Two weeks before America turns 250, Grant sits down with NYU Law Professor Melissa Murray, co-host of the Strict Scrutiny podcast and one of the country's leading legal scholars, to talk about her brand new book: The US Constitution: A Comprehensive and Annotated Guide for the Modern Reader.

The conversation covers what the framers actually got wrong (they were elitists who didn't trust ordinary people), what they got right (the structural checks that are still holding, barely), and what most Americans don't know about the Constitution because we stopped teaching it properly. Melissa makes the case that the Reconstruction Amendments, not the 1787 original, are the actual foundation of the multiracial democracy we're trying to preserve right now, and explains why the people who want you to stop teaching slavery also want you to stop knowing about those amendments.

They also get into the Supreme Court's six-to-three supermajority, what it would actually take to fix it (court expansion, term limits, jurisdiction stripping), why the electoral college is the one amendment Melissa would wave a wand to remove, and what an ordinary college student with a library card did in 1992 to get the 27th Amendment ratified.

This is a different kind of episode. Come for the civics. Stay for the hope.

CHAPTERS:

0:00 Why the Constitution feels stale... and why it isn't

1:08 Meet Melissa Murray: NYU Law professor, Strict Scrutiny co-host, author of the new annotated Constitution

2:38 How is the Constitution holding up right now?

3:33 What the framers were actually afraid of: trauma, tyranny, and why they divided power the way they did

5:35 Congress is on the couch: why the framers never anticipated two branches facilitating one branch's excesses

7:30 What the framers got wrong: they didn't trust ordinary people, and they built that distrust into the structure

8:52 How the Senate became popularly elected — and why it took the Gilded Age for people to get fed up enough to demand it

10:42 The Constitution moves: how moments of rupture and trauma have driven every major amendment

13:30 Red states and a constitutional convention: why that should scare you

14:31 The Reconstruction Amendments are the real foundation of American democracy and why you weren't taught that

16:11 The Constitution as owner's manual vs. flower care instructions — and why both might be right

21:00 The Supreme Court's six-to-three supermajority and how Neil Gorsuch got there illegitimately

25:00 Court reform: term limits, jurisdiction stripping, expansion — what's on the table

31:44 How to actually strengthen the Constitution: statutes, turnout, and why doubling the electorate is possible

36:37 Judicial interpretation as the main engine of constitutional change — and what to do about this court

38:25 Why the Constitution is only 12 pages — and why Melissa's book is 300

40:00 If you could add one amendment: get rid of the electoral college. Then DC statehood. Then Puerto Rico.

MAKE IT MAKE SENSE SUBSTACK

The US Constitution: A Comprehensive and Annotated Guide for the Modern Reader

PROMO CODE:

This episode is sponsored by SaySo. SaySo is a brand new news app built for people who actually want to be informed, not just keep scrolling. No outrage-chasing algorithm, no AI slop, just vetted creators delivering fact-driven coverage you can get through in a few minutes a day. I'm one of the early creators on the platform, posting there alongside others I trust. Check it out and download SaySo

Support the show

Follow along on social media

SaySo: @GrantHermes
X: @GrantHermes

Insta: @Grant__Hermes

Tiktok: Grant_Hermes

Trump gave his longest speech since the State of the Union at a press conference in Paris, then flew to the Palace of Versailles to sign the Iran memorandum of understanding.

For those keeping score at home: Versailles is where Germany signed its humiliating defeat at the end of World War I, the document widely credited with planting the seeds of World War II.

The White House finally released the 14-section MOU. Grant goes through what's actually in it versus what JD Vance has been claiming on his wall-to-wall media tour. The short version: Iran keeps its enriched uranium stockpile, the Strait of Hormuz will now be jointly controlled by Iran and Oman (charging fees for access that used to be free), and the $300 billion reconstruction fund is in the document despite Trump calling it "entirely false."

At $187 billion spent to reach this agreement, the deal is 144 times more expensive than the Obama Iran deal Trump ripped up in 2018, which cost $1.3 billion and achieved many of the same things.

Then there's JD Vance, who has been the lead negotiator, the lead spokesperson, and is now being set up as the lead fall guy. If the deal collapses in the next 60 days, it's Vance who takes the blame. If it succeeds, Trump takes the glory. Grant breaks down why Trump privately mocks Vance, pits him against Rubio, and can't stand the idea of a successor, including how he felt about his own son.

