Joan Esposito (Featured Interviews)

Joan is joined by Stewart Reynolds, AKA Brittlestar, social media personality and author of the 2025 book “Lessons from Cats for Surviving Fascism.”

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 Camaron Stevenson, national correspondent in Washington, D.C. for Courier. He highlighted his recent "Below The Belt(way)" Substack articles "Pete Hegseth wants a war" and "Rep. Maxwell Frost on how Florida’s internment camp avoids the court."  

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 Leah Litman, author of “Lawless: How the Supreme Court Runs on Conservative Grievance, Fringe Theories, and Bad Vibes,” professor of law at the University of Michigan Law School, and co-host of the Strict Scrutiny podcast.

Key Leah Litman quote from the conversation: "Asking the Supreme Court to free it of lower court rulings against the administration is something that really ticked up during the first Trump administration. During that administration, they rushed off to the Supreme Court and got the court's permission to partially implement their second version of the Muslim ban, to implement their ban on transgender service members. And so, seeing that the Supreme Court would give them these various forms of emergency relief, they continue to ask for them, and they have continued to receive them. Since the beginning of April, the Supreme Court has issued 15 rulings on 17 emergency applications filed by Donald Trump, and it has granted relief to Trump in all 15 of those rulings."

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 former Illinois Congressman and political commentator Joe Walsh (pictured with Joan at last year's DNC in Chicago). 

Walsh discussed his transition from the Republican Party to the Democratic Party, citing his belief that his former party poses a threat to democracy and the rule of law. Walsh highlighted the growing number of true Trump supporters in Congress and the backlash against Trump over the Epstein files, which many in his base expected to expose a deep-state conspiracy. Walsh criticized the Democratic Party for not embracing diverse voices, particularly those like New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani, and emphasized the need for authenticity and boldness in political leadership. He also criticized current immigration policies as cruel and inhumane.

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 Bushra Amiwala, Democratic candidate for Congress in the 9th Congressional District.

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 Jessica Valenti, author of the book Abortion. Our Bodies, Their Lies, and the Truths We Use to Win and the Substack newsletter “Abortion, Every Day with Jessica Valenti.”

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 Susan Rinkunas, independent journalist covering abortion, reproductive health, and politics; she is a contributing writer at Jezebel and a Democracy Docket contributor.

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, WCPT's Maggie O'Keefe talks to Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) about the recently passed One Big Beautiful Bill Act. Duckworth called it a "big, beautiful betrayal," arguing that the legislation will "explode" the national debt by up to $4 trillion and negatively impact Illinois. 

"The cuts to Medicaid is going to mean that over 500,000 Illinoisans are going to lose health coverage," Duckworth told WCPT. "The cut to SNAP programs is going to mean about 472,000 Illinoisans are going to lose grocery assistance. And when I've spoken to the Grocery Association, when I've spoken to the Illinois Hospital Association, they both said that you are going to see hospitals shut down, especially those safety net hospitals that are often the last hospital standing in a tri-county area."

Duckworth also criticized the GOP's recently unveiled annual defense spending bill, pointing out that the One Big Beautiful Bill Act included $820 billion in defense spending, "and they want to up that to a trillion dollars. Listen, I am a pro-military kind of gal. I served 23 years in the Army, and I'm all for giving our troops the best equipment in the world. But bottom line: This increase in spending doesn't actually help the troops. They're not proposing spending money on, say, building better barracks or supporting our troops." Instead, Duckworth explained, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is "blowing through money" on costly deportation flights and deploying National Guard troops to Los Angeles, "when there's already the Los Angeles Police Department there who could do the job."  

Duckworth emphasized the need for Democrats to regain majorities in Congress and win gubernatorial and attorney general races in the 2026 midterm election. "But it's also important to support our state legislators as well, because they're the ones on the ground who are going to have to clean up the mess that Donald Trump is making," she said. 

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 Jen Golbeck, professor, computer scientist, psychologist, “expert in the far-right, online extremism, AI, and bad things on the internet,” and author of the MAGAReport on Substack.

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 Sonia Suter and Naomi Cahn, co-authors of recent articles in Nonprofit Quarterly and The Conversation about the Supreme Court case Medina v. Planned Parenthood South Atlantic. 

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.