The Politics Guys

Mike and Jay open with a discussion of the first (and possibly only) debate between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump. Jay agrees with the conventional wisdom about the debate hurting Trump, and Mike agrees that it’s not likely to make a huge difference. But as Jay points out, in a race almost certain to be as close as this one is, a few thousand votes in the right places could mean a lot. Mike argue...

Trey and Ken discuss the 13th Amendment and the 14th Amendment's citizenship and privileges and immunities clauses. The Politics Guys on Facebook | X  Check out the Sustainable Planet podcast, as well as the free Sustainable Planet Substack. Listener support helps make The Politics Guys possible. You can support us or change your level of support at patreon.com/politicsguys or politicsguys.com/sup...

Trey is again joined by Ken and they start the show looking at the U.S. Justice Department's recent indictment of, presumably, Tenet Media. Ken argues this demonstrates the Justice Department is taking Russian election interference seriously, while Trey suggests this kind of revelation can be a place for considering one's media content consumption. Next, the duo dives into Montana's U.S. Senate Ra...

Travis talks with political scientist and the CEO of PRRI, Dr. Melissa Deckman about her new book, The Politics of Gen Z: How the Youngest Voters Will Shape our Democracy, in which she explores the political activities of American Zoomers, especially among Gen Z women, including a robust analysis of survey data coupled with rich detail from focus groups and interview with young political entrepren...

Questions include: May's position on conversion therapy May's thoughts on the LGBTQ+ community Trey and May on Donald Trump and democracy in the U.S. The best books on politics The Politics Guys on Facebook | X  Check out the Sustainable Planet podcast, as well as the free Sustainable Planet Substack. Listener support helps make The Politics Guys possible. You can support us or change your level o...

Trey and May begin by analyzing Harris’s CNN interview. Trey posits we have entered a new post-position political age. Both discuss the evolution of Harris and whether she has stayed true to her values while shifting her policies. The pair delve into the respective promises of both Harris and Trump on using opposing party members in their cabinet and their transition team respectively. Next the pa...

Mike talks with Josh Cowen, a professor of education policy at Michigan State University about his recently released book, The Privateers: How Billionaires Created a Culture War and Sold School Vouchers. Topics Mike & Josh Cover Include: - how vouchers work - Milton Friedman’s role as a voucher pioneer - vouchers as a response to school desegregation - why modern voucher programs are less acco...

Mike and Jay open the preview of this supporters’ midweek episode with a discussion of a Texas judge’s ruling against the FTC’s noncompete clause ban. Mike is more in favor of at least restricting noncompete clauses than Jay is, but they both agree that the judge was correct on the law. Next, they take a look at the Republican and Democratic Party platforms, starting with the parties’ positions on...

Mike and Jay open with a discussion of the recently concluded Democratic National Convention. Mike notes that the tone of the DNC was far more upbeat and optimistic than the RNC, and attributes that in some part to the basic nature of Donald Trump. They also get into a discussion of the Democrats’ celebrity advantage and Jay’s theory as to why that’s the case. Next up is RFK Jr. suspending his cam...

Mike talks with Scott Klug, an Emmy award-winning journalist, former member of Congress, and currently co-chair of the Federal Public Affairs Practice at the national law firm of Foley & Lardner. He’s also a podcaster - the founder and host of Lost in the Middle: America’s Political Orphans – and writes the Lost in the Middle Substack. Topics Mike and Scott Discuss Include: - Scott’s move from...

Trump and Harris Economic Plans, Presidential Prediction Models Jay, Justin, and Mike open the preview of this supporters’ midweek episode with a discussion of the recent economic speeches by Donald Trump and Kamala Harris. Jay is unhappy with what he’s hearing from both sides, and Mike makes the case that if you like Biden’s policies, you’ll like Harris’ even more. Justin points out that much of...

Jay, Justin, and Mike open with a discussion of the X conversation between Elon Musk and Donald Trump. They consider the ties between Musk and Trump, Musk’s move from left to right, and whether the event was a violation of campaign finance law as well as illegal worker intimidation. This moves into a conversation of Elon Musk’s recent lawsuit alleging that an advertiser boycott of X violates antit...

