It's the Democracy, Stupid Full Episodes

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).   

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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

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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).   

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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).   

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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).   

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On today's show
– Bill Scher, politics editor at Washington Monthly; his latest article is “The Platner Collapse Is a Cautionary Tale About Polling“
– Eesha Pendharkar, senior reporter for Maine Morning Star, part of States Newsroom; her latest article is “More than 5,500 Mainers seek a role in choosing Graham Platner’s replacement“
– David Smith, Washington bureau chief for The Guardian
– David Nir, publisher of The Downballot

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

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On this week's show
– Peter Gleick, water and climate scientist, author, and co-founder of The Pacific Institute
– U.S. Rep. Sean Casten (D-IL)
– Alex Aronson, co-founder and executive director of Court Accountability
– 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).   

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Paul Chivari fills in for Edwin Eisendrath and his guests are
– William Muck, professor of political science at North Central College [Listen]
– Kevin Schultz, professor of history at UIC and author of “Why Everyone Hates White Liberals (Including White Liberals): A History” [Listen]
Paul also plays an interview Edwin recently recorded with The Atlantic’s Tom Nichols [Listen]

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

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On this week's show
– Jen Bendery, senior politics reporter for HuffPost
– Lisa Graves, founder and executive director of True North Research, legal scholar, and author of “Without Precedent: How Chief Justice Roberts and His Accomplices Rewrote the Constitution and Dismantled Our Rights“
– Adam Klasfeld, founder and editor-in-chief of All Rise News
– Virginia Canter, chief counsel and director of anti-corruption and ethics for Democracy Defenders Fund, former associate counsel for Presidents Obama and Clinton and senior ethics counsel for the Department of the Treasury and the Securities and Exchange Commission

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

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On this week's show
– Maya Kornberg, senior research fellow in the Elections and Government Program at the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU Law, and the author of “Stuck: How Money, Media, and Violence Prevent Change in Congress“
– Greg Sargent, staff writer at The New Republic, host of the podcast "The Daily Blast," and author of “An Uncivil War: Taking Back Our Democracy in an Age of Disinformation and Thunderdome Politics“
– Eric Garcia, Washington bureau chief at The Independent
– Anderson Clayton, chair of the North Carolina Democratic Party

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

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