Category: Interviews

Trey talks with Lainey Newman, co-author of Rust Belt Union Blues: Why Working-Class Voters Are Turning Away from the Democratic Party about how the changing nature of social networks has shifted Union voters from Democrats to Trump voters.

Topics Trey and Lainey Discuss Include:
– how Lainey and Theda Skocpol came to work on the book
– how social networks including unions defined the “union man”
– why union workers shifted voting patterns as a result of social network changes
– the reason for the decline of unions
– what the future of unions are in the United States

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Mike talks with Max Bo‍‍‍rders, the founder and Executive Director of Social Evolution —a non-profit organization dedicated to liberating humanity through innovation. Max is also the co-founder of the Future Frontiers conference and festival. He’s the author of a number of books, including The Decentralist, The Social Singularity, After Collapse, and his most recent book, Underthrow: How Jefferson’s Dangerous Idea Will Spark a New Revolution, which is the focus of their discussion.

Topics Mike and Max discuss include:
– the modern faith in the Church of State
– what luxury beliefs are, and why they’re a problem
– why Max things we should relate to each other as consumers
– libertarianism and anarchism
– hubris and revolutionary change

Check out Max’s Constitution of Consent contest. It’s free to enter and the winner will get $25,000.

Max Borders on X

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Mike talks with Garrett Neiman, author of the recently released book Rich White Men: What it Takes to Uproot the Old Boys’ Club and Transform America. Mr. Neiman has a BA in economics from Stanford, an MBA from Harvard Business School, and a master’s in public policy from Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government. He was a founding CEO of CollegeSpring, a national college access nonprofit, a co-creator of Liberation Ventures (a philanthropic fund focused on building power toward reparations), a Senior Fellow at Prosperity Now, and an Adjunct Lecturer at Stanford Center on Poverty and Inequality.

Topics Mike & Garrett Discuss Include:
– the problem with rich white men (is there one?)
– inequality and standards of living
– the role of personal responsibility & culture
– reverse discrimination and a colorblind Constitution
– the reparations movement

Garrett Neiman on Twitter

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Mike has another conversation with one of his all-time favorite guests: Bryan Caplan. Bryan is an economist at George Mason University, a prolific author, and blogs at Bet on It. In this episode, they discuss Bryan’s latest collection: Voters as Mad Scientists: Essays on Political Irrationality.

Topics Mike & Bryan Discuss Include:
– Twitter & Nazis & Meth (oh my!)
– why Bryan hates politics
– social desirability bias
– hyperbole and overconfidence
– innumeracy
– the irrationality of voters
– if irrationality has gotten worse
– why Bryan doesn’t vote
– the case for DEI being worse than McCarthyism
– politics as not utterly hopeless but “mostly hopeless”
– some small reasons for cautious optimism

Bryan Caplan on Twitter

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Mike talks with Dr. Jonathan Ward, an internationally recognized expert on Chinese global strategy and US-China competition. He has a Ph.D. in China-India relations from the University of Oxford, has consulted for the Department of Defense, and is the founder of the Atlas Organization, a strategic advisory group on US-China global competition for business and government. Dr. Ward is the author of China’s Vision of Victory, as well as the recently released book The Decisive Decade: American Grand Strategy for Triumph Over China, which Jonathan and Mike discuss in this episode.

Topics Covered Include:
– what makes this the decisive decade
– if it’s already too late to slow China’s advance
– why we should view China as an adversary
– if fears of Chinese dominance are overblown
– the Chinese economic and military threat
– what the US should be doing to counter China

Jonathan Ward on Twitter

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Mike talks with Kevin Munger, an assistant professor of political science and social data analytics at Penn State University about his book Generation Gap: Why the Baby Boomers Still Dominate American Politics and Culture.

Topics Mike & Kevin discuss include:
– if generational cohorts really matter
– the enduring power of the Boomers
– when Boomer power peaked and when it will decline
– social media, generational cohorts, and shared identity
– political differences between Boomers, Millennials, and Gen Z

Kevin Munger on Substack

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Mike talks with Harvard historian of science Naomi Oreskes, and Cal Tech historian of science Erik Conway. They’ve -coauthored a number of books including Merchants of Doubt, and The Collapse of Western Civilization. Their latest book is The Big Myth: How American Business Taught Us to Loathe Government and Love the Free Market, which is the focus of this discussion.

Topics Mike, Naomi, and Erik discuss include:

– the Big Myth and the Tripod of Freedom
– why power companies once argued against electric power
– government regulation and fears of communism
– Friedrich Hayek and the influence of The Road to Serfdom
– fear of government vs fear of markets
– the Big Myth and our response to COVID-19
– the Big Myth and climate change
– combatting the Big Myth (for those who believe it’s a myth)

Naomi Oreskes on Twitter
Erik Conway on Twitter

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Mike talks with Bryan Caplan, Professor of Economics at George Mason University, prolific author, and blogger at Bet on It. He’s the author of multiple books and essay collections – five of which we’ve previously discussed on the show. Today, they talk about Professor Caplan’s latest collection, Don’t Be A Feminist: Essays on Genuine Justice.

Topics Mike & Bryan cover include:

– what it means to be a feminist
– underrepresentation of women in top political & business roles
– pay differentials between men and women
– sexism, objectification, and sexual violence
– if unequal treatment is necessarily unfair treatment
– diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) training
– if the ‘non-woke’ market is being underserved

Bryan Caplan on Twitter

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Mike talks with former federal prosecutor and CNN Senior Legal Analyst Elie Honig about his just released book, Untouchable: How Powerful People Get Away With It.

Topics Mike & Elie Cover Include:
– the tactics powerful people use to avoid prosecution
– the legal strategies of Donald Trump and The Trump Organization
– using cutouts and innuendo to avoid direct responsibility
– how fear of reprisal helps to protect the powerful
– the use and abuse of presidential pardons
– the cases against Donald Trump and the likelihood of convictions

Elie Honig on Twitter

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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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