The hottest Executive Power Substack posts right now

And their main takeaways
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Top U.S. Politics Topics

Minnesota Vice. Is There Anyone Trump Can’t Fire? Plus . . .

Common Sense with Bari Weiss • 370 implied HN points • 09 Dec 25
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Executive Power
  1. A huge fraud at a Minneapolis nonprofit allegedly stole over $250 million meant to feed kids during the pandemic, with investigators saying some money was spent on luxury items and may have flowed to militants in Somalia.
  2. The Supreme Court is weighing a case that could let the president remove many more federal officials, which would greatly expand presidential power and reshape how government works.
  3. The newsletter highlights a string of cultural and political flashpoints — from assisted‑suicide debates and library book bans to online harassment of women scholars and infighting among Democrats — showing rising polarization on social issues.

Democrats need a theory of power, but democracies need a theory of accountability

Can We Still Govern? • 311 implied HN points • 17 Dec 25
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Executive Power
  1. Authoritarian "move fast" tactics that break rules and purge experts are not efficient — they’re haphazard, erode institutions, and weaken the government’s ability to deliver public goods.
  2. Progressives need a clearer theory of power to overcome excessive proceduralism and get things done, but that power must be balanced by the rule of law and institutional safeguards rather than personalist authority.
  3. Broad measures of trust don’t reliably show government effectiveness because they’re driven by partisanship; people value procedural checks and participation, so accountability and targeted performance metrics matter more than generalized trust.

How Trump Broke Our Moral Compass

Common Sense with Bari Weiss • 343 implied HN points • 10 Dec 25
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Executive Power
  1. Leadership rhetoric and actions have normalized cruelty, making extreme measures like extrajudicial violence and harsher rules of engagement seem acceptable.
  2. Widespread public apathy or muted outrage has allowed these outrages to go unchecked and weakened the country's moral standards.
  3. Dehumanizing language and policies toward immigrants and outsiders have produced harsher treatment, canceled citizenship ceremonies, and eroded legal protections.

Is There Anyone Trump Can’t Fire?

Common Sense with Bari Weiss • 352 implied HN points • 09 Dec 25
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Executive Power
  1. The Supreme Court may remove the legal limit that keeps presidents from firing officials of independent federal agencies, threatening agency independence.
  2. The case began when Trump tried to oust FTC commissioner Rebecca Slaughter and directly challenges a 90-year-old precedent that allowed removal only for cause.
  3. If the Court overturns that precedent, presidents could replace commissioners for political reasons and fundamentally reshape the administrative state.

Trump's Executive Branch Revolution

Richard Hanania's Newsletter • 4193 implied HN points • 05 Feb 25
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Executive Power
  1. Trump is changing how the executive branch works, using power in new ways that could impact future presidents. He wants to control parts of the government, like USAID, and has plans for the Department of Education.
  2. There's a long history of presidents not spending money that Congress gives them, called impoundment. This can change how money is spent and can lead to a stronger executive branch.
  3. The balance of power in the government is shifting. Just like how the Supreme Court influenced laws in the past, Trump's actions could redefine what future presidents can do.
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February 23, 2026

Letters from an American • 29 implied HN points • 24 Feb 26
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Executive Power
  1. The president responded to the Supreme Court ruling by publicly doubling down on tariffs, claiming broad unilateral power and attacking the Court’s legitimacy.
  2. Those tariff threats have created real international and economic fallout — trading partners and the European Parliament froze or delayed deals, markets fell, and Congress shows little appetite to back the plan.
  3. A string of administration controversies and legal moves — blocked reports, a barred ambassador, officials' inappropriate behavior, and misconduct allegations — are damaging credibility and increasing political backlash.

