LA Protests, Army Parade, No Kings, Vaccine Panel Mass Firing

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Mike and Trey are joined by a new co-host, Tim King, a Professor of Economics at the University of Austin. The guys start off with a discussion of the civil unrest in Los Angeles. Tim argues that Democrats are hurting themselves politically by appearing to side with violent protesters. Trey points out that the administration’s legal justification for deploying troops is on shaky ground. Mike highlights that while the president receives broad deference on these matters, the failure to follow proper legal procedures is a real problem.

From there, they move to the parade in honor of the Army’s 250th birthday and the ‘No Kings’ counterprogramming scheduled for the same day in multiple locations across the country. Tim sees the parade as a positive show of support for the military, but doubts protests will change anything. Trey views these events as more about organizing and building activist networks than immediate impact. Mike warns that counterprotests like these risk alienating voters and undermining the cause they hope to advance.

They close by considering HHS Secretary RFK Jr firing all 17 members of the Advisory Committee for Immunization Practices and quickly naming eight replacements, just weeks before the committee’s next meeting. Tim downplays the impact, suggesting public trust in government health advice was already damaged during COVID. Trey stresses that the advisory board’s decisions have real consequences for vaccine access. Mike finds RFK’s claims of conflicts of interest unconvincing, seeing little justification for such a sweeping shake-up.

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The Politics Guys is part of The Democracy Group, a network of podcasts that examines what’s broken in our democracy and how we can work together to fix it.

Travel Ban 2025 Edition, Social Media Slap Fights, One Big Beautiful Bill, Ukraine’s Drone Attack

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Trey and Justin join forces for the first time in this week’s episode! The pair begin with a discussion of Trump’s new travel ban and its relationship to the attack in Boulder. Then they discuss both the social media battle between Elon Musk and President Donald Trump and whether this is the last gasp for economic conservatives in the Republican Party. They close the show discussing the impact of Ukraine’s drone strikes and how it borders, as close as one can, to the workings of a James Bond-like movie.

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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.

The Politics Guys is part of The Democracy Group, a network of podcasts that examines what’s broken in our democracy and how we can work together to fix it.

Lura Forcum on the Power of Independents

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Mike talks with Lura Forcum, president of the Independent Center, an organization that represents people who are fed up with partisan politics and feel politically homeless.

Topics Mike & Lura discuss include:

  • how Lura went from a marketing professor to running the Independent Center
  • true independents vs learners
  • if there are enough independents to make a real difference
  • whether partisan politics is such a bad thing
  • the two-party stranglehold on political power
  • how the Independent Center hopes to change things

Check out Lura’s podcast, We Made This Political

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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.

The Politics Guys is part of The Democracy Group, a network of podcasts that examines what’s broken in our democracy and how we can work together to fix it.