It's the Democracy, Stupid Featured Interviews

Edwin Eisendrath is joined by Rep. Sean Casten (D-IL).

Catch “The Big Picture with Edwin Eisendrath” Saturdays from 1:00 to 4:00 p.m. Central on WCPT (heartlandsignal.com/programs/the-big-picture).   

And find “The Big Picture (Full Episodes)” podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, iHeartRadio, YouTube, Amazon and TuneIn.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Edwin Eisendrath is joined by Claudia Sahm, chief economist at New Century Advisors, and former Federal Reserve economist. 

Sahm discussed the economic impact of the Trump administration's policies, highlighting the regressive nature of tariffs and their potential to reshape trade and the economy. Sahm also talked about the administration's aggressive use of executive power and the uncertainty it creates. She explained the Federal Reserve's dual mandate of maximum employment and stable prices, the importance of its independence in maintaining economic stability, and the challenges of balancing inflation and recession risks. 

Catch “The Big Picture with Edwin Eisendrath” Saturdays from 1:00 to 4:00 p.m. Central on WCPT (heartlandsignal.com/programs/the-big-picture).   

And find “The Big Picture (Full Episodes)” podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, iHeartRadio, YouTube, Amazon and TuneIn.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Edwin Eisendrath is joined by Jill Wine-Banks, legal analyst, former general counsel of the U.S. Army, author of "The Watergate Girl," co-host of  #SistersInLaw, and host of Just The Facts with Jill Wine-Banks.

Wine-Banks criticized the FBI's mishandling of the Charlie Kirk shooting case and the broader distrust in government agencies, highlighted the Supreme Court's role in undermining legal norms, and expressed concern over the erosion of American democracy.

"I am now feeling like I live in 1939 in Germany, except that it's happening faster [here] than it happened in Germany," Wine-Banks told WCPT. "There, there was a gradual loss of rights. This is only the eighth or ninth month of [Donald Trump's] second term and this has all happened? He has three-plus more years. And everything that was in Project 2025 that we thought was appalling is going to happen. And now they're talking about taking away my right to vote as a woman." 

Catch “The Big Picture with Edwin Eisendrath” Saturdays from 1:00 to 4:00 p.m. Central on WCPT (heartlandsignal.com/programs/the-big-picture).   

And find “The Big Picture (Full Episodes)” podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, iHeartRadio, YouTube, Amazon and TuneIn.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Edwin Eisendrath is joined by Simon Rosenberg, Democratic strategist and author of the Hopium Chronicles.

Rosenberg discussed the rise of political violence on the right, citing the Charlie Kirk shooting and ideology on the right "that encourages violence," including the QAnon, whose end state, Rosenberg points out, is "the assassination and killing of Democratic leaders on the mall and the hanging of people like Nancy Pelosi and other Democrats."

He added: "There is an incredible body of language and thought and argumentation around encouraging violence on the right against those other people. There is no such ideology on the left. It just doesn't exist. We don't have a radical left movement in America. In fact, our movement is desperately, ferociously fighting to preserve rule of law and democracy battle illiberalism. Battling illiberalism is the central undertaking of our collective project, and we've seen millions and millions and millions of people this year, tens of millions people protest legally, without any incident. It's incredible how many people have been on the street this year, peacefully, literally with no incidents of any kind." 

Rosenberg emphasized the need for Democrats to expand their coalition into red states and to address voter apathy, particularly in the Black community. He proposed a four-part agenda for Democrats:

"One is to roll back the tariffs that are causing so much harm to the American people and to our economy, our standing in the world. It's taxation without representation, it's illegal, unconstitutional, and we need to roll them back. 

"Second is that we should be fighting with everything we can to roll back the ICE increase and to keep troops off of our streets. This creation of a private, political police force for the president is un-American, illiberal, and we have to fight it with all the bones in our body, as you guys are doing in Chicago.

"Third is: This assault on science and higher ed and public health, the cutting of Medicaid and [the Affordable Care Act] is destructive. It's sabotage for the United States. 

"And then, finally, fourth is that we need to be standing with Ukraine and our European allies, and and not with Putin, and we need to be defending democracy here and all around the world. 

"These are the four pillars of what I think could become an offensive agenda for the Democrats as we go into ideological and rhetorical battle with Trump and the right, as a set of guideposts for how we're going to engage."

Watch the conversation on Substack Live.

Catch “The Big Picture with Edwin Eisendrath” Saturdays from 1:00 to 4:00 p.m. Central on WCPT (heartlandsignal.com/programs/the-big-picture).   

And find “The Big Picture (Full Episodes)” podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, iHeartRadio, YouTube, Amazon and TuneIn.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Edwin Eisendrath is joined by Samantha Tarazi, chief executive officer of Voting Rights Lab.

"We track and analyze voting and elections laws," Tarazi told WCPT, "and also propose changes to those laws via legislation in all 50 states. We look at and highlight how to strengthen our elections, and we also sound the alarm when election threats emerge. And I think there are a number of things to be focusing on right now in that category."

Tarazi highlighted Trump's attempts to disrupt elections and disfranchise voters, in part through executive actions to address voter "integrity."

"Trump does not have authority to mandate how our elections are run," Tarazi said. "So I actually don't believe that any of these executive orders or these threatened executive orders are designed to withstand legal scrutiny. Most of his March executive order has already been struck down by the courts. I think it's actually more important to think about it and to understand it as a set of marching orders to Trump's allies in the states, because it's the states that then rush to fast-track proof-of-citizenship legislation. And all told, 27 states introduced and rushed forward proof-of-citizenship bills this year. There is some good news, Edwin, which is actually not a single state adopted Trump's core demand of requiring passports or birth certificates." 