The Supreme Court Strikes Trump’s Tariffs

The Reactionary • 38 implied HN points • 20 Feb 26
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Executive Power
  1. The Supreme Court ruled that the International Emergency Economic Powers Act does not authorize the President to impose tariffs, effectively ending the presidential tariff program.
  2. The decision was 6–3, with Chief Justice Roberts writing the opinion joined by Justices Gorsuch, Barrett, Kagan, Sotomayor, and Jackson, while Justices Thomas, Alito, and Kavanaugh dissented.
  3. The Court emphasized that Congress under Article I has the power to set tariffs and declined to read the IEEPA’s broad 'regulate importation' language as giving the President sweeping economic authority.

Elite Resistance to Trump: What Does It Mean?

God's Spies by Thomas Neuburger • 80 implied HN points • 05 Feb 26
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Executive Power
  1. The powerful will preserve the state's ability to wield extreme power while blaming and limiting the individual who used it.
  2. Agencies and tools like ICE are likely to remain funded and intact, so small reforms or criticisms won't remove the underlying capacity for abuse.
  3. If the rules that enabled these abuses aren't reversed now, they will stay in place for future presidents, and relying on elections alone won't eliminate the danger.

How Much Power Does the President Actually Have Over the Civil Service?

Can We Still Govern? • 139 implied HN points • 12 Jan 26
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Executive Power
  1. The president actually has broad, statutory authority to shape hiring, exemptions, and conduct rules in the federal civil service—far more power than most people assume.
  2. That authority can be used to strengthen administrative capacity or to politicize and weaken agencies, and courts and Congress often defer or fail to check problematic uses.
  3. If we want laws to be implemented faithfully, Congress and the courts need to impose clearer statutory limits and enforce them, because professional norms alone won’t prevent abuse.

February 20, 2026

Letters from an American • 30 implied HN points • 21 Feb 26
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Executive Power
  1. The Supreme Court found that the president did not have authority under the IEEPA to impose broad tariffs, so those tariff measures were unconstitutional.
  2. Those tariffs functioned like taxes on American businesses and households, raising prices and contributing to slower economic growth and job losses.
  3. The administration used emergency powers to bypass Congress, sparking concerns about executive overreach and prompting calls for refunds and political pushback while the president seeks other ways to impose tariffs.

As Tensions Flare in Minneapolis, We Learn That the Shooting of Renee Good Is Even Worse Than Originally Believed

Proof • 122 implied HN points • 10 Jan 26
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Executive Power
  1. New details show the killing of Renee Good by an ICE agent was even worse than first reported.
  2. The shooting appears tied to a broader, quota-driven deportation campaign and implicates high-level political figures connected to that enforcement agenda.
  3. Federal agents operated masked and without insignia, suggesting an unprecedented, government-sponsored use of force that threatens civil liberties and democratic norms.

At will? Whose will?

Can We Still Govern? • 254 implied HN points • 09 Dec 25
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Executive Power
  1. The Supreme Court seems poised to let presidents remove independent agency leaders, which will make agencies more political and reward loyalty over expertise.
  2. The federal government is already operating like an at‑will system right now, with partisan firings and stripped safeguards that weaken career staff, reduce state capacity, and invite corruption.
  3. State experiments with at‑will hiring offer weak, mixed evidence and don’t map well to the federal level; you can’t safely combine lots of political appointees with at‑will employment without risking politicized abuses, so reforms need careful evaluation.

How to Win a Pardon from Trump

Common Sense with Bari Weiss • 190 implied HN points • 23 Dec 25
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Executive Power
  1. Presidents often dole out a big batch of pardons around the end of a term, and Trump reportedly granted more than 1,500 on his first day back.
  2. Personal access and favors — like playing golf at Mar‑a‑Lago, recommendations from allies, or shared grudges — can help get someone’s case in front of the president.
  3. A presidential pardon can erase serious federal charges and prison exposure, underscoring the huge and sometimes controversial power of the pardon power.

Public Choice links, 11/13/2025

In My Tribe • 318 implied HN points • 13 Nov 25
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Executive Power
  1. Trade protectionism in America is seen as central planning dressed up as economic nationalism. While manufacturing output has grown, employment in factories has declined.
  2. There’s a push for better state capacity in government, but some argue it needs to focus on doing fewer things well rather than expanding into more areas.
  3. Voters often make poor choices about policies. Scholars understand what's inefficient, but there’s a challenge in communicating that knowledge to the public.

