Joan Esposito (Featured Interviews)

Joan Esposito is joined by Pat Hynes, candidate for Cook County assessor.

Catch "Joan Esposito: Live, Local and Progressive" weekdays from 2:00 to 5:00 p.m. Central on WCPT (heartlandsignal.com/programs/live-local-progressive).

And find the Joan Esposito (Full Episodes) podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, TuneIn, iHeartRadio, YouTube, and Amazon.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Joan Esposito is joined by Zak Mucha, LCSW, author of “Emotional Abuse: A manual for self-defense.”  (Photo credit: Joe Mazza)

Catch "Joan Esposito: Live, Local and Progressive" weekdays from 2:00 to 5:00 p.m. Central on WCPT (heartlandsignal.com/programs/live-local-progressive).

And find the Joan Esposito (Full Episodes) podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, TuneIn, iHeartRadio, YouTube, and Amazon.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In an archive interview with Joan Esposito, Joseph Dittmar recounts his experience on 9/11.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Joan Esposito and Chris Bury are joined by Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-IL). 

Catch "Joan Esposito: Live, Local and Progressive" weekdays from 2:00 to 5:00 p.m. Central on WCPT (heartlandsignal.com/programs/live-local-progressive).

And find the Joan Esposito (Full Episodes) podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, TuneIn, iHeartRadio, YouTube, and Amazon.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Filling in for Joan Esposito, Mary Morten is joined by Ann Bausum, author of “White Lies: How the South Lost the Civil War and Rewrote History.”

Catch "Joan Esposito: Live, Local and Progressive" weekdays from 2:00 to 5:00 p.m. Central on WCPT (heartlandsignal.com/programs/live-local-progressive).

And find the Joan Esposito (Full Episodes) podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, TuneIn, iHeartRadio, YouTube, and Amazon.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Filling in for Joan Esposito, William Muck is joined by Kathleen Sances, president and CEO of Gun Violence Prevention PAC, or G-PAC.

Sances discussed the organization's origins and focus on state-level legislative efforts to combat gun violence. G-PAC, founded in 2013 by gun violence survivors, has passed seven gun-reform bills in Illinois, including a certification system for gun dealers that has resulted in a decrease in thefts from gun stores. "It's down to almost it's 2 percent," she said.

Sances emphasized the need for federal legislation to complement state efforts. G-PAC's strategies include building a database of supporters and holding lawmakers accountable through report cards.

She also criticized President Donald Trump's threats to deploy the National Guard in Chicago, and highlighted the importance of community-based interventions and mental health services in fighting crime.

"We know what we're doing," Sances said of the state of Illinois and city of Chicago. "We don't need somebody else coming in to fix our problem, because there isn't a problem. We still have gun violence, and all of it is too much, but we use evidence-based systems to reduce it. 

"We also wanted to point out to this administration that they have reversed all of the federal help that we had been getting in the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act. So they rolled back all the funding that community violence-intervention groups were getting. They rolled back funding for mental health services. They have diverted the ATF [Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives] members who normally would be out inspecting gun dealers, are now working for ICE [Immigration and Customs and Enforcement], and they also took away any funding for gun violence research, which informs our work about how best to solve the problem."

Catch "Joan Esposito: Live, Local and Progressive" weekdays from 2:00 to 5:00 p.m. Central on WCPT (heartlandsignal.com/programs/live-local-progressive).

And find the Joan Esposito (Full Episodes) podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, TuneIn, iHeartRadio, YouTube, and Amazon.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Filling in for Joan Esposito, William Muck talks to Thomas Countryman, former acting undersecretary of State for Arms Control and International Security. 

Countryman discussed the historical pattern of authoritarian regimes and the so-called authoritarian playbook, which he said, "has developed over decades, from the 1920s in Italy, the 1930s in Germany, through the Soviet Union, through China, up into modern-day regimes in Russia or Hungary. And it's had several similar elements in each case.

