Venezuela Strike, Trump v. Illinois, Mike’s Not a Democrat

The Politics Guys

Michael Baranowski

Politics, News

4.4 • 783 Ratings

🗓️ 3 January 2026

⏱️ 56 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Mike and Michael open with the breaking news that the Trump administration launched military strikes against Venezuela and captured President Nicolás Maduro, debating whether the operation violates international law and risks plunging Venezuela into deeper instability. Michael stresses the fog of war, unresolved legal authority, and the danger posed by entrenched militias and fractured institutions, while Mike argues that even removing a brutal strongman sets a dangerous precedent when done outside the UN framework and without clear congressional authorization. Next, the guys turn to domestic executive power in Trump v. Illinois, analyzing the Supreme Court’s refusal to lift an injunction blocking the federalization of the National Guard and Trump’s subsequent decision to stand down, at least for now. Michael defends the Court’s insistence on a clear statutory basis and warns that Justice Alito’s dissent reflects an overly expansive view of presidential power, while Mike criticizes the majority’s strained reading of the statute, siding more with Alito’s interpretation but still opposing the administration’s policy as reckless and destabilizing. Finally, the conversation becomes more personal as Michael presses Mike on his recent decision to stop identifying as a Democrat and what that means philosophically and politically. Mike explains his Humean conservatism, rooted in epistemic humility and institutional fragility, argues that modern politics punishes restraint and caution, and concludes that while he is politically homeless, his commitment to rule of law means he will continue voting Democratic as long as Trumpism dominates the Republican Party. The Politics Guys on Facebook | X 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

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	At Accardo, you'll save 25% on your first shop and get free delivery,
0:04.6	which means if you were to buy a four cheese pizza, you'd basically be getting one of the cheeses for free. Save and splurge at Arcado, the online supermarket. Geographical and other restrictions. Minimum spend, 60 pounds and charges apply. New customers only, maximum saving 20 pounds terms at Accaddo.com. Atheists agnostics, long-haired weirdos, short-haired widows, vandal,
0:25.0	Gula guns.
0:25.4	I love the government, hug the government, love, the government, hug the government, love, the government,
0:31.2	hug the government, hug the government.
0:32.1	Welcome to the politics, guys, a place for bipartisan, rational, and civil debate on
0:36.7	American politics and policy.
0:38.6	I'm Northern Kentucky University Political Scientist Michael Baranowski.
0:42.7	I'm joined today by political scientist Michael Levy.
0:46.0	Good morning, Mike.
0:47.3	Hey, how are you doing, Michael?
0:49.1	I'm doing all right. I did not expect to wake up to war this morning.
0:52.9	Yeah, you know, it's, I was thinking it had been a fairly
0:55.7	quiet period, but the recent events have thrown our schedule into a little bit of disarray. And so I'll
1:03.0	just leave it at that and kind of kick things over to you to start us off. Yeah, so as, as we're recording,
1:10.1	we are very much in a fog of war.
1:12.7	The Trump administration launched strikes against Venezuela overnight and has announced that U.S. forces have captured Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife, Celia Flores, and flown them to the United States following a military operation.
1:28.2	According to Attorney General Pam Bondi, they would face charges of narco-terrorism, conspiracy, cocaine importation, conspiracy, possession of machine guns and destructive devices, and conspiracy to possess machine guns and destructive devices against the United States, and that they, quote,
1:44.9	will soon face the full wrath of American justice on American soil in American courts, unquote.
1:51.8	Key facts, let me stress, are unclear, and we're expecting a news conference about an hour after we
1:58.0	request this. But for some background, Maduro has been under U.S. indictment since 2020 on drug
2:03.5	trafficking and narco-terrorism charges, and the U.S. has relied for years on sanctions and diplomatic
	...

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.