Author: Michael Baranowski

This week’s show starts with a look at the latest shakeup in the Trump campaign. Is Donald Trump still trying to win, or is he putting the pieces in place for a media network to challenge Fox? Next, it’s a look at Hillary Clinton’s continuing email problems, and the questions she’s being forced to answer – after the election. Then The Guys talk about Obamacare, which seems to be reeling after Aetna announced it would be dramatically pulling back its involvement in Obamacare exchanges. Is this the beginning of the Obamacare ‘death spiral’ conservatives have long predicted, or can President Obama’s signature policy achievement be salvaged? Finally, Mike and Jay take a look at what happened in Seattle more than a year after the city’s $15 per hour minimum wage ordinance went into effect.

Here’s this week’s Ask The Politics Guys Question: “You guys don’t seem to like either of the presidential candidates. If you could make anyone the nominee of your party, who would it be, and why them?”

It was another rough week for Donald Trump, and Jay & Mike start by looking at the GOP nominee’s troubles and the lasting damage he may be doing to his party and the country. Then, it’s on to new Hillary Clinton email revelations, a comparison of Trump and Clinton’s economic plans, discussion of the DOJ’s blistering report on the Baltimore Police, more Russian hacking, and some under-the-radar changes in marijuana policy by the DEA.

This week’s show starts with Mike replying to listeners who feel he’s been too soft on Donald Trump. After that, it’s a look at Trump’s truly bad week, some high-profile endorsements for Hillary Clinton, what Jay says is a massive U.S. ransom payment to Iran, President Obama’s commutation-mania, and Mike’s cranky middle-aged guy thoughts on the appropriate age for Starship captains and the decadence of modern movie theater seating.

This week’s Ask The Politics Guys question comes from Jay’s daughter who, while watching the Democratic National Convention, asked her dad, “Why are most celebrities liberals?”

Mike and Jay start off by talking about the Democratic National Convention and whether it helped Hillary Clinton in her quest to be the first female president. Next, the Guys look at the Russian state-sponsored hacking of Democratic computer systems. (Why *only* Democratic systems, Mike wonders.) That leads to a discussion of the resignation of Debbie Wasserman-Schultz as head of the Democratic National Committee, thanks to leaked evidence that demonstrated the DNC wasn’t exactly being fair to Bernie Sanders. After that, it’s a discussion of two more voter ID laws that were overturned. Mike argues that there’s compelling evidence that Republicans use these laws to suppress Democratic voters, but Jay doesn’t quite buy it. The show closes with a new feature: the Politics Guys non-political thoughts of the week. Mike plugs the novels of Anthony Trollope, while Jay talks about the importance of a dynamic economy (so Jay’s thought is really a political one, but he promises to come up with something non-political in the future).

This week’s show starts with a look at the Republican National Convention. Things were calmer than expected on the streets but there was some controversy in the Quicken Loans Arena, thanks in large part to Ted Cruz’s non-endorsement speech. After discussing the convention, Mike and Jay talk about Hillary Clinton’s VP pick – Virginia Senator Tim Kaine – followed by an important appeals court ruling on Texas’ strict voter ID law, Roger Ailes’ removal as CEO of Fox News, and the NBA’s decision to not hold the 2018 All-Star Game in Charlotte, NC because of a recently state law widely seen as anti-LGBTQ.