Trump’s “Shock and Awe”, Confirmation Hearings, Funding Freeze

The Politics Guys

Michael Baranowski

Politics, News

4.5 • 772 Ratings

🗓️ 31 January 2025

⏱️ 66 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Mike and Justin open with a discussion of the wild pace of events since Donald Trump’s inauguration. They give Trump credit for shaking things up (for better or worse) but think that “move fast and break things” might not get even Trump supporters the results they ultimately want. Justin thinks Trump did a poor job as “national comforter” following the worst US air disaster in over 20 years by choosing to use the moment to make unsubstituted claims about DEI policies and to attack previous administrations. Following that they turn to the confirmation hearings for Tulsi Gabbard, RFK Jr., and Kash Patel. Mike is sticking with his prediction that every Trump nominee coming before the Senate will be confirmed, but he’s at least somewhat optimistic that at least four GOP Senators will reject the nominations of Gabbard and RFK Jr. Justin points out that RFK Jr. is a walking red flag, with issues involving his judgment, competence, experience, and personal life. Next they discuss the short-lived (for now) federal funding freeze, considering its legality as well as whether the Impoundment Control Act of 1974, which would seem to disallow the freeze, is itself unconstitutional. They close with a listener question concerning racism, fascism, and the Republican Party. Mike’s New (free) Substack: What Fresh Hell is This? 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

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	This episode is brought to you by Sun Express Airlines.
0:04.8	Looking for an affordable escape for the whole family, Sun Express has you covered.
0:09.8	Early birth deals to Turkey start at just 599, fly non-stop to sunny Antalya or scenic ismia.
0:17.4	Perfect for making family memories.
0:19.8	These low fares won't last long. So book now,
0:23.0	tan later, at sunexpress.com and secure your seats today.
0:29.6	Atheists, agnostics, long-haired widows, short-haired widows, vandal,
0:34.2	hooligans.
0:34.7	I love.
0:35.0	The government, hug the government, hug the government, love, the government, hug the government, love, the government, hug the government, love the government, hug the government, love the government, hug the government, hug the government. Welcome to the politics, guys, a place for bipartisan, rational, and civil debate on American politics and policy. I'm Northern Kentucky University Political Scientist Michael Baranowski. I'm joined today by University of Northern Iowa political
0:55.3	scientist, Justin Holmes. Hi, good to be here. Yeah, it's great to be doing the show with you.
1:00.5	It's been a while, and I should point out that normally I'd be doing the show with Jay. In fact,
1:05.9	I was scheduled to do the show with Jay, but there was a death in his immediate family.
1:14.3	And so he is obviously with his family working through that. And so certainly our hearts go out to him.
1:18.3	It's a difficult time.
1:19.3	And I'm just glad, Justin, that you were able to jump in and take his place for this week.
1:24.8	Yeah, it's great to be talking to you.
1:26.0	I wish it were under different circumstances and wish Jay and his family the best and we're definitely thinking about them. And also before we
1:33.0	get started, I want to thank our newest Patreon trial members, Mark and Justin. That's a thing you can do.
1:39.4	Try us out. And if you like us, you know, hang around there as a supporter. And also one more thing before we get
1:45.4	started, I wanted to mention it. I am doing something new. I've decided to start,
1:51.4	me and everyone else in the world, I guess. But it's not really political per se. It's just more
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Michael Baranowski, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Michael Baranowski and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.