Know Your Enemy - Break Glass in Case of Emergency

Matt and Sam are very worried.

Duration: 1h 31m
Broadcast on: 03 Nov 2025
Audio Format: other

This is a different kind of episode than is typical; there's no book, no central text, not even a single, central event that guides the conversation. Instead, we begin with a few recent news items—speculation about Trump 2028, Speaker Mike Johnson's refusal to swear in a Democratic congresswoman, the stunning abdication of Congress as the shutdown continues, and, incredibly, a secretive billionaire and Mellon heir donates over a hundred million dollars to pay the military, among others—and then lay out our profound worries about Trump ruling by decree, and the coming of MAGA-style Caeserism. How and when might that occur? We discuss troubling signals the Trump administration is sending about upcoming elections, and especially the 2026 midterms; the ticking time bomb that is the Insurrection Act; how the right thinks about executive power (then and now), and more.

Sources:

Peter Rothpletz, "Trump's Third Term?" Zeteo/First Draft, Oct 24, 2025

Dana Milbank, "How Reactionary is MAGA? Try the First Century B.C.," Washington Post, Sept 7, 2022

Steve Bannon interview with The Economist, Oct 23, 2025 (YouTube)

Shawn Hubler & Laurel Rosenhall, "Justice Department Will Monitor Elections in California and New Jersey," New York Times, Oct 24, 2025

Steve Contorno & Ashley Killough, "Frustrated Arizonans Have Waited More Than a Month for Their New Congresswoman to be Seated," CNN, Oct 25, 2025

Yoni Applebaum, "America's Fragile Constitution," The Atlantic, Oct 2015

Abraham Lincoln, "Speech to the Young Men’s Lyceum of Springfield," Jan 27, 1838

Bob Bauer & Jack Goldsmith, "Here’s What Trump Could Unleash by Invoking the Insurrection Act," New York Times, Oct 18, 2025

Damon Linker, "The Surest Path to Dictatorship: A Quick Plug for a Short Primer about the Insurrection Act," Notes from the Middleground, Oct 18, 2025

"Discussing Caesarism," New Founding Podcast, Oct 21, 2022.

Harvey Mansfield, Taming the Prince: The Ambivalence of Modern Executive Power (1989)

James Burnham, Congress and the American Tradition (1959)

Garry Wills, Bomb Power: The Modern Presidency and the National Security State (2010)

...and don't forget to subscribe to Know Your Enemy on Patreon for access to all of our bonus episodes!

Oh right, welcome listeners to episode 123 of Know Your Enemy. I'm Matt Sippen, your podcast co-host, and I'm here as always with my great friend Sam of the Bell. Hey, Sam. Hi, Matt. Fall chill in the air. Baseball sadly is over, but it went out on a high note. Oh my God, that was like... I think it was one of the best baseball games I've ever watched, or at least I had the most fun watching it. Yes. And why, like, baseball at its absolute best is the ultimate team sport, I think. Yeah. And just like, I was watching it, you know, with like a couple of people with a much stronger rooting interest than I have, and I realized like, "Oh my God, I'm having fun. They're not having fun." Right. You're not on needles and pins. I was, you know, sort of hoping for the Blue Jays just to stick it to LA and America. I know. Sam, I did think, you know, if the Blue Jays win, my late friend Greg Hilles, when I file for his St. Hood, the first miracle will be the Blue Jays beating the Dodgers in the 2020 World Series. Alas, I'll have to wait for another miracle, but... Congratulations to the fine people of Los Angeles, including those of you who are our listeners. Anyway, it is kind of a hard pivot here from the glories of October baseball and the beauty of fall weather to the lowdown, odious, no good rotten, quite alarming state of American politics. I forgot what this episode was about. No guests, just me and Sam, and we tell you how bad it is. That's really it. Yes. We make a case for worrying. Yes. Break glass in case of emergency. But no, seriously, we start with some current events, more recent events in the news, the kind of, you know, ease you into it, and then we go deep into everything from the Insurrection Act to the upcoming midterms and some alarming initiatives on that front. We're seeing from the Trump administration. So we really run the gamut, but by the end, it is our case for, you know, whatever going through it means this is it. Yeah. Shall we get some housekeeping items? Yes, please. As always, we're grateful to our partners at Descent. One thing they do by sponsoring the podcast is if you subscribe to Know Your Enemy at our Patreon at patreon.com/KnowYourEnemy. For $10 a month or more, you not only get access to all of our bonus episodes, but also a free digital subscription to Descent and I believe the upcoming issue is on sewer socialism.

Transcription truncated.

Matt and Sam are very worried.