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5-4

No War Is Illegal (When They All Are) [TEASER]

3/17/20266 min

As President Trump leads the U.S. into his very own middle eastern war, now may be a good time to ask: what part of the government actually has the power to declare war? And why does this theoretically limited power get used…constantly? Countries around the world would love to know. 

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5-4 is presented by Prologue Projects. This episode was produced by Alli Rod...

Clips

What Does 'Illegal War' Mean?
Endless Wars Without Declarations
Redefining War To Do War
One Level Above The President

Transcript preview

First 90 seconds

  1. Leon0:00

    [upbeat music] Hey, everyone. This is Leon from Prologue Projects. On this subscriber-only episode of Five to Four, Peter, Rhiannon, and Michael are telling the story of war in America and tracing the evolution of the law around who in the government gets to decide when the country starts one. As the Trump White House continues its war in Iran, it felt like a good time to take a look at what the Constitution has to say about the power to declare war and how various presidents from both parties have pushed this power to its absolute limits, broadening it so that America can drop bombs wherever the president wants without congressional approval. This is Five to Four, a podcast about how much the Supreme Court and the unchecked power of the executive to wreak havoc around the globe suck.

  2. Peter Shamshiri· Host0:46

    [upbeat music] Welcome to Five to Four, where we dissect and analyze the Supreme Court cases that have closed off our rights, like Iran closing off the Strait of Hormuz.

  3. Leon1:01

    Mm.

  4. Peter Shamshiri· Host1:01

    I'm Peter.

  5. Rhiannon Hamam· Host1:02

    Mm.

  6. Peter Shamshiri· Host1:02

    I'm here with Michael.

  7. Leon1:03

    Hey, everybody.

  8. Peter Shamshiri· Host1:04

    And Rhiannon.

  9. Rhiannon Hamam· Host1:05

    Strait of shut. [laughs] Shut.

  10. Peter Shamshiri· Host1:08

    Shut. It's closing it up.

  11. Leon1:09

    I see a lot of people being like, "Oh, Trump's gonna taco," and I'm like, "Maybe. Maybe Trump will chicken out," but, uh, it's not really up to him anymore now, is it? [laughs] He doesn't really get to decide when the strait opens.

  12. Rhiannon Hamam· Host1:21

    Yeah.

  13. Leon1:21

    Like- Yeah. Mm.

  14. Peter Shamshiri· Host1:23

    Yeah. No, Benjamin Netanyahu does. It's, uh- [laughs] ... up to his- [clears throat] ... our glorious king.

  15. Leon1:29

    Yeah.

  16. Peter Shamshiri· Host1:29

    One level

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