Joan Esposito (Featured Interviews)

On Friday Rep. Sean Casten (D-IL) joined WCPT's William Muck to discuss the far-reaching impact of Trump administration actions during the first seven weeks of President Donald Trump's second term in the White House.

"We're neck deep in a constitutional crisis," Casten told WCPT. "If we were to end the Trump administration tomorrow, it would probably take a decade to repair the damage," he said, citing potential leaks of intelligence to adversaries like Russia and China and the erosion of faith in the United States that our historic allies have already experienced.

Casten, who defeated incumbent Republican Peter Roskam in the 2018 midterms during the first Trump administration, said that he has spoken to House GOP colleagues who have privately revealed their opposition to certain Trump administration actions but told him they prefer to keep their heads down and not put their families at risk by voting against the president. "As a fellow member of Congress," Casten said, "I'm very sympathetic to that. At the same time, there is a sense of, if leadership is hard, maybe you're in the wrong line of work."

He added: "I think we have to elevate this conversation above partisanship as much as we can. We are in a moment where I think anybody in public office needs to be, for lack of a better word, Churchillian. We need to be making it very clear to the American people, this is the stakes of what's going on right now; this is the consequences of what happens if we don't fix it quickly. I make no promise that if we fight we will succeed. I need to be very clear-eyed about what the consequences and the potential costs of that fight are. But I can guarantee you that if we don't fight, we will lose this 250-year-old experiment."

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 is joined by Northwestern Law Professor Michael Kang, who discussed the Supreme Court's role in checking executive power and warned of potential constitutional crises if the Trump administration openly defies court orders. Kang highlighted strategic decisions made by the Supreme Court, like delaying a ruling last year in Trump v. United States, thereby allowing Trump to evade criminal accountability before the November election (the ruling confers presidential immunity for acts committed as president). He also spoke of the influence of campaign money on judicial elections and discussed "sore loser" laws, which prevent primary losers from running in general elections, and their role in political polarization. 

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 is joined by Mike Lux, co-founder of Democracy Partners and author of the Soul of the Party newsletter on Substack. He discussed the strategic errors of the Democratic Party, emphasizing the need to actively resist Republican neofascism rather than "playing dead," as James Carville recently advised. Lux also highlighted the importance of addressing voter perceptions that Democrats are weak and not fighting for them, criticized the Biden-Harris administration's focus on broad economic numbers over immediate voter concerns, and stressed the need for better outreach and mobilization, particularly through social media and progressive media infrastructure.

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 is joined by Congressman Brad Schneider (D-IL), who discussed strategies for Democratic Party resistance against President Donald Trump's policies and highlighted the importance of maintaining faith in American institutions and ideals. 

He said that despite finding that a majority of his constituents prefer Congress to work "on their behalf in a bipartisan way . . . that's not possible right now. The Republicans have made it very clear they want nothing to do with the Democrats. They want to ram down their agenda to put burdens on working families," he said.

Schneider took aim at House Republicans for recently passing a budget blueprint that calls for $880 billion in spending cuts. "The bulk of that has to come out of Medicaid," he said. "Seventy million Americans rely on Medicaid for their health care. Forty percent of the babies born in the country are born covered by Medicaid. This is a horrific agenda. We're not going to enable it.

"So it's very hard to envision how there might be a prospect for bipartisan effort. That said, if the Republicans wanted to come to the table and put out ideas that are going to benefit people, going to lower prices at the grocery store, make housing more affordable, those would all be things that Democrats would sit down and talk to our colleagues about. But that's not what they're interested in."

Schneider told WCPT that he had invited 20-year Army veteran Adam Mulvey to be his guest at that evening's presidential address to a joint session of Congress. "He was a probationary employee, which means that he was in his first year of service -- 11 months," Schneider said. "He was getting rave reviews, and in the middle of the night, he got an email from DOGE [the Department of Government Efficiency], from the Elon Musk team saying we no longer want your services; you're being terminated. And what's worse, it was a form letter; it went out to at least 6,000 veterans, thousands of federal workers, saying you're being terminated for performance. It had nothing to do with their performance. Their probationary status was a reflection of their tenure, not a reflection on the quality of their work." 

