It's the Democracy, Stupid Full Episodes

On this week's show
– 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?’“
– Russ Carnahan, chair of the Missouri Democratic Party and former member of the U.S. House and the Missouri House
– Clay Wirestone, editor of Kansas Reflector
– Andrea Hailey, CEO of Vote.org

Catch “It’s the Democracy, Stupid” Saturdays from 1:00 to 4:00 p.m. Central on WCPT (heartlandsignal.com/programs/edwin).   

Follow us:

Website: https://heartlandsignal.com

WCPT Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WCPT820

Heartland Signal Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HeartlandSignal

Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@heartlandsignal 

Heartland Signal X: https://x.com/HeartlandSignal

WCPT 820 X: https://x.com/WCPT820

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/heartlandsignal

Threads: threads.com/@heartlandsignal

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@heartlandsignal

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On this week's show
– Laura Belin, publisher, editor, and reporter for Bleeding Heartland, a community website focused on Iowa politics
– Chioma Chukwu, the executive director of American Oversight, a nonpartisan watchdog organization that advances accountability and democracy by enforcing the public’s right to government records
– Eric Garcia, Washington bureau chief at The Independent
– Dean Baker, distinguished senior fellow and co-founder of the Center for Economic and Policy Research

Catch “It’s the Democracy, Stupid” Saturdays from 1:00 to 4:00 p.m. Central on WCPT (heartlandsignal.com/programs/edwin).   

Follow us:

Website: https://heartlandsignal.com

WCPT Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WCPT820

Heartland Signal Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HeartlandSignal

Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@heartlandsignal 

Heartland Signal X: https://x.com/HeartlandSignal

WCPT 820 X: https://x.com/WCPT820

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/heartlandsignal

Threads: threads.com/@heartlandsignal

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@heartlandsignal

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On this week's show
– David DeWitt, Ohio Capital Journal editor-in-chief and opinion columnist
– David Smith, Washington bureau chief for the Guardian
– Kendall Scudder, chair of the Texas Democratic Party
– Will Bunch, national opinion columnist for The Philadelphia Inquirer

Catch “It’s the Democracy, Stupid” Saturdays from 1:00 to 4:00 p.m. Central on WCPT (heartlandsignal.com/programs/edwin).   

Follow us:

Website: https://heartlandsignal.com

WCPT Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WCPT820

Heartland Signal Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HeartlandSignal

Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@heartlandsignal 

Heartland Signal X: https://x.com/HeartlandSignal

WCPT 820 X: https://x.com/WCPT820

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/heartlandsignal

Threads: threads.com/@heartlandsignal

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@heartlandsignal

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On this week's show
– Michael Mann, climatologist, geophysicist, and author of “Science Under Siege: How to Fight the Five Most Powerful Forces that Threaten Our World”
– Perla Trevizo, reporter with the ProPublica/Texas Tribune Investigative Initiative
– Gregory Royal Pratt, investigative reporter for the Chicago Tribune; he is one of the Tribune reporters recently awarded, as Staff of the Chicago Tribune, the 2026 Pulitzer Prize in Local Reporting
– Dr. Debra Houry, senior fellow at Yale School of Public Health, adjunct professor at Emory University, former chief medical officer of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and principal at DH Leadership and Strategy Solutions, through which she is advising California on their PHNIX initiative

Catch “It’s the Democracy, Stupid” Saturdays from 1:00 to 4:00 p.m. Central on WCPT (heartlandsignal.com/programs/edwin).   

Follow us:

Website: https://heartlandsignal.com

WCPT Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WCPT820

Heartland Signal Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HeartlandSignal

Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@heartlandsignal 

Heartland Signal X: https://x.com/HeartlandSignal

WCPT 820 X: https://x.com/WCPT820

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/heartlandsignal

Threads: threads.com/@heartlandsignal

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@heartlandsignal

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On this week's show
– Adam Klasfeld, founder and editor-in-chief of All Rise News
– Nicholas Grossman, teaching assistant professor in the Department of Political Science at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
– Daniel Nichanian, founder and editor-in-chief of Bolts
– Rev. Earle J. Fisher, Ph.D., senior pastor of Abyssinian Baptist Church, founder of  #UPTheVote901, and author of "The Rev. Albert Cleage Jr., and the Black Prophetic Tradition: A Reintroduction of The Black Messiah"

Catch “It’s the Democracy, Stupid” Saturdays from 1:00 to 4:00 p.m. Central on WCPT (heartlandsignal.com/programs/edwin).   

 

Follow us:

Website: https://heartlandsignal.com

WCPT Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WCPT820

Heartland Signal Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HeartlandSignal

Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@heartlandsignal 

Heartland Signal X: https://x.com/HeartlandSignal

WCPT 820 X: https://x.com/WCPT820

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/heartlandsignal

Threads: threads.com/@heartlandsignal

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@heartlandsignal

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On this week's show Jill Wine-Banks fills in for Edwin and her guests are
– Lynn Sweet, Chicago Sun-Times Washington bureau chief
– Victor Shi, Gen Z activist/organizer, podcaster, and communications professional
– Jim Robenalt, author, presidential historian, lawyer, and regular contributor to Vanity Fair, The Washington Post, and Politico
– Rachel E. VanLandingham, professor of law and associate dean for research at  Southwestern Law School in Los Angeles and retired Air Force lieutenant colonel
– Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul

Catch “It’s the Democracy, Stupid” Saturdays from 1:00 to 4:00 p.m. Central on WCPT (heartlandsignal.com/programs/edwin).   

