The President is Suing His Own Government for $10 BILLION

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit michaelfanone.substack.comIf you want a snapshot of how warped our politics has become, try this on:The President of the United States is demanding $10 billion from the IRS… while running the executive branch that controls the IRS.And now the Justice Department is stuck in a scenario that should never exist in a normal system: the government may have to defend itself in court against the person who runs it.That’s not a partisan outrage-of-the-day. That’s a structural problem.Because DOJ lawyers don’t work for “the IRS.” They work for the executive branch. And the executive branch answers—ultimately—to the President. So when the President becomes the plaintiff and a federal agency becomes the defendant, you get a conflict that makes the whole system look like a bad joke.This all stems from the leak of Trump’s tax information that became public and fueled major reporting about his taxes. The leaker, an IRS contractor named Charles Littlejohn, later pleaded guilty and was sentenced. There is a legitimate argument that the leak never should’ve happened. Tax records are supposed to be protected.But that’s not the question that matters right now.The question is: what happens when a sitting President decides to use the machinery of the federal government to go after one of the federal government’s own agencies—while demanding a payout so massive it would effectively be taxpayers paying the President?If any ordinary person tried this in another context, we’d call it what it is: a power play.The Michael Fanone Show is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.And behind the scenes, officials are reportedly scrambling over how to handle it. Do government lawyers defend the IRS and, by extension, argue against their boss? Or do they step aside—creating a situation where the President sues an agency with no meaningful internal opposition? One of the ideas reportedly floating is punting the case down the road until after this administration is out of office. Another is asking for some kind of outside counsel to handle the defense because the normal structure is compromised.Read that again: we might need independent lawyers to defend the United States government from the President of the United States.That sentence should make you uncomfortable no matter how you vote.There’s also a basic reality check here: $10 billion is not “damages.” That’s a number meant to shock, to intimidate, and to create leverage. It’s bigger than the annual budgets of a lot of federal agencies. And even if the President says “oh, I’d donate it,” that’s not the point. The point is whether a President should be able to put government agencies in a position where they’re pressured—politically and legally—to hand him a massive payout.Because once you normalize this, you’re teaching every future President the same lesson: if an agency frustrates you, sue it. If you don’t like what it did, extract money from it. If you want to punish internal dissent, use courts and contracts and pressure until compliance looks like “process.”That’s how a government stops belonging to the public and starts belonging to whoever’s sitting behind the Resolute Desk.I nearly died on January 6 because a mob believed rules didn’t apply anymore—because they were told the system only counts when it serves their side. You don’t need another riot to keep undermining democracy. You can do it by bending institutions until they serve one person instead of the country.So no, I’m not going to treat this like tabloid weirdness. This is a bright red warning sign about power, conflict of interest, and whether we still believe the same rules apply to everyone.If you think this story matters, don’t let it disappear in the churn. Share it with someone who thinks this is “normal politics.” And keep asking the question Washington hopes you won’t: who’s protecting the public interest when the President is using the government like his personal legal weapon?🟧 Paid subscribers get 15% off your next merch order🟧 Founding Members get 20% off for lifeYou’ll get the link in your welcome email.GET DISCOUNTS BELOW! ENJOY!