It's the Democracy, Stupid Featured Interviews

Edwin Eisendrath is joined by Russ Carnahan, chair of the Missouri Democratic Party and former member of the U.S. House and the Missouri House.

The discussion focused on Missouri Democrats’ election strategy, voter initiative power, redistricting litigation, and election security concerns. Here are a few key points from the conversation:
- Carnahan said Democrats are contesting more than 97 perfcent of Missouri legislative seats, including many rural districts.
- Courts rejected a mid-decade congressional map and restored use of the 2022 maps after challenges involving the state referendum process.
- Missouri voters will consider a November measure intended to strengthen their ability to protect citizen initiatives. 
- Democrats are targeting the state auditor race, the Missouri Second Congressional District, and enough legislative seats to end the Republican supermajority.
- Carnahan said protecting Congressman Emanuel Cleaver's Kansas City district from being divided remains a priority.
- He argued that Missouri could become competitive in future presidential elections if candidates campaign there.
- He described efforts involving polling place observers, early voting, volunteer organizing, and monitoring foreign interference.
- He said Missouri Democrats are also trying to reach rural voters affected by tariffs, beef and diesel costs, and rural hospital problems.

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Edwin Eisendrath is joined by Clay Wirestone, editor of the Kansas Reflector. Wirestone is also the author of "Opinionated: Kansas Journalists Who Proved Why Commentary Matters: Then and Now" (out September 29). 

The conversation examined Kansas politics, the competitiveness of its current statewide races, and the role of informed local opinion journalism.  Here are a few key points from the conversation:
- Kansas retains strong Republican voting habits, but voters have rejected some Republican-backed positions, including abortion restrictions and school board agendas.
- Clay attributed this tension to Kansas’s longstanding Republican identity and its history as a progressive Republican state, alongside a pattern of electing Democratic governors.
- The U.S. Senate race between Republican Roger Marshall and Democrat Adam Hamilton was described as unexpectedly competitive, with recent polling favoring Hamilton.
- Marshall has faced criticism over limited town hall events and public campaigning, and damaging reporting about lawsuits involving former patients.
- The governor’s race may favor Republican Ty Masterson because Democrat Cindy Holscher lacks comparable campaign funding and has faced sustained attack ads.
- Clay argued that informed, locally grounded opinion is increasingly scarce but important for context, accountability, and community trust.
- His new book documents Kansas’s long tradition of influential commentary.

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Edwin Eisendrath is joined by Aisha Down, global technology reporter for the Guardian; her latest article is "Your AI doomsday questions answered: ‘What, if anything, can people like me do about it?’"

The conversation examined AI’s societal, political, economic, and democratic risks. Here are a few key points from the conversation:
- Down argued that extinction narratives often rely on speculative scenarios and fail to account for practical constraints, while acknowledging risks from agentic systems, cyberattacks, biosecurity, and attacks on banks or universities.
- The discussion challenged anthropomorphic views of AI and questioned whether intelligence measured by high IQ translates into real-world agency or goals.
- Industry leaders may amplify claims about AI’s power to support valuations, delay IPOs, shape regulation, and encourage regulatory capture.
- Data centers and chip financing could represent a speculative bubble, with delays, interlocking companies, and debt creating unresolved financial risks. 
- AI is also accelerating surveillance, misinformation, and internet fragmentation, while health technologies and tools for treating cancer, paralysis, and other conditions offer significant benefits.

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Edwin Eisendrath is joined by Andrea Hailey, CEO of Vote.org. She discussed voter registration trends, voting access, election safeguards, and trusted voter information ahead of the election.

Here are a few key points from the conversation:
- Vote.org reported registration activity about three times higher than in the previous midterm cycle, with 18-year-olds representing about 35 percent of registrations through its platform.
- Interest was especially high in Texas, at roughly 30 times previous election-cycle levels, with additional activity in Kansas, Ohio, Michigan, and Maine.
- October deadlines and outreach through text and email were identified as important tests of whether the registration surge continues.
- Voters are encouraged to verify registration repeatedly at Vote.org, make a voting plan, and execute it early where possible.
- Hailey raised concerns about voter-roll changes, unprocessed Texas applications, polling place access for students, restrictive identification rules, and barriers to digital registration.
- Vote.org does not sell voter data and distinguishes its services from sites that combine voter information with behavioral data for targeting. 

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Edwin Eisendrath is joined by Chioma Chukwu, executive director of American Oversight, a nonpartisan watchdog organization that advances accountability and democracy by enforcing the public’s right to government records.

