Systemic Error Podcast

REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein/File Photo The Summit Is About Managing Power, Not Governing It Two Presidents Set the Terms Donald Trump and Xi Jinping were scheduled to meet in the United States on September 24, 2026, with trade, technology, and Taiwan again dominating the agenda. The immediate business was expected to be modest: renew an earlier bargain on tariffs, export controls, critical minerals,...

EMPORIA, KANSAS, USA, October 6, 2020 Congressman Dr. Roger Marshall Republican senatorial candidate talks with supporters today at the Lyon County fairgrounds with the “Keep Kansas Great Bus Tour” (Shutterstock Asset id_1829211071) The Bill for Presidential War Is Arriving in Kansas A Red-State Revolt With a Price Tag The Hill’s reporting describes a Senate map transformed by rising energy costs,...

US President Donald Trump speaks as he hosts a dinner at the White House in Washington, D.C., US, September 17, 2026. REUTERS/Annabelle Gordon The Wrecking Ball Has a Chain of Command Destruction Is a Governing Choice The reported pattern is straightforward: the Trump administration is removing personnel, funding, expertise, and institutional capacity across the federal government. The examples ra...

U.S. President Donald Trump looks on as he speaks to members of the media after disembarking Air Force One at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland, U.S., August 11, 2026. REUTERS/Kylie Cooper The President as Guardrail Is the Plan to Have No Guardrails A Crisis of Power, Not Intelligence The immediate dispute is simple: AI researchers and executives warned that increasingly capable systems may evade contr...

Fox News’ Laura Ingraham in 2023 (Gage Skidmore) Fox News Chose Silence Because Silence Served Power The Ban Was the Point Donald Trump announced that CNN, MS NOW, and another news organization would be barred from the White House because they published coverage he disliked. He described unfavorable reporting as “fiction and lies” and warned that other outlets could follow. Fox News then largely w...

White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles attends a dinner hosted by U.S. President Trump in the Rose Garden at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., September 2, 2026. REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein The West Wing’s Anonymous Insurance Policy A Revolt Built on an Allegation Michael Wolff alleges that White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles coordinated leaks portraying President Donald Trump’s advisers...

U.S. President Donald Trump reacts as he participates in a signing ceremony in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., January 14, 2026. REUTERS Evelyn Hockst The Machinery of a Stolen Election Has More Than One Operator The Threat Is Institutional, Not Mystical Donald Trump has advertised an extraordinary menu of election interference: deploying law enforcement at polling pl...

Former Donald Trump adviser David Urban, Image via screengrab. The Press Ban Is the Policy. The Pivot Is the Cover. Punishment From the Presidency The immediate fact is simple: President Donald Trump threatened to exclude CNN, MS NOW, and other news organizations from the White House because he dislikes their reporting. The institutional power belongs to the president and the officials capable of...

Marine One flies in front of the Washington Monument, as US President Donald Trump returns to the White House, in Washington, D.C., US, September 19, 2026. Reuters/Anna Rose Layden REFILE - QUALITY REPEAT AND ADDING THAT MARINE ONE IS FLYING IN FRONT OF THE MONUMENT The Golfers Are a Distraction. The Presidency Is the Story. A Photograph in Place of Accountability Donald Trump abruptly left Camp D...

The U.S. Capitol is seen as a looming partial government shutdown is a week away if Congress fails to fund the government, on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., U.S., September 24, 2025. REUTERS/Nathan Howard Congress Didn’t Leave Trump Unchecked. Republicans Chose Not to Check Him. The Gavel Is the Power Speaker Mike Johnson’s decision to send the House home until after the November elections did...

President Donald Trump boards Air Force One as he departs for a state visit to Britain, at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland, September 16, 2025. REUTERS Kevin Lamarque The White House Is Testing Whether Illegality Still Has a Price The Ban Is the Context, Not the Mystery According to MS NOW’s report, President Donald Trump announced that MS NOW, CNN, and Politico would be barred from the White House a...

FILE PHOTO: U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping walk together as they tour the Temple of Heaven in Beijing, China, May 14, 2026. REUTERS/Evan Vucci/File Photo Failure Is Policy When Power Refuses Correction A Presidency of Compounding Crises Donald Trump enters this week’s United Nations gathering with wars involving Ukraine and Iran, stubborn inflation at home, and rapidl...