Tarazi emphasized the importance of early registration, early voting and non-discretionary election certification laws to bolster election integrity. 

Catch “The Big Picture with Edwin Eisendrath” Saturdays from 1:00 to 4:00 p.m. Central on WCPT (heartlandsignal.com/programs/the-big-picture).   

And find “The Big Picture (Full Episodes)” podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, iHeartRadio, YouTube, Amazon and TuneIn.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Edwin Eisendrath is joined by Rep. Jesús "Chuy" García (D-IL).

Catch “The Big Picture with Edwin Eisendrath” Saturdays from 1:00 to 4:00 p.m. Central on WCPT (heartlandsignal.com/programs/the-big-picture).

And find “The Big Picture (Full Episodes)” podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, iHeartRadio, YouTube, Amazon and TuneIn.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Edwin Eisendrath is joined by Jen Bendery, senior politics reporter for HuffPost.

Bendery discussed the significant reduction in the federal workforce, noting that 199,000 jobs have been cut since January, decimating the 2.3 million-strong workforce. She highlighted the role of Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought in driving the cuts. 

Bendery also criticized the Trump administration's disregard for the negative impact the cuts are having on good governance and public health. 

"They just want to pull every lever possible to impose as many cuts to areas that they want as possible, period," she told WCPT. "If they break laws doing it or if they do take unlawful actions, they'll find that out in court later. That's their whole M.O.

"So when you think about that as the driving factor here, then all of these other, much more thoughtful, holistic questions you have about, well, won't that hurt people, won't that force a lot of people out of their jobs and leave them unemployed, won't that mean people will die through what [the Department of Health and Human Services] is doing, or we cut foreign aid by billions -- won't that hurt people overseas? Yeah, of course it will. But that's not what they're thinking about. They're only thinking about cutting headcount and cutting federal spending with large numbers."

Catch “The Big Picture with Edwin Eisendrath” Saturdays from 1:00 to 4:00 p.m. Central on WCPT (heartlandsignal.com/programs/the-big-picture).   

And find “The Big Picture (Full Episodes)” podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, iHeartRadio, YouTube, Amazon and TuneIn.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Edwin Eisendrath is joined by Anne Applebaum, staff writer at The Atlantic and author of six critically acclaimed books, including “Autocracy, Inc.: The Dictators Who Want to Run the World.”

Catch “The Big Picture with Edwin Eisendrath” Saturdays from 1:00 to 4:00 p.m. Central on WCPT (heartlandsignal.com/programs/the-big-picture).   

And find “The Big Picture (Full Episodes)” podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, iHeartRadio, YouTube, Amazon and TuneIn.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Edwin Eisendrath is joined by Texas Democratic State Rep. Trey Martinez-Fischer.

"We are not a Republican state; we're a non-voting state," Martinez-Fischer told WCPT, offering a "Texas 101" primer on state legislative politics and President Donald Trump's mid-decade congressional redistricting scheme that Texas is trying to become the first state to adopt. 

"We have the largest African American population in the country. We have the second largest Latino population in the country. We are a majority minority state, when you combine African Americans, Latinos and Asians, but we are governed by very extreme Republicans that have perfected the art of stacking, packing and cracking communities of color so that they will never have a voice. 

"So, hey, there's a big sports town in Chicago. I happen to like the Bears as well. Why would the Chicago Bears ever take the field if they knew the game had been engineered for them to lose? Who would want to play that game? That's what they're doing here in Congress. They are, with mathematical precision, determining political outcomes before there's a single vote cast, and that's what Donald Trump wants. He is doing lousy right now in the polls. The midterms are going to be a wreck, and the U.S. House of Representatives has a really good chance of going back to the Democrats. So Trump picked up the phone, called [Republican Texas Gov.] Greg Abbott and said, my friend, I need you to bend the knee and draw me five Republican congressional districts right now."

Martinez-Fischer called the effort "extreme gerrymandering. This is 'the hell with the voters; we know better.' These politicians will pick the voters, instead of the other way around. This isn't about a fair and square election anymore. This is about engineering outcomes. And just think about how much technology you have on your smartphone right now, and all the things you can do that you could never have done before in the 1980s. Well, when it comes to voting and drawing districts, the technology has moved at an incredible speed. They know everything about you."

He added: "This President is not the commander-in-chief anymore. He is what I've been calling the commander in cheat." 

Catch “The Big Picture with Edwin Eisendrath” Saturdays from 1:00 to 4:00 p.m. Central on WCPT (heartlandsignal.com/programs/the-big-picture).   

And find “The Big Picture (Full Episodes)” podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, iHeartRadio, YouTube, Amazon and TuneIn.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Edwin Eisendrath is joined by Melissa Sanchez, Chicago-based immigration and labor reporter for ProPublica; her latest piece is a profile of Venezuelan men deported by the Trump administration who endured months of physical and mental abuse inside a Salvadoran prison

Catch “The Big Picture with Edwin Eisendrath” Saturdays from 1:00 to 4:00 p.m. Central on WCPT (heartlandsignal.com/programs/the-big-picture).   

And find “The Big Picture (Full Episodes)” podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, iHeartRadio, YouTube, Amazon and TuneIn.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.