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 is joined by Congresswoman Robin Kelly, who spoke about her intention to attend Donald Trump's joint address to Congress later that evening, despite her expectation that the president will deliver a stream of negativity, lies, and "pats on the back for himself and the co-president," Kelly told WCPT, referring to Elon Musk.  She highlighted the need for Democrats to protest, hold town halls, and leverage the courts to oppose Trump's actions and stressed the importance of public pressure on Republican representatives to stand against Trump.

Kelly also talked about the guest she had invited to attend the joint address, Dr. Lisa Green. "She runs one of the federally qualified health care centers in my district," Kelly said. "She is a phenomenal doctor. She runs a phenomenal center. And so I'm very concerned if there's cuts in, like, the ($)880 billion they want to cut in Medicaid and things like that that will really hurt health care facilities, not, of course, only in my district but in many areas. But I have a lot of people in my district that will be affected, as many as 300,000."

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 is joined by Thom Hartmann, host of “The Thom Hartmann Program,” weekdays from 11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. Central on WCPT. They discuss the assault on democracy by the likes of Donald Trump, J.D. Vance, Elon Musk, and the Heritage Foundation, and highlight the importance of grassroots activism and public pressure on leadership. They also criticize the lack of public engagement from prominent Democrats like Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, and Barack Obama, advocating for more local activism and support for progressive politicians. Thom calls for a bottom-up approach to revitalize the Democratic Party and emphasizes the need for bold, visible action.

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 is joined by Alex Lawson, executive director of Social Security Works, who discussed the just-passed House budget resolution that instructs committees to cut $880 billion from Medicaid, potentially affecting millions of Americans. Despite one Republican's opposition to the resolution -- due to what he considered insufficient spending cuts -- all other House Republicans voted in favor. Lawson highlighted the political cowardice of representatives who won their 2024 House races by narrow margins and now risk losing their seats due to the votes they cast on the resolution; Iowa Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks is one of those Republicans. 

"You can bet your bottom dollar that Social Security Works, my organization, and our partners on the ground in Iowa are going to be making a ruckus," Lawson said about plans to exert pressure on Miller-Meeks. "We've got a billboard truck that we're sending imminently to her district. We're going to go to every single Social Security office, nursing home in her district to let people know that she's voting to steal 66,000 people's health care in her district; she's voting to close the 15 nursing homes in her district. And we feel like we can pressure her and make sure that she's hearing more from her constituents than from Donald Trump and Elon Musk."

Lawson emphasized the need for solidarity and direct action to protect vital programs like Medicaid and Social Security.

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.

Marking the three-year anniversary of Russia's illegal invasion of Ukraine, Joan is joined by Joel Ostrow, Benedictine University political science professor and co-host of the World Discord podcast. 

In the interview Ostrow pointed out that the $68 billion in military support the United States has provided to Ukraine since 2022 amounts to "three tenths of 1 percent of total U.S. spending." He emphasized the Trump administration's abandonment of Ukraine and the increased potential for Russia to use nuclear weapons, "because who's going to oppose Russia now? Where's the deterrent? There is no deterrent. We're not just a Russian ally; we're a subservient stooge to the Kremlin," Ostrow said. 

He also discussed the the lack of Republican Party opposition and the need for a national strike to resist authoritarianism. 

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 is joined by Reid McCollum, chair of the Democratic Party of DuPage County. He discussed DuPage Democrats' March 2nd 50th Anniversary Gala, where Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker, Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton, Sen. Dick Durbin, and North Carolina Democratic Party Chair Anderson Clayton will appear. 

McCollum attributed the shift towards Democratic support in collar counties to demographic changes and the backlash against Trump's extremism. DuPage now has a Democratic County Board chair and a supermajority on the board, McCollum said, and "every member of Congress that represents DuPage is a Democrat. [T]he last place where we need to make a lot of progress is the local level of government, which is what is on the ballot on April 1st, from school boards to local municipal offices, township offices, where Republicans still have huge majorities in in those offices. And we're hoping to change that on April 1st and the gala allows us to have the resources to be able to support the candidates running in the spring."

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 is joined by Rep. Robin Kelly (D-IL) at the Southland Friends of Labor 16th Annual Jobs Breakfast at IBEW 176. Her guest co-host is Tom Villanova, retired president of the Chicago and Cook County Building and Construction Trades Council.

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.