The Social Contract with Joe Walsh

I sat down with writer and editor Ellie Leonard to discuss all things Epstein files, of which she’s devoted a lot of time to covering, and all things what it’s like becoming well known and developing a following on Substack. Ellie has grown a wonderful following based on her writing on Substack, and along with that growth has come plenty of haters from the cheap seats. This was a personal and real conversation. Check it out. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Supreme Court overwhelmingly ruled against Trump’s effort to try to hijack Mail in voting in this country. Thank god. A big defeat for Trump. But he has other plays, he has other illegal tools in his lawless toolbox to fuck with our elections. We must remain ever so vigilant. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

So Donald Trump Jr, who’s worth $300 million had a Russian oligarch who’s best friends with Putin pay for his wedding. An unthinkable act. A dangerous act. A treasonous act. But without a Congress, no big deal right? I mean, Jr’s daddy is a Russian asset, and I guess Americans don’t care? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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That two day thing down in Dallas, whatever the heck it was, was all about hate, bigotry, fear and lies. But before you dismiss what Republicans just did down in Dallas, remember, in 2024 they ran on the same hate, bigotry, fear, and lies, and they won. To defeat Republicans in 2026, we need something more powerful than fear. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

I sat down with long time political strategist, and former Republican, Reed Galen, to discuss his new effort “Civic Forum,” reaching and connecting with regular Americans outside the beltway, and what Democrats need to do to win beyond 2026. Interesting conversation. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

He lies about everything, he engages in stolen valor repeatedly, he lie about what he did on 9/11, and we all scream “what a horrible person he is.” True. But who put that horrible person in power? Twice? Americans did. Your fellow citizens did. This whole Trump thing is about the American people. Not Trump.” Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Look, Trump’s always been a horrible person, he’s always been a sociopath. But now he’s losing his mind. Rapidly. This is really bad. For America and for the entire free world. And because of what’s happening with Trump, every American is less safe and less secure. And the economy is a mess. It matters. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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The ballroom is a concrete manifestation of his fascism, of his lawlessness, of his “I can do whatever I want and get away with it” mentality. To allow it to stand is to allow a concrete monument to fascism to stand. It must come down. Same goes for his monstrous “triumphal arch.” It must come down as well. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Just like Donald Trump, Pete Hegseth isn’t a real man. A real man doesn’t punch down. A real man isn’t a bully. A real man doesn’t lie and doesn’t cheat. We have a coward as Secretary of Defense, and that’s a really bad, really dangerous thing because many of our best brains have left the Pentagon, we’re running out of munitions, and we’re not prepared for modern warfare. All because Hegseth is unfit for the job. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

I sat down with long time political consultant and strategist Mike Madrid, one of the smartest political brains I know, to get a feel for what’s really likely to happen in November, how big of a blue tsunami could this really be. Really interesting conversation. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A USPS whistleblower described what the agency is doing trying to implement Trump’s illegal executive order limiting mail in voting as a “shit show” that could put the votes of millions of Americans at risk. And even though a U.S. district judge told the USPS two weeks ago to stop what they’re doing, they haven’t stopped. This is all just one way Trump is trying to fuck with the midterms. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This weekend, a journalist said something Trump didn’t like. So Trump ordered the government to punish her. Trump also saw polls he didn’t like, so he ordered his government to go after the pollsters. This is the kind of thing dictators do, it’s the kind of thing fascists do. It’s not the kind of thing that should happen in America. We must not let it. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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This week, my weekly tequila talk with Cliff Schecter addressed the issue of people voting for candidates on their side no matter how flawed they think those candidates might be. Should voters have a red line when it comes to voting for candidates or not? Their side winning is more important than who the candidate is? Good conversation. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

I sat down with Eli Goldstein and gave him my take, as a former MAGA gangbanger, on what the Democratic Party needs to understand and needs to do. First and foremost I said, Democrats need to understand that my former political party is at war trying to dismantle this democracy. Democrats need to be at war defending this democracy. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, my young socialist friend and I discussed the Republican Party, how and why Republicans always seem to fall in line behind Trump, the growth of MAGA beyond Trump and the implications of all of this for the entire country. Interesting conversation. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

I know, I know, wiser heads are saying this was just a procedural ruling, that the Supreme Court yesterday lifting a lower court’s injunction halting Trump’s effort to limit mail in voting was just procedural, yada, yada, yada. All I know is this: Trump is in Al all out war against our elections, and the Supreme Court just moved him one step closer to victory. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hakeem Jeffries met privately with Jared Kushner in recent weeks. Incredible. Kushner should be under oath in front of a congressional committee. The fact that Jeffries met with him confirms that Jeffries doesn’t understand this moment and cannot meet this moment. And if he’s the next Speaker, that’s not a good thing for the Democratic Party or the country. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

For Tequila Talk this week, Cliff Schecter and I sat down with Julie Roginsky, long time Democratic consultant and cofounder of @MaydayNetwork and cofounder of @LiftOurVoicesUS, to discuss recent NATO moves to combat a potential Russian attack on a NATO country. And how it’s always been so obvious that Trump is a Russian asset. Really, really concerning stuff. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this age of Trump, Democrats need to fight and meet this moment. Trump is, quite literally, everything our Founders feared. That means Democrats need to do things they’ve never done before. This is an unprecedented moment in American history. And all the old Democratic talking heads like Axelrod don’t understand this. So ignore them. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

