Cliff Schecter & Sam Drzymala - When the Old Guard Falls, the People Rise

Hey folks, Cliff here — and if you missed my conversation with Sam Drzymala this week, buckle up, because we went deep into the swamp rot, revival, and raw potential of American democracy. This wasn’t a “show,” per se — it was two people who’ve lived inside the political machine stepping outside of it to tell you exactly why it’s breaking… and exactly how we fix it.

And yes, we got loud because the moment demands it.

We started with the betrayal — the eight Democratic Senators who folded like lawn chairs left out in a hurricane. Sam and I walked through how the collapse happened, why the excuses were insulting, and why the real reason they caved is the same tired story: an old guard clinging to power by protecting the broken systems that produced them.

They’re not strategizing for the future — they’re fighting to preserve the past. A past that no longer works.

But here’s the good news: the future is already here. And it’s pissed off.

Because the grassroots is awake and punching back.

We talked about how YOU — the audience, the subscribers, the activists, the creators — are the beating heart of a new democratic movement. Not the legacy media. Not the consultants who still think we’re campaigning like it’s 1998. Not even the electeds who think leadership means reading talking points written by someone who hasn’t spoken to an actual voter since the MySpace era.

No — you’re driving the change.

We dug into election night: the overperformances, the sweeps, the generational surge happening not in D.C. but in state legislatures, school boards, and forgotten districts. The places where democracy actually lives. I walked Sam through why what you saw on Tuesday wasn’t a fluke — it was a pattern. A big one. A wave that only breaks bigger if we keep feeding it.

I also pointed folks toward David Shuster’s essential wrap-up on the 218-signature discharge petition — because if you want a masterclass in how Democrats can fight when they choose to, read Shuster’s Weekly Wrap-Up.

And if you want to understand why information itself is a battlefield now, and how the right floods the zone with chaos, you need But His Emails! — a breakdown of the GOP’s propaganda machine and how we counter it with Egberto Willies.

Sam and I also got into the core truth of this moment: the old “broadcast model” is dead. The new power structure is decentralized, interactive, creator-driven, and impossible to gatekeep. You talk directly to us; we talk directly to you. And together we build something the old system can’t contain — or control.

So yeah, there was frustration. But also hope. Real hope. Earned hope.

Because the Eight may have caved.

But millions of us haven’t.

And we’re the ones shaping what comes next.

Stay loud. Stay engaged. Stay in the fight.

—Cliff

PS: If you’re not amped up enough already, check out my latest on Eric Trump: The Patron Saint of the Stupid Rich.