That Was the Week Vol. 9: February 24th - 28th, 2025
Trump's Russia Strategy, an Expanding Executive Branch, Consumer Spending Shift, and the Constitutional Environment
The “Reverse Nixon” Strategy
A Wall Street Journal op-ed describes the White House strategy on US-Russia relations as “Trump team’s ‘reverse Nixon’ dreams”
President Nixon and Henry Kissinger strategically opened relations with China to counterbalance the Soviet Union in the 1970s
“The critics of this worry that Putin will pocket the transactional offerings of Mr. Trump and still hang pretty tight with the Chinese, and the Chinese pretty tight with the Russians. That's the concern. You know, on what practical basis would a wedge work? I think Trump and his team hope that they somehow can bribe or seduce with financial opportunities the Russians to part their ways with the Chinese . . . The Russians have a view of civilization where they dominate Europe and they become civilizationally significant. The Chinese have another view that's not that different,” Henry Sokolski, Nonproliferation Policy Education Center
Dropped Charges Against NYC Mayor Signal Greater Executive Power
New York City Mayor Eric Adams moved to cooperate with Trump immigration priorities prior to Justice Department order to dismiss corruption charges
The Department of Justice decision led to several resignations in NY prosecutor’s office
“All these many controversies are all part of this bigger, I think, broader approach, which is to restore the presidency to what it was before Watergate, which I think was a presidency of energy, a presidency of independence, of speed, and that there would be a greater balance between the presidency and Congress and the courts, rather than Congress trying to tie down the the very characteristics of the presidency that justified the creation of it in Alexander Hamilton's mind and the vesting of the executive power in a single person,” John Yoo, Civitas Institute
Consumer Report: Eggs Still Expensive, Rationed
Jim McTague reports from the economic ground floor on the price of basic commodities and consumer spending habits in Lancaster, Pennsylvania
Supermarkets like Costco maintain high price of eggs at 75¢ per egg, while restaurants enact surcharge for egg-based dishes
“Monday and Saturdays are their busiest days, but the people who work at Costco told me it was a little bit slow, but it was steady. So they had a constant stream of shoppers, but not as many as they're used to. The shoppers were very careful. We didn't see impulse buying. A lot of people only had a few items in their baskets, and I saw them handling and looking at the pricing very carefully. It tells me the consumer is being squeezed,” Jim McTague, Lancaster Report
A Revolution in the Administrative State
John Yoo of Civitas Institute argues that many issues are being pushed to the Supreme Court, reflecting a “power vacuum” and a departure from the Founders' vision
Trump's executive orders may signal a potential revolution in the administrative state, where agencies act in accordance with the best interpretation of statutes rather than relying solely on expert opinions
“You know, we used to have this weird phrase in the movie. We said, ‘Don't make a federal case out of it,’—now everything's a federal case. And so everyone wants all of these challenges by Trump to the existing order to go up to the Supreme Court. That almost is a sign actually of the power vacuum that we have if we're throwing everything over to the judiciary. I hope that the judiciary will just stay hands off and say, ‘I think the founders wanted [this fight] for the president and congress to work out between themselves,” John Yoo, Civitas Institute
Londinium Chronicles Recap: February 24th, 2025
Germanicus (Michael Vlahos) and Gaius (John Batchelor) discuss the shifting dynamics between the United States, Russia, and Europe in the context of the Imperial Project.
Author Interview with Eleanor Barraclough: February 26th, 2025
Embers of the Hands: Hidden Histories of the Viking Age by Eleanor Barraclough on Amazon
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The views and opinions expressed are those of John Batchelor and guests, and not those of CBS News.