Good Law | Bad Law -Will Trump Go? A Conversation w/ Lawrence Douglas
07/03/20 • 68 min
If Trump loses in November, what will he do? What could happen? Will it be a complete meltdown of our electoral and political system? Or worse?
Aaron Freiwald, Managing Partner of Freiwald Law and host of the weekly podcast, Good Law | Bad Law, is joined by Lawrence Douglas, a professor of law, jurisprudence, and social thought at Amherst College and the author of a new book, Will He Go?: Trump and the Looming Election Meltdown in 2020. In today’s conversation, Aaron and Lawrence tackle what will happen if Trump loses the election but refuses to concede defeat – discussing the role of electoral college and the other ways the system we have for electing our president is antiquated and dysfunctional.
In short, the potential for dirty tricks, even election fraud and political crisis-making is great and it is real.
In advance of the 2020 election, Lawrence prepares readers of “Will He Go?” for the possibility of a less-than-peaceful transition of power. What legal and extra-legal paths could Trump pursue in mobilizing a challenge? Lawrence considers the chaos that could unfold if Trump loses a closely contested election. Aaron and Lawrence talk about Trump’s base, what past tumultuous elections have taught us about ways the election train could run right off the tracks this year, the increasing importance of mail-in ballots and “the big blue shift,” the impact of the pandemic on voting, and much more.
What could the fallout be? Can our democracy snap back from Trump?
Professor Douglas is the author of seven books, including The Right Wrong Man: John Demjanjuk and the Last Great Nazi War Crimes Trial, a New York Times “Editor’s Choice,” and has published two novels. His commentary and essays have appeared in Harper’s, The Washington Post, The New York Times, and The Lost Angeles Times; and he is a regular contributor to the Times Literary Supplement and The Guardian (US), where he is also a contributing opinion writer. A Yale Law graduate, Lawrence teaches interdisciplinary courses to a range of students, some first-term, while others are designed for juniors and seniors. Professor Douglas’ courses ask students to see the law not as a narrow system of rules, but as a complex system that serves to constitute and maintain ordered patterns of social life.
How might Trump engineer his refusal to acknowledge electoral defeat? Listen now to find out!
To learn more about Lawrence, please visit his bio page here.
To learn more about Lawrence’s new book, Will He Go?: Trump and the Looming Election Meltdown in 2020, please click here.
Host: Aaron Freiwald
Guest: Lawrence Douglas
Follow Good Law | Bad Law:
YouTube: Good Law | Bad Law
Facebook: @GOODLAWBADLAW
Instagram: @GoodLawBadLaw
Website: https://www.law-podcast.com
If Trump loses in November, what will he do? What could happen? Will it be a complete meltdown of our electoral and political system? Or worse?
Aaron Freiwald, Managing Partner of Freiwald Law and host of the weekly podcast, Good Law | Bad Law, is joined by Lawrence Douglas, a professor of law, jurisprudence, and social thought at Amherst College and the author of a new book, Will He Go?: Trump and the Looming Election Meltdown in 2020. In today’s conversation, Aaron and Lawrence tackle what will happen if Trump loses the election but refuses to concede defeat – discussing the role of electoral college and the other ways the system we have for electing our president is antiquated and dysfunctional.
In short, the potential for dirty tricks, even election fraud and political crisis-making is great and it is real.
In advance of the 2020 election, Lawrence prepares readers of “Will He Go?” for the possibility of a less-than-peaceful transition of power. What legal and extra-legal paths could Trump pursue in mobilizing a challenge? Lawrence considers the chaos that could unfold if Trump loses a closely contested election. Aaron and Lawrence talk about Trump’s base, what past tumultuous elections have taught us about ways the election train could run right off the tracks this year, the increasing importance of mail-in ballots and “the big blue shift,” the impact of the pandemic on voting, and much more.
What could the fallout be? Can our democracy snap back from Trump?
Professor Douglas is the author of seven books, including The Right Wrong Man: John Demjanjuk and the Last Great Nazi War Crimes Trial, a New York Times “Editor’s Choice,” and has published two novels. His commentary and essays have appeared in Harper’s, The Washington Post, The New York Times, and The Lost Angeles Times; and he is a regular contributor to the Times Literary Supplement and The Guardian (US), where he is also a contributing opinion writer. A Yale Law graduate, Lawrence teaches interdisciplinary courses to a range of students, some first-term, while others are designed for juniors and seniors. Professor Douglas’ courses ask students to see the law not as a narrow system of rules, but as a complex system that serves to constitute and maintain ordered patterns of social life.
How might Trump engineer his refusal to acknowledge electoral defeat? Listen now to find out!
To learn more about Lawrence, please visit his bio page here.
To learn more about Lawrence’s new book, Will He Go?: Trump and the Looming Election Meltdown in 2020, please click here.
Host: Aaron Freiwald
Guest: Lawrence Douglas
Follow Good Law | Bad Law:
YouTube: Good Law | Bad Law
Facebook: @GOODLAWBADLAW
Instagram: @GoodLawBadLaw
Website: https://www.law-podcast.com
Previous Episode
Good Law | Bad Law - When Corporations Lie: A Conversation w/ Barbara Freese
Do corporations lie to avoid being held liable for harms their products or practices cause? Of course they do.
