PG146: North Korea, Russia, Gorsuch Sides with Liberals, Crafty Congressional Republicans, James Comey’s Media Blitz

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This week, Mike welcomes special guest co-host Will Miller, a center-right political scientist. Mike and Will start the show by discussing the upcoming negotiations between the U.S. and North Korea in the wake of Secretary of State Nominee Mike Pompeo’s Easter weekend visit to North Korea and recent indications by the regime that they’re willing to freeze nuclear testing and discuss denuclearization. Both Mike and Will are skeptical, but believe that getting the North talking is a step in the right direction.

After that, it’s a discussion of the Russia sanctions that didn’t happen, when UN Ambassador Nikki Haley’s announcement of upcoming sanctions was walked back by the administration, which claimed that Haley had gotten ahead of herself. Mike and Will see this as yet another example of the Trump administration’s poor message discipline – a problem that seems to stem largely from President Trump himself. The Guys also discuss whether additional sanctions should have been imposed.

Next is a discussion of a Supreme Court decision on immigration in which Trump appointee Neil Gorsuch joined with the Court’s four liberals to strike down part of a law used to deport immigrants on the grounds that it is unconstitutionally vague. Will argues that this isn’t really a partisan issue, but rather one of statutory construction, and says that the real surprise is that other conservatives on the Court didn’t have more of a problem with the vague wording of the law.

Then Mike gets to talk about his favorite government agency, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, as well as explain the intricacies of the Congressional Review Act, which Senate Republicans used to overturn a CFPB ‘guidance’ issued during the Obama administration. Mike says that this is a clever / sneaky move by Republicans that could lead to a good deal more Obama-era regulatory guidance being overturned. Will agrees, but as he’s no fan of regulation, he sees this as a potentially good thing.

The Guys close with a discussion of James Comey’s media blitz and what his new book and memos tell us about whether or not President Trump obstructed justice. Mike says that it tells us next to nothing, and the media is making focusing far too much on the clash of personalities. Will agrees, and says that the Republicans’ move to release the Comey memos may have partially backfired on them.

What Will’s Reading & Watching
Tell Them We Are Rising: The Story of Black Colleges and Universities (PBS documentary)

Why Historically Black College Are Enjoying a Renaissance. (National Geographic)

The Paradox of Choice. Barry Schwartz

What Mike’s Reading
Hoover: An Extraordinary Life in Extraordinary Times. Kenneth Whyte

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One thought on “PG146: North Korea, Russia, Gorsuch Sides with Liberals, Crafty Congressional Republicans, James Comey’s Media Blitz”

  1. Great show.

    Will makes an exceptional co-host. I have been fairly firmly in the camp of thought that a meeting between Trump and North Korea can only be catastrophically bad (not just for how hysterically bad Trump is at making deals with anyone, but for how it seems to be legitimizing a regime that has used threats and human rights violations to bully their way onto the world stage), and yet Will’s perspective actually revealed a potential positive to the whole spectacle.

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