Pardon the Corruption

Can We Still Govern? • 254 implied HN points • 02 Dec 25
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Executive Power
  1. Pardons are being doled out for loyalty, money, and political favors instead of following normal DOJ criteria, with a partisan political appointee running the pardon office.
  2. The effect is a two-tier justice system where the rich and connected escape punishment, victims lose restitution, and prosecutions and investigations are weakened or dropped.
  3. This creates impunity and hypocrisy: the administration uses law enforcement aggressively against opponents while shielding allies, turning the law into a tool for corruption.

Black Sites and Black Days

God's Spies by Thomas Neuburger • 95 implied HN points • 23 Jan 26
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Executive Power
  1. The ICE facility at the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building is functioning like a black site. Parts are unacknowledged, closed to inspection, and can hold people without normal legal process, including U.S. citizens.
  2. Detainees report humiliating and abusive treatment—forced exposure, ‘‘trophy’’ photos, overcrowded cells, and ignored medical needs—which can amount to torture and serious rights violations.
  3. These practices and apparent flouting of court orders show a dangerous expansion of state power that could be used to suppress opponents, and they risk becoming more entrenched if not stopped.

One Year Later

Unpopular Front • 69 implied HN points • 20 Jan 26
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Executive Power
  1. The administration has proven more radical and authoritarian than many expected. State agencies are being used as organized enforcers and measures like mass deportations and dehumanizing rhetoric are central tools of power.
  2. The “vibe shift” narrative was overstated and short-lived. Pundits turned it into a commodified story, but the broader culture hasn’t permanently shifted toward Trumpism.
  3. An imperial, growth-at-all-costs mindset among elites and tech barons is shaping policy, and online groyper-style networks are radicalizing young conservatives and remaking the right in ways mainstream media struggles to cover.

Why are we (close to) attacking Iran?

Unreported Truths • 32 implied HN points • 20 Feb 26
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Executive Power
  1. The U.S. has moved major naval forces close to Iran while the president has given almost no public explanation of any plan or objectives.
  2. Reasons for the silence could include ongoing negotiations, a desire to bluff or preserve tactical surprise, or simply indecision, and the president personally tends to avoid explaining foreign-policy moves.
  3. An attack on Iran would be a war of choice that should involve Congress and a clear public explanation, both for legal legitimacy and to build support and prepare for possible messy consequences.

Taiwan's Horrible Friday

Taipology • 132 implied HN points • 20 Dec 25
🌍 World Politics Executive Power
  1. A random knife-and-arson rampage in Taipei killed people and caused widespread fear, with a security guard sacrificing himself to stop the attacker; authorities worry about copycat violence and social panic.
  2. The opposition mounted a mass impeachment push against President Lai, claiming executive overreach after the executive refused to promulgate fiscal laws, and collected over six million online signatures despite impeachment being unlikely.
  3. Five Constitutional Court justices formed an ad-hoc emergency panel to rule fiscal legislation unconstitutional, creating a dangerous precedent that deepens political polarization and raises concerns about erosion of separation of powers until major elections in 2028.

How Different Are Trump State Killings from Other Police Deaths?

God's Spies by Thomas Neuburger • 65 implied HN points • 28 Jan 26
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Executive Power
  1. Police killings are a steady, systemic problem where officers often face little accountability, and many victims were accused of nonviolent offenses or simply trying to flee.
  2. What’s different now is that top leaders openly enable and defend deadly police tactics, with blatant falsehoods replacing the old, more subtle cover-ups.
  3. That open embrace of state violence strips away previous pretenses and could fundamentally change policing and accountability, with serious and uncertain consequences for public safety.

Is Trump Building a Massive Data Center Beneath the East Wing? If So, Why?