U.S. President Trump sits inside a vehicle as he arrives to board the Marine One helicopter to depart for travel to North Carolina from the Ellipse, near the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., September 16, 2026. REUTERS/Aaron Schwartz Washington Holds the Off-Ramp—and the Oil Market Hostage The Decision Sits in the White House Iran has delivered a ceasefire proposal through Qatari mediators:...

Donald Trump holds a model of an arch during a ballroom dinner at the White House in Washington DC on 15 October. Photograph: Jonathan Ernst/Reuters An Arch Built to Militarize Power The Proposal Is the Message Donald Trump says his planned triumphal arch in Washington should store drones, sniper ammunition, and provide positions for snipers on its roof and plaza. That is the essential context. Th...

U.S. President Donald Trump speaks to the media in the Press Briefing Room at the White House in Washington D.C., June 27, 2025. REUTERS/Ken Cedeno The White House Used Access as a Weapon. The Press Answered With a Request. The Decision Came From the Top According to the reporting, the White House barred CNN, MS NOW, and Politico from its premises on September 18 after the president accused them o...

White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller looks on at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) CEO summit in Gyeongju, South Korea on Oct. 29, 2025. REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein The Bureaucracy of Making Children Disposable The Power Is Federal The central fact is not that Stephen Miller holds harsh views. It is that the Trump administration gave those views institutional reach. According t...

Acting U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche and FBI Director Kash Patel hold a press conference to discuss Tren de Aragua developments at the Department of Justice in Washington, D.C., U.S., July 1, 2026. REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein The Attorney General’s Deadline Was Not an Emergency Until It Applied to Him The Record Is Delay The dispute is not complicated. According to journalist Katie Phang’s attor...

FILE PHOTO: A model of U.S. President Donald Trump’s proposed triumphal arch, on the final day of The Great American State Fair on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., U.S., July 10, 2026. REUTERS/Kylie Cooper/File Photo A Monument to Militarized Vanity The Arch Becomes an Arsenal Donald Trump says his proposed triumphal arch near Arlington Memorial Bridge will now double as a military complex s...

U.S. President Donald Trump smiles during an announcement about “Trump accounts”, in the Roosevelt Room at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., December 2, 2025. REUTERS/Brian Snyder/File Photo The Chatbot Is Not in Charge. The President Is. A Joke About the Wrong Power The column presents a comic conversation with ChatGPT about elections, gasoline prices, the Kennedy Center, presidential ai...

California Governor Gavin Newsom speaks as he meets voters and local leaders while campaigning for Democrats ahead of mid-term elections in Aiken, South Carolina, U.S. September 4, 2026. REUTERS/Sam Wolfe California Builds a Firewall Against Presidential Election Sabotage The Power Is Federal California voters are not the actors threatening to destabilize this election. Neither are local election...

US President Donald J. Trump makes an announcement on healthcare in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, D.C., US, September 18, 2026. REUTERS/Evan Vucci The White House Still Has the Power—That Is Why the Press Ban Matters Retaliation Is the Story According to the report, President Donald Trump said he would ban CNN, MS NOW, and Politico over what he called “fake news,” and their rep...

US President Donald Trump waves as he hosts a dinner at the White House in Washington, D.C., US, September 17, 2026. REUTERS/Annabelle Gordon The Presidency as a Personal Cashier A Campaign Promise Without a Government Donald Trump’s proposed $5,000 payment to every American adult was presented not as legislation but as a personal reward contingent on Republican midterm victories. The offer follow...

REUTERS/Hannah Beier Trump’s Inflation Is Policy, Not Misfortune The Damage Has an Author Donald Trump promised to lower prices. Instead, the policies described in the reporting—mass deportations, new taxes and war with Iran—are raising the cost of energy, food and ordinary commerce. Diesel has already broken price records, gasoline is following, and inflation stands at 3.4 percent. That is enough...

U.S Vice President J.D. Vance and other cabinet members watch as U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during the Republican National Midterm Convention in Dallas, Texas, U.S., September 9, 2026. REUTERS/Eric Lee/Pool The Presidency as a Protection Racket The Offer Donald Trump is telling voters that Republican victories could put $5,000 in their pockets. He has paired that promise with another messa...

President Donald Trump looks down as he participates in a call with service members. (REUTERS) The Price of Presidential Impunity Power Was the Point Donald Trump entered office claiming the authority to act first and disregard restraint. The policies cited in the reporting—tariffs and a war—were not imposed by shoppers confronting higher prices. They were presidential choices, enabled by a Republ...