Ukraine, Trump 2.0 at Six Months

The Politics Guys

Michael Baranowski

Politics, News

4.5 • 772 Ratings

🗓️ 22 July 2025

⏱️ 16 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Mike and Sam open this supporters’ midweek episode with a look at President Trump’s increasing frustration with Russian dictator Vladimir Putin and a recent deal in which the US will sell arms to NATO allies who will then give those weapons to Ukraine. Sam sees Trump as a realist and a deal maker who hasn’t changed his mind, but who is simply adjusting to new facts on the ground. Mike’s less certain of that, but he’s pleased that, at present, it doesn’t seem like Trump has plans to cut and run in Ukraine - especially now that the US stands to gain billions in additional arms sales. Next, they take a look at the economy and President Trump’s overall record at the six-month mark of his presidency. Mike sees plenty of economic danger signs, which he attributes mainly to Trump’s tariff and deportation policies, but which Sam sees as having more to do with the Fed not lowering interest rates. They also discuss what they see as the biggest achievements (for better or worse) in Trump’s first six months. They close with Sam answering a supporter's question about what he’s changed his mind on, what Democrats get right, areas in which he’s disappointed with President Trump, and a Republican idea he wishes Democrats understood. (Mike wasn’t asked this question, but he also answers it.) The Politics Guys on Facebook | X Mike’s Substack: What Fresh Hell is This? 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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1:19.0	Welcome to the politics, guys, a place for bipartisan, rational, and civil debate on American politics and policy.
1:22.7	I'm Northern Kentucky University political scientist Michael Baranowski.
1:29.0	I'm joined today by my conservative counterpart, former congressional staffer and D.C. area attorney, Sam, D.C. area attorney, Sam, doy.
1:30.4	Hey, Sam, how are you doing?
1:41.0	I am doing, I'm, I'm getting by. I guess. Sometimes Saturday morning seems earlier than other news. I don't know anyway, but.
2:05.1	Yeah, you know, doing well is code for surviving. Exactly. I'm getting, you don't want to know, right? When someone says they're doing well in D.C., you know, that means, you know, heads above water, but that's about it. Gotcha. Good to know. It's furiously dog paddling, essentially. All right. I'll keep that in mind. Anyway, let's, you know, when, when Donald Trump was reelected, I was reasonably sure that it was bad news for Ukraine. And until fairly
	...

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