God's Spies by Thomas Neuburger • 100 implied HN points • 07 Jan 26
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Executive Power
  1. The White House "ballroom" construction may actually be cover for a large, hardened underground data center beneath the East Wing.
  2. That facility could host AI and government cloud systems to run critical infrastructure, military targeting, and continuity-of-government functions, built to survive attacks and outages.
  3. Heavy contractor and tech involvement, major power and water upgrades, and secrecy under executive control raise questions about who would control it and whether it’s for defense or centralized surveillance without public oversight.

The Dilemmas of Democracy

The Honest Broker Newsletter • 1717 implied HN points • 17 Feb 25
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Executive Power
  1. Democracy relies on a mix of regular people and experts working together. Everyone is a bit ignorant, but collaboration can help us make better decisions.
  2. Respecting the Constitution is key for effective governance and means no one group gets everything they want. Compromise and understanding are essential in a democracy.
  3. How leaders respond to challenges today will affect the future of governance. They need to be responsible and committed to including everyone in the decision-making process.

Trump Administration to Criminally Investigate Beloved Mother of Three It Already Murdered—and Her Grieving Widow, Too

Proof • 63 implied HN points • 14 Jan 26
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Executive Power
  1. The administration is planning criminal investigations that would target Renee Good — a woman already killed by a federal agent — and her grieving spouse.
  2. Renee Good was a U.S. citizen and mother of three from Minnesota who was shot dead by an ICE agent, who reportedly called her a "fucking bitch" afterward.
  3. Many view the planned prosecutions as an extraordinary and contemptible abuse of executive power, and the case has prompted ongoing investigative reporting.

WHEN AN HONORABLE JUDGE MEETS A CORRUPT GOVERNMENT

Seymour Hersh • 30 implied HN points • 11 Feb 26
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Executive Power
  1. Judge Jerry Blackwell found that ICE and other federal agents carried out aggressive arrests and deportations in Minneapolis without following constitutional due process, raising serious legal compliance questions.
  2. The federal raids were a political show of force in a largely Democratic, immigrant-rich city and produced mass arrests, violent clashes, and deaths among protesters.
  3. The case exposed a clash between judicial oversight and politically driven federal enforcement, revealing a constitutional tension over how far federal power can go when courts insist on legal limits.

January 31, 2026

Letters from an American • 39 implied HN points • 01 Feb 26
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Executive Power
  1. Some current leaders are arguing that immigrants and working people should be treated as a permanent foreign labor class without full political rights, an idea that echoes the 19th-century “mud-sill” caste theory.
  2. Powerful elites and officials are showing signs of acting with impunity—through secret financial deals, connections to abuse networks, and heavy-handed federal force—while also trying to recast victims or protesters as the real threat.
  3. There is active resistance to that hierarchical vision: legal rulings, public protests, and unexpected election results show many Americans pushing back in defense of equal political rights and the free-labor ideal.

The Iran War: Power and Blowback

Charles Eisenstein • 11 implied HN points • 28 Feb 26
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Executive Power
  1. War inflicts real human suffering and should be judged by who it harms, not just by strategic or economic costs.
  2. A foreign policy that acts on "do what benefits us if we can get away with it" is the same logic as other abuses of power and corrodes diplomacy, law, and moral standing.
  3. True peace must come from compassion and the sense that we are interconnected, not merely self-interest, and building that peace could transform society even as old normalities fall apart.

When Abundance Becomes Anti-Evolutionary

apxhard • 76 implied HN points • 05 Jan 26
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Executive Power
  1. Sustained abundance flattens selection pressure. Societies then prioritize reliability, procedure, and administration over risky experimentation, which makes them anti‑evolutionary.
  2. Diffuse procedural rules become an invisible, unaccountable elite that blocks learning; federalism can preserve local experimentation but shared currency and bailouts tend to collapse failure domains back into central control.
  3. To restore evolvability you must remove procedural overhang, concentrate responsibility, and make failure personally costly for elites; real evidence of success would be falling federal obligations, permanent deletion of institutions, legally protected state divergence, and local failures that are allowed to propagate.

