The Daily Whatever Show, Oct 22: Talking Across Political Divides with Egberto Willies

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The Daily Whatever Show, Oct 22: Talking Across Political Divides with Egberto Willies

Maybe democracy doesn’t need more shouting—it needs more Egbertos.

Lawrence Winnerman

Dana DuBois

Egberto Willies

, and 2 others

Oct 23, 2025

Transcript

On today’s The Daily Whatever Show, we had the joy of welcoming

Egberto Willies

— writer, broadcaster, book author, and tireless progressive voice whose calm persistence felt like the perfect antidote to this week’s frenetic news cycle.

Egberto hosts Politics Done Right on KPFT and writes Egberto Off the Record on Substack, where he somehow manages to stay optimistic while staring straight at the dysfunction of modern politics. A longtime activist and Daily Kos writer, he’s spent decades not just talking about democracy, but practicing it — one conversation, one comment thread, one stubbornly patient cup of Starbucks coffee at a time.

That last image isn’t hypothetical. Egberto told us stories from his Houston neighborhood, where he regularly chats with conservative neighbors who assume he’s one of them — until, mid-conversation, he reveals he’s a leftist. By then, they’ve already agreed with half his arguments. “They’ve decided progressives look like people with horns,” he said, “but once you talk, the caricature falls apart.” His strategy is simple but radical: listen first, stay calm, and make space for logic to land.

We talked about everything from the Powell Memo and the corporate capture of U.S. media to how China builds roads while America drops bombs. Egberto connects these dots with ease — explaining how capitalism without a social safety net corrodes democracy, and how Americans have been trained to distrust government at their own expense. Yet through it all, he refuses cynicism. “There have to be a few of us with thick skin,” he said. “I can take all the dung, because sometimes, that’s the only way the message gets through.”

Our audience loved him. So did we. In a time when shouting feels like the national pastime, Egberto’s approach — steady, patient, deeply human — reminds us that persuasion isn’t dead. It’s just quieter than outrage.

Huge thanks to everyone who joined us today, including

Nancy Desmarais

, @luisgarci,

MorganX

Cat

Polly Walker Blakemore