Aaron Freiwald, Managing Partner of Freiwald Law and host of the weekly podcast, Good Law | Bad Law, is joined by Barbara Freese, an author and an attorney, to talk about corporate denial and to discuss her new book, Industrial-Strength Denial: Eight Stories of Corporations Defending the Indefensible, from the Slave Trade to Climate Change.
Faced with claims that they are hurting people or the planet, corporations have a long history of denying evidence, blaming victims, complaining of witch hunts, attacking their critics’ motives, and otherwise rationalizing their harmful activities. In today’s conversation, Aaron and Barbara tackle corporate denial, exploring the reasons why and how this can happen, as it has throughout our history. Exploring eight case studies, from the British slave trade in the late 1700s through the climate change debate raging now, Barbara looks for reasons why corporations deny, deceive and, at times, outright lie. Factors include tribalism, human nature, morality and social responsibility, power, economic inequality, social media, and more. Barbara argues that corporate denial campaigns have led to dangerous practices that cause widespread suffering, death, and environmental destruction.
What can be done to combat corporate denial?
Barbara and Aaron explore the social responsibility of corporations, examining the impact of our fractured media society, corporate and market cultures, curated confusion and manufactured doubt, as well as corporations and democracy. With a new generation of young activists rising up to protest companies involved in causing climate change and structural causes of racial and wealth inequality, there is hope for pressing for political and legal changes that will reduce the power and influence of corporations that engage in deceit and denial.
Barbara Freese is an environmental attorney, an energy policy analyst, and a former Minnesota assistant attorney general. She is also the author of Coal: A Human History, a New York Times Notable Book. Barbara’s interest in corporate denial was sparked by cross-examining coal industry witnesses disputing the science of climate change. Listen now to find out more!
To learn more about Barbara, please visit her website here.
To learn more about Barbara’s latest book, Industrial-Strength Denial: Eight Stories of Corporations Defending the Indefensible, from the Slave Trade to Climate Change, please click here.
Host: Aaron Freiwald
Guest: Barbara Freese
Follow Good Law | Bad Law
YouTube: Good Law | Bad Law
Facebook: @GOODLAWBADLAW
Instagram: @GoodLawBadLaw
Website: https://www.law-podcast.com
Next Episode
Good Law | Bad Law - Another Bad Trump Immigration Ban: A Conversation w/ Ilya Somin
President Trump claims that the Covid-19 pandemic justifies “the most sweeping ban on immigration” in all of United States history. Really?
Aaron Freiwald, Managing Partner of Freiwald Law and host of the weekly podcast, Good Law | Bad Law, is joined by Law Professor Ilya Somin, of George Mason University, to discuss immigration, specifically the recent decision by the Trump administration to enact possibly the most sweeping immigration ban in American history.
On June 22nd, President Trump extended a near-total ban -- first announced in April as a temporary ban -- on entry into the U.S. by immigrants seeking “green cards” for permanent residency. In today’s episode, Ilya and Aaron delve into this decision, with Professor Somin claiming the President’s move is political and not rationally based on the pandemic. Ilya argues that President Trump’s executive action is a more sweeping ban on immigration that ever seen before, broader than steps taken during the Great Depression, during both World Wars, or during the and the flu pandemic of 1918-19. What were the President’s true motives? Why does this radical immigration ban actually harm rather than help the economy, in addition to hurting so many individuals and their families?
A graduate of Yale Law, Professor Somin’s areas of expertise are in Constitutional Law, Eminent Domain, Federalism, Political Participation/Political Knowledge and Property Rights and his research focuses on Constitutional Law, Property Law, Democratic Theory, Federalism, and Migration Rights. A successful author, Illya’s most recent book is Free to Move: Foot Voting, Migration, and Political Freedom. His work has also appeared in numerous scholarly journals, including the Yale Law Journal, Stanford Law Review, Northwestern University Law Review, Georgetown Law Journal, Critical Review, and others. Professor Somin has published articles in a variety of popular press outlets, including the Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, the New York Times Room for Debate Website, CNN, The Atlantic, and more. Professor Somin’s writings have been cited in decisions by the United States Supreme Court, multiple state supreme courts and lower federal Courts, and the Supreme Court of Israel.
Just how dangerous are Trump’s Immigration bans? Listen now!
To learn more about Ilya, please visit his bio page here.
To check out Professor Somin’s most recent book, Free to Move: Foot Voting, Migration, and Political Freedom, please click here.
To read the Forbes piece Aaron and Ilya discussed, please click here.
To check out Professor Somin’s Atlantic articles, please visit his archive here.
Host: Aaron Freiwald
Guest: Ilya Somin
Follow Good Law | Bad Law:
YouTube: Good Law | Bad Law
Facebook: @GOODLAWBADLAW
Instagram: @GoodLawBadLaw
Website: https://www.law-podcast.com
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