The Catturd Deficit

Ian Haney López has a warning for America. The renowned law professor and author of MERGE LEFT wrote the definitive book on DOG WHISTLE POLITICS, revealing how powerful elites escalate convenient divisions to conquer America’s working class. His work has inspired the race-class narrative used in Minnesota to thwart Trumpism. Yet he fears America may be on the verge of becoming a frog boiled by strategic racism. The barely veiled racism of JD Vance and the carnival barker eugenics of Donald Trump continue to escalate. The lack of widespread scorn from the American public for Trump and Vance’s despicable rhetoric and ridiculous plan for mass deportations beyond anything seen in modern history shows that eight years have worn away our ability or—perhaps—willingness to fight back. Haney López offers an incredibly terrifying take on JD Vance–who he calls Donald Trump’s lickspittle and hopes that’s taken in the most offensive way possible. In Vance, he sees a purveyor of fascist domination that would destroy all of America’s best aspirations.  But he does have ideas for how you call out the deceit, division, and demagoguery Trump and Vance are using to try to turn democracy against itself. He also has a powerful message for America about what we must do if we manage to defeat Donald Trump again. Catch up on all the episodes of “How are you feeling about democracy?” here. If you want to support this podcast, please join us here at the earlyworm society – free or paid; your support matters.

"Hey, there's this thing I found out about that's a way to elect Kamala Harris and all the Democrats downballot AND build community infrastructure long-term. And it’s going to transform this country. It's cool. You may not know about it yet. Check it out.” That’s the pitch from Billy Wimsatt, the founder and executive director of the Movement Voter Project, for the Movement Voter Project. And I’m sold. MVP is how all the work we’re putting into this election can live on and transform this country. And–even more importantly, right now–it’s the best way to turn out the “undecided about voting” progressive voters who will decide this election. Finding MVP feels like a cosmic revelation to me. I’ve admired Billy Wimsatt since I was handed a copy of his book BOMB THE SUBURBS while a student at UC Santa Barbara in the 90s. “This is what I’ve been looking for,” I thought when I held that wild, eclectic collection of words and images. And when I came across the organization he leads, I had the same feeling. It’s a bit spooky. Everything we’re doing right now doesn’t have to end. It can become the seeds that make those “undecided about voting” voters glad they decided to vote. And I challenge you to listen to this whole interview without thinking you should donate to help the Movement Voter Project invest in local organizers who can help us win in November and transform policy afterward. Catch up on all the episodes of “How are you feeling about democracy?” here. If you want to support this podcast, please join us here at the earlyworm society – free or paid; your support matters.

How the myths that trap women into being America's social safety net con young men and hurt (pretty much) everyone. “In the US, we groom girls to stand in for the social safety net from the time they’re old enough to hold a doll.” From the first line of Jessica Calarco’s fantastic new book “HOLDING IT TOGETHER: How Women Became America’s Safety Net,” you’re confronted with truths that may change you and should change society. Calarco, a professor of Sociology at the University of Wisconsin, first blew my mind with two sentences: “Other countries have social safety nets. The U.S. has women.”  Her new book expands upon that simple yet vast truth, exposing the history and costs of America’s indenturing women with the basic cares of others. She also unpacks the quasi-and-literally religious myths that have given this untenable system a veneer of “American exceptionalism.” As we face this election that offers the starkest choice in recent U.S. history between two candidates–both in their identities and vision for the country–Calarco’s revelations and the research that inspired it are essential context. Without her work, it’s impossible to understand why Trump’s chest-beating and whining, insulting as it may be to so many of us, is so appealing, especially to young men. Catch up on all the episodes of “How are you feeling about democracy?” here. If you want to support this podcast, please join us here at the earlyworm society – free or paid; your support matters.

