Category: Interviews

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Mike talks with educator, researcher, and writer Sarah Towle about her latest book, Crossing the Line: Finding America in the Borderlands.

Topics Mike and Sarah Discuss Include:
– the historical roots of our current immigration issues
– the connection between trade policy and immigration
– why prevention through deterrence hasn’t worked
– if “remain in Mexico” is a viable approach to asylum seekers
– immigrants, crime, and American jobs
– helping border communities cope with the flow of migrants
– what a more efficient, effective, and humane border policy might look like

Sarah Towle on X

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Check out Mike’s other podcast –  Sustainable Planet, and the Sustainable Planet Substack.

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.

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Mike talks with attorney, author, and historian Talmage Boston. His books include Cross-Examining History, Raising the Bar: The Crucial Role of Lawyers in History, and most recently, How The Best Did It: Leadership Lessons From Our Top Presidents, which is the focus of their discussion.

Topics Mike and Talmage cover include:
– the “Great 8” Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln, TR, FDR, Ike, JFK, & Reagan
– key leadership strengths of those 8 presidents
– the main weakness of each of the 8 presidents
– most important presidential leadership skills
– if it’s harder to be a great political leader in today’s world
– strengths and weaknesses of Joe Biden and Donald Trump

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Check out TDG,  Mike’s other podcast –  Sustainable Planet, and the Sustainable Planet Substack.

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.

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Castbox | PocketCasts | Overcast

Mike talks with Liam deClive-Lowe, co-founder and co-president of American Policy Ventures. APV is a group that works with people and organizations across the ideological spectrum to make it easier for policymakers to effectively solve critical policy problems. They sponsored the Georgetown Battleground Civility Poll that came out not too long ago, which is the focus of their conversation

Topics Mike & Liam Discuss Include:
– the mission of AVP
– the value of Democrat and Republican pollsters working together
– why most Republicans and Democrats believe democracy is threatened
– fighting for values vs working for the best possible solution
– getting to a point of ‘slightly less loathing’
– how close we are to civil war
– why Congress is more bipartisan than you might think
– opportunities for bipartisanship

Follow Liam and American Policy Ventures on X

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Check out Mike’s other podcast –  Sustainable Planet.

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.

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Castbox | PocketCasts | Overcast

Political scientist Travis Taylor talks with law professor Joshua Douglas about his new book The Court v. The Voters: The Troubling Story of How the Supreme Court Has Undermined Voting Rights, in which he writes about the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent history of prioritizing the power of states to regulate elections over the rights of voters.

Topics Travis and Josh Cover Include:

• how the Court has changed the standard by which it reviews voting rights cases
• combating election fraud and maintaining voter access
• the direction the Court is going in light of more recent decisions in “extreme” cases
• potential solutions to correct the Court’s current course
• conservative criticisms of the book and why conservatives should read it

Follow Josh Douglas on X

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Check out Mike’s other podcast –  Sustainable Planet.

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.

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Castbox | PocketCasts | Overcast

Mike talks with Les Leopold, co-founder and executive director of the Labor Institute, a nonprofit organization that develops and conducts education and policy programs for unions, environmental organizations, community groups, and immigrant worker centers on workplace health and safety, the environment, economics, and movement building. He’s also the author of multiple books. His latest is Wall Street’s War on Workers: How Mass Layoffs and Greed are Destroying the Working Class and What to Do About It, which they talk about in this episode.

Topics Mike & Les Discuss Include:
– if Wall Street is really at war with workers
– how to understand ultra-low unemployment rates
– technology, globalization, and US workers
– the economic and psychological toll of mass layoffs
– the decline of public sector unions in the US
– how government policy can make things better for workers

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Check out Mike’s other podcast –  Sustainable Planet.

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.

Trey talks with Becca Block, author of Can You Help Me Give a Sh*t, in which she discusses the surprising policy implications of listening to student’s voices in public education.

Topics Trey and Becca Cover Include

• are we asking too much of the public school system?
• what it means to listen deeply to student voices
• the competing policy desires of parents, teachers, and students
• the intersection of race and gender on educational policy
• are libertarians right when it comes to public education?

Follow Becca on her website, and check out Can You Help Me Give A Sh*t

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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.

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Castbox | PocketCasts | Overcast

Mike talks with Tulsi Gabbard, a military veteran and four-term member of Congress who was Vice Chair of the Democratic National Committee. She caused a major stir when she left the party, which she’s written about in her recently released book, For Love of Country: Leave the Democrat Party Behind, which is the focus of their conversation.

Topics Mike & Tulsi Discuss Include:
– what drew Tulsi to the Democrats in the first place
– how she realized she no longer was a Democrat
– if Democratic Party elites are warmongers
– foreign policy and isolationism
– the ‘wokeism’ of contemporary Democrats
– the Democratic Party and free speech

Check out Tulsi’s Website and follow her on X

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Mike’s other podcast is Sustainable Planet.

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.

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Castbox | PocketCasts | Overcast

Mike talks with Allen Guelzo, the Thomas W. Smith Distinguished Research Scholar in the James Madison Program in American Ideals and Institutions at Princeton University. Professor Guelzo is a three-time winner of the Lincoln Prize, awarded annually for the finest scholarly work in English on Abraham Lincoln, the American Civil War soldier, or a subject relating to their era. They discuss his latest book, Our Ancient Faith: Lincoln, Democracy, and the American Experiment.

Topics Discussed Include:
– why Lincoln had such faith in democracy
– if Lincoln saw Blacks as truly equal
– Lincoln’s constitutionally questionable actions
– what current-day politicians could learn from Lincoln
– Lincoln’s cosmic optimism

Check out Mike’s other podcast, Sustainable Planet.

The Politics Guys on Facebook | X

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.

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Castbox | PocketCasts | Overcast

Kimberly Weir, Professor Emeritus of Political Science at Northern Kentucky University and co-host of Sustainable Planet talks with Akshat Rathi, award-winning senior reporter for Bloomberg News and the host of Zero, a climate-solutions podcast for Bloomberg Green and author of Climate Capitalism: Winning the Race to Zero Emissions and Solving the Crisis of Our Age.

Topics Kimberly & Akshat discuss include:

• How a misinformed campaign marketing slogan about ‘clean coal’ led Akshat into the year-long pursuit of uncovering the truth about climate technology
• Why economists feel the way to address climate change is to put a price on carbon
• How to achieve negative carbon emissions since zero emissions alone isn’t enough
• Why, when it comes to electric cars, you’ve never heard of Wan Gang, though Elon Musk is a household name
• Why the very industries that created lithium-ion batteries, solar cells, and carbon capture and storage are so resistant to employing that technology
• How private capital from billionaires like Bill Gates and anyone with a 401K plan is a key part of pursuing climate technology
• That climate justice is both ethically the right path but also reaps global economic benefits
• The need to shift from ‘shareholder’ to ‘stakeholder’ if we’re going to meet the less-ambitious Paris Conference climate change goals

Akshat Rathi on X

Listen to Part 2 of the interview on Sustainable Planet.

The Politics Guys on Facebook | X

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.