The Politics Guys

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Mike, Ken, and Trey open with a discussion of President Biden’s decision to leave the race and the potential running mates and policies for presumptive nominee Kamala Harris. Ken argues that Biden would have done just fine against Trump and that Harris will also win in November, whereas Trey and Mike are far less bullish on her chances. They all agree that a potential Harris administration would be somewhat to the left of what we’ve seen from Joe Biden.

They close the episode by looking at the Secret Service failures and congressional testimony that led to the resignation of director Kimberly Cheatle. Mike and Trey think Cheatle should have resigned sooner, with Mike arguing that President Biden should have called for her resignation shortly after the magnitude of the failure became evident.

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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 and Jay open with a discussion of the attempted assassination of Donald Trump. While there’s a lot we still don’t know, it’s clear that the Secret Service failed to do its job. Mike and Jay agree that Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle shouldn’t still have her job, though Mike contends that those on the right blaming what happened on “DEI hires” are engaged in rampant speculation to promote their ideological agenda.

Next is a look at Ohio US Senator JD Vance, who Trump picked as his running mate. Jay still doesn’t think Vance was a great choice, though he attempts to work out what Vance might bring to the ticket. Mike argues that VPs bring almost nothing to the ticket and that the simplest way to understand Trump’s selection of Vance is that Trump just went with his gut. Mike also argues that the selection of Vance points to a MAGAfied GOP even after Trump leaves the scene.

In considering the Republican Convention at which Trump and Vance were formally nominated, Mike found that the GOP seems to be looking to the past and not at all like the optimistic, future-oriented party of Ronald Reagan. Jay points out that the Republicans did a great job of bringing in “real Americans” to drive home the point that the Republican Party is fighting for Americans who are looked down on by elites.

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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.

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Jay is joined by Justin Holmes from the University of Northern Iowa (whose opinions, as always are his own and not reflective of his employer, the people of the great state of Iowa, or its 20 Million head of hogs).

The show kicks off with a discussion of the ongoing calls for President Biden to end his campaign. They start with a divide over how bad of shape Biden is in cognitively and mainstream press coverage (Jay thinks it’s about time the mainstream press picks up on Biden’s problems, Justin thinks the coverage is overblown). They then discuss the process for removing Biden from the ticket (there’s not a clean one), who the contenders are, and what their odds are.

Next, they turn their attention to Trump’s potential Vice Presidential Choices, and what each brings to the ticket.

They conclude with a discussion of AOC’s impeachment resolution against Justices Thomas and Alito for accepting gifts. Jay discusses whether they did anything illegal, and Justin and Jay disagree about how much meddling Congress should have in regulating the Supreme Court, but they both agree that accepting valuable gifts is a bad look, and that Harlan Crow should take them to Bali.

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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.

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

Mike and May open with a discussion of the fallout from President Biden’s debate performance, including his defiant (and some would say delusional) determination to stay in the race and beat Donald Trump. May thinks the Democrats should have seen this coming and doesn’t expect them to force Biden out, while Mike holds out hope that the mounting pressure from party leaders and donors will end up with Biden stepping aside.

Following that they turn to the Supreme Court’s ruling on presidential immunity. May believes that the majority got it right, and while Mike doesn’t disagree, he feels that they went too far.

They close by considering the Court’s ruling that one of the charges a number of January 6^th defendants were convicted on was improperly applied to them. Both Mike and May agree with the ruling, and note the somewhat unusual alignment of the justices, with one of the Court’s conservatives joining the liberals in dissent, and one of the liberals siding with the conservative majority.

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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 and Jay open with a discussion of President Biden’s disastrous performance in the first presidential debate. Mike was actually hoping for a worse outcome that would all but force Biden from the race, which he doesn’t think will happen, despite multiple calls for Biden to step aside. Jay wonders how Biden’s closest confidants and top advisors allowed things to get to this point. Mike suggests that Biden may still be able to handle the non-public-facing parts of the job, which Jay doubts, particularly in the event of a national security emergency.

After that, they turn to the Supreme Court ending Chevron deference, in a ruling that will have major implications for government agencies, Congress, and the courts. Mike has long been a supporter of Chevron but thinks that the Court made the right call here, which both surprises and pleases Jay, who’s never been a fan of Chevron.

Following that they discuss two other major decisions of the Court – one that allows women in Idaho to obtain abortions to preserve their lives and health and another in which the Court decided that plaintiffs arguing the government censored their social media posts don’t have standing to sue.

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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.

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

Trey & Ken open by delving into President Biden’s proposed path to citizenship for undocumented spouses of U.S. citizens, analyzing its potential impacts and political ramifications. Trey argues the timing is a political bone to the left in the wake of his tougher border policies.

Next, they tackle the implications of three major Supreme Court cases. In the first, Moore v. United States, upholding foreign asset taxing, Trey and Ken agree with the majority but Trey disagrees with the policy implications of a wealth tax. In the second, Gonzalez v. Trevino, both Trey and Ken agree that reigning in some protection for police officers is important. Still, Ken argues that all the justices would change their votes if it were applied to former president Trump. In the third, United States v. Rahimi, they discuss the upholding of the Second Amendment’s constitutionality for those under domestic violence orders.

Lastly, they explore the Senate’s recent blockage of the Democratic-led bump stock ban by Senate Republicans. Trey argues Republicans are simply using it as a political tool for the upcoming election and hopes afterward a ban will be possible.

Check out Democracy Works, 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.