The Politics Guys

Trey Orndorff and Ken Katkin tackle the ongoing volatilty of the U.S. / Iran conflict and its month-old Memorandum of Understanding falling apart. Ken argues there is no hope for peace until the next presidential elections. Trey is not sure even that event will end the violence fully. The pair also discuss the Friday morning mystery of the unclaimed bombs and who might be responsible. Next they di...

Mike talks about the Explain Like I'm 5 podcast. I hope you will enjoy this excellent show as much as we do.

Michael Levy talks with California State Senator Scott Wiener of San Francisco, one of the country’s leading Democratic voices on housing policy, artificial intelligence, the abundance movement, LGBTQ rights, and sexual health policy. Wiener discusses how California’s housing crisis became a governance failure, why simply blaming Airbnb or corporate investors misses the larger supply problem, and...

This supporters’ exclusive midweek episode digs into three major Supreme Court rulings with big implications for elections, transgender athletes, and campaign finance. Mike and Jay start with Watson v. Republican National Committee, where the Court upheld Mississippi’s post-election mail ballot receipt window and debated whether “Election Day” means ballots must be received — or merely cast — by t...

Mike and Jay kick off the Fourth of July weekend with a quick reflection on America at 250 before turning to a packed week of constitutional conflict: renewed U.S.-Iran tensions near the Strait of Hormuz, Trump’s failed attempt to limit birthright citizenship, and two major Supreme Court fights over presidential power. They dig into whether birthright citizenship is now truly settled, why the Cour...

Mike talks with Tom Carroll, co-founder and CEO of Convos , a controlled AI-powered texting platform designed to turn campaign texting from one-way blasts into two-way voter conversations. They discuss why campaign texts feel so spammy, how AI could help campaigns answer voter questions at scale, and whether conversational campaign texting is a useful democratic tool or just a more sophisticated f...

In this supporter-exclusive midweek episode, Trey is joined by Justin, and they cover multiculturalism as an ideology. On this week’s show, Trey and Justin discuss: Core principles of multiculturalism What differentiates multiculturalism the ideology from the empirical reality of cultures living side by side inside one state The attacks on multiculturalism from liberalism, feminism, and marxism Th...

Political scientists Trey Orndorff (Oklahoma Christian University) and Justin Holmes (University of Northern Iowa) break down a wildly volatile week in American governance, focusing heavily on the expanding boundaries and realities of modern presidential power. From a shocking last-minute executive shutdown of a bipartisan housing bill to the unprecedented face-to-face shouting match on Capitol Hi...

Mike talks with David Beckemeyer, fellow Democracy Group podcaster and host of Outrage Overload , about why American politics so often feels like a permanent rage machine. They dig into why people badly misread their political opponents, how outrage media works on both the left and right, why more information doesn’t necessarily make us more reasonable, and how social media creates false consensus...

This supporters’ exclusive midweek episode takes on three fights over executive power, national security, and the rule of law. Mike and Jay dig into the Trump administration’s export-control crackdown on Anthropic’s newest AI models, asking whether this is a real national-security intervention or political retaliation dressed up as safety policy. They then turn to the U.S. strike that killed Tren...

Mike and Jay dig into a chaotic week in politics, starting with the Trump administration’s memorandum of understanding with Iran—a deal meant to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, end the war, waive oil sanctions, and postpone the hardest nuclear questions. They debate whether the agreement was a pragmatic off-ramp, a capitulation, or a deal already collapsing under pressure from Iran, Israel, Hezbollah...

Mike talks with Layla Zaidane, president and CEO of Future Caucus , the largest nonpartisan organization of young lawmakers in the United States, about why the next generation of political leaders may be running into a system that makes public service nearly impossible. They discuss whether younger lawmakers really govern differently, how Future Caucus tries to build bipartisan trust without sandi...

In this supporters’ exclusive midweek episode, Mike and Ken work through four fights over executive power, legal process, and institutional trust: Judge Leo Sorokin’s ruling striking down Trump’s $100,000 H-1B visa fee as an unconstitutional tax, the furor over California’s slow vote count, mail ballots, and Trump’s fraud claims, the Broadview Six grand-jury scandal and what it says about DOJ misc...

