On Democracy with FPWellman

There is a clear and concerted effort by Trump and his MAGA followers to get us to forget that January 6th even happened. The fact is that the events of January 6th were the last major act of Donald J. Trump's presidency. We cannot talk about his presidency and ignore the most outrageous act of it. They want you to think about low prices and his "policies" and ignore the chaos and violence. We won't. A new film has been released on YouTube and online with all new footage never before seen publicly shot by a military combat filmographer that day. This week Fred is solo to discuss the importance of highlighting January 6th including clips from the film.

Watch the Fight Like Hell film on YouTube: https://youtu.be/ZC-Wo9nJ3O4 si=_F53J2KA2Mhi4V9E

Learn More at https://www.fightlikehellmovie.org/

Take Action at: https://www.beheardpac.org/flh

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There has been a lot of talk during this election season about rural America. The Republicans like to think that it's their territory alone and only "real Americans" live in those small towns. We know what they mean by that. Recent events have shown us that their definition is far out of date and Democrats aren't writing it off at all. A number of organizations are in the fight to reach out and mobilize the proverbial 'dirt road Democrats' and it's a focus of the Harris-Walz campaign. It doesn't hurt to have a VP nominee from a tiny town in Nebraska either. Our guest Paolo Cremidis is the Executive director of the Outrun Coalition, a grassroots led volunteer organization that helps rural county Democratic parties and progressive organizations elect the next generation of local elected officials. Outrun has now reached 523 rural local elected Democrats across 17 states. Outrun is a coalition partner in the Rural Americans for Harris steering committee, which is helping to mobilize rural Americans across all 50 states to generate momentum for the Harris/Walz ticket.

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One thing we are seeing without question is the true specter of dictatorship in America. Trump has said he will be a “dictator on day one.” No one believes he will stop on day two. The Supreme Court has done little to assuage those fears and seems hell bent on giving the President unlimited and unchecked power. It seems a good time to talk to an expert on how democracies slide into authoritarianism as we face the final weeks of the election. Professor David M. Driesen, University Professor at the Syracuse College of Law, focuses on constitutional law, law and economics, and environmental law. Professor Driesen has written four books including The Specter of Dictatorship: Judicial Enabling of Presidential Power (Stanford University Press). Driesen engages in public service defending democracy, environmental law’s constitutionality and efforts to combat the climate crisis. He has written numerous amicus briefs in Supreme Court cases and has represented Senators Hillary Clinton and others in Clean Air Act litigation in the DC Circuit. Driesen joined the Syracuse College of Law faculty in 1995. Driesen holds a J.D. from the Yale Law School, a Master of Music from the Yale School of Music, and a Bachelor of Music from the Oberlin Conservatory.

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There have been mistakes made by past Democratic campaigns in taking the youth vote for granted or not pursuing them directly. The Biden-Harris Administration enacted a slew of programs and policies that directly helped our younger generations of voters building goodwill. Now the DNC and Harris-Walz campaign are going directly for this important cohort and the results are starting to show in big ways. What are they doing? How is it paying off? Will it matter in November? Fred speaks with the leading researcher in the field on the topic joining the show for the 3rd time, John Della Volpe. John is the director of polling at the Harvard Kennedy School Institute of Politics, and the author of Fight: How Gen Z is Channeling Their Fear and Passion to Save America (St. Martin's Press, January 2022). John is also founder of SocialSphere, a Cambridge based public opinion and analytics company.

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One of the strangest stories to come out of the Democratic National Convention last week was the media's odd battle with the 200 content Creators credentialed by the DNC to attend. While they worked hard to get interviews, offer unique angles on policy, and experience the historic event the Creators themselves were scrutinized, mocked, and dismissed by the media and even Steven Colbert. Our host Fred Wellman was one of them and with 100 episodes under our belt we are only growing. He discusses what happened and how the political media is failing while the Pentagon media picks up the Arlington stunt story and runs with it. Watch Fred in this special solo fighting a bug show!

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Our host Fred Wellman spent the entire week at the Democratic National Convention as a credentialed Creator. One of 200 creators that the DNC brought in to cover the convention from their unique angles. It's the first time in history that so many internet creators got access to a party convention and it was an incredible experience. Fred spent his time visiting council meetings, special events around town, and every night of the convention. He had the opportunity to interview former Arkansas gubernatorial candidate Chris Jones about Dirt Road Democrats, Rep. Abigail Spanberger the Democratic nominee for Virginia governor about the impact of Project 2025, Rep.Jared Moskowitz about Democrats on the offense, and actress Busy Phillips on why she is in the fight for Dems. In addition, he has clips of speeches from Governor Wes Moore at the Veterans and Military Families Council, actor Sean Astin, and our friend Simon Rosenberg..and much more. This episode has a lot!

