Iran Confrontation, Senate Impeachment Trial, Three Years of Trump

This week, Mike and Kristin take on the confrontation between the U.S. and Iran, discuss what our clear policy goals should be regarding Iran, and whether those goals are feasible. Both agree that heading into a full-fledged war is a terrible idea, but while Mike argues that Trump’s pulling out of the Iran nuclear deal was disastrous, Kristin brings up that nothing before or since Trump has worked to create a stable Iran without nuclear capability and that the process needs to be rethought entirely. Mike also unpacks the House vote to force the President to come to Congress for authorization for future military action, and Kristin weighs in on Rep. Matt Gaetz’s point that Congress should have “skin in the game” when it comes to conflict and war.

Next, Kristin and Mike discuss the latest in the Senate impeachment trial saga. For just over three weeks, the Articles of Impeachment have been stalled. Mike gives Speaker Nancy Pelosi credit for her “gamesmanship”, arguing that this was a strategy to compile more witnesses, obtain more documents, and so on. They disagree on whether potential testimony from Joe Biden was a factor in Speaker Pelosi’s delay. Kristin believes that the maneuver was more political than strategic, but agrees with Mike that a fast timeline or a quick motion to dismiss aren’t in good form – on principle and in terms of politics.

Finally, Mike reminisces over the past three years since Trump’s inauguration – what he’s learned, what has changed for him, and he presents some interesting ideas that are in line with a desire to curb executive power. Kristin and Mike discuss whether political bias plays a role in this desire to curb executive power (spoiler alert: they agree that it definitely does).

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