Mike and Ken discuss another volatile week in U.S. politics, starting with the escalating conflict with Iran, Trump’s claims of a looming peace deal, the inflationary fallout from energy shocks, and whether Iran or the U.S. has more leverage as the war drags on. Then they turn to Maine’s high-stakes 2026 races, including Graham Platner’s landslide Democratic Senate primary win, Susan Collins’s dur...

Mike and Jay open with the increasingly strange U.S. war with Iran, where a still-closed Strait of Hormuz, murky ceasefire claims, stalled negotiations, and a House war powers vote have raised major questions about Trump’s strategy. Jay argues that Iran remains a serious long-term threat and that Trump may be right to exhaust negotiations before escalating, while admitting that much of the battlef...

This episode explores the constitutional powers of the U.S. President as outlined in Article II, Section 2, including the roles of Commander-in-Chief, treaty-making, appointments, and removal of officials. Topics covered include: Explicit presidential powers The role of the Commander-in-Chief Treaty-making process and Senate advice and consent Appointments and the Senate confirmation process Reces...

Mike is joined by historian Arthur Herman to discuss his new book Founders’ Fire, which argues that America’s recurring strength comes from founders: risk-takers with the vision and drive to remake institutions, industries, and politics. The conversation ranges from the Founding Fathers, Lincoln, and Martin Luther King Jr. to World War II mobilization, Silicon Valley, Donald Trump, Charlie Kirk, A...

This supporters’ exclusive midweek episode opens with Mike, Michael, and Russ discussing Pope Leo XIV’s first encyclical, Magnifica Humanitas, which uses artificial intelligence as a lens for broader questions about human dignity, labor, power, and technological change. The conversation focuses on the document’s connection to Catholic social teaching, its warning against autonomous lethal decision...

Mike, Michael, and Russ open with the tentative U.S.-Iran memorandum of understanding and whether it amounts to a real end to the war or just a pause. Michael argues that the deal mostly returns the conflict to where it began while leaving the hardest nuclear questions unresolved. Russ is skeptical that either side is treating the deal with the seriousness it deserves, seeing mostly clashing egos...

This episode explores the intricacies of Article 2 of the U.S. Constitution, focusing on the presidency, electoral processes, and historical debates that shaped the office. Topics covered include: Vesting clause and inherent executive powers Electoral College origins and evolution The 12th Amendment and its impact Presidential qualifications and natural-born citizen requirement Succession and the...

Mike talks with Thomas Berry, director of the Cato Institute’s Robert A. Levy Center for Constitutional Studies and editor in chief of the Cato Supreme Court Review, about how to understand the Supreme Court beyond simple liberal/conservative scorekeeping. They discuss originalism, precedent, executive power, independent agencies, and the emergency docket. Berry defends a text-and-history approach...

In this supporter-exclusive midweek episode, Trey is joined by Justin, and begin their discussion of modern ideologies with a deep dive into Environmentalism. On this week’s show, Trey and Justin discuss: Core principles of environmentalism (ecocentrism, holism, limits to growth, multi-generation ethics) The relationship between environmentalism and American political culture The limited appeal of...

Trey and Justin kick off this week’s episode by examining the shifts in this week’s primary elections. Trey argues the GOP has firmly solidified into a MAGA populist party. They highlight the historic and incredibly expensive defeat of long-time incumbent Representative Thomas Massie in Kentucky to a Trump-backed challenger, alongside Louisiana Senator Bill Cassidy placing a distant third in his o...

Mike talks with former Tennessee governor, U.S. senator, education secretary, and presidential candidate Lamar Alexander about his new book, The Education of a Senator, and what his long career reveals about how American politics actually works. Alexander argues that while Washington’s “dysfunction screen” gets most of the attention, the Senate can still produce major bipartisan accomplishments wh...

In this episode Trey and Ken explore Federalist Papers No. 11, 12, and 13, focusing on Hamilton's arguments for a strong federal government, economic unity, and the importance of a unified military and trade system. Topics discussed include: Hamilton's views on commerce and a singular American navy The advantages of economic unity The importance of unity for revenue generation The importance of un...