It’s finally here! Election year 2026 has arrived. We have the midterms in just 11 months now and it’s time to take a hard look at what the Republican Doormat Congress is doing for working Americans. The answer is pretty obvious…not just nothing but they are actually hurting working people. From failing to pass laws that make our lives better, providing no oversight for obvious failures by the Trump Administration, to outright disrespecting and hating the people they are supposed to represent. We have a disconnect from the people who are supposed to lead us and the people. But, you can change it this year. The entire House is up for election. Fred is solo this week to discuss the stakes we face and why you must get involved now before it’s too late. 

Follow Fred at his Substack https://fpwellman.substack.com

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Just a week before Christmas the Department of Veterans Affairs was caught deleting over 35,000 positions across the country that they had left unfilled for the last year. VA Secretary Doug Collins is scrambling to spin the cuts as nothing but we know it now adds up to over 70,000 lost positions that are already hurting veterans healthcare. Why are they doing it? You already know…money. Privatizing VA and veterans support to the tune of a TRILLION dollars is in the works. Fred shows how VA is the canary in the colemine for our entire government under Trump and Project 2025. He sits down with long time veteran and veterans advocate Paul Sullivan. In 2025, Paul retired after more than three decades of successful Veteran advocacy, starting from the grassroots with fellow Gulf War Veterans in 1992 before reaching the senior levels of government and non-profit organizations. Paul's advocacy background focuses heavily on improving access to VA care and benefits, especially especially Gulf War illnesses and PTSD. He most recently worked as the Director of Veteran Outreach at Bergmann & Moore, a national law firm managed by VA-accredited attorneys providing training and appellate litigation support to Veterans and advocates. Paul's government advocacy experience includes his appointment by California Governor Brown to be a Deputy Secretary at CalVet in Sacramento plus his federal civil service career as a GS-14 project manager at VA central office in Washington, DC. His non-profit advocacy leadership includes the National Gulf War Resource Center, Veterans for Common Sense, and the Veterans Healthcare Policy Institute.
Learn more about the Veterans Healthcare Policy Institute at veteranspolicy.org
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One thing Fred learned in 22-years in the Army and four combat tours is that you don’t just fight alone. It takes a coalition, multiple services, and many different teams to fight a war. The battle against the creeping authoritarianism, corruption, and economic destruction of the Trump Administration and the Republican Doormat Congress is the same. Fred sits down with two different leaders battling in this moment for fascinating conversations on how we can win. First, Representative Brad Schneider, (D-IL) joins to discuss his work as the leader of the New Democrats Coalition and the battle for America's healthcare and the affordability crisis. Then we are joined by Jack Inacker the Executive Director of FUBAR PAC which is creating hard hitting, and informative, short videos to show the damage being done by Trump and his allies. Both of these men are leading important fronts in our battle to preserve our democracy. Don’t miss this one.

Learn more about Rep. Schneider at: https://schneider.house.gov

Learn more about FUBAR PAC at https://www.fubarpac.org/

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We are being lied to by the Republican Doormat Congress. They want us to think everything is going great here at home and that the real issue is the dangerous “narcoterrorists” in Venezuela. On one hand we have Trump saying the “affordability crisis” is a scam and that the economy is awesome and on the other speed boats over a thousand miles away are an imminent danger. No. The imminent danger is millions of Americans losing their healthcare and going broke. Fred Wellman addresses both issues in his own unique way tonight. First, he goes into depth on what it really means to send our sons and daughters to war from his own experience. Then he sits down with A. Mechele Dickerson the Arthur L. Moller Chair in Bankruptcy Law and Practice at the University of Texas at Austin School of Law and author of Homeownership and America’s Financial Underclass to discuss her upcoming book The Middle-Class New Deal and how we need leaders willing to do the hard things to stop this unfolding catastrophe before it's too late. Don’t miss this episode.

Pre-order Mechele’s book at ucpress.edu/books/the-middle-class-new-deal/ and use UCPSAVE30 to get 30% off