Chukwu discussed American Oversight's nonpartisan investigations and litigation concerning government transparency, election administration, civil rights, and government weaponization. Here are a few key points from the conversation.
- Chioma explained that American Oversight uses public-records requests, investigations, partnerships, and litigation to expose government actions and defend transparency.
- The organization views an informed public as essential to a strengthened democracy and said litigation can pause or stop harmful actions.
- Records obtained from the Department of Justice showed White House efforts to connect election conspiracy theorists with senior officials. "What we uncovered," Chukwu told WCPT, "were records showing that election deniers have essentially been invited into this administration, and that the White House chief of staff, Susie Wiles, herself personally helped open the door."
- The people involved promoted policies that would reduce mail voting, eliminate voting machines in favor of paper ballots, "and in the records that we uncovered," she added, "they actually propose that the DOJ give them authority to go around the country advising election officials, and it's like, who are these people?"

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Edwin Eisendrath is joined by Laura Belin, publisher, editor, and reporter for Bleeding Heartland, a community website focused on Iowa politics.

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Edwin Eisendrath is joined by David Smith, Washington bureau chief for the Guardian. The discussion explored how the post-9/11 response reshaped U.S. power, democracy, civil liberties, and contemporary politics.

Here is a brief summary of the conversation:
- The wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, detentions, abuses, and expanded national-security powers damaged U.S. credibility and contributed to distrust in government.
- The response diverted attention from China’s rise and helped weaken the rules-based international order.
- The discussion connected those policies to political polarization and the rise of Donald Trump.
- Executive authority expanded across multiple administrations, while efforts such as closing Guantanamo failed to reverse that trend.
- Trump was described as an intensification of existing weaknesses, including bypassing Congress, targeting perceived enemies, and using national-security rhetoric against political actors.
- Far-right movements in the U.S. and Europe are interconnected through online influence, nationalism, and anti-immigrant rhetoric.

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Edwin Eisendrath is joined by Will Bunch, national opinion columnist for The Philadelphia Inquirer. His latest column is "In Pa. coal country, local police join with ICE to bring arrests, fear."

The discussion examined the expansion of the federal 287(g) immigration enforcement program and its local effects, then turned to Senator John Fetterman’s political future. Here is a brief summary of the conversation:

- Bunch described how increased federal funding and incentives have encouraged small police departments to join 287(g).
- In Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania, 14 departments reportedly joined, with officers conducting checkpoints, traffic stops, and support for ICE operations.
- The program has contributed to racial profiling, wrongful arrests, fear among Latino residents, and reduced local economic activity.
- The discussion raised concerns about whether local police are prioritizing immigration enforcement over public safety.
- Potential liability includes brutality, wrongful arrests, violence, and lawsuits
- Bunch said Pennsylvania voters are increasingly focused on Fetterman’s conduct and that he is unlikely to win the 2028 Democratic primary in the state.
- Possible paths discussed were switching parties or running as an independent, seeking re-election with Republican and independent support.

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Edwin Eisendrath is joined by Kendall Scudder, chair of the Texas Democratic Party.

Scudder described growing Democratic Party energy in Texas and emphasized voter protection, grassroots organizing, and delivering tangible results for working-class communities. Here is a brief summary of the conversation.

- Earlier this year Texas Democrats achieved their highest primary turnout since 2008 and exceeded Republican primary turnout for the first time since 2002.
- The party ran Democratic candidates for every state and federal office for the first time since 1972.
- Scudder highlighted James Talarico, Clayton Tucker, Jon Rosenthal as three candidates to watch in the November midterm.
- If all plans to build data centers in Texas succeed, Scudder told WCPT, "they would be consuming more energy than the entire state of Texas right now." 
- Under Republicans, Texas has given out more than $1 billion to entice companies to build data centers in the state, while the grid remains isolated from the national system and prone to failure.
- Voter protection is a major concern because polling locations have been closed or moved, especially in Tarrant County.
- Scudder argued that Democrats must fight rather than fold, hold powerful actors accountable, and deliver for voters after winning.
- He identified overcriminalization, mass surveillance, and billionaire influence as additional concerns.

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Edwin Eisendrath is joined by Michael Mann, climatologist, geophysicist, and author of “Science Under Siege: How to Fight the Five Most Powerful Forces that Threaten Our World.”

The discussion examined the accelerating effects of climate change, available solutions, and political and media forces obstructing climate action.  Here is a brief summary of the conversation:
- Existing technologies—including wind, solar, geothermal, energy storage, and improved batteries—can support decarbonization; the main barriers are political rather than technological.
- Electrifying transportation and upgrading and decarbonizing the grid remain important priorities.
- Mann and Eisendrath criticized fossil-fuel-driven policies, misinformation, performative neutrality in legacy media, and advertising systems that reward conspiratorial content.
- They emphasized that climate action should focus on systemic investment in clean energy rather than placing responsibility primarily on individual behavior.

Key quote: "Look, dangerous climate change is here, so there's no longer some point that we have to wait and say, 'Ah, this is when we have to act.' Now is when we have to act. We have to limit the warming as much as possible. There is no cliff. It's more like a dangerous highway highway that we're driving down. And if we miss the 1.5 Celsius exit, which it looks very likely we will now, we still do our best to get off at the next exit, 1.6, 1.7. We don't drive all the way to the West Coast. We get off at the first exit that we can."

 

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