The Politics Guys

This week, the Guys start out by looking at President Trump’s foreign policy in a dangerous world. First it’s Syria, where Assad’s chemical attacks and the U.S. retaliatory missile strike has brought US / Russia relations to their lowest level in quite a while. Then it’s North Korea, the unstable regime getting ready for it’s sixth nuclear test. Can the U.S. exert enough pressure on China to deter a potential disaster in North Korea?

After that, Mike and Jay turn to domestic policy – special elections that seem to bode well for Democrats (though November 2018 is a long way off) and whether President Trump is willing to sabotage Obamacare in order to force its repeal and replacement. And why are we seeing a return to this issue anyway, given that mere weeks ago, Speaker Paul Ryan said Obamacare would be the law of the land for the foreseeable future.

Finally, the Guys discuss Steve Bannon’s fall from grace and consider whether President Trump is evolving and learning on the job, or if instead he’s a largely empty vessel, wholly incurious about policy details, into which any significantly smooth talker can pour his or her ideas.

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It was a crazy week in foreign policy, and the guys start with the biggest of all the big stories – the missile strike on Syria authorized by President Trump in response to Syria using illegal chemical weapons on its own people. The move was a major departure both from policy under President Obama and President Trump’s own prior statements on the wisdom of military involvement in Syria. Mike and Jay discuss whether the president made the right call and what this might mean for the future.

Next, the Guys discuss the visit of Egyptian President / military strongman Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, who President Trump not only welcomed, but embraced. Mike sees this as a mistake, while Jay believe it’s good diplomacy.

After that is some domestic policy – the confirmation of Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court. Just as everyone predicted, Democrats filibustered his nomination, Republicans changed the rules to disallow filibusters of Supreme Court nominees, and Gorsuch was then confirmed on a largely party-line vote. Senators from both parties, as well as Mike and Jay, regret that things have come to this point, but the confirmation process is yet another example of how very polarized our politics has become.

But wait – there’s more! The Guys get into the latest developments in the Russia / Trump investigations, and then wrap things up by talking about the visit of Chinese President Xi Jinping.

This week, the Guys start out by looking at the latest news on the multiple Russia probes. The House investigation has slowed to a crawl amid claims from Democrats that Intelligence Committee chair Devin Nunes can’t be trusted to conduct an impartial probe. The Senate investigation seems to be far more bipartisan to this point. Mike and Jay talk about why this is, along with what to make of former National Security Advisor Mike Flynn’s willingness to testify – if he’s given immunity.

Then it’s a look at what Mike calls the Republican ‘circular firing squad’ with President Trump calling out the House Freedom Caucus, and the Caucus and it’s conservative supporters blasting right back at the president.

Following an update on the Gorsuch confirmation process, the Guys get a chance to talk policy – why Republicans don’t seem to like the EPA, what President Trump’s new executive order on the environment means, and whether or not our NATO allies are pulling their weight.

This week, Mike and Jay start by taking a look at the first big legislative push of President Trump and House Republicans: The failed repeal and replace vote on Obamacare. They talk about what happened, why it happened, what it means for Obamacare, and the possible paths forward for Republicans.

Then it’s on to Judge Neil Gorsuch’s Supreme Court confirmation hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee. Both the Guys agree that after 20 hours of testimony, we’re exactly where everyone expected we’d be: Republicans united in support, Democrats united in opposition, and a Democratic filibuster – followed by a Republican rule change preventing Supreme Court nominee filibusters – to come.

After that, the Guys review the latest developments in the Trump / Russia story, focusing on FBI Director James Comey’s testimony to the House Intelligence Committee, as well as a questionable move by Devin Nunes, the Committee’s chairperson.

The focus then turns to immigration, with discussion of the new ‘Muslim laptop ban’ (as Jay calls it), the criminality of illegal vs legal residents, and the Department of Homeland Security’s attempt to shame local jurisdictions that don’t cooperate with immigrant detainment requests.

This week, Mike and Jay tackle a bunch of great listener questions, such as whether or not progress is always a good thing, if being transgendered is a choice, what our philosophical beliefs concerning abortion are, the best case for liberalism (made by Jay) and for conservatism (made by Mike), and lots more.

Mike and Jay lead off with a discussion of President Trump’s first budget. The so-called ‘skinny budget’ (referring to any incoming president’s first budget, which tends to be shorter on details than their later budget proposals) calls for big defense and security increases and correspondingly big cuts. Jay is hoping that it’s simply another instance of Trump’s negotiating style (start out extreme and then make a deal for what you actually wanted) but he’s pleased that many programs will be required to justify their existence. Mike is less enthusiastic, and thinks that maybe it’s defense spending that needs to be justified. They both agree that the United States has huge looming problems with mandatory spending (which accounts for over 70 percent of the federal budget) that aren’t being addressed.

After that, the Guys talk about the American Health Care Act that House Republicans are trying to get through Congress. This week’s disastrous CBO score makes an already difficult legislative job for the GOP even harder, and neither Mike nor Jay expect the current version of the bill to be what ends up being enacted into law.

Next is discussion of the federal court rulings against President Trump’s revised travel ban. Mike thinks it’s entirely likely that it runs afoul of the Constitution’s prohibition against establishment of religion, while Jay disagrees, feeling that the courts should consider only what the order says, and not other remarks about Muslim bans previously made by Donald Trump and some of his top advisors.

Following that, it’s a look at the underwhelming revelations from two leaked pages of Donald Trump’s 2005 tax return, the continuing story of the president’s ‘wiretapping’ claims, and Mike and Jay’s thoughts on the Federal Reserve’s decision to raise interest rates.