CHAPTERS:

0:00 JD Vance's very bad week and the soft launch of his 2028 campaign

1:30 Sponsor: SaySo News

2:45 Trump's Paris speech: longest time on camera in months, and he struggled to finish it

5:00 Why signing the MOU at the Palace of Versailles is a massive historical red flag

6:30 What's actually in the 14-section MOU: blockade, forces, and de-mining 5,000 underwater mines

8:00 Iran and Oman get joint control of the Strait — and the right to charge fees for access that used to be free

9:30 The money: oil sanctions lifted immediately, assets unfrozen, and the $300 billion that Trump says isn't real but is in the document

11:30 John Bolton's warning: how other countries are reading this agreement between the lines

13:00 144 times more expensive than Obama's deal: the full cost breakdown

14:30 The nuclear question: Iran keeps its uranium, inspectors return, and Trump's new position

16:30 JD Vance's media blitz: every network, The View, the NYT, and a new book about his conversion to Catholicism

18:00 Trump undercuts Vance on stage in Paris with the world watching

19:30 Trump privately mocks Vance, polls his allies on Vance vs. Rubio, and calls him "cloying and weird"

21:00 Why Trump can't tolerate a successor: Don Jr., MAGA, and the legacy obsession explained

23:00 If the deal works, Trump gets the glory. If it fails, Vance gets the wolves.

MAKE IT MAKE SENSE SUBSTACK: The Price Of Peace

PROMO CODES:

This episode is sponsored by SaySo. SaySo is a brand new news app built for people who actually want to be informed, not just keep scrolling. No outrage-chasing algorithm, no AI slop, just vetted creators delivering fact-driven coverage you can get through in a few minutes a day. I'm one of the early creators on the platform, posting there alongside others I trust. Check it out and download SaySo

Support the show

Follow along on social media

SaySo: @GrantHermes
X: @GrantHermes

Insta: @Grant__Hermes

Tiktok: Grant_Hermes

Over the weekend, on Trump's birthday, the US and Iran announced they'd reached a deal to end the war. The actual text has not been released. What we know so far is that this is a memorandum of understanding, not a signed treaty, and by no measure does any foreign policy expert consider that a real deal yet.

The Strait of Hormuz, which 20% of the world's oil flows through, did not reopen immediately as promised. As of recording, only two ships have passed through and the US blockade remains. Iran would gain joint control over the strait with Oman, which intelligence officials are calling a bigger threat than a nuclear weapon, since it gives Iran an on off switch over global oil.

There's no agreement on Iran's uranium stockpile, the centerpiece issue Trump has built his entire Iran policy around. Today in Switzerland, Trump suddenly started downplaying how much that uranium actually matters. His own Secretary of State, Secretary of Defense, and CIA Director all told him in private meetings they don't think Iran is being fully truthful.

Grant also breaks down the $24 billion in unfrozen assets, the $200 billion total cost of this war to Americans, why this could trigger the Senate's treaty approval process, and why Lindsey Graham just threw JD Vance under the bus on Twitter.

Subscribe on Substack, Friday's interview with NYU law professor Melissa Murray on her new book about the Constitution drops this week.

CHAPTERS:

0:00 After 40 broken promises, is the Iran war actually over this time?

1:30 Sponsor: SaySo News

2:55 Trump's Saturday Truth Social post and an explicit threat to use nuclear weapons

4:20 Sunday's announcement: why this is a memorandum of understanding, not a real deal

5:40 The Strait of Hormuz still isn't open. Only two ships have passed through.

7:00 Iran and Oman would jointly control the Strait. Why intelligence officials call this worse than a nuke.

9:00 $24 billion unfrozen, $300 billion in possible reconstruction money, and JD Vance's PR problem

11:00 The real cost: $200 billion spent by Americans on a war Congress never approved

13:00 The nuclear question still isn't resolved, and today Trump started downplaying it

15:00 Rubio, Hegseth, and Ratcliffe all told Trump in private they don't trust Iran on this

16:30 Why Trump won't release the actual text of the agreement

18:00 Hurdle one: Israel, Lebanon, and Netanyahu's promise to stay no matter what

20:00 Hurdle two: the Senate's treaty approval clause and Lindsey Graham throwing JD Vance under the bus

22:30 Hurdle three: 60 days is a long time, and what could still go wrong before this is signed

MAKE IT MAKE SENSE SUBSTACK

PROMO CODE:

This episode is sponsored by SaySo. SaySo is a brand new news app built for people who actually want to be informed, not just kept scrolling. No outrage-chasing algorithm, no AI slop, just vetted creators delivering fact-driven coverage you can get through in a few minutes a day. I'm one of the early creators on the platform, posting there alongside others I trust. Check it out and download SaySo

Support the show

Follow along on social media

SaySo: @GrantHermes
X: @GrantHermes

Insta: @Grant__Hermes

Tiktok: Grant_Hermes