The State and the Soldier

Comment is Freed • 102 implied HN points • 21 Dec 25
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Executive Power
  1. The American system depends on clear civilian control of the military, and letting the military judge or override civilian leaders would risk praetorianism and damage democracy, so any fix must come from civilian institutions like Congress.
  2. It is wrong to put the legal burden on commanders to refuse or judge orders; civilian leaders and legal offices must provide clear, lawful authorization so service members are not forced to choose between obedience and court-martial.
  3. Recent politicization and weak civilian leadership are straining civil‑military relations through firings and public interventions, but Congress, the courts, state governments, and civil society remain the primary checks and make a military takeover unlikely.

Best of Can We Still Govern 2025: Readers Picks

Can We Still Govern? • 78 implied HN points • 30 Dec 25
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Executive Power
  1. American democracy is under serious threat as a rapid pattern of authoritarian moves targets the bureaucracy, military, courts, civil society, higher education, and election administration, with elections likely the next major focus.
  2. Political actors are weaponizing administrative rules and politicizing scientific agencies, and large numbers of ordinary people are actively pushing back against those changes.
  3. Independent platforms and direct communication matter because they let researchers and citizens share warnings, mobilize responses, and reach people outside traditional media.

Behavioural Geopolitics: What it means for the coming years

Klement on Investing • 7 implied HN points • 25 Feb 26
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Executive Power
  1. Very powerful countries tend to feel more threatened and become more hawkish, which leads them to intervene militarily and economically even against weaker rivals.
  2. When checks on government power are weak, leaders can use state actions to benefit allies and big companies, increasing corruption and privileging private interests over the public good.
  3. Encouraging allies to rearm can make them more independent and confident, which may create new rivalries and strain old alliances, and could prompt deals or conflicts over strategic assets like semiconductors and Taiwan.

The Supreme Court's Holding Action Against Autocracy

Gideon's Substack • 11 implied HN points • 23 Feb 26
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Executive Power
  1. The Supreme Court ruled that the president cannot unilaterally impose or remove tariffs by declaring an emergency, and tariff power properly belongs to Congress so courts will read broad delegations narrowly.
  2. The Roberts Court pairs strong presidential control inside the executive with a strict approach to congressional delegations on major questions, forcing the executive to get clear authorization from Congress for big policy moves.
  3. In practice, partisan Congresses may refuse to reassert their authority, leaving the Court only able to veto and causing paralysis or temporary executive actions that businesses treat as law until voters and lawmakers fix it.

Best of Can We Still Govern 2025: Personal Favorites

Can We Still Govern? • 66 implied HN points • 31 Dec 25
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Executive Power
  1. A presidency built around personal loyalty is eroding democratic norms and has enabled the use of armed federal forces and legal changes to target political opponents.
  2. Policy decisions like cutting foreign aid and imposing new work requirements on safety‑net programs can cause widespread human suffering and will affect millions of people.
  3. Scholarly critique, mentorship, thoughtful reporting, guest research, and direct giving matter — they shape understanding, push back on harmful policies, and provide tangible help to those in need.

January 23, 2026

Letters from an American • 33 implied HN points • 24 Jan 26
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Executive Power
  1. Tens of thousands protested the federal occupation of Minneapolis–St. Paul, saying ICE and CBP actions are trampling constitutional rights like free speech, equal protection, and protection from unreasonable searches.
  2. The administration is using visa revocations, secret memos authorizing warrantless home entries, and an expanded 'domestic terrorism' label to silence and criminalize dissent.
  3. This push is part of a broader effort to redefine America around racialized 'blood-and-soil' ideas, while many point to the Founders and Lincoln to argue that defending equality and the rule of law is the true conservative stance.