Follow us:

Website: https://heartlandsignal.com

WCPT Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WCPT820

Heartland Signal Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HeartlandSignal

Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@heartlandsignal 

Heartland Signal X: https://x.com/HeartlandSignal

WCPT 820 X: https://x.com/WCPT820

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/heartlandsignal

Threads: threads.com/@heartlandsignal

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@heartlandsignal

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On this week's show
– Eric Garcia, Washington bureau chief at The Independent
– Brian Finucane, senior adviser with the U.S. Program at the International Crisis Group and a former attorney-adviser at the U.S. Department of State
– Jill Lawrence, opinion writer for The Bulwark and author of the History Keeps Happening Substack newsletter
– Dean Baker, co-founder and senior economist at the Center for Economic and Policy Research

Catch “It’s the Democracy, Stupid” Saturdays from 1:00 to 4:00 p.m. Central on WCPT (heartlandsignal.com/programs/edwin).   

Follow us:

Website: https://heartlandsignal.com

WCPT Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WCPT820

Heartland Signal Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HeartlandSignal

Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@heartlandsignal 

Heartland Signal X: https://x.com/HeartlandSignal

WCPT 820 X: https://x.com/WCPT820

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/heartlandsignal

Threads: threads.com/@heartlandsignal

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@heartlandsignal

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Edwin Eisendrath is joined by
– Ahmed Baba, independent journalist, political analyst, and founder of the best-selling Substack publication “Ahmed Baba News”
– Rachel Cohen, Chicago-based attorney and organizer 
– Tim Murphy, national correspondent at Mother Jones; he talks about his recent article “Downballot Democrats Are Smashing Recruitment Records“
– Pat Kreitlow, founder and editor of Up North News 

At the end of the show, WCPT's Paul Chivari takes listener calls. 

Catch “It’s the Democracy, Stupid” Saturdays from 1:00 to 4:00 p.m. Central on WCPT (heartlandsignal.com/programs/edwin).   

Follow us:

Website: https://heartlandsignal.com

WCPT Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WCPT820

Heartland Signal Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HeartlandSignal

Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@heartlandsignal 

Heartland Signal X: https://x.com/HeartlandSignal

WCPT 820 X: https://x.com/WCPT820

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/heartlandsignal

Threads: threads.com/@heartlandsignal

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@heartlandsignal

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On this week's show
– Tamar Jacoby, director of the New Ukraine Project at the Progressive Policy Institute and contributor to Washington Monthly; her most recent article is “Could the Tide Be Turning Ukraine?”
– Elizabeth Jacobs, professor emerita of Epidemiology and Biostatistics and a founding member of the public health advocacy group Defend Public Health
– Brian Schaneberg, executive director of the Institute for Food Safety and Health at Illinois Tech
– Ami Fields-Meyer, senior fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School’s Allen Lab for Democracy Renovation, former senior policy adviser at the White House, and co-author (with Julia Angwin) of “On Courage: How to Be a Dissident in an Age of Fear” (2026)

Catch “It’s the Democracy, Stupid” Saturdays from 1:00 to 4:00 p.m. Central on WCPT (heartlandsignal.com/programs/edwin).   

Follow us:

Website: https://heartlandsignal.com

WCPT Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WCPT820

Heartland Signal Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HeartlandSignal

Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@heartlandsignal 

Heartland Signal X: https://x.com/HeartlandSignal

WCPT 820 X: https://x.com/WCPT820

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/heartlandsignal

Threads: threads.com/@heartlandsignal

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@heartlandsignal

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On this week's show
– Ari Berman, national voting rights correspondent for Mother Jones
– Mark Jacob, author of the Stop the Presses newsletter on Substack, former metro editor at the Chicago Tribune and Sunday editor at the Sun-Times, co-author of several books on history and photography
– Scott Colom, district attorney for the 16th Judicial District of Mississippi and 2026 candidate for U.S. Senate in Mississippi
– Daniel Squadron, president and co-founder of Future Now and author of “The Fourth Branch: How State Government Can Save Our Union”
– David Pepper, candidate for Ohio lieutenant governor (as Democratic candidate for governor Amy Acton‘s running mate)

Catch “It’s the Democracy, Stupid” Saturdays from 1:00 to 4:00 p.m. Central on WCPT (heartlandsignal.com/programs/edwin).   

Follow us:

Website: https://heartlandsignal.com

WCPT Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WCPT820

Heartland Signal Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HeartlandSignal

Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@heartlandsignal 

Heartland Signal X: https://x.com/HeartlandSignal

WCPT 820 X: https://x.com/WCPT820

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/heartlandsignal

Threads: threads.com/@heartlandsignal

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@heartlandsignal

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.