On Democracy with FPWellman

The Big Ugly Bill squeaked into law last week and we are still unpacking all of the ugly stuff buried in it. It’s not just what is in this massive package of benefits for the rich but the timing of the pieces. With the healthcare and nutrition cuts timed to start after the midterms and the much touted no taxes on tips and overtime timed to end after the next Presidential one. Oddly none of the bre...

The Republicans passed their monstrous bill, and they did it on the back of lies and smears of average Americans. It’s also July Fourth weekend and we know that Trump is going to pummel the airwaves and Washington D.C. with his nationalistic fake patriotism. We are going to have the flag waved in our face and military members rolled out for display as he takes credit for their bravery. The truth i...

This week is a very special episode with our friend John Della Volpe and an exclusive sit down with Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass. The shockwaves from the Democratic Primary win for New York City mayor by Zohran Mamdani are still resonating this week as pundits and leaders of the various political parties try to figure out what happened and shape their own narratives. Meanwhile the very battle for...

Unidentified masked men grabbing people off the streets. Agents grabbing people attending their asylum hearings and not even knowing their names before cuffing them. Polls plummeting for support of Trump’s war on immigration. This is an incredibly dangerous moment, and things are getting out of hand while ICE and DHS become more belligerent and dangerous. Fred sits down with attorney Richard Hein...

Join us for a special Father's Day edition of "Too Late To Cancel" Sunday, June 15, 2025! We're celebrating with hilarious comedians Ariel Elias and Sarah Adelman, who will bring their uniquely bold and witty stories to the panel. We will also have a heartfelt and insightful conversation with 24x award-winning podcast host Dominic Lawson about fatherhood, mental health, and his acclaimed work on s...

The chaos is accelerating under Donald Trump this week. While the protests in LA continue and Trump and his minions aim to use it to intimidate and attack their political opponents, we have RFK Jr. dismantling our vaccine programs in D.C. Fred sits down with two experts in their fields this week named Robert. First, Dr. Robert Pape is Professor of Political Science at the University of Chicago spe...

It’s the anniversary of D-Day and thousands of veterans and supporters are gathering on the National Mall as part of the Unite for Veterans, Unite for America rally. The event was put together by a group of everyday veterans to demand that the government fulfills its promise to veterans and the nation. Fred is one of the organizers and will be speaking on the stage along with the Dropkick Murphys,...

The deeper we go into the second Trump Administration the blurrier the lines between reality and a MAGA fantasy of our founding documents and their implementation grows. Stephen Miller, especially, has made it clear that he only believes in power and the use of the Executive like a King. Well…we had a whole revolution about that almost 250 years ago. To dive into it, Fred sits down with an expert...

For a decade now the statewide elections in Virginia have served as a key bellwether on the recently elected President. The unique nature of Virginia’s system where a governor can only serve one consecutive term means there is never an incumbent making it essentially a toss up every cycle just one year after the national elections. Four years ago the election of Glenn Youngkin, after over a decade...

It’s that time again when the Trump Cabinet of Curiosities and Whackos makes their way to Capitol Hill to justify their budgets, give updates, and answer questions. It’s going exactly as you would expect with an especially stressful and ridiculous performance by Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem. She was hit by the Democrats on the HLS Committee with a barrage of questions on her many trips...

In one week, Donald Trump’s Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. disbanded the National Cancer Institute Board of Science Advisors, fired hundreds of employees of the National Institutes of Health, and nominated a new Surgeon General who is not even a practicing physician and dropped out of her residency. The entire healthcare system is under attack from the very top. Our nati...

It’s easy to write off the first 100 days of the second Trump Administration as just pure chaos or messy but that would be a mistake. There was always the Project 2025 blueprint, and they are executing it with precision and speed as they promised they would. Throw in the Elon Musk DOGE evil munchkins as the storm troops and you have the perfect system to move fast and break our democracy. But, tha...

