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The Politics Guys

Trump’s Architecture & Google’s Monopoly: Power, Politics, and Attention

The Politics Guys

Michael Baranowski

Politics, News

4.4783 Ratings

🗓️ 9 September 2025

⏱️ 16 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Mike and Tim open this midweek supporters’ episode with a listener’s multipart question about political shifts, good Democratic policies, Trump’s weak spots, and Republican values Democrats overlook. Tim highlights his changed stance on abortion, his appreciation for progressive taxes, skepticism of Trump’s trust in Putin, and the need for more respect toward pro-life views. Mike adds that he is rethinking the unitary executive theory, weighing risks of presidential overreach against the benefit of clearer accountability. Next, they turn to the penalty ruling in the Google antitrust case. Tim argues the decision was correct, viewing Google as an innovative American success unfairly labeled a monopolist, while Mike sees the mild ruling as sensible given market changes driven by AI competition and existing browser deals that maintain some consumer choice. After that, they examine Trump’s executive order on federal architecture. Both hosts agree with prioritizing traditional and classical designs, condemning the prevalence of brutalist buildings, though Tim cautions that shifts to remote work may reduce the need for massive federal office space. The guys close with Trump’s decision to revive the “Department of War” label, listener questions on bipartisanship, tariffs as consumption taxes, and “brain rot” from phone overuse. Mike sees bipartisanship as valuable only when rooted in genuine common ground and worries about political distraction fueled by digital habits, while Tim emphasizes viewpoint diversity, neutrality over bipartisanship, and stricter limits on kids’ phone use. The Politics Guys on Facebook | X Mike is a big fan of Tim’s Substack. Check out the excellent Sustainable Planet podcast. 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

Atheists, agnostics, long-haired widows, short-haired widows, vandal, hooligans.

0:05.2

I'm the government, hug the government, hug the government, love, the government, hug the government, love, the government, hug the government.

0:12.0

Welcome to the politics, guys, a place for bipartisan, rational, and civil debate on American politics and policy.

0:18.7

I'm Northern Kentucky University political scientist Michael

0:21.4

Baranowski. I'm joined today by my conservative counterpart, University of Austin

0:25.5

economist and former congressional staffer Tim Kane. Hey, great to be with you. I am, I enjoy doing

0:31.7

the, I enjoy doing the weekend show. You know, I didn't get a chance to offer my condolences at

0:37.3

the beginning of this show.

0:38.2

You are coming to us at University of Austin.

0:40.6

And after my Ohio State Buckeyes put a little bit of hurting on the long horns in the opening week,

0:46.4

I imagine the mood around Austin must have been pretty, pretty glum.

0:50.0

I don't know.

0:50.7

Anyway, you may remember that I grew up in Columbus.

0:53.3

I was waiting for that.

0:54.1

Yeah. I was wearing my B that I grew up in Columbus. I was waiting for that. Yeah.

0:54.5

I was wearing my Buckeye jersey around town.

0:58.3

And frankly, our university, the UATX, you can find it U-Austin.org, is a new school.

1:05.6

It gets confused with UT, but they're a bit of our crosstown rivals as well.

1:10.5

UATX, where I teach, it's this new

1:12.6

free college education, extremely high standards. We're trying to make it a place of real

1:17.6

free inquiry. No college essay to get in. You just have to have a high SAT score. We're trying

1:23.1

to return to meritocracy. Doing a lot of neat things at this university. But we are not longhorns.

...

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