Yuval Levin

And it's not like I think the order to shoot Rene Good Dead came from a higher up.

I mean, things were clearly happening very fast in the moment.

But then you immediately see Kristi Noem and Trump and others come out with full-throated support for the agent.

And from one perspective, whether or not that is popular, it is a signal, right?

And the signal to ICE agents, to CBP agents, to the National Guard, and to protesters is this is what can happen.

And to the protesters, get out of our way, or you might lose your life.

And that is, from one perspective, even if it's not popular, that is a consolidation of power.

Maybe people think twice before being at a protest now.

I've seen even just in the last few days, a few videos that feel to me like escalation in the aggression of ICE agents, talking about these provisions they can use to really jail and, it seems to me, almost disappear people who are in their way.

And so if you were looking at this not as, is it good politics, but is it good, in quotes, power consolidation, maybe it is what they've not wanted, but it fits what their directionality has been.

What do you make of the criminal probe that got opened into Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell and his response?

Does the head of the mafia always know who's going to get whacked?

One thing I thought about watching it was Powell is quite unique in that he has a very potent independent power base, and that power base is the markets.

If the markets actually believe the Fed is going to be compromised—

You will see bond prices go wild.

You will see stock market turmoil.

But it made me think about how often something like that is happening, not always with a criminal probe, maybe a threat of firing, maybe forms of leverage we don't see or don't know about.

But the person does not have independent power.

They do not have the standing to go release a video, and that video will become headline news.

And how much intimidation