Month: January 2020

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In this episode, Mike & Jay respond to listener comments on:

• political purity tests
• fear of socialism
• supporting the troops
• fixing polarization
• grading public education
• problems with political parties
• Bernie debating Trump
• the power of the judiciary

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This week’s show opens with Mike & Jay discussing the Senate trial of President Trump. They both agree that the president did something, but while Mike thinks that something is criminal activity worthy of impeachment and removal, Jay doesn’t believe it rises to that level. Along the way, Mike suggests that President Trump is like a monkey in a museum and Mitch McConnell is the Senate’s Bill Belichick.

Next, the Guys look at Montana v Espinoza, a case the Supreme Court heard this week involving an indirect state subsidy to religious schools. They agree that Montana’s Supreme Court overreached in invalidating the program, a program that Jay feels is good public policy and that Mike thinks hurts public schools.

After that is the issue of faithless electors, which the Supreme Court will be ruling on prior to the 2020 presidential election. The issue is whether or not states can bind their electors to vote a certain way. Both Mike and Jay argue that electors are free to vote as they wish. Mike goes further and makes a case for replacing electors with either a national popular vote (his ideal) or a system of split electoral votes like Maine and Nebraska currently employ.

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Pawnee Public Forum: A Podcast about Parks & Recreation
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The Politics Guys theme is ‘Rollin at 5’ by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License 

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This week Trey and Ken start by tackling the weeks biggest issue: the Senate trial of President Donald Trump. The biggest focus for the hosts is the ongoing question concerning witnesses. Ken is reluctant to make a prediction, but Trey suggests there will be witnesses.

This leads the pair to Lev Parnas and the peculiar nature of Trump witnesses. It also leads to speculation on Ken’s part about the differences between a political trial and a civil trial. Specifically how in a political trial witnesses do not have to necessarily be relevant.

After this Trey brings up the quick passage of the USMCA and reminds Ken this is one of the few times he was wrong. The trade deal passed with bipartisan support. The pair discuss the few holdouts, most specifically Senator Sanders. His refusal to support the deal was a weakness in Trey’s view.

The topic of Sanders led to the next item: the Democratic debates. Here the topic of the issue of sexism between Sanders and Warren was discussed. Trey also suggested Sanders is not the best representation of his party.

Finally Trey and Ken tackled the new push for backdoors in cellphones, specifically the iPhone from Attorney General Barr and President Trump.

Today’s show is sponsored by SaneBox – email management for any inbox. For a free two-week trial and $25 credit, go to sanebox.com/politicsguys.

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This week, Mike and Kristin take on the confrontation between the U.S. and Iran, discuss what our clear policy goals should be regarding Iran, and whether those goals are feasible. Both agree that heading into a full-fledged war is a terrible idea, but while Mike argues that Trump’s pulling out of the Iran nuclear deal was disastrous, Kristin brings up that nothing before or since Trump has worked to create a stable Iran without nuclear capability and that the process needs to be rethought entirely. Mike also unpacks the House vote to force the President to come to Congress for authorization for future military action, and Kristin weighs in on Rep. Matt Gaetz’s point that Congress should have “skin in the game” when it comes to conflict and war.

Next, Kristin and Mike discuss the latest in the Senate impeachment trial saga. For just over three weeks, the Articles of Impeachment have been stalled. Mike gives Speaker Nancy Pelosi credit for her “gamesmanship”, arguing that this was a strategy to compile more witnesses, obtain more documents, and so on. They disagree on whether potential testimony from Joe Biden was a factor in Speaker Pelosi’s delay. Kristin believes that the maneuver was more political than strategic, but agrees with Mike that a fast timeline or a quick motion to dismiss aren’t in good form – on principle and in terms of politics.

Finally, Mike reminisces over the past three years since Trump’s inauguration – what he’s learned, what has changed for him, and he presents some interesting ideas that are in line with a desire to curb executive power. Kristin and Mike discuss whether political bias plays a role in this desire to curb executive power (spoiler alert: they agree that it definitely does).

Today’s show is sponsored by SaneBox – email management for any inbox. For a free two-week trial and $25 credit, go to sanebox.com/politicsguys.

Be part of the discussion on the Politics Guys ‘BipartisanPolitics’ community on Reddit.

Listener support helps make The Politics Guys possible. If you’re interested in supporting the show, go to patreon.com/politicsguys or politicsguys.com/support.

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Mike & Jay open the show with a discussion of the escalating tensions between Iran, Iraq, and the United States in the aftermath of the U.S. killing of Iranian Quds Force commander Quasem Soleimani. Jay thinks that the Trump administration may have made the right move, but Mike is concerned that the blowback could be worse than any benefits from Soleimani’s death.

Next is a look at the Democratic presidential race, including Julian Castro’s exit from the race, whether Iowa and New Hampshire should be the first two contests, and the nearly $200 million that Michael Bloomberg has spent.

After that, Mike & Jay talk about their hopes and predictions for 2020, focusing on President Trump’s Senate trial, the Durham Report, China, Iran, and the 2020 elections.

Be part of the discussion on the Politics Guys ‘BipartisanPolitics’ community on Reddit.

Listener support helps make The Politics Guys possible. If you’re interested in supporting the show, go to patreon.com/politicsguys or politicsguys.com/support.