"First, you need to dominate a legislature that will rubber-stamp all the decisions of the boss. Second, you need to either control the courts or be ready to ignore them. Third, you have to control who votes and, more importantly, who counts the votes. Fourth, you need to have a national police state that is totally obedient, a national police force totally obedient to the 'supreme leader.' Fifth, you need to create an enemy class, whether you define your enemies in ethnic or religious or social terms, somebody who can be the target of government power. And six, you need to build a personality cult around a supreme leader who is not only a strong man but virtually infallible. And there's a seventh element that we'll talk about here in particular, which is to control the way people think and to make them incapable of thoughts that resist the leader. 

"Now, all of these elements have been adopted by different leaders with different emphasis, and have used the kind of language and emotional appeal that will get them where they want to be. And in each case, we have seen a democratic society turn into an authoritarian state through the steps that are outlined in this authoritarian playbook. Clearly, few have done it better than Mr. Trump and the fascist-leaning 'brain trust' at the Heritage Foundation."

He added: "The U.S. will experience the same kind of brain drain that Russia and Hungary and other places have experienced for the last several years. So this is going to be something that sets us back. It is something that causes other governments that are seriously interested in economic strength to salivate at the opportunity to get the best American minds, and it's something that makes people in China simply laugh at the stupidity of the self-destruction of the U.S. system."

Countryman also criticized the U.S.'s current foreign policy, which he believes is undermining global alliances and respect for American leadership.

Catch "Joan Esposito: Live, Local and Progressive" weekdays from 2:00 to 5:00 p.m. Central on WCPT (heartlandsignal.com/programs/live-local-progressive).

And find the Joan Esposito (Full Episodes) podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, TuneIn, iHeartRadio, YouTube, and Amazon.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Filling in for Joan Esposito, William Muck talks to Gloria J. Browne-Marshall ahead of her appearance at the 2025 Printers Row Lit Fest in Chicago. Her 2025 book is “A Protest History of the United States.” Browne-Marshall is an Emmy award-winning writer, social justice attorney, playwright, and tenured full professor of Constitutional Law at John Jay College (CUNY). 

Catch "Joan Esposito: Live, Local and Progressive" weekdays from 2:00 to 5:00 p.m. Central on WCPT (heartlandsignal.com/programs/live-local-progressive).

And find the Joan Esposito (Full Episodes) podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, TuneIn, iHeartRadio, YouTube, and Amazon.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Filling in for Joan Esposito, William Muck is joined by Barbara McQuade, legal analyst, law professor, former United States attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan, co-host of the "#Sisters in Law" podcast, and author of “Attack From Within: How Disinformation Is Sabotaging America.”

Muck and McQuade discussed the divergent responses of federal district courts and the Supreme Court to challenges brought against Trump administration actions. Citing a recent study by Stanford University's Adam Bonica, Muck noted that federal district courts have ruled against Trump 94 percent of the time, while the Supreme Court has sided with Trump 93.7 percent of the time. 

"I think one of the things that could be driving that is the fact that Trump is taking action that is so far beyond the bounds of established law," McQuade told WCPT. "And so when you're a district court and even a circuit court, you have to follow the law that's listed in statutes and prior court decisions. You can't overrule the Supreme Court. You can't say what the law should be. You can only say what the law is. The Supreme Court gets to write on a slightly blanker slate, and so only they can say, this is lawful. They can expand a president's powers if they believe that that's what the Constitution requires, whereas the lower courts are kind of bound by what has come before."  

McQuade highlighted the unitary executive theory, which the Supreme Court has been receptive to, allowing Trump to assert broad executive powers. She criticized the Court's use of the shadow docket for emergency relief, as well as its granting review of emergency petitions "when there's not really an emergency." 

Catch "Joan Esposito: Live, Local and Progressive" weekdays from 2:00 to 5:00 p.m. Central on WCPT (heartlandsignal.com/programs/live-local-progressive).

And find the Joan Esposito (Full Episodes) podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, TuneIn, iHeartRadio, YouTube, and Amazon.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Filling in for Joan Esposito, Marj Halperin is joined by: Illinois State Rep. Kam Buckner (D) and Illinois State Sen. Graciela Guzmán (D).

Catch "Joan Esposito: Live, Local and Progressive" weekdays from 2:00 to 5:00 p.m. Central on WCPT (heartlandsignal.com/programs/live-local-progressive).

And find the Joan Esposito (Full Episodes) podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, TuneIn, iHeartRadio, YouTube, and Amazon.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.