The Social Contract with Joe Walsh

Trump is suppressing speech, and he’s using immigration enforcement to suppress speech. He’s cracking down on international students who are here on student visas and who are protesting in support of Palestinians. He’s trying to arrest and deport them. I’m hugely pro-Israel, but that’s not right. And we should be bigger and better than that. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more informat...

Ten democrats joined every Republican in the House to vote to censure the Democratic Congressman who interrupted Trump’s address the other night. That’s ten Democrats who don’t get how unprecedented and scary these times are. Decorum & civility ain’t gonna cut it Dems. You wanna preserve our democracy? You gotta put decorum & civility in the rear view mirror for awhile. Hosted on Acast. Se...

A Hispanic Member of Congress gave the Spanish language rebuttal to Trump’s address. The official House Republican Twitter account called him an “illegal immigrant.” Disgusting, cruel, ignorant…but hey, in today’s Trump era, that tweet will get a bunch of high fives. Trump has made it permissible for people to be their very worst. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Trump gave a speech last night to a joint session of Congress. It was his first time in the House chamber, in the Capitol, post-January 6th. Remember January 6th? 4yrs and 2 months ago, Trump sent a mob into that chamber, into the Capitol to overthrow an American election. And last night he gave a speech there and people were supposed to listen to him and pay him some sort of respect? Never. Hoste...

House Republican leaders have told their members not to hold any more in person town halls. Because voters at these town halls have made clear they’re not happy with what Trump & Musk are doing. And some of these confrontations with Republicans have gone viral. We must not let House Republicans get away with this. We must demand they sit in front of their constituents and hear their concerns....

Trump stands with Putin. He always has. But because that’s such a horrible truth, most of the world has understandably had a really difficult time accepting that truth. Until Friday. Friday made it crystal clear for all to see. And now the world knows that, as long as Trump is in the White House, America is not on the side of the free world. So damn sad. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for...

Mike Madrid and I got together on Substack Live to discuss the current political landscape in America, the importance of engagement, strategic messaging, and the need for the Democratic Party to refocus its efforts. We also talk about the challenges posed by figures like Donald Trump and Elon Musk Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Democrats need to learn from Trump. Trump puts himself in front of a camera every day. Because this is all just a show to Trump. And Trump had always been about the marketing. That’s it. And when he’s in front of the camera, he lies. All the time. But Democrats have missed the boat here. They’re still playing by the old, cautious politician rules. They’re afraid of the open give and take. That’s g...

I’m so sick and tired of the old establishment media putting these old establishment Democratic consultants on to bestow us with their old establishment wisdom. Fuck that. These guys are out of touch and Democrats need to stop listening to them. Democrats shouldn’t “roll over and play dead right now as Carville said. They should fight. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

I sat down with progressive writer and thinker Jeet Heer to discuss what Democrats need to do to pull together an anti-Trump majority and win again. Trump didn’t win by a lot, but Democrats have real issues and need to make real decisions. Jeet and I don’t really agree on the direction Dems must go, but we agree Dems need to win. Because MAGA is a real threat to this country. Hosted on Acast. See...

Because Trump believes our FBI, and DOJ, and Military, and intelligence community are all the enemy, he’s put people in charge of these agencies & departments who want to destroy them. From Trump’s perspective, it makes all the sense in the world. But from America’s perspective, it makes us way less safe and less secure. But we shouldn’t be surprised. He told us he’d do this. Hosted on Acast....

Earlier this week, JD Vance criticized our European allies for getting weak on protecting free speech. Two days later, JD’s administration sent a threatening letter to a Congressman hinting at a DOJ investigation into his criticisms of Elon Musk & Trump. This is ugly government free speech intimidation. Hey JD, what about free speech in America? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more...

Trump lies almost every time he opens his mouth. And I stopped saying shame on Trump for lying a long time ago. Now I say shame on his supporters for allowing Trump to lie to them. Trump’s lying is on them, not him. And btw, We Americans will never get back a healthy democracy if we don’t demand a semblance of truth from the politicians who represent us. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for...

Trump again yesterday blamed Ukraine for starting the war. Trump has made clear to the world that he stands with Putin & the world’s other dictators. He’s made clear that he does NOT stand with NATO & the free world. How horrible. And…how did Elon get so wealthy when he’s so damn ignorant? Maybe because he’s so damn dishonest. And…another oops from DOGE. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/priv...

The U.S. and Russia met in Saudi Arabia today to discuss resolving Putin’s war against Ukraine. Ukraine wasn’t there. Yes, you read that right. Trump continues to do exactly what Putin wants him to do, and by this point nobody should wonder why. The answer is obvious. It’s always been obvious. Trump works for Putin because Putin has something on Trump. That’s always been the case. Hosted on Acast....

Trump sent out his utterly un-American post again this morning: "He who saves his county does not violate any law." It's a statement, a belief, that cannot coexist with our Constitution, cannot coexist if we're a nation of laws. So Trump is forcing Americans to choose: Him or the rule of law. What say you America? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

I sat down with Robert Weissman, President of Public Citizen (citizen.org) to discuss how citizens and the courts can best and most effectively stop what Musk and Trump are doing. We’ve never seen such a brazen, lawless convergence of concentrated corporate & government power. But we must fight back. Have a listen. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

So the state department just agreed to buy $400 million worth of Tesla’s? Hello? Can you say conflict of interest? So the guy who is currently in charge of the federal government also has government contracts for all of his companies? Hello? Audit his companies? Transparency? Overt corruption and HUGE conflicts of interest. Right out in the open. Here’s the beauty: Do the people care? Hosted on Ac...

If you actually listen to Trump and Musk every day - our military sucks, the deep state controls our justice dept and the FBI, there is no independent media, the federal government is all fraudsters and bad bureaucrats, even the judiciary is corrupt. According to Trump/Trumpism, America just sucks. But yet…he got elected saying all of this. And elections have consequences. Hosted on Acast. See aca...

So many Trump supporters keep asking me every day - how come some judge can just overrule what a president wants to do? What’s the point of even having elections Joe? The point? The point is the Constitution. We’re either gonna have one and follow it, or we aren’t. It’s clear to me that that’s what MAGA wants, they just don’t have the balls to say it. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for mor...

Trump and Vance made clear over the weekend that they're not happy the courts are holding up most of his executive actions. They've signaled that they'll ignore court rulings. If Trump can successfully do that, then we are no longer a democracy or a nation of laws. We must not let him. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

I’m super pro Israel and I do not believe the two state solution is a possibility. So I sat down with someone who completely disagrees with me - Palestinian American political analyst Omar Baddar - to try to see if we could understand each other. And find a wee bit of common ground. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

I’m not a smart political consultant like David Axelrod. But Axelrod yesterday said Dems should throw in the towel on this USAID issue and focus on bigger fights. Hell no. Trump must be fought everywhere. What he’s doing to USAID is unlawful. So should Dems throw in the towel on the rule of law too? Come on. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Last night, Trump said that the U.S. should take over and “own” Gaza. Why? Because Trump believes it will enrich himself personally and because Trump is an autocrat, and like all good autocrats, Trump believes he has a right to anything. Freedom, sovereignty, and democracy can’t get in his way. But please don’t laugh at Trump. Take him seriously. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more inf...

Our Founders gave the lion’s share of constitutional authority to the legislative branch. The people’s house. Because our Founders feared a king. There’s great fear and confusion right now because an unelected oligarch is waging war on the federal government. The very thing our Founders feared. And what is Congress doing about this? Nothing. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more informat...