It's the Democracy, Stupid Full Episodes
Sep 13, 2026 · 2 hr 46 min · 14 segments
On this week's show – David DeWitt, Ohio Capital Journal editor-in-chief and opinion columnist – David Smith, Washington bureau chief for the Guardian – Kendall Scudder, chair of the Texas…
Edwin EisendrathHostDavid DeWittGuest
Kendall ScudderGuest
Will BunchGuestDavid SmithGuest
I returned to campus to teach, and I always love to see the way the students show up on the first day, eager, hopeful, but also curious and a little apprehensive about what the new year will bring.
And for my Jewish friends who are listening, Shana Tova, today is the Jewish New Year.
Look, this week, in solemn celebration, we remembered, those of us who are old enough, remembered the victims of the 9-11 attack 25 years ago.
And we honored the courage Americans showed as we came together in the days that followed, in the months following the attack.
Every American was inspired by the courage and the selflessness of the doomed passengers on United Flight 93.
And every one of us respected the bravery and quick response of folks in the Pentagon as they raced to help their colleagues who had been hit.
The quarter century that followed that terrible attack transformed our country in ways we are only now coming to understand.
And in real terms, importantly, Americans are poorer in some ways, weaker, surely, under more threats with weaker institutional supports and far fewer friends than we had on that terrible day.
So this fall, we must decide whether measured politically, economically, or morally, America was at its apogee 25 years ago.
And if that's our decision, we have some difficult decisions to make to turn in a new direction.
I want to take a moment with you and just see how far and in what direction we have come.
I returned to campus to teach, and I always love to see the way the students show up on the first day, eager, hopeful, but also curious and a little apprehensive about what the new year will bring.
And for my Jewish friends who are listening, Shana Tova, today is the Jewish New Year.
Look, this week, in solemn celebration, we remembered, those of us who are old enough, remembered the victims of the 9-11 attack 25 years ago.
And we honored the courage Americans showed as we came together in the days that followed, in the months following the attack.
Every American was inspired by the courage and the selflessness of the doomed passengers on United Flight 93.
And every one of us respected the bravery and quick response of folks in the Pentagon as they raced to help their colleagues who had been hit.
The quarter century that followed that terrible attack transformed our country in ways we are only now coming to understand.
And in real terms, importantly, Americans are poorer in some ways, weaker, surely, under more threats with weaker institutional supports and far fewer friends than we had on that terrible day.
So this fall, we must decide whether measured politically, economically, or morally, America was at its apogee 25 years ago.
And if that's our decision, we have some difficult decisions to make to turn in a new direction.
I want to take a moment with you and just see how far and in what direction we have come.
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