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We are facing a crisis in America that has been unfolding for decades. Working Americans cannot afford to live and nothing is being done to fix it. While prices have constantly increased wages have failed to keep pace for working Americans. Meanwhile the rich have gotten richer and used that money to increase their power. This week’s show includes two unique voices fighting for our power in different but significant ways. First, Bradley Tusk is a former political operative and Deputy Governor of Illinois who is now a Venture Capitalist using his money to invest in mobile voting to increase participation in our democracy for all Americans. Then Fred Wellman sits down with NAACP President and CEO Derrick Johnson to discuss what lessons we can learn from this week's elections and what we must do for working Americans heading into the midterms. This is a must watch episode you cannot skip.
Learn more about Bradley’s efforts at MobileVoting.org and the NAACP at NAACP.org
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Donald Trump decided to use the turkey pardoning ceremony as an opportunity to polish his own ego bragging that thanks to him religion and prayer were back again. That is not true at all but worse it represents how he is using Christian Nationalism and their leaders to attack our democracy, institutions, and freedoms. They have found that wrapping things in a story of Christian persecution allows them to roll over opposition to many barriers meant to protect our freedoms. Fred Wellman sits down with Rev. Paul Brandeis Raushenbush, a Baptist minister and the President and CEO of Interfaith Alliance to discuss the attacks on our democracy, hidden agenda in Project 2025, and the Interfaith Alliance’s work fighting back. Rev. Raushenbush is a longtime interfaith leader and renowned advocate for civil rights and religious freedom. He works with affiliates, networks and leaders across the country to forge powerful alliances among people of diverse faiths and beliefs to build a resilient, inclusive multi-faith democracy. Rev.  Raushenbush also hosts the weekly podcast and radio show “The State of Belief,” in partnership with Religion News Service. Notable guests have included Timothy Snyder, Skye Perryman, Rep. Jamie Raskin, Rep. Eric Swalwell, Katherine Stewart, Bishop William Barber, Rabbi Sharon Brous, Najeeba Sayeed, E.J. Dionne and Rob Reiner.Learn more at InterfaithAlliance.org

After the government shutdown over extending Affordable Care Act tax subsidies, Donald Trump and the Republican Doormat Congress have suddenly decided they care about healthcare costs. He has floated a series of insane ideas from just giving the money to individuals so we can "negotiate prices' to revisiting Health Savings Account. All that is old is new again and all that is stupid is still stupid. Healthcare is the foundation of nearly everything in the United States. It costs people their livelihoods, drives the ability to open businesses, and whether one should stay in a bad job or not. That’s before we talk about the devastating failures leaving us with sicker Americans. Fred Wellman sits down with Dr. Rob Davidson, ER Physician, Executive Director of the Committee to Protect Health Care, and the podcast Paging America, to break down why these moves are so dangerous and how it will really cost Americans. Dr. Rob has been vocal about the real challenges to our health system and lays it all out in this must watch episode.
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Donald Trump and the MAGA Republicans are continuing their desperate attempt to save their power from the impending blue tidal wave coming their way. Their favorite tactic recently was pressuring red states to illegally redistrict before the midterms. Texas quickly leaped and so did Missouri’s Republicans. But Missouri isn’t Texas and the state has a robust petition initiative process that allows voters to veto laws they don’t agree with. In the states history they have done it 27 times and repealed the laws 25 of them. Now they are fighting it again. Fred Wellman sits down Richard von Glahn the Executive Director of People NOT Politicians to discuss his organizations efforts to repeal this illegal redistricting and offer perspective on how we are fighting back in a deeply red state. Richard started his career as a labor organizer in 2004 with SEIU since 2012 he has worked at MO Jobs With Justice as an organizing director and political director. He has worked on 10 ballot initiatives in Missouri including playing leading roles in the right to work initiative, three increases in minimum wage, expansion of Medicaid and an anti-gerrymandering initiative. In his time as an organizer in Missouri, he's knocked on tens of thousands of doors, gathering signatures to ensure Missourians voices are heard.

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Donald Trump continues to fight paying SNAP benefits as the shutdown continues. Not only are average Americans in the crosshairs but as we go into Veterans Day weekend over 1 million veterans are going without food aid and millions of government employees are unpaid or being illegally fired. This is what the Republican Doormat Congress has allowed. Fred Wellman sits down with American Federation of Government Employees President Everett Kelley to discuss it all and how they are fighting back. Everett Kelley is the national president of the American Federation of Government Employees, which is the largest union representing federal and D.C. government employees. He began his first term of service as national president in February 2020, was elected to another term during the 42nd National Convention in June 2022, and was reelected during the 43rd National Convention in August 2024.

Everett Kelley has been a member of AFGE since 1981. He worked at Anniston Army Depot and retired from there after 30 years of service.

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Are Pete Hegseth and Donald Trump ordering our military to murder innocent people? It's a simple question that seems increasingly true. As of this week the U.S. has conducted 14 known strikes on boats in international waters killing 63 people and leaving 3 survivors. We don't know publicly if any of them were actually the supposed "narco-terrorists" they have been labeled by the Trump Administration. Congress has been all but silent and refuses to hold hearings. Fred was able to link up with the former Deputy Judge Advocate General of the Air Force, Major General (Retired) Steven Lepper to discuss the legal frameworks and concerns of he and his fellow former JAG's about these attacks and more of Hegseth's attacks on the JAG Corps. We are in a very dangerous place and we have to know if our service members are conducting extra-judicial murders in our name.