Introducing “Master Plan: The Kingmakers,” from The Lever
Summary
This episode of *Master Plan* explores the decades-long campaign to concentrate power in the White House, tracing the rise of the "unitary executive" theory. Host David Sirota examines how Richard Nixon’s attempts to usurp Congress’s power of the purse and wage secret wars sparked a brief era of congressional reform. The narrative reveals how subsequent legal maneuvers eroded these checks, paving the way for the authoritarian tendencies seen in Donald Trump’s presidency.
Topics discussed
Intro: The Kingmakers and the rise of authoritarianism
The Unitary Executive Theory explained
Trump's budget freeze and the Nixon precedent
Nixon's impoundment of highway funds and tariffs
Secret bombing of Cambodia and war powers
Congressional backlash: War Powers Act and Budget Act
The backlash to reform and the Vesting Clause
Outro and credits
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