The Fed Holds, Redistricting Wars, DOGE’s New AI Tool

Mike and Ken open with a discussion of the Federal Reserve’s decision to leave interest rates unchanged, despite hectoring from President Trump for a major rate cut. The guys consider the case for and against lower interest rates, as well as the effect the Trump tariffs are having on the decision. From there, they consider the likelihood that the Supreme Court will ultimately invalidate most of President Trump’s tariffs. Next is a look at Texas’ mid-decade redistricting and the possibility that Democratic-controlled states (like California, most notably) may conduct their own between-Censuses redistricting in retaliation. Along the way, Ken convinces Mike that walking out of a mid-decade redistricting, as Texas Democrats are considering, is a reasonable response to the situation. They close with a discussion of DOGE’s new  “AI Deregulation Decision Tool”, which is intended to be a key component in the agency’s goal of cutting 100,000 federal regulations by the one-year anniversary of President Trump’s second term. Mike sees the possibilities - and the peril - with Ken being highly skeptical that this tool won’t be used for highly partisan ends. The Politics Guys on Facebook | X Mike’s Substack: What Fresh Hell is This? 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/adchoicesThe 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.