The Politics Guys

Mike and Jay lead off with a discussion of President Trump's first budget. The so-called 'skinny budget' (referring to any incoming president's first budget, which tends to be shorter on details than their later budget proposals) calles for big defense and security increases and correspondingly big cuts. Jay is hoping that it's simply another instance of Trump's negotiating style (start out extrem...

Mike talks with political scientist Norman Ornstein, a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, contributing writer for The Atlantic, columnist for National Journal, and the author of many books on U.S. Politics, including It's Even Worse Than It Looks: How the American Constitutional System Collided With the New Politics of Extremism, coauthored with the Brookings Institution's Thom...

This week, Jay is joined by guest co-host Ken Katkin, a professor of law at Northern Kentucky University, who takes the place of Mike on the left. (But while Mike was off this week, he still couldn't resist inserting a few remarks at the very beginning of the show.) Jay and Ken start off with an in-depth policy discussion of the American Health Care Act, the Republican legislation to repeal and re...

Mike talks with Steve Hilton, the founder of Crowdpac, which he created in 2014 in order to help reconnect regular people to politics by making it easier for everyone to learn about politicians, find and support candidates that match their beliefs, and even run for office. Prior to starting Crowdpac, Steve was a director of strategy for former UK Conservative Prime Minister David Cameron. In addit...

This week, Mike and Jay start by discussing President Trump's first address to a joint session of Congress. They both agree that it was the most presidential / least Trump-like speech he's yet given. Then things get a bit more disputatious than usual, when Mike strongly objects to President Trump's tweets about alleged illegal wiretapping of his organization by the Obama administration. Jay is dee...

Mike talks to Lane Kenworthy, a Professor of Sociology at the University of California, San Diego. His research focuses on social policy, including poverty, inequality, mobility, and economic growth in the United States and other rich countries. Professor Kenworthy is the author of many academic articles and six books, including Social Democratic America and, most recently How Big Should Governmen...

This week's episode starts with a look at the annual meeting of the Conservative Political Action Conference, headlined by President Trump himself. Mike and Jay take a look at the president's stridently anti-media rhetoric as well as discuss someone who wasn't there: conservative provocateur and former Breitbart senior editor Milo Yiannopoulos, who was disinvited after video surfaced suggesting th...

Mike talks to Jason Brennan, an Associate Professor of Strategy, Economics, Ethics, and Public Policy at Georgetown University. He's the author of a number of books, including The Ethics of Voting, Libertarianism: What Everyone Needs to Know, *Why Not Capitalism?, and, most recently Against Democracy. Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/the-politics-guys/donationsAdvertising Inquiries:...

This week, Mike and Jay begin with a look at the resignation of National Security Advisor Michael Flynn and what it tells us about the Trump administration's national security savvy. Next, they discuss President Trump's press conference, which many on the left saw as 'unhinged' while many on the right believed it to be a masterful performance that the mainstream media simply didn't get. Next is th...

This episode features our answers to a bunch of great listener mail, facebook messages, and website comments we've gotten lately. We start off with Mike ansering a listener who thinks the Democratic Party should move left (Mike disagrees). Jay then responds to someone who suggests he might benefit from spending more time considering feminist perspectives. Another listener wonders if there's anythi...

Mike and Jay lead off with the 9th Circuit's action on the Trump travel ban, along with their thoughts on whether or not it violates the Constitution. Then it's on to contentious Senate confirmation votes, with a focus on Betsy DeVoss - the first ever 50-50 confirmation vote tie (broken by VP Mike Pence) - and Elizabeth Warren's silencing by Senate Republicans during debate on Jeff Sessions confir...

Mike talks to Marc Levinson, an economist, historian, and journalist specializing in economic and business issues. He’s a former finance and economics editor for The Economist, and has written for publications including the Harvard Business Review, Foreign Affairs, and The Wall Street Journal. He’s the author of six books, including The Box: How the Shipping … Continue reading "Marc Levinson Inter...

It’s host-swap week at The Politics Guys! We’ve been big fans of Pantsuit Politics podcast for a while now, because both of us approach politics the same way – with the belief that  we need less partisan yelling and screaming and more thoughtful, reasoned discussion between liberals and conservatives. And so, when the opportunity arose … Continue reading "PG85: Host Swap! Supreme Court Nominee, Im...

