Assembly Required with Stacey Abrams How to Build a Winning Coalition in Trump’s Broken America
Oct 2, 2025
In this engaging discussion, political journalist Jane Coaston and Maurice Mitchell, National Director of the Working Families Party, tackle the challenges posed by America's entrenched two-party system. Coaston shares insights from her libertarian past, while Mitchell underscores the importance of grassroots organizing. They explore the barriers third-party candidates face and the need for collective power to counter autocracy. Listeners will learn actionable steps to support alternative political movements and the significance of inclusive strategies in democracy.
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How Autocrats Exploit 'Broken' Systems
- Authoritarianism often follows a playbook: claim the system is broken and present one leader as the only fix.
- Stacey Abrams warns that MAGA reshaped a major party and weaponized institutional breakdown to erode democracy.
Plan For Ballot-Access Hurdles
- Third-party candidates face expensive, state-by-state legal and petitioning hurdles to get on ballots.
- Maurice Mitchell recommends acknowledging those structural barriers when planning independent or third-party runs.
Third-Party Runs Shift Agendas
- Jane Coaston cites Ralph Nader (2000) and Bernie Sanders (2016) as third-party/outsider runs that shifted political direction.
- Those candidacies drew voters seeking alternatives and altered party agendas even without winning.