Travis talks with political science professor (and mom!), Dr. Lindsey Cormack about her new book, How to Raise a Citizen (And Why It’s Up to You to Do It), in which she encourages parents to learn more about politics, civics, and government, and to take on a more active role in providing that education to their children. Topics Travis and Lindsey cover include: Key features and functions of Americ...

Mike and Jay open the preview of this supporters’ midweek show with a look at Judge Amit Metha’s ruling that Google is a monopolist in online search. Both Mike and Jay are torn on this, though for slightly different reasons. Jay has a problem with any one company controlling so much personal data, while Mike’s concern is more with Google’s practices that lock in its dominance through multi-billion...

Mike and Jay open with a discussion of Kamala Harris’ choice of Minnesota Governor Tim Walz as her running mate. While neither Mike nor Jay believes Walz will make much of a difference, Mike argues that he’s more of a “regular person” than Trump running mate JD Vance, and that Harris has a reasonable shot at winning without running with a battleground state running mate. Then they turn to the stat...

Mike talks with historian Anthony Gregory, author of multiple publications on national security, constitutionalism, and legal theory. His latest book is New Deal Law and Order: How The War on Crime Built The Modern Liberal State. Topics Mike & Anthony Discuss Include: - the origin of the “war on crime” - how the war on crime paved the way for the modern liberal state - FDR’s “creative constitu...

Trey and Ken continue their deep dive through the U.S. Constitution with the 12th Amendment. Topics of conversation include: The divided government of 1796 The contested election of 1800 The timeline of presidential elections The Presidential Succession Act Chiafalo v Washington Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices The Politics Guys on Facebook | X Listener support helps...

Trey, May, and Ken commence the show with an in-depth discussion on former President Donald Trump’s comments at the National Association of Black Journalists Convention (NABJ) in Chicago. The debate becomes contentious as Ken and May dispute Trump’s engagement with racist groups. May contends that Ken’s remarks unfairly characterize conservatives as racist, while Ken clarifies that Trump’s outreac...

Mike talks with Zee Cohen-Sanchez, Founder and Executive Director of Sole Strategies, a political organization building grassroots campaigns across the US for candidates who are passionate about change. After Bernie Sanders' 2016 campaign, Zee committed to helping Democratic candidates win seats across the country. Since founding Sole Strategies in 2020, Zee and her team have worked on hundreds of...

Mike and Ken open this preview of the supporters' midweek show with a look at Israeli President Benjamin Netanyahu’s address to a joint session of Congress. They agree that the US doesn’t have a lot of leverage over Israel given America’s strategic interests in the region and concerns about Iran. Mike argues that members of Congress who are stridently anti-Israel are actively hurting their party’s...

Mike, Ken, and Trey open with a discussion of President Biden’s decision to leave the race and the potential running mates and policies for presumptive nominee Kamala Harris. Ken argues that Biden would have done just fine against Trump and that Harris will also win in November, whereas Trey and Mike are far less bullish on her chances. They all agree that a potential Harris administration would b...

Mike talks with Berkeley political scientist Steven Fish, author of the recently released book, Comeback: Routing Trumpism, Reclaiming the Nation, and Restoring Democracy’s Edge. Topics Mike & Steve Discuss Include: - if Democrats are spoiled whiners - low-dominance liberals vs high-dominance Trump - why ignoring polls is a good thing (at times) - pathologically risk-averse liberals - high-dom...

We’re releasing this second “not actually a midweek episode” episode following President Biden’s announcement that he won’t be running for reelection. That was all we covered in the preview of the midweek episode that dropped earlier today, and now that events have overtaken our analysis, we thought you deserved more than a suddenly very dated analysis of whether or not Biden would leave the ticke...

Mike and Jay open the preview of this special early-release edition of the midweek supporters’ show with a discussion of the Democratic National Committee’s plan to hold a virtual roll-call vote in the first week of August to nominate Joe Biden. Mike hopes that doesn’t end up happening, but is skeptical of the press reports saying that it’s almost a foregone conclusion that Biden will bow to press...

Mike and Jay open with a discussion of the attempted assassination of Donald Trump. While there’s a lot we still don’t know, it’s clear that the Secret Service failed to do its job. Mike and Jay agree that Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle shouldn’t still have her job, though Mike contends that those on the right blaming what happened on “DEI hires” are engaged in rampant speculation to pro...