The Politics Guys

The Politics Guys - Government Democracy & News
  • 4.4 (752)
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The Politics Guys is an independent, ideologically diverse American politics and policy podcast hosted by experts: political scientists, law professors, and practicing attorneys with government experience. Our mission is to give listeners a much-needed break from conservative and liberal echo chambers through civil, rational, and evidence-based discussion of American politics and policy from multiple perspectives.

  1. 1d ago

    The Economics of Energy, Fabrication in Academia

    On this midweek supporters-exclusive episode of The Politics Guys, Trey Orndorff (subbing for Mike Baranowski) is joined once again by political scientist Michael Levy to go down a pair of deep policy and academic "rabbit holes" that they couldn't fit into the main weekend show. The guys start by analyzing German energy giant RWE’s $1.22 billion settlement with the Department of the Interior to abandon three offshore wind projects off the coasts of California, New York, and Louisiana. Trey shares research on an economic deep dive, explaining why onshore wind is cheap and competitive with natural gas, even unsubsidized, while offshore wind suffers massive upfront capital costs and low returns. The hosts then debate whether the administrations’ buyouts represent a pivot away from expensive energy or a lawless executive intervention that distorts the market. Next, they discuss the resignation of Jason Arday, who after capturing headlines in 2023 as the youngest Black professor in the history of the University of Cambridge, likely engaged in unethical practices. The guys examine the substantive allegations against Arday, including over 100 passages in his 2015 doctoral thesis, and his false book publications on his CV. The pair also discuss the institutional reluctance to investigate high-profile scholars and how such high-profile misconduct is weaponized by bad-faith actors against other Black academics.  They finish with rants and recommendations. Michael’s rant takes aim at President Trump’s obsession with putting his name on public institutions and offers a hilariously satirical slate of official Trump legacy projects. Trey pushes back on lukewarm critical reviews to recommend the newest season of Ted Lasso. Trey praises the show for proving that prestige television doesn’t have to all be dark and bleak. The Politics Guys on Facebook | X 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/support. On Venmo, we’re @PoliticsGuys. The Politics Guys is part of The Democracy Group, a network of podcasts that examines what's broken in our democracy and how we can work together to fix it.

    The Economics of Energy, Fabrication in Academia

  2. 5d ago

    Primary Shockwaves, Trump’s Vaccine Overhaul, and the 2029 D.C. Guard Mandate

    On this week’s episode of The Politics Guys, Trey Orndorff (subbing for Mike) is joined by political scientist Michael Levy for their first show together.  They begin with Michael breaking down the August 11 primaries. This includes discussing David Crowley’s narrow victory over Democratic Socialist Francesca Hong in Wisconsin, along with races in Minnesota and South Carolina. The pair discuss why polls missed by wide margins, and Trey discusses the difficulty of modeling primary elections and new tech challenges, including automatic call-screening available on smartphones. Next, the pair move to Executive Order 14407, or the “Gold Standard” of childhood vaccines. Trey and Michael highlight the order’s mandate to split the combined Measles, Mumps, and Rubella (MMR) vaccine into three separate single-disease shots administered across three visits. Trey points out that such shots do not currently exist, rendering the directive unworkable in the short term. The duo also discuss the public-facing crisis that public health officials now face. They close the show with a look at the one-year anniversary of the federalization of D.C.’s Police and the deployment of National Guard troops to the district. The hosts discuss both the confirmation that troops will remain in D.C. through Inauguration Day 2029 and the cost of it at approximately 3 million dollars per day. They finish by discussing the effects of normalizing domestic military policing. The Politics Guys on Facebook | X 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/support. On Venmo, we’re @PoliticsGuys. The Politics Guys is part of The Democracy Group, a network of podcasts that examines what's broken in our democracy and how we can work together to fix it.

    Primary Shockwaves, Trump’s Vaccine Overhaul, and the 2029 D.C. Guard Mandate

  3. 6d ago

    The Trump Realignment

    Mike talks with political scientists Kirby and Spencer Goidel about their new book, The Trump Realignment, and their argument that Donald Trump didn’t simply take over the Republican Party—he fundamentally changed the American party system. They discuss how Trump exploited divisions over trade, immigration, education, and distrust of elites; why the GOP’s transformation began well before 2016; the growing political divide between college and non-college voters; Democrats’ struggle to reconnect with the working class; higher education’s collapse in Republican trust; Silicon Valley’s shifting political alliances; and why Trumpism may prove far more durable than Trump himself. They close with what the coming fight over both parties could mean for 2028 and beyond. The Politics Guys on Facebook | X 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/support. On Venmo, we’re @PoliticsGuys. The Politics Guys is part of The Democracy Group, a network of podcasts that examines what's broken in our democracy and how we can work together to fix it.

