Mike and Jay lead off with the 9th Circuit’s action on the Trump travel ban, along with their thoughts on whether or not it violates the Constitution. Then it’s on to contentious Senate confirmation votes, with a focus on Betsy DeVoss – the first ever 50-50 confirmation vote tie (broken by VP Mike Pence) – and Elizabeth Warren’s silencing by Senate Republicans during debate on Jeff Sessions confirmation as Attorney General. Next, Mike brings up some potentially *good* news concerning what may be President Trump’s move toward the center on foreign policy, after which Mike and Jay discuss what’s going on with Russia, along with the meaning of ‘fake news’.
Marc Levinson Interview
Mike talks to Marc Levinson, an economist, historian, and journalist specializing in economic and business issues. He’s a former finance and economics editor for The Economist, and has written for publications including the Harvard Business Review, Foreign Affairs, and The Wall Street Journal. He’s the author of six books, including The Box: How the Shipping Container Made the World Smaller and the World Economy Bigger and, most recently, An Extraordinary Time: The End of the Postwar Boom and the Return of the Ordinary Economy.
PG85: Host Swap! Supreme Court Nominee, Immigration Ban, Trump Executive Orders
It’s host-swap week at The Politics Guys! We’ve been big fans of Pantsuit Politics podcast for a while now, because both of us approach politics the same way – with the belief that we need less partisan yelling and screaming and more thoughtful, reasoned discussion between liberals and conservatives. And so, when the opportunity arose to talk politics with each other, we jumped at it. On our show, Mike welcomes Pantsuit Politics co-host Beth, while over at Pantsuit Politics Jay talks with Pantsuit Politics’ Sarah.
Mike and Beth get into President Trump’s nomination of Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court, the latest on the immigration ban, the Senate’s confirmation of Rex Tillerson as Secretary of State as well as the upcoming battle over Betsy DeVoss to be the next Secretary of Education, and lots more.
If you’d like to keep up with Pantsuit Politics (which we highly recommend), here’s where you can find them:
– Website: pantsuitpoliticsshow.com
– Twitter: @pantsuitpolitic
– Facebook: @pantsuitpolitics
Marion Nestle Interview
Food Politics: How the Food Industry Influences Nutrition and Health and, most recently, Soda Politics: Taking on Big Soda (and Winning)
They discuss how food policy is made, who it’s made for (Big Agriculture or the American people), and what she thinks of nutrition labels, USDA dietary guidelines, GMOs, and soda taxes, and more.
Recommended Links
Aside from following foodpolitics.com, Professor Nestle suggests that people interested in keeping up with matters related to nutrition and public health check out the Center for Science in the Public Interest
PG84: Immigration Ban, NSC Reorg, Fake News, Border Walls, Jay’s Defenders
Donald Trump has been busy issuing executive orders, with his move to ban immigration from a number of Muslim countries perhaps the most controversial. Mike and Jay look at this, as well as President Trump’s orders that froze government hiring, stopped foreign aid to groups providing abortion counseling, withdrew the US from the Trans Pacific Partnership, ordered the construction of a Mexico border wall, imposed a lengthy ban on lobbying for Trump appointees, and reshuffled the National Security Counsel to remove the Director of National Intelligence and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, while adding Trump advisor Steve Bannon.
The Guys also talk about vote fraud – only because President Trump refuses to let it go – and answer listener mail, some of which was in support of Jay, after a number of listeners criticized him for being not anti-Trump enough.
Is Jay a Trump shill? Is Mike wrong about Cuba?
This week we catch up on listener mail, answering some great questions, including:
- What’s up with Jay’s unwillingness to criticize Donald Trump?
- Why does Mike support better relations with an awful regime like Cuba?
- Where do you Guys get your facts from, anyway?
PG83: President Trump, Women’s March, Chelsea Manning
This week the Guys start by discussing the inauguration of Donald Trump as the 45th President of the United States. His inauguration speech was dark, depressing, and hyperbolic by normal presidential inaugural address standards, but Jay argues it was actually pretty restrained for a Trump speech. Mike and Jay also look at Trump’s historic unpopularity, the Democrats who skipped the inauguration, and the Women’s Marches held in protest of the Trump presidency. After that, they talk about the latest in Senate confirmation hearings and debate the wisdom of President Obama’s record number of commutations, including one for whistleblower / spy Chelsea Manning.
Ask The Politics Guys: Obama’s Legacy?
This week, Mike and Jay talk about the legacy of President Barack Obama. They discuss what presidential greatness means, whether ‘great’ presidents are something we should even hope for, Mike’s four-point criteria for measuring presidential success, Obama’s ‘Top 10’ achievements (according to Mike) and his biggest failures (according to Jay).
PG82: Farewells, Fake News, Russia Scandal?, Trump’s Ethics, Hearings, Obamacare
This week’s show starts off with Mike getting all misty-eyed about President Obama’s farewell speech. Unsurprisingly, Jay wasn’t quite so choked up. Mike contrasts what he sees as the grace and eloquence of the outgoing president with the decidedly different style of President-Elect Donald Trump, who recently held his first news conference since winning the election. Mike and Jay talk about Trump’s claim that CNN is fake news, his ethics plan, and his response to unverified allegations that his campaign may have been in collusion with the Russian government. Then it’s on to a look at Senate confirmation hearings of two of President-Elect Trump’s key cabinet nominees: Rex Tillerson and Jeff Sessions. Finally, the Guys talk about the Republicans ‘full speed ahead’ plan to repeal Obamacare, and the perils of trying to quickly replace it.
A National Popular Vote for President?
Mike interviews Pat Rosenstiel, from National Popular Vote, an organization working to ensure that the winner of the national popular vote for the presidency actually becomes president, something that hasn’t happened in two of the last five presidential elections. Mike and Pat discuss:
– how the system can be changed without a Constitutional amendment
– if this is a case of liberal sour-grapes
– how a national popular vote would affect campaigning
– whether NPV would make presidential election winners more legitimate
– the prospects for reform