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Thanks to J.D. Vance deciding to attack fellow veteran Tim Walz’s service, veteran’s issues have suddenly been thrust into the Presidential campaign like never before. From outrageous accusations of ‘stolen valor’ to support for our veterans and their families the issues that face the military community are suddenly at the forefront. Fred dives into it with fellow West Point grad and Iraq veteran Terron Sims who is the co-chair of the Democratic National Committee Veterans and Military Families Council. Sims served on active duty in the US Army as a Field Artillery officer. Since leaving the military he has served in a host of political roles of increasing responsibility. In 2008 and 2012, he was Director, Virginia VMF for Obama and served on the Defense and Veterans Policy Teams, where he wrote the Service Member Life Insurance policy. In 2010, Sims wrote the Democratic National Committee’s VMF candidates’ platform, which is used in federal campaigns nationwide. During Sec. Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign, Mr. Sims wrote her DoD and VA Intergovernmental Agency Policy. For the 2020 Biden campaign, Mr. Sims wrote five pieces of veterans policy, primarily in the areas of entrepreneurship and business for military spouses and veterans. In addition to his political accomplishments, Terron has published two novels, With Honor In Hand and Hands of Honor, and has written his third novel, For Hands to Honor, along with his Iraq memoirs, Baghdad Peace, as well as other pieces of work. He also writes regularly about veterans and military families and national security issues.

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J.D. Vance is obsessed with the importance of having children, but his party has been against nearly every proposed policy solution to help them. They are now attacking Governor Tim Walz for implementing family friendly laws like free meals for school children, a child tax credit, and much more. Democrats are clearly the family focused party, and they have a chance to enact real policies to back that up. So, Fred talks families with guest Justin Talbot Zorn. Zorn is an author, adviser, and policymaker. He has served as Legislative Director for three members of the US Congress. His first book, published with HarperCollins in the US and Penguin in the UK, was printed in 14 languages globally and topped Audible bestsellers lists in diverse categories including philosophy, meditation, and business. Justin is a Senior Adviser to the Center for Economic and Policy Research, a Truman National Security Fellow, and co-founder of a first-of-its-kind talent pipeline for Congressional staffers. A former Fulbright Scholar, Justin received graduate degrees in international relations and public policy from Oxford and Harvard.

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It has been another insane political week in the United States and now more than ever the lack of ethics and even morals from Donald Trump and his propagandists have never been more clear. What do we do when politics becomes unmoored from norms and any sense of public service? Longtime Democratic attorney Bob Bauer set out to answer the question in his new book ‘The Unraveling: Reflections on politics without ethics and democracy in crisis’ and joins Fred to discuss this dangerous path. Bauer has been involved in many of the biggest political struggles in the five decades since the post-Watergate 1970s. He has been a leading legal adviser to the national Democratic Party and to its candidates on strategies for winning elections and protecting voting rights, and he has represented the party in national political conflicts and controversies. He was the chief counsel to both of President Obama’s presidential campaigns and was the President’s White House counsel. He was counsel to the Democratic Senate leader during Bill Clinton’s impeachment trial. He was a senior adviser to the Biden presidential campaign on voting rights and election protection, and on vice presidential selection. Bauer is also now on the faculty of the New York University School of Law.

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It has been one of the biggest weeks in U.S. political history as President Biden stepped away from the race and Vice President Kamala Harris stepped in at light speed. Since then she has raised record amounts of money, volunteers, and support. It’s leaving almost all Democrats feeling something they haven’t in a long time…hope. Fred sits down with the biggest hopium dealer in the nation to discuss the moment and what lies ahead. Simon Rosenberg is the producer of the Substack community the ‘Hopium Chronicles’ and was the founder and president of NDN/New Policy Institute, a center-left think tank in Washington, DC. He moved on this year to take his fight for our democracy into a direct mission of motivating and informing Americans on the way we can take back our nation. Simon has been a leader in efforts to modernize the center-left in American politics over the past generation and was the leading voice who predicted the supposed 2022 ‘Red Wave’ would be a crashing failure. He was right.

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