The Politics Guys

This week, Jay is joined by guest co-host Ken Katkin, a professor of law at Northern Kentucky University, who takes the place of Mike on the left. (But while Mike was off this week, he still couldn’t resist inserting a few remarks at the very beginning of the show.)

Jay and Ken start off with an in-depth policy discussion of the American Health Care Act, the Republican legislation to repeal and replace Obamacare. They drill down into the fundamentals of how health insurance works – or doesn’t work – with Jay expressing far more confidence in a ‘free market’ solution than Ken.

Next, they look at the Trump administration’s ‘new and improved’ travel ban. While both Jay and Ken agree that courts should grant the executive a good amount of deference in this area, Ken feels that there’s no rational basis for the ban, which he believes is a clear attempt to ‘reverse engineer’ an unconstitutional Muslim ban. Jay, though not entirely unsympathetic to these concerns, isn’t exactly convinced.

Finally, they consider the latest release from Wikileaks – a trove of documents concerning CIA hacking techniques. Both Jay and Ken conclude that Wikileaks is more hero than villain. The discussion turns to ties between Russia and the Trump campaign, with Ken arguing that the amount of evidence of involvement is overwhelming. He concludes that President Trump is, in effect, a Russian agent.

This week, Mike and Jay start by discussing President Trump’s first address to a joint session of Congress. They both agree that it was the most presidential / least Trump-like speech he’s yet given. Then things get a bit more disputatious than usual, when Mike strongly objects to President Trump’s tweets about alleged illegal wiretapping of his organization by the Obama administration. Jay is deeply troubled that a president would tap the phones of a rival party’s presidential nominee, while Mike argues the Obama administration would have been derelict in its duty had it not investigated a major party presidential nominee with potential ties to a rival and unfriendly power.

Things cool down after that (Mike really did get pretty wound up for a while on the Russia thing) as they move on to discuss the first outlines of President Trump’s budget and the wave of threats against Jewish Community Centers.

This week’s episode starts with a look at the annual meeting of the Conservative Political Action Conference, headlined by President Trump himself. Mike and Jay take a look at the president’s stridently anti-media rhetoric as well as discuss someone who wasn’t there: conservative provocateur and former Breitbart senior editor Milo Yiannopoulos, who was disinvited after video surfaced suggesting that Yiannopoulos wasn’t entirely against pedophilia in some circumstances.

After that, the Guys discuss the recent Justice Department rollback of the Obama rule concerning the right of transgender students to use the bathroom corresponding to their gender identity. Mike sees it as a setback for LGBTQ civil rights, while Jay questions the extent to which this is a right in the first place, and argues that states should have greater say in their education policies – including bathroom access for students.

Mike surprises himself by actually complimenting President Trump – for his choice of H. R. McMaster as his appointee to replace Michael Flynn as National Security Advisor. Both Mike and Jay agree that this was a great pick, though it remains to be seen how much President Trump will rely on McMaster’s advice, as opposed to that of Steve Bannon and Jared Kushner.

Then it’s a look at the state of our immigration policy in light of the Trump administration’s crackdown on immigration enforcement. Mike and Jay consider this in the broader context of our current relationship with Mexico, with Mike pointing out that while Mexico relies on the United States, the relationship works both ways, and that should President Trump decide to come down hard on Mexico, the Mexican government could take significant action of its own in response.

Finally, the Guys turn to the Town Hall meeting protests that many Republican members of Congress met with during their ‘week off’. Neither Mike nor Jay thinks that protests alone can make a huge difference, though Mike believes (hopes?) that his Democratic Party has learned the organizational lessons of the GOP, and will combine public protests with plenty of behind-the-scenes organizing.

This week, Mike and Jay begin with a look at the resignation of National Security Advisor Michael Flynn and what it tells us about the Trump administration’s national security savvy. Next, they discuss President Trump’s press conference, which many on the left saw as ‘unhinged’ while many on the right believed it to be a masterful performance that the mainstream media simply didn’t get. Next is the week in Senate confirmations, featuring the withdrawal of Andrew Puzder as Labor Secretary and the confirmation of Scott Pruitt at the EPA. Finally, the Guys look at new revelations and current investigations into potential links between the Trump administration and Russia.

This episode features our answers to a bunch of great listener mail, facebook messages, and website comments we’ve gotten lately. We start off with Mike ansering a listener who thinks the Democratic Party should move left (Mike disagrees). Jay then responds to someone who suggests he might benefit from spending more time considering feminist perspectives. Another listener wonders if there’s anything we can do to make our country less polarized. (In his response, Jay impressively brings in Epictetus, Mike’s favorite Stoic philosopher.) Then it’s a discussion of whether we’re both being too easy on Donald Trump, and finally, a debate on federal funding of overseas abortion counseling.

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’.