Hey there, it's Stephen Dubner, and you are about to hear the first episode in a two-part series

on presidential power. We figured the timing made sense. This first episode is an update of a fascinating conversation

we had back in 2016, even more fascinating in retrospect, with the University of

Chicago Legal Scholar Eric Posner. This conversation took place in the autumn of 2016

toward the end of President Obama's second term and a couple months before

Donald Trump beat Hillary Clinton in a big upset. Part two of this series will be released very soon because we want you to hear them close together.

Part two includes a new conversation with Posner about the past eight years of the presidency,

and we also try to figure out if election

betting markets might be better than election polls. Okay here's part one as

always thanks for listening. So basically all my ranting on this topic in the past arguing that the President

matters much less than people think.

You're saying that I'm pretty much entirely wrong.

No, partly wrong, not entirely wrong.

It depends what you mean.

If what you're saying is, oh't worry is Congress and the courts that decide things and the president doesn't really decide that much and I would say you were wrong

But if what you're saying is Donald Trump will not be able to refuse to enforce the corporate tax, I think you're right.

You may have heard that there's a presidential election going on.

In the past, we have argued on this program that the President of the United States is much

less powerful than people generally think.

Today, the legal scholar Eric Posner tells us why we're

wrong. But when it comes to presidential power, we're not the only ones who are wrong.

Yes, the Democrats are wrong.

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