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The Politics Guys

Russia Indictments, SCOTUS Pick, NATO Summit, Trade War, Strzok Testifies

The Politics Guys

Michael Baranowski

Politics, News

4.5772 Ratings

🗓️ 14 July 2018

⏱️ 45 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Mike and Trey kick off the show by discussing the 12 Russian intelligence officials indicted this week for hacking into Democratic Party systems. Mike says that despite the fact that these Russians will never face trial in the United States, the indictments point to the importance of allowing Robert Mueller to complete his investigation, which is not at all the pointless ‘witch hunt’ some claim. Trey says that these indictments make the idea of President Trump meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin an even worse idea than it already was. Next is discussion of President Trump nominating Brett Kavanaugh to replace Justice Anthony Kennedy on the Supreme Court. Mike and Trey agree that Kavanaugh is a fairly mainstream conservative choice who will almost certainly be confirmed. Trey points out that a few Senate Democrats facing tough reelection fights may end up voting in favor of confirmation, which seems far more likely than any Republicans defecting. After that, the Guys talk about the NATO summit and President Trump’s first official visit to the UK. It was a story of two Trumps - the public side, where the president engaged in his usual over-the-top bellicosity, and the private side, where by most accounts he was downright reasonable. Trey believes that President Trump’s view of NATO and trade relations with the UK is bound up with his larger zero-sum view of trade, which is currently playing out in the escalating trade war with China, which the Guys turn to next. They both agree that imposing additional tariffs on Chinese goods is a truly awful idea, and while a majority of Congressional Republicans agree, they lack the political will to do anything substantive about it. Finally, Trey and Mike discuss the bipartisan grandstanding at the Congressional testimony of FBI agent Peter Strzok. Mike laments the GOP’s continued effort to destroy the credibility of the FBI in support of the president, and Trey agrees that the greater tendency to discredit accusers, rather than focus on the facts, is a very disturbing trend. Listener support helps make The Politics Guys possible. If you’re interested in supporting the show, go to politicsguys.com/support. 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, a place for a bipartisan, rational, and civil debate on American politics and policy.

0:05.8

I'm Michael Barronowski, a political scientist at North Kentucky University. With me today is my co-host, Trey Orndorff, a political scientist at Oklahoma Christian University.

0:15.2

Hey, Trey, how are you doing today? I'm doing real well. It's great to be a little bit near to you right now.

0:20.3

Yeah. Well, thanks. Thanks so much for joining. I should let folks know that Jay is just getting back from his vacation. He has not abandoned us entirely. It's a little bit of a hiatus. But there's a little bit of communication snafu. And at the last minute, Tray, being the good guy he is, I, I contacted him

0:39.7

last night at a semi-panic saying, we don't want to, we don't want me to do the show by myself.

0:44.4

I'd done that before and it did not go well. So, Trey was so graciously, was willing to drop everything

0:51.4

and come on and record a show with me this morning.

0:54.5

And I really appreciate it, Trey.

0:55.6

Thank you.

0:56.3

Of course.

0:56.8

I'm really doing it for the fan mail, though.

0:58.6

Well, there you go.

0:59.9

It's the fame and fortune involved with this.

1:02.2

It really is so attractive.

1:03.9

But yeah, and we, of course, have a lot going on this week as always.

1:08.6

And, you know, one of the big things was just happened just yesterday

1:12.2

when Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein announced that 12 Russian military intelligence

1:18.3

officers had been indicted on charges of hacking Democratic Party computers and then stealing

1:24.1

and publishing the data they had illegally obtained.

1:33.9

And now this brings the total number of Mueller indictments to 32, and there are a variety of charges, including, let's see, hacking, money laundering, and lying to the FBI.

1:39.1

Now, of those 32 indictments, 26 are Russians, and there I would say highly unlikely to actually be

1:47.5

brought to trial in the United States. Now, President Trump's personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani,

...

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