    The Trump Realignment

  4. Aug 12

    Are the Democrats in Trouble, or Building for the Future?

    This bonus midweek episode begins with the Democratic National Committee’s precarious finances: the DNC is spending heavily on state parties, organizers, and long-term infrastructure while the Republican National Committee sits on a formidable cash advantage heading into the 2026 midterms. Mike and Jay debate whether DNC Chair Ken Martin is making a disciplined investment—or leaving Democrats dangerously exposed. Then they examine the Democratic Socialists of America’s increasingly prominent agenda, including abolishing the Senate, replacing the presidency and Supreme Court, open borders, dismantling ICE, sharply reducing the Pentagon, prison abolition, and public ownership of major corporations. Are these serious answers to genuine problems, reckless shortcuts around constitutional constraints, or both? The discussion ends with a larger argument about populism, political guardrails, and whether American democracy now gives popular passions too direct a path to power. The Politics Guys on Facebook | X 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/support. On Venmo, we’re @PoliticsGuys. The Politics Guys is part of The Democracy Group, a network of podcasts that examines what's broken in our democracy and how we can work together to fix it.

    Are the Democrats in Trouble, or Building for the Future?

  5. Aug 11

    Anarchy vs Tyranny: Federalist Papers No. 17, 18 and 19

    On this midweek supporters-exclusive episode of The Politics Guys, Trey Orndorff (Oklahoma Christian University) and Ken Katkin (NKU Chase College of Law) continue their ongoing deep-dive series through The Federalist Papers, taking on Federalist Nos. 17, 18, and 19.  In this cluster of essays, Alexander Hamilton and James Madison tackle a central Anti-Federalist anxiety pushed by writers like Brutus (Robert Yates), Cato, and Patrick Henry: the fear that the proposed Constitution would create an all-powerful, consolidated national government that absorbs state sovereignty and individual liberty. Publius flips this argument on its head, contending that the real threat to the American republic isn’t central tyranny, but internal anarchy, state fragmentation, and weak federal enforcement. Topics discussed include: Hamilton’s dismissing that a national government will seek to usurp state powers because ambitious national leaders will care about glorious issues such as commerce, finance, negotiations, and war.The draw of state and local governments for the average person Trey and Ken highlight that even today, over 98% of all court cases in the U.S. remain in state courts. Hamilton’s arguments that the true threat is state governments obstructing or interfering with federal law enforcement, anticipating modern disputes like sanctuary cities.The collaborative authorship and unique drafting history of Federalist 18, where Madison incorporated notes and research compiled by Hamilton into his own previous research studies for the constitutional convention.How in an era before modern social science, the Framers looked to ancient history as their primary empirical evidence, and what they left out to persuade readers.The influence of Abbé Mabley on the writing of Madison.The history and background of The Holy Roman Empire and its distinction with the Roman Empire.To dive deeper, read more on Trey's Substack. The Politics Guys on Facebook | X 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/support. On Venmo, we’re @PoliticsGuys. The Politics Guys is part of The Democracy Group, a network of podcasts that examines what's broken in our democracy and how we can work together to fix it.

    Anarchy vs Tyranny: Federalist Papers No. 17, 18 and 19

  6. Aug 7

    Narrowing Birthright Citizenship, Judicial Elections Defeated, and Todd Blanche’s Path to Attorney General

