Author: Michael Baranowski

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Mike, Jay, and Trey open the show with an extended discussion of Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” law, Disney’s response to it, and Florida’s state government retaliation. They get into what the law actually says, whether Disney was violating unwritten rules of lobbying by coming out against the law after it had passed, if the state was right to retaliate against Disney for doing so, and if Florida’s retaliation might be an unconstitutional restriction of speech.

After that, the Guys consider Elon Musk’s purchase of Twitter, discussing how big of a deal it is, who it’s likely to help and hurt, and whether or not Twitter unfairly censors conservative voices.

Then they turn to the latest in Russia’s war against Ukraine, including Russia cutting off gas supplies to Poland & Bulgaria, Russia’s increasing comments about a nuclear option, Biden’s latest Ukraine funding request, the resolve of the West to hold out in a long conflict, and whether or not it’s justifiable to liquidate the assets of Russian oligarchs and use them to provide funds for Ukraine.

They close the episode with a discussion of the Title 42 program of migrant expulsion, and whether a federal district court judge’s halt of the phase out of the program is justified, whether the program will be forced to continue, and what a better solution might look like.

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Mike & Jay open the show with a discussion of House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy being caught in a lie about recommending that Trump resign, Trump’s reaction, and what this might tell us about Trump and Trumpism in the GOP of 2022.

Next is a look at the ruling that ended the federal mask mandate. Mike and Jay get into administrative power, judicial deference to agency decisions, a Congress that may have good political reasons to not legislate, and more.

Following an update and discussion on the current state of Russia’s war against Ukraine, they turn back to domestic politics – lax enforcement of tax policy and IRS funding, followed by the current state and future of marijuana laws.

Jay’s Recommendation
A Spy Among Friends: Kim Philby and the Great Betrayal. Ben Macintyre

Mike’s Recommendations
Louis Prima & Hoopla

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Trey & Ken open the show with a discussion of Frank James arrest. Big topics include the nature of his arrest, discussion of crime trends in the U.S., the role of weapons in crime trends, and the political ramification of those trends.

That’s followed by Oklahoma’s newly passed abortion ban. The ban, which has no exceptions, was followed by Kentucky’s. Trey & Ken discuss the future of privacy and abortion in the U.S. and the problems facing lawmakers in addressing in and what the Supreme Court is likely to do next.

After that Trey & Ken talk about the reaction from Russia from Finland and Sweden considering NATO membership. The likelihood of the Senate to make such a treaty change, plus conversations about the most recent sinking of a ship in the Black Sea.

Then the pair talk about America’s tax policy, why it isn’t as progressive as it seems, and why Trey doesn’t think liberals get it. Last the pair discuss the humorous possibility of espionage in Washington DC.

Trey & Ken’s Recommendations

Trey: Severance on Apple TV+

Ken: Candy House by Jennifer Egan.

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Trey talks with Larry Jacobs, founder and director of the Center for the Study of Politics and Governance (CSPG) and holder of the Walter F. and Joan Mondale Chair for Political Studies at the University of Minnesota’s Humphrey School of Public Affairs on his latest book Democracy Under Fire: Donald Trump and the Breaking of American History.

Topics Trey & Larry discuss include:

– The history of primaries in the United States

– How political primaries harm democracies

– The need for political elites

– The problem with Trump and Bernie and primaries

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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.

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Mike & Jay open the show with a discussion of the Supreme Court confirmation vote for Ketanji Brown Jackson. They focus on Mitt Romney’s flip from “no” vote on Jackson’s confirmation to the DC Circuit last summer to his “yes” vote on Supreme Court confirmation. Jay agrees with Romney’s assessment of Jackson and feels that the default should be to approve qualified nominees of the president, but he also argues that there’s a principled case to be made against Jackson serving on the Court.

That’s followed by a look at of the latest developments in Russia’s war against Ukraine, including new sanctions, whether Russia’s actions amount to genocide, if anyone will ever be held to account for Russian war crimes, and if Russia is an Evil Empire.

After that, Mike & Jay get into a number of domestic policy issues, including the first ever Amazon union in the United States, the Biden administration’s move to end Title 42 immigration expulsions and why almost all Republicans as well as some Democrats oppose it, plans to disqualify certain Republicans from office on the grounds that they’re insurrectionists, as well as listener questions & comments.

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Mike & Jay open the show with a discussion of multiple developments concerning the events of January 6^th, including Ginni Thomas’s text messages and Justice Thomas’s refusal to recuse, White House communication records on that date, and whether Donald Trump should be investigated and potentially prosecuted for his role in the events of that day.

After that they turn to Russia’s war against Ukraine, focusing on President Biden’s remarks about Putin remaining in power as well as Biden’s authorization of the largest ever release of oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve.

That’s followed by a look at the almost completely bipartisan Emmett Till Anti-Lynching Law (and why Jay would have voted against it, if he had the political courage to do so), President Biden’s first full-fledged budget, and the wisdom and constitutionality of the response to state “anti-trans” laws being planned by the Department of Education.

They close by addressing listener questions, including one in which they recommend some possibly under the radar sources of political information.

Andrew Sullivan

Joseph Epstein

Thomas Edsall

Matt Grossmann

Adam Tooze

Chris Blattman

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Trey and Mike host this week’s show and start with the confirmation hearings for Ketanji Brown Jackson. Topics include the importance of position taking over substantive conversations, the questions of sentencing in child pornography cases and judicial philosophy.

Next the pair take on the newest revelations on Hunter Biden and his laptops. Trey and Mike discuss why the story took the time it did to be confirmed, the unlikely nature of the source, and delve a bit into the question of understanding the nature of sources and the tabloid nature of the New York Post.

After that it is an update on the war in Ukraine with specific focus on a piece by Brian Klaas in The Atlantic and the fallacy of assuming dictators have better long term strategies than elected officials.

Then Trey and Mike discuss the Texas style abortion ban passed in Idaho, in the similar bill working its way through Oklahoma. Do the ends justify the means?

Next is Indiana and Utah’s Republican governors vetoing anti-trans athlete bills. Trey and Mike have a long conversation on biologic sex and gender and how the complications of the conversation.

After that they tackle a question from Isaac Saul from their interview this week: how and when have we changed our minds? Each reflects on some of the moments of when they have altered their beliefs and the process by which they change their beliefs. The pair end with a brief update on inflation.

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Mentioned on the Show

Vladimir Putin Has Fallen Into the Dictator Trap

This War of Mine (also on iOS)

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