We have been saying that 2025 is an election year and for Democrats it’s been pretty good. From the Supreme Court victory in Wisconsin to the successful defense of five state legislatures there is real results piling up for Democrats at the state level. Fred sits down with Heather Williams, president of the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee (DLCC) to discuss that success, what’s next, and...

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has unleashed his conspiracy theories and anti-vaccine lies on the Department of Health and Human Services much as we all feared, and the results are as shocking. From an all but uncontrolled and growing measles outbreak to his latest outrageous statements on the causes and effects of autism he is the nightmare we had hoped to stop. Fred sits down with Dr. Rob Davidson, the E...

As it turns out, sitting in front of a screen all day is making men into women! This shocking news comes courtesy of arbiter of all things manly, Jesse Watters. In the eyes of much of MAGA the collapse of the economy and forcing Americans to take up factory jobs is a return to a long-lost masculinity. If this sounds ridiculous, that’s because it is but it’s a big part of the MAGA culture that has...

We’ve all seen the shocking videos of masked men in plain clothes grabbing people and bundling them off in broad daylight claiming they’re illegal immigrants. Now Trump has implemented the Alien Enemies Act to justify his suspension of due process for potentially thousands of Venezuelans and others in the United States. The fundamental right to due process is enshrined in our Constitution for all...

We are witnessing staggering corruption and indecency from the Trump Administration. From disappearing immigrants off the streets to plans for stripping Medicare and Medicaid from millions of Americans. Democrats are demanding their elected representatives fight back and one Senator isn’t shrinking from facing his voters. Senator Kim has been holding repeated town halls in the reddest districts of...

With DOGE dismantling our government and anger building across the country, more and more Americans are looking for ways to get in the fight. Many are talking about running for local office or Congress next cycle to make Republicans pay for their surrender to Musk and Trump. The barriers to running for office can seem daunting but the National Democratic Training Committee has tools and training f...

While Elon and Trump continue to destroy the government and hurt millions of Americans it’s easy to feel hopeless with the mid-terms still well over a year and a half away. Well, the first major chance is already here and will be decided on April 1st in Wisconsin as well as special elections for the House. The Wisconsin Supreme Court race will determine the political balance of that state’s highes...

We said that Trump planned to act like an autocrat if he was re-elected and we were right. In just six weeks we have seen the flood of outrageous actions without end. It’s being propelled by a concerted and coordinated effort to flood us with propaganda and lies. They are also clearly working to strike real fear among many Americans. It is exactly what they wanted and hoped for. This combination o...

Trump, Musk, and Vought are executing their diabolical plans to dismantle the Federal government from within. The damage they have already caused is devastating and the impact on average Americans has just begun. Already thousands of Federal employees are being purged and threatened and the impacts on DC, Virginia, and Maryland which are home to hundreds of thousands of those Americans will profou...

Trump has set his sights on destroying Ukraine. There is no other way to define what has happened in the last week as he attacks President Zelenskyy with lies and smears along with his willing propagandists. Rubio went to Saudi Arabia after Pete Hegseth all but gave the Russians the lifeline they desperately need to survive. Fred sits down with long time broadcast journalist Philip Ittner who has...

Another week of insanity in Washington D.C. and even overseas as Pete Hegseth and J.D. Vance bring a wrecking ball to our military relationships and Ukraine’s defense. While amateur hour unfolds in Germany Elon Musk is still running amuk and 200,000 federal employees were fired. The Democrats are continuing to struggle with a unified message even as the courts begin to show their muscle to stop Tr...

Elon Musk is running amok through the government using what was sold as an advisory role and organization to effectively dismantle everything from the inside. He is wielding unchecked power including gaining access to the Treasury itself, all but eliminating a federal agency, and appears to be in the personnel files of millions of government employees, contractors, and average Americans. It’s been...

Donald Trump has spent his first two weeks in office causing absolute chaos. This was the plan. Stephen Miller is relishing it all and promises more with the flood of increasingly awful orders and memos. Many who oppose them feel overwhelmed and are struggling to fight back. But many were ready and have rolled into the battle with gusto. Democracy Forward spent the last two years analyzing what ki...