My weekly sit down with my younger, Socialist friend Xander Schultz. We focused solely on Trump’s attempt to fuck with, destroy the legitimacy of, disrupt, cheat at, and maybe even cancel the midterms this November. There’s no bigger issue Americans face right now than defending these midterm elections from the enemy in the White House Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The coward and misogynist in the White House did it again yesterday. He personally attacked a female reporter. In ugly, cruel terms. And once again, not one member of the White House press corps said anything in her defense. Not one. Not one stood up for their female colleague. It’s bad enough that these reporters have normalized Trump, they’ve also allowed him to repeatedly attack female reporters. Shame on them. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Trump administration is waiting for immigrants to apply for legal benefits to stay in this country legally, they then won’t process the applications and will allow the applications to expire, then they’ll arrest these immigrants and throw them into jail. They’re encouraging immigrants to do the right thing, then they ignore what the immigrants did and arrest them. That’s evil. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

My weekly sit down with long time Chicago Democrat Edwin Eisendrath, we covered the primary results in Michigan and Wisconsin, the state of the DSA, and the deplorable conditions are sailors are enduring in Trump’s stupid, illegal war. As usual, Edwin is more optimistic about things than me. Interesting chat. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A sitting United States senator went on his podcast yesterday and knowingly spread a malicious, dangerous lie. Knowingly. Our Republic is in deep trouble because way too many Americans are increasingly untethered to truth, untethered to the facts. And when we have our political leaders wantonly spreading disinformation, then maybe we’re done. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

She’s a green card holder, has lived in California for yrs, she’s a teacher, with no criminal record, who’s done everything right per our fucked up immigration laws, but for the past five months, she, and her husband and her high school aged son have been locked up in horrible conditions in an ICE detention facility in Texas. I don’t know how we’ll ever recover from Trump’s crimes. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

After January 6th, there should never ever be another failure of imagination to what Trump might do to fuck with America’s elections. We must imagine the worst, so we can be ready for the worst. Not to do so would be a huge failure of our civic responsibility. He will try anything to fuck with/cancel the midterms. We must be ready. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Trump lies as he breathes, and when he lied about Haitian migrants eating cats & dogs, people believe him. But his lies about the economy won’t work. Also, the right wing fear mongering is only gonna get worse, and…fuck that ballroom. No matter what Trump call it. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Tucker Carlson wants to start a new political party, maybe even run for President. He, along with Thomas Massie and Marjorie Taylor Greene, are trying to lead all the American first followers. And there are a lot of them. Because there have always been nativists in this country. And that’s what Tucker wants to tap into. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

JD Vance yesterday called for any public official who’s committing fraud, committing public corruption, who’s personally enriching themselves off of the American taxpayer to be thrown into prison. Wow. So…nobody in American history has engaged in more public corruption, has enriched themselves off the American taxpayer more than Trump has. No one. Not even close. So…Vance clearly thinks Trump should be in prison, right? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

As part of Trump’s immigration crackdown, dozens and dozens of military spouses and parents have been held, detained, and deported by ICE, devastating military morale, causing great confusion among those who serve, and actually impacting military readiness. And…what a shitty thing to do to those who put the uniform on. But Trump doesn’t care. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Yes, my former political party is a full on authoritarian embracing cult, it’s a real threat to democracy & the rule of law, but…Thanksgiving is an American holiday and should never ever be cancelled, and any candidate for office suggesting such a thing is utterly crazy. And it’s crazy I even wrote this very sentence down. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

He cares more about his Weaponization fund, being protected from any federal government investigation, winning his club championship, and personally making as much money as he possibly can than he cares about anything or anyone else. He is humanly incapable of caring about anything but himself. Having a sociopath like this in the White House is a dangerous thing for us and the world. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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The documentary, The Narcissist’s Playbook, was released worldwide yesterday. The documentary explores one of the most pervasive and most misunderstood pathologies in our culture - narcissism. Producer & director Mark Vicente joins me to discuss.Rent the film: https://narcissistsplaybook.uscreen.io/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

My weekly sit down with long time political reformer and Democratic strategist Edwin Eisendrath. Where’s each party almost three months until the midterms? And what can be done to stop Trump from messing with the results of the midterms. That and more… Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Last week, Trump and Republicans obsessed all week over the 2020 “stolen” election lies. And this week, Dr Anthony Fauci is the obsession. Because Republicans believe you care more about these things than you do the economy, inflation and gas prices. Are Republicans correct? We’ll find out in November. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Trump was in Michigan yesterday, at one of his rallies, telling one lie after another. But this isn’t about Trump. This is about two “normal” Republican members of Congress who were at the rally too, and the anti-democratic crap they said. The whole party has been infected. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

If Trump and his fellow Republicans couldn’t still blame Joe Biden for everything that’s wrong in this country, they’d have nothing to say. But they do it still because they think their voters will believe anything. Also, the legacy media sucks, and what Democratic Socialists believe is utterly whacky. And un-American. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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My weekly sit down with Cliff Schecter, long time Democratic strategist. We discussed the divides between the Democratic Socialists, progressives, and moderate Democrats. The fighting is beginning to get ugly. The fight is real and should happen, but not right now. Right now, the focus should be solely on Trump. Have the fight AFTER the midterms. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

I sat down with writer, director, & podcaster Andy Ostroy, and we covered everything including is MAGA breaking up, are Republicans finally breaking from Trump, and what do Democrats need to do to win beyond 2026. Cool conversation. Have a listen. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

18 American service members have been killed so far in Trump’s war against Iran. And Trump uses that number 18, and compares it to all the Americans lost in previous wars like the Vietnam war, as some sort of “success story.” He’s despicable. And he doesn’t know what he’s doing and he doesn’t care. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

3 questions for today’s show: What’s worse, being wicked or being wrong? Is it an irrational act for a brown or black person to run away from ICE if they’re pulled over? And, why would any journalist go to a White House Correspondent’s Dinner with a president who’s at war against the First Amendment? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.