Month: August 2025

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Justin and Sam open with Trump’s back-to-back meetings with Zelensky and Putin. Sam argues they could mark real progress, with Trump uniquely able to pressure leaders into a room. Justin doubts meaningful concessions are likely, pointing to Putin’s sunk costs and Ukraine’s moral high ground.

Next, the guys examine Trump’s move to secure a $9B government stake in Intel. Sam frames it as a justified national-security safeguard given U.S. reliance on chips and China’s role in supply chains. Justin sees it as an overreach, with Trump strong-arming Intel’s CEO and reshaping the CHIPS Act process without clear authority.

They close with a look at Trump’s attacks on Jerome Powell and Fed Governor Lisa Cook while pushing for rate cuts. Sam sympathizes with Trump’s frustration, stressing that Powell dodges accountability and ignores economic urgency. Justin sees it as part of Trump’s broader unitary executive impulse, defending Fed independence as a buffer against political overreach.

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Mike and Joey open with a discussion of President Trump’s meeting with Russian dictator Vladimir Putin in Alaska. Mike sees it as a weak Trump being once again played by alpha-dog Putin, while Joey believes it’s Trump who is cleverly playing to Putin’s ego. They both agree that we won’t know which interpretation is closer to right until we know the details of any potential peace deal.

Next, it’s a look at the Trump administration’s efforts to combat crime in Washington, D.C.. Joey argues that the President is well within his rights to do what he’s doing, while Mike believes that there are some potential legal issues. Mike also raises the issue of the authoritarian feel of what’s going on and the lack of a clear exit strategy. They’re both hoping that in the longer run, the MPD gets the resources it needs to keep the Capitol safe. 

They close with a consideration of the California redistricting effort announced by Governor Newsom. Joey points out that California already seems very gerrymandered, which Mike argues has much more to do with geography than politics. Mike finds himself torn between his good-government instinct to preserve California’s independent redistricting commission and his concern about Democrats ceding seats to Republicans willing to engage in more aggressive gerrymanders.

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This week, Justin Holmes and Ken Katkin are host. They start off with the firing of the head of the Bureau of Labor Statistics, which seems bad all around, but perhaps won’t give Trump what he wants in the end. Next, they move on to trade, as some of Trump’s tariffs took effect this week, while China’s were delayed yet again. They  finish by talking about  developments in the fight over Texas redistricting, and Trump’s social media posts about the census, and the likelihood there could be an extra census before 2030, and of excluding non-citizens.

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Mike and Ken open with a discussion of the Federal Reserve’s decision to leave interest rates unchanged, despite hectoring from President Trump for a major rate cut. The guys consider the case for and against lower interest rates, as well as the effect the Trump tariffs are having on the decision. From there, they consider the likelihood that the Supreme Court will ultimately invalidate most of President Trump’s tariffs.

Next is a look at Texas’ mid-decade redistricting and the possibility that Democratic-controlled states (like California, most notably) may conduct their own between-Censuses redistricting in retaliation. Along the way, Ken convinces Mike that walking out of a mid-decade redistricting, as Texas Democrats are considering, is a reasonable response to the situation.

They close with a discussion of DOGE’s new  “AI Deregulation Decision Tool”, which is intended to be a key component in the agency’s goal of cutting 100,000 federal regulations by the one-year anniversary of President Trump’s second term. Mike sees the possibilities – and the peril – with Ken being highly skeptical that this tool won’t be used for highly partisan ends.

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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.