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Episode 1.10: Just in time for Independence Day 2017, it's a special politics edition of Soonish! With his attacks on judges and journalists, his attempts to quell inquiries into his campaign\u2019s Russia ties, his early-morning tweetstorms, and so much more, Donald Trump has breached every norm of presidential conduct. And he\u2019s testing the constitutional separation of powers in ways the nation\u2019s founders could never have anticipated. In this episode, we try to understand Trump\u2019s impact on government\u2014and what his presidency might mean for America\u2019s future\u2014using a metaphor from the aerospace business: gimbal lock. It\u2019s one of the perils that haunted the astronauts on the star-crossed Apollo 13 moon mission, and it may be a useful way to understand what happens when a single powerful figure undercuts the founders\u2019 system of checks and balances, or what journalist and biographer Walter Isaacson has called our \u201cconstitutional gyroscope.\u201d Featured guests include Amy Shira Teitel, Yascha Mounk, and David Eaves. The Soonish theme is by Graham Gordon Ramsay. Additional music by Lee Rosevere and Tim Beek, timbeek.com. Find more information about this episode at www.soonishpodcast.org. To support Soonish, please go to patreon.com/soonish.