President Trump has deployed the National Guard to Memphis and Chicago and has his sights on Portland, Ore. It’s his latest effort to punish his enemies and provoke a response. In this episode, the Opinion national politics writer Michelle Cottle, the Opinion columnist David French and the contributing Opinion writer E.J. Dionne Jr. discuss the state of a divided America and what history can tell us about this moment.
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On this week’s round table: Courts, Congress and chaos under Trump.Below is a transcript of an episode of “The Opinions.” We recommend listening to it in its original form for the full effect. You can do so using the player above or on Apple, Spotify, Amazon Music, YouTube, iHeartRadio or wherever you get your podcasts.
The transcript has been lightly edited for length and clarity.
Michelle Cottle: Guys, welcome. How’s it going?
E.J. Dionne Jr.: Great. And joy to be with you both.
David French: Well, it’s great to be with you, Michelle. I missed you last week.
Cottle: Well, I am ready to dive back in and get all of the goodies that I missed. But I have to say, I leave town for a week to visit family, and you two let the government shut down and the National Guard invade Memphis and Chicago. I feel this is extremely irresponsible. It’s kind of inexcusable.