Contrarian stalwarts Norm Eisen, Asha Rangappa, and Jen Rubin join Harry for a special episode filmed in front of a live audience at Princeton University. They begin with the cataclysmic fall of the Washington Post and what it shows about Trump's power to demolish even the most powerful civic institutions. From there, they turn to the deportation effort, which seems to be running itself into the ground, and Trump's latest noises about election interference. They end with some measured but forceful optimism for American democracy in 2026. A video version of this episode is available on YouTube. 

Mentioned in this episode:

The Contrarian: ⁠https://contrarian.substack.com/

The Contrarian’s YouTube: ⁠https://youtube.com/@ContrarianNews⁠

Democracy Defenders Fund: https://www.democracydefendersfund.org/⁠

Asha's Substack: https://asharangappa.substack.com/

Asha's podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/its-complicated/id1434320092

The New York Times piece on lawsuits against the administration: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2026/us/trump-administration-lawsuits.html⁠

Image credit: Sameer Khan, Fotobuddy

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