How Americans overseas could help save our democracy at home Only 8% of Americans outside the United States voted in the last presidential election. Angela Fobbs is doing her best to change that.  An American living in Germany, Angela–like many of us–was ignited when Donald Trump took the presidency in 2016. And she’s one of the many good-hearted Americans in Democrats Abroad around the globe trying to ensure that never happens again. That’s why she’s spreading the word about two incredible resources. Any American outside the US can get a ballot at VotefromAbroad.org and then head to bluevoterguide.org to see a ballot and see who has earned your vote. 2024 could be a transformative year for Democrats Abroad. For the first time, the DNC has sent money their way. For the first time, DA will be knocking on doors abroad in Windsor, the foreign city that probably has the most American citizens per capita. And for the first time, I got to speak to Angela Fobbs, who is working to ensure that every American citizen gets to vote, no matter where she lives. Let’s do our very best to help her. The democracy we save may be our own. Catch up on all the episodes of “How are you feeling about democracy?” here. If you want to support this podcast, please join us here at the earlyworm society – free or paid; your support matters.

Wisconsin’s first truly democratic election in over a decade has already begun.  And if you want to know how November might look in the nation’s Tipping Point State, you’ve got to read Dan Shafer at The Recombobulation Area, which recently became a part of the Civic  Media Network.  Dan describes how the election of Janet Protasiewicz to the state’s Supreme Court last year has changed the board and the game. For the first time since the Great Recession, voters–and not the politicians who drew their districts–will decide control of the State Assembly. And Democrats can pick up that body while making real progress toward winning the State Senate in 2026. Come with us to Sheboygan to get an idea of what democratic renewal looks like in the Badger State. Dan discusses his complete analysis of all 99 races for the State Assembly, in which he identified the eight toss-up seats that will decide who controls Wisconsin's lower house. He explains Tammy Baldwin’s special sauce and why the nation should be watching Green Bay. Also, you’ll find out just how good Democratic Party Chair Ben Wikler really is and why the women of Wisconsin deserve the most credit for what Dan calls “a true moment for democracy.” And if you want to invest in the ground game to win in November and begin the flip of Wisconsin, consider this excellent Give Smart slate that includes three of the Assembly candidates Dan mentions and all of the “tossup” candidates he’s identified. You can also donate to the Movement Voter Project, which backs local trusted organizers who can get sporadic voters to the polls. Catch up on all the episodes of “How are you feeling about democracy?” here. If you want to be a supporter of this podcast, please join us here at the earlyworm society – free or paid, your support matters.

Zo Tobi is the communications director at the Movement Voter Project, which is like a mutual fund that invests in trusted organizers building progressive power, especially in swing states. The group recently sent a Bat Signal warning that the local ground game is badly underfunded.  You probably have the same thought many people did when I shared this: HOW THE HELL CONSIDERING HOW MUCH HARRIS IS RAISING? I asked Zo that. He has a great answer. And Movement Voter Project has an excellent answer for how we stop having to save democracy every four years. The answer is that we save it every year, all the time. The Movement Voter Project makes that easy and smart, and it's a sin not to do it because it’s so easy and smart. That’s why I’m launching the last earlyworm fundraiser of the year. We will try to raise $20,024 for the Movement Voter Project, which they will send out to these local organizers who are the best hope not only to win in November but to keep democracy alive for the rest of this century. I’m setting up a monthly donation right after this podcast, and my homework is all done, and my daughter is off to ballet. And I hope you’ll do the same. Catch up on all the episodes of “How are you feeling about democracy?” here. If you want to be a supporter of this podcast, please join us here at the earlyworm society – free or paid, your support matters.

No need to imagine the misery Trump/Vance would unleash on us. They're already living it in Alabama. Robin Marty is playing the long game. As the executive director of West Alabama Women’s Center (WAWC) and the author of “New Handbook for a Post-Roe America,” she is living the nightmare of Project 2025 in Tuscaloosa. Every day, she sees the purposeful misery of a system ruled by right-wingers who’d rather people be sick than vote. Yet she still believes abortion will be legal again one day in Alabama.  That’s why she’s determined to keep the WAWC open, ready to help any Alabamian who needs it.  But she needs your help. $10-a-month donors are helping her clinic and her patients stay alive, providing birth control, preventative care, and now gender-affirming care.  In this conversation, Robin explains the Post-Roe mess we’re in and not just in Alabama or the South, and she offers the only way out.  She also provides the best and most hopeful analogy for how America’s experiment with abortion bans can and should end. And she also convinced me to become a $10-a-month donor to the WAWC. I hope you’ll join me. Catch up on all the episodes of “How are you feeling about democracy?” here. If you want to be a supporter of this podcast, please join us here at the earlyworm society – free or paid, your support matters.

