Author: Michael Baranowski

Trey and Mike open this week’s show focusing on the recent Ohio 12th District’s special election. Both Trey and Mike agree that the 12th District looks like trouble for Republicans. This year, statistically, Democrats should do better and both agree the evidence suggests they might do a bit better than that. Specifically Trey points to the shifting demographics for Republicans where suburban voters are leaving Republicans as rural voters increase.

Next is a discussion of Missouri’s recent strike down of a “right to work” law. Trey and Mike disagree over whether such laws — which do not allow employment to be dependent on union membership — help or hurt workers. They do agree that the law’s failure to pass is evidence that there is a structural shift taking place in American politics.

After that Trey and Mike return to the trial of Paul Manafort — again — and investigate how this might or might not effect President Trump. At this point it doesn’t seem there is much connection to Trump and Mike takes the depressing view that nothing seems to shake Trump supporters.

Then it is time to discuss Representative Collins and his alleged insider trading. In a broader take on the issue Mike offers that members of Congress ought to be paid more and not allowed to sit on publicly traded boards.

Mike and Trey finish the show by putting Nunes’ comments in context. Mike thinks it shows the widening gap between discourse communities and Trey contextualizes the issue by suggesting such comments are not too far from par in private fundraising situations.

Listener support helps make The Politics Guys possible. If you’re interested in supporting the show, go to politicsguys.com/support.

In this listener comment episode Mike and Jay discuss:

• Google and antitrust
• Mike’s inconsistent use of Occam’s Razor
• Why there aren’t more good candidates
• Jay’s ‘line in the sand’ on Trump
• The $12 billion in payments to U.S. farmers hurt by the trade war
• The information release fight between the Department of Justice and House Republicans
• President Trump’s calls to halt the Mueller investigation

Listener support helps make The Politics Guys possible. If you’re interested in supporting the show, go to politicsguys.com/support.

Mike and Jay open this week’s show with a look at the trial of Paul Manafort, who’s accused of tax fraud, bank fraud, and bank fraud conspiracy. Both of the Guys agree that things look pretty bad for Manafort. While the charges aren’t directly related to Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation, Mike and Jay say that Mueller couldn’t simply ignore evidence of crimes discovered as part of his investigation into Russian interference.

Next is a discussion of 3D printed guns, in the news due to the Trump administration settling with the gun blueprint creator which would have allowed posting of the design specifications on the Internet. Mike and Jay both have big problems with the ruling of a federal judge that prohibited posting of the designs, seeing it as unconstitutional prior restraint.

After that, Mike and Jay consider two big Trump administration regulatory changes: freezing automotive fuel efficiency standards and expanding ‘short term’ health insurance policies that can legally circumvent Obamacare minimum coverage standards. Mike sees both of these moves as bad policy. Jay likes them from a policy standpoint, but argues that the Trump administration may not be entitled to get all of what it wants through the regulatory process.

Listener support helps make The Politics Guys possible. If you’re interested in supporting the show, go to politicsguys.com/support.

This week the show is produced for the first time ever in Oklahoma City. Trey, now officially part of Oklahoma Christian University, is joined by Ken who is preparing to move to Denver.

The first topic is Trump’s trade policy. The Trey and Ken to differing degrees agree that subsides to farmers is simply a policy mistake fixing the earlier policy mistake of enacting tariffs. While Ken has some boundaries around the idea of free trade, both think that the current tariffs policies are reminiscent of the import substitution industrialization models of the 1980s and 1990s.

Next up Trey and Ken look at the recent spat over Twitter between the U.S. and Iran. Here both hosts agree that the current foreign policy of acting belligerent randomly has not helped the U.S. cause. However the hosts disagree over the cause of this policy. Ken thinks it is part of a larger conspiracy where Putin controls Trump and Trey thinks, while it certainly benefits Russia, is more easily explained by an individual who is acting irrationally and that irrationality helps anyone who isn’t the U.S.

Trey and Ken turn next to the Michael Cohen tape of a conversation with Donald Trump. The hosts agree that the tape is damaging and ponder why Trump would have agreed to release it. They discuss the possible implications of the content of the tape and consider how it might play into the Mueller investigation.

Finally Ken and Trey briefly examine Facebook’s stock decline. At a 19% devaluation it takes the record for the biggest drop in one day ever. The hosts parse out the question to what extent, if any, recent privacy changes in EU law or backlash from data breaches has led to slowing user growth and, as a result, investor confidence.

Listener support helps make The Politics Guys possible. If you’re interested in supporting the show, go to politicsguys.com/support.

In this listener comment episode, Mike and Jay get into:

• If the media – Time magazine in particular – was fair in its photographic portrayal of President Trump’s immigration policy, and if Mike and Jay spend too much time on a media sideshow.
• How much deference federal courts should give to administrative agencies.
• Whether Jay thinks government regulations to prevent pollution are wise and necessary corrections for market failures.
• A conservative case for abolishing ICE.
• Mike, Jay, and ideological orthodoxy.

What Mike’s Reading

• Politics with Charles P. Pierce
• What it Takes to Get an Abortion in the Most Restrictive U.S. State

Listener support helps make The Politics Guys possible. If you’re interested in supporting the show, go to politicsguys.com/support.

This week, Mike and Jay open the show with a discussion of the summit between President Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin in Helsinki, Finland. They agree that President Trump’s performance was bizarre and awful. Mike says this, combined with everything else we’ve seen regarding Trump and Russia, is enough to convince him that President Trump is either compromised by Russia or believes he may be compromised, which amounts to the same thing in real terms.

After that, the Guys discuss new rules that would make major, industry-friendly changes to the Endangered Species Act. Mike says that he’s all in favor of streamlining environmental approvals for industry, but not at the cost of endangering and destroying biodiversity. Jay has a more positive take on the proposed rules, believing they’re a much-needed corrective to a policy that’s unnecessarily hampered economic growth.

Next is a look at the European Union’s latest fine against Google for engaging in anticompetitive practices. Mike says that ensuring competitive markets  is a key role of government, and that the EU is doing a better job of it then the US is doing. Jay is also all for competitive markets, but thinks that the EU’s position is overreach and that consumers have more options than EU regulators seems to believe.

Finally, the Guys talk about the withdrawn nomination of Ryan Bounds to serve on the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. Mike finds it disappointing that Bounds even got to this point, as both of his home-state senators returned negative ‘Blue Slips’ which traditionally meant that the nomination would be quashed. He argues that the Blue Slip tradition is yet another casualty of our hyper-partisan environment. Jay is less sad to see the Blue Slip go, arguing that it’s no longer serving its intended purpose, but he agrees with Mike that making judicial nominations filibuster-proof has been a step in the wrong direction.

What Mike and Jay are Reading
Why I’m No Longer a Russiagate Skeptic

Listener support helps make The Politics Guys possible. If you’re interested in supporting the show, go to politicsguys.com/support.