The Politics Guys

This week’s show starts out with President Trump’s surprising and, some would say, far-too impulsive firing of FBI Director James Comey. Mike and Jay consider if this is Trump fearing that the FBI is getting too close to finding ties between his campaign and Russia, Trump simply being his erratic, ‘act first and consider the consequences later’ self, or possibly some combination of the two.

After that, they talk about the recent move by Attorney General Jeff Sessions withdrawing former Obama AG Eric Holder’s directive that gave federal prosecutors the ability to work around mandatory minimum sentences that many on the left and the right feel are expensive and ineffective.

Then it’s on to the Election Fraud Commission President Trump set up with a recent executive order. Mike and Jay talk about what the data tells us about election fraud, what a commission might lead to, and how to balance the integrity of the election system with concerns about voter suppression.

What We’re Reading This Week:

Jay: The Decline of the West. Oswald Spengler

Mike: The End of Alchemy: Money, Banking, and the Future of the Global Economy. Mervyn King

This week’s show starts out with a detailed look at the American Health Care Act, which the House of Representatives passed in a squeaker of a vote. Both Mike and Jay expect that the Senate will take up and pass some version of the AHCA, but that it’s likely to be somewhat different from what the House approved. In their discussion of the bill, the Guys discuss where people get their insurance, what Obamacare did (or tried to do), and how the AHCA would change things.

Next, it’s a look at the bipartisan spending bill that Congress recently approved, with almost all of the opposition coming from Republicans. Mike and Jay talk about why so many Republicans were against it and whether or not conservatives are right to be worried about federal spending and debt levels.

Finally, the Guys introduce a new segment to the show: What We’re Reading. Every week, Mike and Jay will talk about an article, book, podcast episode, or documentary they’ve been reading, listening to, or watching, in an attempt to break away from the of-the-moment, ‘instant analysis’ of the news cycle.

What We’re Reading Links
– Why the Reactionary Right Must be Taken Seriously. Andrew Sullivan
– The Challenge of our Disruptive Era (paywall). Senator Ben Sasse

This episode marks a return to our roots, with a focus on deeper analysis of what’s most important, and less coverage of the ephemeral events that so often dominate the weekly news cycle.

Mike and his fellow political scientist Trey – who’s guest-hosting this week for Jay – start with a look at Donald Trump’s first 100 days. They consider how ‘100 days’ became such a big deal, what a president’s first 100 days can tell us about the rest of his term, what it means to be a successful president (and how much of that is in the president’s control), and how likely they think it is that Donald Trump will have a successful presidency.

Next is their discussion of the Trump tax plan. Mike outlines the basics of the plan after which Mike and Trey talk about whether the plan would be good for the United States, what it would do the the national debt, and the political realities of enacting tax reform.

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This week’s show starts with Mike and Jay talking about the ‘not-quite’ Democratic win in the special election in Georgia. Mike thinks it could be a (positive) sign of things to come for Democrats in Congress, but Jay isn’t so sure.

After that, the Guys talk about whether Fox was right to give Bill O’Reilly the boot, President Trump’s executive orders on steel, the H-1B visa program, and Wall Street regulation, and whether Berkeley is trying to silence Ann Coulter.

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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.