It is almost impossible to comprehend Donald Trump's political rise and fall and rise without the work of Kevin M. Kruse. Kevin is a historian who specializes in segregation and the civil rights movement, the rise of religious nationalism, and the making of modern conservatism. He co-edited the book Myth America: Historians Take on the Biggest Legends and Lies of Our Past and is the author of White Flight: Atlanta and the Making of Modern Conservatism and One Nation Under God: How Corporate America Invented Christian America.  His scholarship makes him the perfect person to discuss the RNC, the DNC, and the whitewashing of January 6th. He also has exceptional insights into the wild significance of the first Black woman presidential candidate taking on an insurrectionist casino owner from Queens who has become the braying avatar of Christian Nationalism and the Southern Strategy. And Kevin’s passion for myth-busting makes him the perfect person to pierce the BS histories reactionaries invent to justify their victimhood and their support for the ultimate victim, Donald Trump. You’re probably already following him on Bluesky and Threads where he makes both apps worth joining. I also have to personally thank Kevin for boosting Downballot for Democracy, our effort to ensure people know the smartest places to put their money so freedom wins in November. We’re nearing $50,000 raised, and we couldn’t have done a tenth of that without him. Catch up on all the episodes of “How are you feeling about democracy?” here.

Tech billionaires want to disrupt democracy, and their sick philosophy is closer to the presidency than most of us want to admit. If two things go terribly wrong, Gil Duran may be covering the biggest political story in US history. A few tech billionaires with a worldview that imagines themselves as the bad guys in almost every dystopian sci-fi story have handpicked the Republican vice presidential nominee. And that nominee’s running mate is, in case you haven’t heard, old. Like almost Joe Biden old, and possibly already embalmed. JD Vance wasn’t installed as Donald Trump’s possible successor for charm and charisma, for JD has neither. He wasn’t picked because he underperformed the GOP ticket in Ohio by 9% the one time he sought elective office. He wasn’t picked because he seems like a guy who might lust after the crevasses in upholstery.  JD Vance was in the position to become a vice presidential candidate because of the patronage of one billionaire, Peter Thiel. When Gil Duran, a former Editorial Page Editor of The San Francisco Examiner who currently publishes Nerd Reich and the FrameLab newsletter with the legendary Dr. George Lakoff, first wrote about tech authoritarianism for The New Republic, it seemed like a wacky curiosity. Almost fun. Like HBO’s Silicon Valley without the punchlines.  Now, it’s on the verge of having delivered America one of the most corrupt bargains in our history. And we all need to know what that could mean. That's why everyone needs to follow Gil Duran's work—because you never know where it, or we, could go next. Catch up on all the episodes of “How are you feeling about democracy?” here. If you want to be a supporter of this podcast, please join us here at the earlyworm society – free or paid, your support matters.

The rhetorical analyst who wrote the book on Trump's demagoguery explains the power of positivity and weirdness. 2016 was the year we all became pundits. 2024 may be the year we all become rhetoricians. And no one is better at explaining how words help create and destroy democracy than Jennifer Mercieca.  The author of DEMAGOGUE FOR PRESIDENT: The Rhetorical Genius of Donald Trump can tell you why our wannabe American dictator has been so effective on the stump. But this conversation ended up being more about why he’s flailing now. In February, Mercieca advocated for “weirdifying” fascism, and the new Democratic nominee for vice president, Tim Walz, has embraced a cousin of that strategy. She also told us in our last conversation how the MAGA plan was to turn Biden into a “beta male,” and we explored how that strategy may have worked too well for Trump. And we talked about how the forces of freedom can learn from Swifties. There’s also some fun stuff for history buffs, though you may never look at the 1824 election the same way. Catch up on all the episodes of “How are you feeling about democracy?” here. If you want to be a supporter of this podcast, please join us here at the earlyworm society – free or paid, your support matters.