The SAVE America Act Won't Pass the Senate

Who is Robert Malone • 16 implied HN points • 12 Feb 26
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Executive Power
  1. The SAVE America Act would require proof of U.S. citizenship and photo ID to register and vote in federal elections, and it passed the House but now faces a tough path in the Senate.
  2. The Senate’s 60‑vote cloture rule and the filibuster let a minority block the bill even with a bare majority, so Republicans are weighing either reviving a talking filibuster to raise the cost of blocking bills or using the 'nuclear option' to lower the threshold.
  3. The president cannot change Senate rules directly, but can pressure senators, make the issue a national priority, enforce existing election laws, and try to reshape the Senate over time by supporting sympathetic candidates.

January 19, 2026

Letters from an American • 35 implied HN points • 20 Jan 26
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Executive Power
  1. The president privately and publicly pushed for control of Greenland and obsessively complained about the Nobel Prize, sending aggressive messages that ignore history, law, and diplomatic norms.
  2. He is actively undermining the post–World War II rules-based international order — backing autocrats, trying to seize Venezuelan assets, and proposing a self-styled “Board of Peace” that would concentrate power.
  3. Those moves have sparked broad alarm and calls for accountability from journalists, clergy, former officials, and allied governments, and have already prompted concrete responses like Denmark boosting troops in Greenland.

January 17, 2026

Letters from an American • 33 implied HN points • 18 Jan 26
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Executive Power
  1. The president announced tariffs on countries protecting Greenland to force a sale, using economic coercion rather than economic rationale and risking a trade war with U.S. allies.
  2. European leaders and citizens pushed back hard, with emergency EU meetings, threats of countermeasures, and large protests in Copenhagen and Nuuk, while other countries like Canada are moving ahead with independent trade ties.
  3. The administration’s broader authoritarian tactics — proposing a U.S.-led "Board of Peace," launching politicized investigations, and deploying agents against protesters — are drawing legal limits and eroding public support.

Congress Should Reform the Pardon Power

Gideon's Substack • 31 implied HN points • 16 Jan 26
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Executive Power
  1. The president’s broad pardon power is being abused in ways that threaten the rule of law because it can be used to excuse corruption or indemnify people who commit crimes at the president’s direction.
  2. Congress can try to curb that danger by banning preemptive pardons, requiring pardons to specify particular offenses and individuals rather than sweeping classes, and possibly limiting pardons to cases where charges or proceedings have begun.
  3. Even if the Supreme Court might strike down some limits, Congress should still attempt these reforms to assert its role, push the debate toward a constitutional amendment if needed, and avoid resigning the country to repeated pardon abuses.

Why Did Trump Just Start a Trade War with Our Neighbors?

Common Sense with Bari Weiss • 746 implied HN points • 02 Feb 25
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Executive Power
  1. Trump has imposed a 25% tariff on goods from Canada and Mexico, causing concern for many. This decision appears sudden and lacks a clear reason.
  2. The tariff could disrupt the economy and long-standing trade agreements. It might lead to increased costs for consumers and harm relations with neighboring countries.
  3. While there's a limit on tariffs for Canadian energy imports to avoid spiking energy prices, the rules are inconsistent and confusing for trade with Mexico.

The Death of USAID

Can We Still Govern? • 275 implied HN points • 09 Jul 25
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Executive Power
  1. USAID was a key organization for helping people worldwide, especially regarding food aid and fighting diseases. Its sudden end could lead to a lot of unnecessary suffering.
  2. The actions taken against USAID relied on controversial ideas about presidential power, which some believe could harm the balance of government authority in the U.S.
  3. Misinformation and conspiracy theories played a big role in dismantling USAID, showing how unchecked beliefs from powerful individuals can lead to real-life consequences for many around the world.

Trump roundup: Five days

The Watch • 585 implied HN points • 27 Feb 25
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Executive Power
  1. The administration is facing serious issues, like ignoring court orders and appointing unqualified people to key positions. This raises concerns about how the government is being managed.
  2. Immigration policies are getting stricter, with reports of plans for mass deportations and detaining people for simply checking in with authorities. This is creating a lot of fear among immigrant communities.
  3. There are increasing threats to free speech and the press, with officials targeting critics and controlling narratives. This could have lasting effects on how information is shared and how citizens engage with their government.