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The Politics Guys

Swalwell Resigns, Trump vs Leo, Orbán Falls, Iran, FISA Section 702

The Politics Guys

Michael Baranowski

Politics, News

4.4783 Ratings

🗓️ 17 April 2026

⏱️ 61 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

This week, Trey & Ken begin with Representative Eric Swalwell’s resignation from Congress and his suspended gubernatorial bid. Ken and Trey find themselves at odds over the institutional response. Ken argues that if Swalwell maintains his innocence, he should have stayed to fight the charges, suggesting his presence was a net positive for the Democratic caucus. Trey, however, contends that the resignation is a necessary consequence of his actions and that the party must prioritize moral clarity over political utility. Next, the pair turn to Viktor Orbán and the Fidesz party, conceding defeat to the Tisza party. The guys analyze the ripple effects of this election, particularly the role of Vice President JD Vance’s recent stumping for Orbán. Ken offers a provocative take: that the President used Vance’s Hungarian visit as a tactical maneuver to neutralize a VP who has been quietly skeptical of the ongoing war in Iran, at least behind the scenes. Then, the guys turn to the 10-day ceasefire now in place between Israel and Lebanon and the ongoing maritime landscape shift in response. While there are hopes for reopening the Strait to international commerce, the U.S. naval blockade of Iranian ports remains in full effect. Trey and Ken examine the legal and strategic friction of maintaining an active blockade during a nominal ceasefire, along with the possibility of continued peace after the ceasefire period ends. They also discuss the close war powers vote that occurred in the House. Finally, they close in a moment of agreement. Both Trey and Ken argue that FISA Section 702, despite the President’s recent calls for renewal, has become incompatible with American civil liberties. They discuss why they believe the program, plagued by a history of abuse and the potential for future overreach, belongs in the dustbin of history. Check out the ⁠Future of Our Former Democracy⁠ podcast  Curious about what sort of POTUS you’d be? Find out in the ⁠Fantasy President⁠ presidential simulator. 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. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0

Up next, it's Bread Flair and his new band.

0:03.2

Oh my God, I'm back again.

0:07.0

On bad fair casino, everybody's been.

0:11.3

Gonna bring new games, gonna show you now.

0:15.0

New game party.

0:18.3

Dropping hits every week. find the new slots

0:22.0

I'm back to be gamblerware.

0:27.4

That's right

0:29.5

Atheist agnostics

0:32.7

Long hair, short hair, weirdos,

0:35.0

Welcome to the Palisage guys

0:36.4

I'm Trey Orndorpe, a political scientist at Oklahoma Christian University. And I'm joined by Ken Kacken, a professor of law at Chase Law School. Ken, welcome to this weekend. Is it real? I mean, we laugh because they they, I don't know if you saw this joke,

0:55.9

but a few days ago they had done this late night joke where it was, they had made up a Trump tweet.

1:03.4

And they immediately afterwards told you in the, and the, and the joke was, isn't it funny that you all believed me?

1:08.5

Like, you can't, you're not even sure anymore. What's real or isn't real funny that you all believed me? You're not even sure anymore what's real or isn't real in that sense sometimes.

1:16.1

But hopefully here on the politics guys, we'll be able to have some civil, rational,

1:20.4

and thoughtfulness about what's really going on.

1:22.9

Yes, we're keeping it real.

1:24.3

Yes, we're going to keep it real here on the politics guys today, Ken.

1:28.8

Well, in the realm of keeping it real, we'll push the president back a little bit because I still think, despite everything that's going on, that the sudden and dramatic fall of, well, on Monday, of Representative Eric Swalwell, who resigned from Congress and suspended

1:49.5

his campaign for California governor is going to be one of the big items. So we had, it was talked

1:56.2

about last week about the allegations that Pam Bondi and we talked about this may have

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