Speaker Mike Johnson, Israel and Hamas

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Mike and May open the episode with a discussion of recently elected Speaker of the House Mike Johnson. May sees the whole Speaker saga as embarrassing for her party while Mike argues against the portrayal of Johnson as a radical far-right election denier.

After that they turn to the Middle East, discussing whether or not Mike was right to suggest Israel is a colonialist oppressor, whether that’s inherently antisemitic, UN ceasefire resolutions, and a Senate proposal for standalone Israel aid, as opposed to the Israel/Ukraine/Immigration package proposed by the Biden administration.

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Israel and Hamas, House Speaker Fight

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Mike and Jay open with the conflict between Israel and Hamas. Jay gives President Biden credit for his response but argues that Biden’s words of sympathy for Palestinian civilians were ill-timed. They consider the larger issues involved – whether Gazans are rightfully angry with Israel, what Hamas wants and whether Israel is giving it to them, and if we’ll ever see a two-state solution – as well as responses by pro-Palestinian groups in the US and their doxing by conservative groups.

Then they turn to the Republicans’ inability to elect a Speaker of the House. Mike makes the case that candidate Jim Jordan represents much of what’s wrong with American politics. Jay doesn’t make a case for Jordan as Speaker, but he argues at this point anyone is better than no one. Mike agrees but wonders why the far more numerous House Republican moderates should have to give in to the smaller Freedom Caucus Republicans. They both predict there will be a Republican Speaker within the next few weeks and that the whole fracas won’t matter much to voters in November.

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Jay Talks with Rep. Jim Jordan (2017)

In the fall of 2017, only a few years after Jim Jordan co-founded the House Freedom Caucus, he had this conversation with Jay, who knew Jordan from their days in the Ohio House of Representatives (Jordan was a freshman legislator, Jay was a staffer).

Jordan talks about why he helped create the Freedom Caucus, what it stands for, his views on government spending and debt, as well as some ideas that Mike thinks end up in “tinfoil-hat-wearing conspiracy theory” territory.

Given Jordan’s rise to power and his current bid to be the next Speaker of the House, we thought listeners might appreciate hearing this interview from our Politics Guys archive.

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The Constitution: The Bill of Rights

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Trey & Ken continue their dive into the U.S. Constitution by overviewing the origins, history, and importance of the Bill of Rights. This episode sets up the next arch of the Constitution episodes as Trey & Ken go through each portion of the first 10 Amendments.

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The Gaza Strip, House Speaker

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In this deep dive episode Trey & Ken take a longview look at the conflict in the Gaza Strip. This includes a history into the formation of both Israel and the Gaza Strip, along with the key moments that led to the terrorist activity on Saturday. The pair discuss the current crisis, the likely next steps, and the response internationally and in the United States to the crisis.

As a second story the guys look at the collapse of Scalise as the next U.S. House Speaker, likely next steps, and the possibility of a coalition Speaker with votes from House Democrats.

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McCarthy Out, California’s New Senator, Supreme Court Back, Trump Civil Case

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Mike and Jay open the show with a discussion of the ousting of Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy, with every Democrat joining eight Republicans in voting to remove McCarthy as Speaker. Mike asks Jay to explain what’s going on with his party, and whether he thinks this will hurt Republicans in 2024. Jay thinks there will be electoral consequences, but Mike doesn’t agree, at least not if an extended government shutdown is avoided. They have a lot to say about Matt Gaetz, none of it complimentary. (Though Mike gives him credit for solid political positioning.)

Following that is a discussion of California Governor Gavin Newsom’s appointment of Laphonza Butler to fill the seat held by the recently departed Dianne Feinstein, a Supreme Court case hinging on whether the word “and” might actually mean “or”, and Donald Trump accusing a court clerk in his civil trial of being Senator Chuck Schumer’s girlfriend and helping to “rig” the case against him.

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Lainey Newman on Rust Belt Union Blues

Trey talks with Lainey Newman, co-author of Rust Belt Union Blues: Why Working-Class Voters Are Turning Away from the Democratic Party about how the changing nature of social networks has shifted Union voters from Democrats to Trump voters.

Topics Trey and Lainey Discuss Include:
– how Lainey and Theda Skocpol came to work on the book
– how social networks including unions defined the “union man”
– why union workers shifted voting patterns as a result of social network changes
– the reason for the decline of unions
– what the future of unions are in the United States

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The Constitution: Article VII

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Trey and Ken continue their deep dive into the U.S. Constitution with an examination of Article VII. The pair discuss the government bypassing nature of the ratification process, what the ratification process was, how the anti-federalists brought us the Bill of Rights from the ratification battle, and set up an introduction to the Bill of Rights.

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Listener support helps make The Politics Guys possible. You can support us or change your level of support at patreon.com/politicsguys or politicsguys.com/support. On Venmo we’re @PoliticsGuys.