# A Vast Grab for Power Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/letters-from-an-american-5323066/a-vast-grab-for-power Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/letters-from-an-american-5323066/a-vast-grab-for-power.md Podcast: [Letters from an American](https://stenobird.com/podcast/letters-from-an-american-5323066) Published: 2026-06-04T19:48:23+00:00 Episode link: https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/a-vast-grab-for-power Audio file: https://api.substack.com/feed/podcast/200665556/b4602fc4bc73bca33440229965a022e5.mp3 Processing state: not_requested JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/letters-from-an-american-5323066/episodes/a-vast-grab-for-power Duration seconds: 821 ## Resource June 3. 2026 US Supreme Court allows Alabama to use a 2023 map that had been ruled as unconstitutional because it violates the Fourteenth Amendment and Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, As Trump deteriorates mentallly and physically Republican lawmakers and the administration try to grab as much power as possible, Promises of an end to the war on Iran fizzle and the economy is slowing as oil prices increase and credit card delinquencies reach new highs, Russell Vought proposes that OMB should have control over research grants, Trump signs order stripping civil service workers of protected status, And Trump nominates William Pulte as acting director of national intelligence, one of the most important positions in the government, Pulte has no experience in intelligence and his nomination threatens the renewal of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), Democrats and some Republicans are pushing back on Pulte's nomination, There has been pushback in the House where a resolution passed telling Trump to stop its strikes on Iran or get congressional approval and a measure that would aid Ukraine advanced, Trump did not react well. Watch today's recording here: https://www.youtube.com/live/g9TUa1Rwd6U?si=T8_KKcHQZElhpnZ- Get full, free access to Letters from an American here: https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/subscribe You can also find me: Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/hcrichardson.bsky.social Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/heathercoxrichardson/?hl=en Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/heathercoxrichardson/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@heathercoxrichardson Get full access to Letters from an American at heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/subscribe ## Actions - request_transcript: `POST https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/letters-from-an-american-5323066/episodes/a-vast-grab-for-power/transcription-requests` — Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode. - read_markdown: `GET https://stenobird.com/podcast/letters-from-an-american-5323066/a-vast-grab-for-power.md` — Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource. A page view does not enqueue transcription. Agents should invoke `request_transcript` explicitly when they need this episode processed. ## Transcript Full transcripts are not published on public pages unless there is a clear rights basis.