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The day after the election we started sounding the alarm that Democrats had to organize quickly because Trump and his allies had a plan for January 20th and we needed to be ready. We were wrong. They’ve already started attacking and a looming government shutdown directed by Elon Musk is proof. It’s only the beginning. Fred is solo to walk through what a government shutdown is really all about and what we will face when the half a trillion-dollar Administration takes over. Even if they stop this one there will be more to come.
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It’s been a little over a month since the election results and many of us are still spinning from the realization that Donald Trump will return to office even more unhinged than last time and leading a pack of the most extreme and unqualified appointees imaginable. President Biden has rolled in with the largest single commutation of sentences and pardons in U.S. history and is giving activists hope that he will do more in the waning days of his Presidency. We are heading into the holidays so it’s a good time to take stock of where we are, what we can do better, and how we will have to fight in the coming months and years. Fred shares his perspective on where we are and what we must do. Spoiler alert...we aren't done yet.
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The world watched as South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol declared Martial Law in a late-night speech on Tuesday and one of the strongest democracies in the Asian-Pacific region faced its greatest test in nearly 40 years. The nation’s parliament was able to gather a quorum and overrule his attempt and he stood down. This left many Americans wondering if something like this could happen here? Trump has threatened to use the Insurrection Act and National Emergency decrees to launch mass deportations. For many the question is if that is enough to destroy our democracy legally? Fred is joined by Soren Dayton the Director of Governance for the Niskanen Center. He focuses on developing and implementing institutional reforms and practices to deliver more effective government and previously led institutional reform efforts at Protect Democracy. The Niskanen Center has been leading a cross-idealogical coalition that urges Congress to pass bipartisan reforms to the National Emergencies Act (NEA) that would restore Congress’s role in national emergencies and prevent presidential overreach by requiring timely approval and reporting for emergency declarations.
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Even with the events of November 5th it’s important that we remember that democracy starts with the people, and we are the ones who build it, maintain it, and grow it. Many are asking what they can do considering the coming changes and threats to our democracy with the new Trump Administration. Fred talks about a range of things everyday Americans can do to make their community, our nation, and our society better. He’s also joined by former Congressman and Under Secretary of the Army Patrick Murphy to discuss the many ways he is working to improve lives for veterans, families, and voters. We have power still and we cannot give it up.
Learn more about Patrick Murphy and his work at https://www.patrickjmurphy.com/.
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The continuing madness of Donald Trump’s nominations and plans continued this week. A lot of us feel like we fell down the steps on election day. But, the fight continues to protect our freedom and claw back our power. We have to figure out what went wrong and apply those lessons quickly as 30 states have local elections, two with key Supreme Court selections, and statewide races in Virginia and New Jersey that Democrats must win. Fred discusses some of those lessons and more with Southwest Ohio Representative Greg Landsman. He is the first Democrat to win re-election in Ohio-01 in 40 years. Prior to his time in elected office, Greg was a public-school teacher and worked in education advocacy. Greg earned a bachelor’s degree in Economics and Political Science from Ohio University and a master’s degree in Theology from Harvard University. In Congress, Representative Landsman serves on the House Committee on Small Business and the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs.
You can learn more about Congressman Landsman’s campaign: https://www.landsmanforcongress.com/ -
It has been a hell of a week…again. The dust is still settling on the election, and we are all watching in shock as Trump selects a complete clown show of a Cabinet. Many are wondering what we can do and how to stop this unfolding train wreck from swallowing us up. We look at how Democrats can do a better job of getting their messages to more Americans and why that’s important as we face 30 states holding local and state elections next year. There are going to be fights to be had to stop his worst efforts too. We will discuss some of those and talk with the Co-Executive Director of ‘Run For Something,’ Ross Morales Rocketto, about how more of us can turn this around. Ross has been a progressive political operative for over 15 years working in campaign management, grassroots organizing, and data/analytics. In 2016, was an advisor at For Our Future. He previously managed Wendy Carrillo for Congress in CA-34 and was a Principal at STG. Rocketto got his start working for former HUD Secretary Julian Castro’s first campaign for Mayor of San Antonio. He is leading RFS as they ride a wave of new candidate recruits wanting to take on saving our democracy.
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It has been a hell of a week. Fred fell down his stairs and gave himself a concussion and then there was that whole election thing too. A lot of people are asking what happened, why Democrats lost, how Americans turned back to Trump, and much more. In the meantime, the Republicans have been planning for this opportunity for years. They have an entire Day 1 set of horrendous policies and there will not be time to organize after it all comes down. They are ready…are we? We will talk about that and what is coming as we prepare to roll up our sleeves and get back in the fight.
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It’s just days until the election. We’ve been in this fight for a couple of years now but here comes the finish line. We have to run through the tape and everyone is stressed but there are a lot of signs that should encourage you to keep running. Since most people should have their heads down sprinting for the finish line it's still a couple of miles away so Fred wants to throw up some signs to encourage you to keep running. From momentum, messaging, ground game, and turnout there are much more encouraging signs everywhere you look. We shouldn’t drag ourselves across the finish line on Tuesday. We need to run through with our arms in the air. Catch this whole show to get your last wind!
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The least controversial thing on Earth to say these days is that Donald Trump is a fascist. This week only brought a flood of confirmation from his own staff and experts as well. Two huge news articles broke from the New York Times and Atlantic laying out how much disdain Donald Trump has for the military and the rule of law. More terrifying is his love of Hitler. All of this comes as we head into the 'closing arguments' phase of the campaign and the messaging coming from the Republicans is a mess. Join host Fred Wellman for a solo episode discussing all of this and why we must keep on fighting.
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Donald Trump is clearly struggling with age and his ability to keep pace with the demands of a campaign and certainly to serve as President. Waiting in the wings is J.D. Vance, the least qualified Vice-Presidential nominee in modern history with barely a year and a half of elected experience. He was the choice of Peter Thiel, Elon Musk, and the Christian Nationalist movement and that has far reaching implications. Dr. Kristin Kobes Du Mez has literally written the book on this modern movement. Dr. Du Mez is a New York Times bestselling author and Professor of History and Gender Studies at Calvin University. She holds a PhD from the University of Notre Dame and her research focuses on the intersection of gender, religion, and politics. She has written for The New York Times, The Washington Post, NBC News, Religion News Service, and Christianity Today, and has been interviewed on NPR, CBS, and the BBC, among other outlets. Her most recent book is Jesus and John Wayne: How White Evangelicals Corrupted a Faith and Fractured a Nation. She has just released a short film, For Our Daughters— on systemic sex abuse and cover up in evangelical churches, linking abuse with Christian nationalism and warning what a Christian nationalist state would mean for women.
Learn more about the film at https://www.forourdaughtersfilm.com/
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Fred is on the road for the third of his trilogy of shows on what Donald Trump really did as President and why we can't let him back in. This week we talk about his lifetime disrespect and outright hostility towards military service and veterans. It started when he got a fake bone spurs diagnosis to avoid the draft and continues to even today when he dismisses traumatic brain injuries to troops under his command as President as nothing but little headaches. Fred runs through the many pieces of clear evidence and why he's been on the road with VoteVets calling it out for the last two weeks!
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Fred is on the road with the VoteVets 'Not Losers or Suckers' Bus Tour so he is solo and reporting on the end of Trump's last administration and hopefully the work that will end his political career too. We talked last week about January 6th and Jack Smith dropped his big brief right in time to back us up. He lays out just how deep Trump was in the entire insurrection. But that's not all the terrible things Trump did in his last months. Fred lays out everything from his insane appointments to pardons for all of his friends. The bus tour he is on is working to make sure Trump's career ends once and for all as well.
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There is a clear and concerted effort by Trump and his MAGA followers to get us to forget that January 6th even happened. The fact is that the events of January 6th were the last major act of Donald J. Trump's presidency. We cannot talk about his presidency and ignore the most outrageous act of it. They want you to think about low prices and his "policies" and ignore the chaos and violence. We won't. A new film has been released on YouTube and online with all new footage never before seen publicly shot by a military combat filmographer that day. This week Fred is solo to discuss the importance of highlighting January 6th including clips from the film.
Watch the Fight Like Hell film on YouTube: https://youtu.be/ZC-Wo9nJ3O4 si=_F53J2KA2Mhi4V9E
Learn More at https://www.fightlikehellmovie.org/
Take Action at: https://www.beheardpac.org/flh
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There has been a lot of talk during this election season about rural America. The Republicans like to think that it's their territory alone and only "real Americans" live in those small towns. We know what they mean by that. Recent events have shown us that their definition is far out of date and Democrats aren't writing it off at all. A number of organizations are in the fight to reach out and mobilize the proverbial 'dirt road Democrats' and it's a focus of the Harris-Walz campaign. It doesn't hurt to have a VP nominee from a tiny town in Nebraska either. Our guest Paolo Cremidis is the Executive director of the Outrun Coalition, a grassroots led volunteer organization that helps rural county Democratic parties and progressive organizations elect the next generation of local elected officials. Outrun has now reached 523 rural local elected Democrats across 17 states. Outrun is a coalition partner in the Rural Americans for Harris steering committee, which is helping to mobilize rural Americans across all 50 states to generate momentum for the Harris/Walz ticket.
