Are the Democrats in Trouble, or Building for the Future?

This bonus midweek episode begins with the Democratic National Committee’s precarious finances: the DNC is spending heavily on state parties, organizers, and long-term infrastructure while the Republican National Committee sits on a formidable cash advantage heading into the 2026 midterms. Mike and Jay debate whether DNC Chair Ken Martin is making a disciplined investment—or leaving Democrats dangerously exposed. Then they examine the Democratic Socialists of America’s increasingly prominent agenda, including abolishing the Senate, replacing the presidency and Supreme Court, open borders, dismantling ICE, sharply reducing the Pentagon, prison abolition, and public ownership of major corporations. Are these serious answers to genuine problems, reckless shortcuts around constitutional constraints, or both? The discussion ends with a larger argument about populism, political guardrails, and whether American democracy now gives popular passions too direct a path to power.The Politics Guys on Facebook | XListener 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.