In the United States, there are laws constraining the President’s power. The Attorney General and everyone who works at the Department of Justice aren’t meant to just do whatever the President tells them; they’re in charge of enforcing the law, whatever it is. 

So what will they do when enforcing the law doesn’t align with Donald Trump’s policies? 

In Trump’s first term, the Attorneys General and Justice Department staff prioritised the law over Trump’s desires, because that’s how democracies work. Is there any chance that will happen this time?

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Throughout Donald Trump’s campaign he declared that the Justice Department and the FBI were weaponised against him. 

Now that he’s US President, he’s making huge changes to both, putting loyal supporters in charge. 

Over two episodes, If You’re Listening looks at the massive transformation underway in the US federal criminal justice system, starting with the appointment of Kash Patel as Director of the FBI. 

For almost 50 years, FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover used the bureau as a political weapon, and successive Presidents let him. 

The 50 years since his death have seen the FBI aim for independence from the President. Now, with Patel’s appointment, that work is at risk of being undone, with potentially terrifying consequences.

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Billionaire Elon Musk is at the helm of US President Donald Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency, established to slash massive amounts of government spending as fast as possible. 

In just weeks they’ve dismantled agencies, cancelled programs and attempted to lay off tens of thousands of government workers. 

Everyone agrees that the US government is a mess, that it’s spending more than it earns and something should be done. And yet, there are mass protests across America against what Musk is doing. 

This week on If You’re Listening, can DOGE do what Musk and Trump say it will do? 

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When US President Donald Trump announced his plan for America to take over the Gaza Strip, everyone was stunned. That includes the man standing next to him, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. 

President Trump says everyone he’s spoken to loves the idea. But who has he spoken to? In his first term as president, Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner led efforts to broker peace in the region, and his approach makes this latest announcement make a lot more sense. 

This week on If You’re Listening, how Kushner and Trump turned geopolitics into property development.

Are you in Adelaide? On March 1 we're performing live, with all new stories at the Adelaide Festival Writers' Week. Tickets are selling fast: https://www.adelaidefestival.com.au/events/2025-writers-week/if-you-re-listening/

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Donald Trump started his presidency by picking a fight with Colombia. The US threatened its Central American neighbour with massive tariffs if it didn't accept planes full of handcuffed deportees. 

Colombia backed down — and that has serious implications for the rest of the region. President Trump is gearing up for negotiations over deportations and his new favourite issue, ownership of the Panama Canal. 

This week on If You're Listening, can one of the most divided, violent and vulnerable parts of the world find a way to fight back against President Trump's agenda? 

Are you in Adelaide? On March 1 we're performing live, with all new stories at the Adelaide Festival Writers' Week. Tickets are selling fast: https://www.adelaidefestival.com.au/events/2025-writers-week/if-you-re-listening/

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Donald Trump has liked the idea of tariffs for a long time, since before his first term as president. Now that he’s back in office he’s using them to do all sorts of things — threaten other countries, crack down on drug importation and bring manufacturing jobs back to the United States. 

He’s starting with a 25 per cent tax on imports from Canada and Mexico, a move that would have huge implications for America’s economy and its relationship with its closest neighbours. 

President Trump is promising it’s just the beginning, and that this won’t make goods more expensive for Americans. It’s been a long time since most developed countries have used tariffs in this way, but there is one US ally with a recent memory of something like it. 

In this episode of If You’re Listening, what can we understand about tariffs from Australia’s recent past?

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The people of Georgia are in the streets of Tbilisi, protesting the ruling party’s recent election win. At the heart of the fight is whether the country should appease Vladimir Putin, or oppose him. 

For years Georgia was moving closer to the European Union, but the war in Ukraine changed everything. Now, billionaire oligarch Bidzina Ivanishvili and his Georgia Dream party are betting on a relationship with Putin, hoping to save the country from a fate similar to Ukraine’s. 

Today on If You’re Listening, the story of a democracy at the crossroads of the West and the East, fighting over whether to be afraid of Vladimir Putin or not.

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Hunter Biden has been a main character in far-right conspiracy theories for years, and Donald Trump’s associates have spent significant effort searching for proof that could lead to his prosecution. In the end, Hunter reportedly provided the only evidence that has mattered: a laptop full of terribly embarrassing and potentially incriminating material. The story of how that laptop found its way to Trump’s favourite lawyer Rudy Giuliani is almost too bizarre to believe. But the Biden family story has been improbably tragic for decades, and it was those tragedies that have seemingly steered the outgoing president to pardon his son despite the very real cost to his own reputation, and the country.

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The International Criminal Court in The Hague wants Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu arrested for alleged war crimes in Gaza. 

But international justice works differently to other forms of justice — it relies on everyone opting in. More than 20 years into its existence the court is yet to convict any world leaders of anything. As the first fugitive from the ICC who is also an ally to Western countries like Australia and France, this case is one that could make or break the court itself. 

So what does that mean for Netanyahu and his allies? And what does it mean for the idea that there are some crimes that go beyond borders, committed against humanity itself. 

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A Chinese-owned cargo ship called the Yi Peng 3 is sitting idle in Danish waters, after undersea internet cables were cut in the Baltic Sea. European officials have cried sabotage. 

It’s not the first time something like this has happened; similar events have seen cables cut in other parts of the ocean. There’s serious concern that China and Russia are planning more of these attacks, and the way the internet is set up, it wouldn’t take many of them to cause serious problems. 

So how vulnerable is the internet to undersea sabotage? And if a big global conflict were to break out, would the cables be the first casualty?

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After January 6, many who had stuck by Donald Trump through his presidency condemned his denial of the election, and his failure to stop the attack on the Capitol. 

Banished to Mar-a-Lago the former president was banned from major social media platforms, driving his messages and MAGA community underground, into a parallel online world. 

That response by big tech to the violence of January 6 was designed to stop it happening again. 

Instead, it found Donald Trump powerful allies, and fostered his comeback, one that would send him all the way back to the White House. 

This is the final episode of America's Last Election. We'll be back next week with an episode about something completely different. If you liked the series, please share it around. 

Editor's note: In this episode, host Matt Bevan states that the Biden administration found itself in a "lose-lose situation" when it came to prosecuting Donald Trump.

While the position of Attorney General is appointed by the President, and sits within their cabinet, decisions over particular prosecutions are traditionally made without the President's input.

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