PG134: Government Shutdown, March for Life, NC Gerrymandering

The Politics Guys

Michael Baranowski

Politics, News

4.5 • 772 Ratings

🗓️ 21 January 2018

⏱️ 48 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

This week's show starts off with the story everyone's been talking about - the government shutdown. Mike and Jay largely stay away from the blame game consuming most of the media, and try to focus on why both parties did what they did and the role President Trumps leadership (or lack thereof) played. Next, Mike and Jay discuss the 2018 March for Life, as well as some recent actions taken by the Trump administration and the House of Representatives in support of the pro-life movement. While Mike believes that women have a fundamental right to make reproductive decisions prior to fetal viability, he's sympathetic to pro-life people who see essentially all terminated pregnancies as needless deaths. Jay makes the case that in this area, the law is on Mike's side, but that he doesn't find the fundamental right Mike does in the Constitution. Finally, the Guys turn once again to gerrymandering, in light of the Supreme Court overturning the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals' order that North Carolina redraw its Congressional districts by the end of January. Mike agrees with Jay that the Supreme Court made the right call, though they disagree concerning how the Court should ultimately rule. **What Mike's Reading** [Trump's Basic Instincts About the Political War Are Essentially Right, and The Establishment's Sense of It Is Essentially Wrong](http://bit.ly/2DvU9hU). **What Jay's Reading** [Bad Weather Is No Reason For Climate Alarm](http://on.wsj.com/2DAlEGQ). **Today's show is sponsored by SeatGeek**. Politics Guys listeners get $20 off their first SeatGeek purchase. Just download the SeatGeek app and enter promo code **POLITICSGUY**. **Listener support helps make The Politics Guys possible**. If you’re interested in supporting the show, go to [politicsguys.com](http://www.politicsguys.com) and click on the Patreon or PayPal links.Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/the-politics-guys/donationsAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome to the politics guys. I'm Michael Baranowski, a political scientist at Northern Kentucky University.
0:29.0	I'm here today with my regular co-host, Jay Carson, Jay. How are you doing this week?
0:30.6	I'm doing great. How are you?
0:38.9	I am okay. Now, the big news, of course, this week is the government shutdown, which commenced at midnight on Friday, January 19th, when the latest stopgap continuing resolution funding government operations ran out.
0:45.2	Now, the House did approve yet another CR, but it couldn't get past the Democratic billabuster
0:50.2	in the Senate. Now, Democrats are hardly fans of government shutdowns in most circumstances,
0:56.2	but here they believe that forcing one now gives them maximum leverage to negotiate a deal on
1:01.8	DACA, the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program. And we've talked about that a lot,
1:06.3	of course, in the past. Now, Democrats, I think, are betting that since Republicans hold a majority in both
1:12.8	chambers of Congress, as well as the presidency, the public will ultimately blame Republicans
1:18.1	for the shutdown. And, you know, according to a recent Washington Post ABC News poll, they might
1:23.7	actually be right. The poll respondent said by a 20-point margin, I think it was 48 to 28%
1:29.2	that they'd blame a shutdown on President Trump and the Republicans as opposed to the Democrats.
1:35.7	Now, my take on this is Republicans, on the other hand, seem to be betting that the public will
1:40.7	end up seeing things their way. And it's pretty clear to me that they painted
1:44.5	the Democrats' action here as favoring illegal immigrants over Americans. And they put a particular
1:50.3	focus on the military, first responders. Also, in the House version, trying to push for that
1:56.7	six-year extension for the Children's health insurance program, they're making the argument
2:00.8	that, well, Democrats are favoring people in this country illegally over the children.
2:06.8	So that's my take, Jay.
2:09.2	What do you make of all this?
2:10.8	Well, I don't think they care about the children.
	...

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