The Politics Guys Michael Baranowski

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 ticket.
Next week, we’ll be considering all of the potential implications of Biden’s exit, but for now we hope you’ll enjoy the rest of Mike and Jay’s discussion, which covers Judge Aileen Cannon’s dismissal of the Trump documents case and the conviction of New Jersey US Senator Robert Menendez.
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Mike talks about the The Jordan Harbinger Show. Hope you enjoy it too.

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 pressure and end his reelection campaign. Jay, who hopes Biden is the candidate, seeing him as more beatable than the alternatives, thinks Biden won’t end up being the Democrats’ nominee.
Next, they consider Judge Aileen Cannon’s dismissal of the classified documents case against Donald Trump. Jay believes that Cannon got it right on the law. Mike is less sure about that, and argues that less thana month ago, the Supreme Court heard a case coming from Special Counsel Jack Smith and, aside from Justice Thomas’ solo concurrence, voiced no concern with how Smith was appointed.
They close with a look at the conviction of New Jersey Democratic US Senator Robert Menendez. Mike thinks that Menendez might have reasonable grounds for appeal on “speech or debate clause” grounds. Jay finds that almost laughable, but given how the Supreme Court ruled on Donald Trump’s executive immunity, Mike’s not laughing.
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Check out Mike’s other podcast -  Sustainable Planet, and the 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/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.
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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 promote their ideological agenda.
Next is a look at Ohio US Senator JD Vance, who Trump picked as his running mate. Jay still doesn’t think Vance was a great choice, though he attempts to work out what Vance might bring to the ticket. Mike argues that VPs bring almost nothing to the ticket and that the simplest way to understand Trump’s selection of Vance is that Trump just went with his gut. Mike also argues that the selection of Vance points to a MAGAfied GOP even after Trump leaves the scene.
In considering the Republican Convention at which Trump and Vance were formally nominated, Mike found that the GOP seems to be looking to the past and not at all like the optimistic, future-oriented party of Ronald Reagan. Jay points out that the Republicans did a great job of bringing in “real Americans” to drive home the point that the Republican Party is fighting for Americans who are looked down on by elites.
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Check out Politics in Question, Mike’s other podcast - Sustainable Planet, and the 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/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.
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Mike talks with educator, researcher, and writer Sarah Towle about her latest book, Crossing the Line: Finding America in the Borderlands.
Topics Mike and Sarah Discuss Include:
- the historical roots of our current immigration issues
- the connection between trade policy and immigration
- why prevention through deterrence hasn’t worked
- if “remain in Mexico” is a viable approach to asylum seekers
- immigrants, crime, and American jobs
- helping border communities cope with the flow of migrants
- what a more efficient, effective, and humane border policy might look like
Sarah Towle on X
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Check out Mike’s other podcast -  Sustainable Planet, and the 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/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.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In the preview of this midweek supporters’ episode, Jay is joined by Justin Holmes from the University of Northern Iowa (whose opinions, as always are his own and not reflective of his employer, the people of the great state of Iowa, or its 20 Million head of hogs).
They open by taking up the failed vote to hold Merrick Garland in contempt of Congress for refusing to turn over Robert Hur’s recordings of his interviews with President Biden. They discuss the legal merits of contempt, the challenges of enforcement, bills of attainder, and campaign implications. (Spoiler alert, Republicans win either way, if anyone is paying attention to this.)
They close with a discussion of the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025, which has gotten a lot of attention recently as a potential blueprint for a second Trump administration. They initially focus on potential changes to the DOJ and continue with a broader discussion of the role of bureaucracy in a democracy, where Justin attempts to find common ground between the great political philosophers Edmund Burke and Jello Biafra. They try to get to the bottom of whether these are new ideas, whether they’re good ideas, whether they’re going to be guiding principles for Donald Trump, and why Democrats are so concerned.
The Politics Guys on Facebook | X
Check out Mike’s other podcast - Sustainable Planet, and the 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/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.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices