On Democracy with FPWellman

It has been an absolutely catastrophic week in the United States from the raid on Venezuela and Trump’s continuing absured claims on their oil, threats against Denmark, and even worse the killing of an innocent civilian in Minneapolis by an ICE agent. Increasingly we are seeing the fallout of an out of control Executive branch with no oversight or pushback from the Republican Doormat Congress at a...

It’s finally here! Election year 2026 has arrived. We have the midterms in just 11 months now and it’s time to take a hard look at what the Republican Doormat Congress is doing for working Americans. The answer is pretty obvious…not just nothing but they are actually hurting working people. From failing to pass laws that make our lives better, providing no oversight for obvious failures by the Tru...

Just a week before Christmas the Department of Veterans Affairs was caught deleting over 35,000 positions across the country that they had left unfilled for the last year. VA Secretary Doug Collins is scrambling to spin the cuts as nothing but we know it now adds up to over 70,000 lost positions that are already hurting veterans healthcare. Why are they doing it? You already know…money. Privatizin...

One thing Fred learned in 22-years in the Army and four combat tours is that you don’t just fight alone. It takes a coalition, multiple services, and many different teams to fight a war. The battle against the creeping authoritarianism, corruption, and economic destruction of the Trump Administration and the Republican Doormat Congress is the same. Fred sits down with two different leaders battlin...

We are being lied to by the Republican Doormat Congress. They want us to think everything is going great here at home and that the real issue is the dangerous “narcoterrorists” in Venezuela. On one hand we have Trump saying the “affordability crisis” is a scam and that the economy is awesome and on the other speed boats over a thousand miles away are an imminent danger. No. The imminent danger is...

We are facing a crisis in America that has been unfolding for decades. Working Americans cannot afford to live and nothing is being done to fix it. While prices have constantly increased wages have failed to keep pace for working Americans. Meanwhile the rich have gotten richer and used that money to increase their power. This week’s show includes two unique voices fighting for our power in differ...

Donald Trump decided to use the turkey pardoning ceremony as an opportunity to polish his own ego bragging that thanks to him religion and prayer were back again. That is not true at all but worse it represents how he is using Christian Nationalism and their leaders to attack our democracy, institutions, and freedoms. They have found that wrapping things in a story of Christian persecution allows...

After the government shutdown over extending Affordable Care Act tax subsidies, Donald Trump and the Republican Doormat Congress have suddenly decided they care about healthcare costs. He has floated a series of insane ideas from just giving the money to individuals so we can "negotiate prices' to revisiting Health Savings Account. All that is old is new again and all that is stupid is still stupi...

Donald Trump and the MAGA Republicans are continuing their desperate attempt to save their power from the impending blue tidal wave coming their way. Their favorite tactic recently was pressuring red states to illegally redistrict before the midterms. Texas quickly leaped and so did Missouri’s Republicans. But Missouri isn’t Texas and the state has a robust petition initiative process that allows...

Donald Trump continues to fight paying SNAP benefits as the shutdown continues. Not only are average Americans in the crosshairs but as we go into Veterans Day weekend over 1 million veterans are going without food aid and millions of government employees are unpaid or being illegally fired. This is what the Republican Doormat Congress has allowed. Fred Wellman sits down with American Federation o...

Are Pete Hegseth and Donald Trump ordering our military to murder innocent people? It's a simple question that seems increasingly true. As of this week the U.S. has conducted 14 known strikes on boats in international waters killing 63 people and leaving 3 survivors. We don't know publicly if any of them were actually the supposed "narco-terrorists" they have been labeled by the Trump Administrati...

We are deep into the government shutdown with no end in sight. Republicans refuse to even negotiate in good faith with Democrats who are demanding a simple thing….restore the healthcare tax subsidies that have been instrumental in controlling spiraling health insurance. It was the Republicans that destroyed that system in their Big Billionaire Bill. Now they are smearing Americans who will be prot...

Mother’s are being arrested in school drop off lines who are legal immigrants but have brown skin. James Comey and Letitia James were indicted afer Trump installed his inexperienced personal attorney as the Assistant Attorney General for Northern Virginia to prosecute his enemies. Mike Johnson is calling the ‘No Kings’ protests a planned terrorist event supporting Hamas. The outrageious actions ar...

This week has seen one assault on average Americans after another from actual assaults in Chicago to the government shutdown driven by the White House and Republican Congress. Amidst it all the Democratic caucus has held strong to dig in their heels and demand healthcare support and more for millions. Republicans are betting that Americans will blame Democrats for it all but that’s not what is hap...

It's been one assault on our rights and freedoms after another this week. From more attacks on the media to this outlandish Executive Order to go after ‘left wing terrorism.’ But, yesterday was a shocking turn when it was revealed that the National Archvies illegally released the unredacted military records of Representative, and New Jersey Gubernatorial candidate, Mikie Sherrill. Rep. Sherrill is...

The horrifying murder of Charlie Kirk has unleashed a flood of chaos like nothing many of us have seen in our lifetimes. Recriminations have flown in all directions from his supporters and the targets are nearly anyone who doesn’t praise Kirk. Even the lightest criticism including quoting his own words from his voluminous record of speaking and writing has caused anyone from teachers, to pilots, t...

While culture war issues and crime are blowing up the news cycle, average Americans are facing a reckoning in their lives. The economy is swiftly moving into to two-tiers. One for the rich and one for everyone else. Multiple stories have been coming out in the last week about the plunge of consumer confidence and shocking indicators of an economic collapse coming. Fred speaks with Michael A. McCar...

Make no mistake but we are in the midst of a surge of political violence from the horrific killings of the former Speaker of the Minnesota House and her husband to increasing clashes with ICE agents. Trump wants this violence to excuse him to impose even more authoritarian control over his enemies. We dive deep into it this week as he threatens to send thousands of Federal agents and the military...

Trump spent the week musing about being a dictator and picking fights with governors over his sudden interest in law and order…even as he refuses to release the Epstien files. There is a real sense that we are the proverbial frog in the pot as the water keeps heating up and millions of our fellow citizens seem to be missing it. Many in the pro-democracy space are baffled by the increasing open aut...

Trump and his Republican minions have been hard at work this last week making sure he can stay in power and keep the House. From redistricting mid-decade to attacking mail-in voting, they have a rotten plan to suppress Democratic voters. The fight is on thanks to Democratic leaders not taking it laying down. But, what’s next? One of the biggest complaints many have about the Democratic Party is th...

As the military descends on Washington D.C., and the Border Patrol just randomly showed up at Governor Gavin Newsom’s press conference in LA, it’s increasingly clear that the Trump Administration wants us to be intimidated and scared. How about if we don’t? Their games aren’t fooling veterans who know what it really takes to militarize a nation. Fred sits down with his friend Patrick Murphy who wa...

Fred Wellman is solo this week to discuss the dismantaling of our Department’s of Defense and Veterans Affairs by the Trump Administration. You’ve heard the rumors about Pete Hegseth and his religious extremism but we are seeing it unfold in real time with his attacks on women leaders and transgender service members. Over at the VA Doug Collins is acting like he is fixing the second largest govern...

The Republicans have decided the only way they can win in 2026 is to cheat. It’s clear their policies are alienating millions of Americans and the Big Ugly Bill has landed like an anchor around their necks. So King Donald has asked his minions to rid him of this meddlesome election and Texas Governor Greg Abbott is happy to roll in to save him. With help from the thoroughly corrupt Department of J...

Trump and his minions have been implementing Project 2025 at a breakneck pace with some estimates saying they are already over half way there in just six months. A major part of their mission is dismantling any regulatory barriers to letting their billionaire and corporate backers make more money and steal from the American people. Destroying the independent regulatory bodies like the Federal Trad...

To say that people are absolutely losing their minds of Zohran Mamdani’s win in New York City’s Democratic Primary would be the understatement of the century. They are going nuts from continuous Fox News coverage to insane AI videos attacking him. In the end he won that race by being genuine, loving where he lives, talking to the people he wants to lead, and coming up with proposed solutions to th...