Episode 6.7: We the People: How Citizens Prevented Past Presidents from Permanently Breaking American Democracy

Interviewer: MATTHEW ROTH. In theory, the US Constitution established a system by which the three branches of government keep each other in check. Political scientist and constitutional scholar COREY BRETTSCHNEIDER argues that, in fact, it has more often been citizen pressure – not the courts or the legislature – that has rescued us from the anti-democratic exercise of presidential power. In his discussion with historian Matthew Roth, he describes how the core democratic principles of the Constitution, beginning with the opening phrase of the preamble, have inspired citizens to oppose autocratic presidents from John Adams to Richard Nixon and to push against the disastrously exclusionary racial politics of James Buchanan, Andrew Johnson, and Woodrow Wilson. In doing so, they have often interpreted the constitution in ways that put them at odds with learned members of the judiciary. Brettschneider suggests that we might learn from their examples to recover fully from the first (and now second) Trump administration. Brettschneider is author of the new book, The Presidents and the People: Five Leaders Who Threatened Democracy and the Citizens Who Fought to Defend It.

*Note: This podcast was recorded in October of 2024, prior to the most recent presidential election.