    On this week’s episode, Trey Orndorff (Oklahoma Christian University) and law professor Ken Katkin (NNKU Chase College of Law) tackle as many major stories as possible for the first week of August, breaking down a pair of controversial new executive orders on citizenship, high-stakes primary results out of Kansas and Michigan, and the Senate Judiciary Committee’s vote to advance Todd Blanche for U.S. Attorney General. Trey and Ken begin with the two executive orders signed on August 6, attempting to narrow birthright citizenship following earlier Supreme Court pushback. The first order directs the State Department and Department of Homeland Security to deny visas to pregnant non-citizens to curb "birth tourism". The second order attempts to strip automatic citizenship from specific categories, including children of foreign government employees, those born in U.S. territories like Puerto Rico and Guam, and children born via commercial birth-tourism transactions. The guys unpack the legal hurdles facing both orders, comparing executive immigration authority against statutory protections like the Pregnancy Discrimination Act, analyzing the precedent of Geduldig v. Aiello (1974), and examining how the 14th Amendment’s "subject to the jurisdiction thereof" clause applies to territorial residents. Next, they look to Tuesday’s primary results, especially in Kansas and Michigan. Kansas voters resoundingly rejected (61%–39%) a Republican-backed constitutional amendment that would have replaced the state's merit-based judicial nominating commission with direct partisan elections for state Supreme Court justices. Ken and Trey debate whether the vote was driven by post-Dobbs voter mobilization to protect the court’s abortion rulings or a broader conservative skepticism toward the election of judges.  Affter that, the duo also discuss progressive Abdul El-Sayed ’s narrow victory (48.5% to 47.5%) over establishment favorite Rep. Haley Stevens despite being heavily outspent by outside groups. Trey and Ken discuss what this close result signals about intra-party friction, the debate over "abolishing ICE," and how candidates navigate Middle East policy in Michigan. They also discuss one of the strangest primaries in the cycle: the victory of Thomas J. Smith, a candidate who raised just $1,850, filed his paperwork by hand, and formally suspended his campaign in Michigan’s 8th Congressional District. Smith trounced the Trump-endorsed candidate Amir Haneef Hassan.  Finally, Trey and Ken finish with a discussion of the Senate Judiciary Committee’s 12-10 vote to advance Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche’s nomination to the full Senate floor. The vote came after Republican Senators Cornyn and Tillis secured written assurances from Blanche formally killing a controversial $1.8 billion executive "weaponization fund" intended for presidential payouts. With Senator Bill Cassidy announcing his floor support, Trey and Ken evaluate whether the Senate exercised meaningful oversight over the Justice Department or simply cleared a path for executive confirmation. The Politics Guys on Facebook | X 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/support. On Venmo, we’re @PoliticsGuys. The Politics Guys is part of The Democracy Group, a network of podcasts that examines what's broken in our democracy and how we can work together to fix it.

    Narrowing Birthright Citizenship, Judicial Elections Defeated, and Todd Blanche’s Path to Attorney General

  7. Aug 1

    Trump’s Wars, Voting Rules, and Fauci Takes the Fifth

    Mike and Jay debate whether Donald Trump has a coherent strategy for the wars in Ukraine and Iran—or is improvising while weapons stockpiles, alliances, and political pressures narrow his options. They examine a major Russia sanctions bill targeting China and India, Ukraine’s possible license to manufacture Patriot interceptors, and whether the United States can bomb Iran into submission. Then they turn to the courts, where Trump’s executive order tightening mail-voting rules faces serious constitutional obstacles, before asking what Anthony Fauci’s private COVID diaries actually prove—and whether Rand Paul’s investigation is legitimate oversight, political theater, or a perjury trap. The Politics Guys on Facebook | X 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/support. On Venmo, we’re @PoliticsGuys. The Politics Guys is part of The Democracy Group, a network of podcasts that examines what's broken in our democracy and how we can work together to fix it.

    Trump’s Wars, Voting Rules, and Fauci Takes the Fifth

  8. Jul 29

    Can Open Primaries Break the Two-Party Cartel?

    Open Primaries founder John Opdycke joins Mike to argue that America’s primary system gives political parties too much control while shutting out millions of independent voters. They discuss taxpayer-funded closed primaries, top-two elections, whether open systems actually reduce polarization, the threat of strategic “raiding,” and why third parties so rarely gain traction. Opdycke also explains the 2024 defeats of several election-reform measures, the risks of bundling open primaries with ranked-choice voting, opposition from both major parties, and why changing election rules matters only if reformers also build new political coalitions and persuade voters to participate. Open Primaries on X The Politics Guys on Facebook | X 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/support. On Venmo, we’re @PoliticsGuys. The Politics Guys is part of The Democracy Group, a network of podcasts that examines what's broken in our democracy and how we can work together to fix it.

    Can Open Primaries Break the Two-Party Cartel?
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4.4
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About

The Politics Guys is an independent, ideologically diverse American politics and policy podcast hosted by experts: political scientists, law professors, and practicing attorneys with government experience. Our mission is to give listeners a much-needed break from conservative and liberal echo chambers through civil, rational, and evidence-based discussion of American politics and policy from multiple perspectives.

Information

  • Creator
    The Politics Guys - Government Democracy & News
  • Years Active
    2015 - 2026
  • Episodes
    1K
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Copyright Michael Baranowski
  • Show Website
    The Politics Guys

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