On Democracy with FPWellman

Donald Trump pardoned all of January 6th rioters including the leaders of the Oathkeepers and Proud Boys. It only took minutes for them to be welcomed with open arms back on the same Capitol grounds they stormed 4 years ago. It marks another dark turn towards extremism and a challenge for the opposition to this movement. Against this backdrop the Democrats are preparing for the critical February 1...

Donald Trump enters office with an underwater favorability rating according to a recent Marist poll. It isn’t stopping the pathetic sycophants and straphangers in Congress from doing everything possible to get his attention or catch those coveted Fox and Newsmax interviews. The first week of cabinet confirmation hearings offered plenty of chances to show how desperate they are to stay in MAGA’s go...

The unprecedented fires in the Los Angeles region have shocked the nation as we’ve watched the events unfold in real time. Billions of dollars in damage and untold numbers of lives have already been lost as over 8,000 firefighters and support personnel battle to save lives and property. In this shocking moment Republicans and their propagandists haven’t missed an opportunity to lie, smear, and att...

The nation spent New Year’s Day following two bizarre and heartbreak stories as an overnight attack on Bourbon Street took the lives of 14 innocents while a Tesla Cybertruck blew up in front of the Las Vegas Trump Hotel. We would find out within hours that both acts were carried out by men with military service, and both would leave more questions than answers that led them to act. Fred walks thro...

Fred is recovering from surgery but we thought we would run this recent show that was overlooked with all of the excitement of the Tyson-Paul fight. Fred took a look then at how Democrats can do a better job of getting their messages to more Americans and why that’s important as we face 31 states holding local and state elections next year. Looking back at this year the media landscape has changed...

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...

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 hop...

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...

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 ou...

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 N...

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...

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...

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 en...

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...

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 reach...

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 un...

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 terri...

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...

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 mo...

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 authoritarianis...

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 w...

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 F...

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 aro...

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...

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 t...