 15 https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/trump-v-j-g-g/id1497785843?i=1000703569102 (https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/trump-v-j-g-g/id1497785843?i=1000703569102) Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, “In Kilmar Abrego Garcia Case, Trump Administration Escalates Its War on Due Process,” Immigration Impact, April 16 https://immigrationimpact.com/2025/04/16/kilmar-abrego-garcia-case-trump-due-process/ (https://immigrationimpact.com/2025/04/16/kilmar-abrego-garcia-case-trump-due-process/) Chris Geidner, “Supreme Court blocks some Alien Enemies Act removals in Texas-based case,” Law Dork, April 19 https://www.lawdork.com/p/supreme-court-aea-april-late-night-order (https://www.lawdork.com/p/supreme-court-aea-april-late-night-order) Follow Lily (https://bsky.app/profile/lilymasonphd.bsky.social) Follow Thomas (https://bsky.app/profile/thomaszimmer.bsky.social) Follow the podcast on social media (https://bsky.app/profile/isthisdemocracypod.bsky.social) Read Thomas’ weekly newsletter Democracy Americana (https://thomaszimmer.substack.com/)

3. 

   9 Apr 2025TRANSCRIPT

   42. Stupidity, Ideology, and Tariffs (plus: why protests matter a great deal)

   Are you feeling “liberated”? The long-dreaded “Liberation Day” saw America declare a trade war on the rest of the world. We discuss why Trump loves tariffs and what to make of the different rationales emerging from the regime. Most importantly, we unpack the politics of the tariff madness, what it can tell us about how this government operates, and how it all fits (or doesn’t) with the broader political project of Tumpism. There is no cunning masterplan, no coherent policy process – but that doesn’t mean these actions aren’t rooted in a worldview of hierarchies and tied to a broader political project seeking domination. Finally, it wasn’t all bad lately: “Liberation Day” was preceded by what has been termed “Resistance Day” and, crucially, followed by the “Hand Off” mass protests. The Trumpist regime’s main justification for its authoritarian assertion of power - that Trump has a “mandate,” that he’s enacting the “will of the people,” that his agenda represents a broad consensus - is a dangerous lie that we must not perpetuate. Follow Lily (https://bsky.app/profile/lilymasonphd.bsky.social) Follow Thomas (https://bsky.app/profile/thomaszimmer.bsky.social) Follow the podcast on social media (https://bsky.app/profile/isthisdemocracypod.bsky.social) Read Thomas’ weekly newsletter Democracy Americana (https://thomaszimmer.substack.com/)

Inside a recent episode

44. Is Trump Winning or Losing – or Should We Ask a Different Question?

Published 4 Jun 2025 · Transcript excerpt

[…] And international students are learning that they might want to go to Harvard, but they can't risk going to Harvard. And so we're going to find somewhere else to learn how to do with the science that they do. And other, you know, other countries are watching are like financial chaos and reassessing whether the dollars should be the gold standard in the world, like all of these things are changing the way that the whole world understands the United States. And in a way that I don't think is reversible. Right, they just are former allies and our current and our enemies, right, our current enemies, they think of this differently now. […]

Reach and audience

Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.

Apple Podcasts (US)

4.9 / 5

392 ratings

Spotify

4.9 / 5

285 ratings

Podcast Authority Score: 52 / 100

A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.

Quality

65

Social presence

0

YouTube

0

Engagement

99

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Guest appearances

Books guests

Based on episode analysis; this does not confirm that the show is currently accepting guests.