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One thing we are seeing without question is the true specter of dictatorship in America. Trump has said he will be a “dictator on day one.” No one believes he will stop on day two. The Supreme Court has done little to assuage those fears and seems hell bent on giving the President unlimited and unchecked power. It seems a good time to talk to an expert on how democracies slide into authoritarianism as we face the final weeks of the election. Professor David M. Driesen, University Professor at the Syracuse College of Law, focuses on constitutional law, law and economics, and environmental law. Professor Driesen has written four books including The Specter of Dictatorship: Judicial Enabling of Presidential Power (Stanford University Press). Driesen engages in public service defending democracy, environmental law’s constitutionality and efforts to combat the climate crisis. He has written numerous amicus briefs in Supreme Court cases and has represented Senators Hillary Clinton and others in Clean Air Act litigation in the DC Circuit. Driesen joined the Syracuse College of Law faculty in 1995. Driesen holds a J.D. from the Yale Law School, a Master of Music from the Yale School of Music, and a Bachelor of Music from the Oberlin Conservatory.
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There have been mistakes made by past Democratic campaigns in taking the youth vote for granted or not pursuing them directly. The Biden-Harris Administration enacted a slew of programs and policies that directly helped our younger generations of voters building goodwill. Now the DNC and Harris-Walz campaign are going directly for this important cohort and the results are starting to show in big ways. What are they doing? How is it paying off? Will it matter in November? Fred speaks with the leading researcher in the field on the topic joining the show for the 3rd time, John Della Volpe. John is the director of polling at the Harvard Kennedy School Institute of Politics, and the author of Fight: How Gen Z is Channeling Their Fear and Passion to Save America (St. Martin's Press, January 2022). John is also founder of SocialSphere, a Cambridge based public opinion and analytics company.
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One of the strangest stories to come out of the Democratic National Convention last week was the media's odd battle with the 200 content Creators credentialed by the DNC to attend. While they worked hard to get interviews, offer unique angles on policy, and experience the historic event the Creators themselves were scrutinized, mocked, and dismissed by the media and even Steven Colbert. Our host Fred Wellman was one of them and with 100 episodes under our belt we are only growing. He discusses what happened and how the political media is failing while the Pentagon media picks up the Arlington stunt story and runs with it. Watch Fred in this special solo fighting a bug show!
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Our host Fred Wellman spent the entire week at the Democratic National Convention as a credentialed Creator. One of 200 creators that the DNC brought in to cover the convention from their unique angles. It's the first time in history that so many internet creators got access to a party convention and it was an incredible experience. Fred spent his time visiting council meetings, special events around town, and every night of the convention. He had the opportunity to interview former Arkansas gubernatorial candidate Chris Jones about Dirt Road Democrats, Rep. Abigail Spanberger the Democratic nominee for Virginia governor about the impact of Project 2025, Rep.Jared Moskowitz about Democrats on the offense, and actress Busy Phillips on why she is in the fight for Dems. In addition, he has clips of speeches from Governor Wes Moore at the Veterans and Military Families Council, actor Sean Astin, and our friend Simon Rosenberg..and much more. This episode has a lot!
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Thanks to J.D. Vance deciding to attack fellow veteran Tim Walz’s service, veteran’s issues have suddenly been thrust into the Presidential campaign like never before. From outrageous accusations of ‘stolen valor’ to support for our veterans and their families the issues that face the military community are suddenly at the forefront. Fred dives into it with fellow West Point grad and Iraq veteran Terron Sims who is the co-chair of the Democratic National Committee Veterans and Military Families Council. Sims served on active duty in the US Army as a Field Artillery officer. Since leaving the military he has served in a host of political roles of increasing responsibility. In 2008 and 2012, he was Director, Virginia VMF for Obama and served on the Defense and Veterans Policy Teams, where he wrote the Service Member Life Insurance policy. In 2010, Sims wrote the Democratic National Committee’s VMF candidates’ platform, which is used in federal campaigns nationwide. During Sec. Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign, Mr. Sims wrote her DoD and VA Intergovernmental Agency Policy. For the 2020 Biden campaign, Mr. Sims wrote five pieces of veterans policy, primarily in the areas of entrepreneurship and business for military spouses and veterans. In addition to his political accomplishments, Terron has published two novels, With Honor In Hand and Hands of Honor, and has written his third novel, For Hands to Honor, along with his Iraq memoirs, Baghdad Peace, as well as other pieces of work. He also writes regularly about veterans and military families and national security issues.
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J.D. Vance is obsessed with the importance of having children, but his party has been against nearly every proposed policy solution to help them. They are now attacking Governor Tim Walz for implementing family friendly laws like free meals for school children, a child tax credit, and much more. Democrats are clearly the family focused party, and they have a chance to enact real policies to back that up. So, Fred talks families with guest Justin Talbot Zorn. Zorn is an author, adviser, and policymaker. He has served as Legislative Director for three members of the US Congress. His first book, published with HarperCollins in the US and Penguin in the UK, was printed in 14 languages globally and topped Audible bestsellers lists in diverse categories including philosophy, meditation, and business. Justin is a Senior Adviser to the Center for Economic and Policy Research, a Truman National Security Fellow, and co-founder of a first-of-its-kind talent pipeline for Congressional staffers. A former Fulbright Scholar, Justin received graduate degrees in international relations and public policy from Oxford and Harvard.
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