The Politics Guys

This week’s show starts off with a look at the Democratic and Republican races. On the Democratic site, Hillary Clinton has all but put away Bernie Sanders, while Donald Trump continues his inexorable and, to some, inexplicable, run to the nomination. Next, the Guys talk about a challenge to a voter ID law in Texas which could keep over half a million registered Texans from voting in 2016. After that, Mike and Jay talk about President Obama’s recent push for so-called smart-guns. Finally, the Guys discuss the pros and cons of the ‘Textalyzer’ a new device that would allow police to see if accident victims had been using their phones moments before a crash.

This week’s Ask The Politics Guys question comes from Perry, in Canberra Australia.

Dear Politics Guys, How might compulsory voting affect American politics? Is voting a civic responsibility, like, for instance, jury duty?

This week, Mike and Jay start by looking at the state of the Republican and Democratic races following the big New York primary, as well as discussing the importance of building mailing lists and data-mining – two ‘boring but important’ things the Trump campaign hasn’t done much of to this point. Next they talk about the implications of Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe granting over 200,000 felons the right to vote. Then it’s a look at what Congress has been doing lately – believe it or not, when nobody was looking, some actual bipartisanship seems to have broken out. Finally, the Guys talk about the signing of the UN Climate Treaty, followed by Jay’s thoughts about predictions on the state of the environment from previous Earth Days.

This week’s Ask The Politics Guys question comes from Kate in Chicago.

Dear Politics Guys, What’s up with U.S. banks? After financial system reform, are they still too big to fail? And if they are, does that mean that if banks start to go under that Congress will use taxpayer dollars to bail them out again?

This week, the Guys start things off by looking at the big strike by Verizon workers. Surprisingly, Mike, who is usually ready to man the picket line with strikers, is feeling sort of sympathetic to Verizon (as is Jay, which is a lot less surprising). After that, they talk about taxes and some recent proposals to make them a whole lot easier. Then they look at the state of the Republican and Democratic presidential races, before ending with a report on the reprieve of Alexander Hamilton on the $10 bill, thanks in no small part to the musical bearing his name.

Mike’s at a political science convention, and so the Guys are taking a one-week break from the podcast. They’ll be back with a new Politics Guys on Sunday, April 17, and a new Ask The Politics Guys on Wednesday, April 20. In the meantime, you can always get a mini-dose of PG by checking out the Facebook page. There are also some PG interviews you might want to give a listen to:

• Professor Kirby Goidel on America’s Failing Experiment
• Jay interviews Mike about his book, Navigating the News
• Professor Tim Groseclose on liberal media bias
• Harvard’s Alex Jones on Losing the News

Our Ask The Politics Guys question for this week comes from Jeff, in New York:

With Trump’s record turnout state after state, could the case be made that if he’s the nominee of the Republican Party they may lose moderate or “liberal” Republicans (if they still exist) but gain a huge segment of the population that until this point have not been active voters?

This week, Mike and Jay start out by talking about some good news – the March jobs report, which continues a trend of good economic news. After that, they look at Bernie’s chances following some big caucus wins, Donald Trump’s very bad week, and how a divided Supreme Court gave a big(ish) win to public sector unions.

This week’s Ask The Politics Guys question is actually 10 questions, all submitted by loyal listener Emilie, who gathered up questions from her Year 13 A-Level Government and Politics Class at Bishop Ramsey School in Ruislip, UK.

1. Republicans and Democrats were once described by David Broder to be ‘two bottles, both empty’ – is this still the case in respect of the parties? (from Hemesh)

2. Do pressure groups dominate decision making in the US? (from Talin)

3. Do you think Obama should nominate a new justice? (from Ellie)

4. Clinton said that if elected, she would be interested in nominating Obama, what do you think of this idea? (from Taline)

5. Does money dominate the political process – and does the case of Jeb Bush prove to oppose this argument? (from Miss Robinson and Emilie)

6. Does the whole controversy over gun issues prove the Constitution is not suitable for modern America? (From Ellie)

7. Should the Electoral College be reformed? (from Hemesh)

8. Do you think Affirmative Action should continue? (from Carina)

9. Do you think that news coverage without opinion polls that focuses instead on policy would be preferential – or do you think opinion polls are actually valuable when deciding who to vote for? (from Emilie)

10. What is your opinion on Britain leaving the EU? (from Connor)

This week, Mike and Jay start things off by talking about the terror attacks in Brussels, focusing on how the three people most likely to be the next president – Clinton, Trump, and Cruz – reacted. Then it’s off to Cuba (and Argentina) with President Obama and his whole family. The Guys then take a look at the latest developments in the presidential primaries, and close by considering the anti-LGBTQ legislation recently passed in North Carolina.