Mike talks with Professor Marion Nestle, one of most respected and sought-after academic commentators on food politics, health, and nutrition. She’s the Paulette Goddard Professor in the Department of Nutrition, Food Studies, and Public Health at New York University as well as a Professor of Sociology at NYU, and a Visiting Professor of Nutritional Sciences … Continue reading "Marion Nestle Interv...

Donald Trump has been busy issuing executive orders, with his move to ban immigration from a number of Muslim countries perhaps the most controversial. Mike and Jay look at this, as well as President Trump’s orders that froze government hiring, stopped foreign aid to groups providing abortion counseling, withdrew the US from the Trans Pacific … Continue reading "PG84: Immigration Ban, NSC Reorg, F...

This week we catch up on listener mail, answering some great questions, including: What’s up with Jay’s unwillingness to criticize Donald Trump? Why does Mike support better relations with an awful regime like Cuba? Where do you Guys get your facts from, anyway? Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/the-politics-guys/donationsAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy &am...

This week the Guys start by discussing the inauguration of Donald Trump as the 45th President of the United States. His inauguration speech was dark, depressing, and hyperbolic by normal presidential inaugural address standards, but Jay argues it was actually pretty restrained for a Trump speech. Mike and Jay also look at Trump’s historic unpopularity, … Continue reading "PG83: President Trump, Wo...

This week, Mike and Jay talk about the legacy of President Barack Obama. They discuss what presidential greatness means, whether ‘great’ presidents are something we should even hope for, Mike’s four-point criteria for measuring presidential success, Obama’s ‘Top 10’ achievements (according to Mike) and his biggest failures (according to Jay).Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/the-poli...

This week’s show starts off with Mike getting all misty-eyed about President Obama’s farewell speech. Unsurprisingly, Jay wasn’t quite so choked up. Mike contrasts what he sees as the grace and eloquence of the outgoing president with the decidedly different style of President-Elect Donald Trump, who recently held his first news conference since winning the … Continue reading "PG82: Farewells, Fak...

Mike interviews Pat Rosenstiel, from National Popular Vote, an organization working to ensure that the winner of the national popular vote for the presidency actually becomes president, something that hasn’t happened in two of the last five presidential elections. Mike and Pat discuss: – how the system can be changed without a Constitutional amendment – … Continue reading "A National Popular Vote...

This week, Mike and Jay start off by talking about the intelligence community’s now-released report on Russian hacking, which concluded that not only did the Russians attempt to influence the presidential election, but that they favored Donald Trump. The report was met with bipartisan acceptance in Congress, and even the President-Elect admitted that the Russians … Continue reading "PG81: Russian...

Mike talks with futurist and author Martin Ford. His most recent book is Rise of the Robots: Technology and the Threat of a Jobless Future, a New York Times bestseller and winner of the 2015 Financial Times and McKinsey Business Book of the Year Award. They discuss the Seven Deadly Economic Trends, what jobs are … Continue reading "Martin Ford Interview"Support this podcast at — https://redcircle....

This week, Mike and Jay start out by talking more about Russian hacking: What we know, how it may have affected the election, Donald Trump’s response, and if the U.S. should retaliate. After that they look at the latest picks in Donald Trump’s administration, particularly the hard-liner he’s chosen as Ambassador to Israel. Finally, it’s … Continue reading "PG80: Russian Hacking, Questionable Trump...

Mike interviews political scientist Brendan Nyhan, a professor in the Department of Government at Dartmouth College. His research on political misperceptions has been published in many of the top journals in the field. He’s also a contributor to ‘The Upshot‘ at the New York Times – one of Mike’s ‘must read’ sites. Show Links – … Continue reading "Brendan Nyhan Interview"Support this podcast at — h...

This week, the Guys start out by talking about ongoing controversies surrounding the 2016 presidential election. Now that Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein’s recount effort has mostly fizzled out, attention has focused on the Russians, who the CIA has concluded attempted to influence the election in favor of Donald Trump. Both Jay and Mike are … Continue reading "PG79: Russian Election...