Mike and Trey open with their thoughts on Donald Trump’s inauguration and inaugural address. Trey considers Trump’s rhetoric, while Mike points out the typical Trumpian exaggerations and compares the speech to Trump’s 2017 “American Carnage” address.

Then they turn to pardons. Mike is sympathetic to President Biden’s use of preemptive pardons for his family and officials subject to potential political prosecution, but Trey can’t get behind them because of the bad precedent they set. They both agree that President Trump’s pardons of essentially everyone involved in the January 6th Capitol insurrection are unconscionable and that President Trump should have at least made the effort to sort out those who committed violence from non-violent offenders.

They close with a look at President Trump’s many executive actions on immigration and birthright citizenship, an issue that Mike argues is clearly settled law. Trey disagrees, pointing to a number of legal scholars who argue for a different interpretation of the 14th Amendment that might potentially convince enough members of the Court to allow his order to stand.

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