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i've had it podcast
Podcaster Jennifer Welch Denounces 'Dipsh*ts' Schumer and Jeffries for Not Riding Mamdani’s Progressive Wave
The Democratic leaders, said the outspoken I've Had It podcast co-host, have refused to show up for the NYC mayoral candidate because they are "beholden to the same corporations that helped Donald Trump get elected."
Oct 29, 2025
With less than a week to go until Election Day in New York City, the top Democratic leader in the US Senate has yet to endorse his party's candidate for mayor of the city he calls home—and a podcaster who's become increasingly known for catching establishment politicians off guard with her pointed questions was clear about her view on the matter this week.
"Listen up, Democratic establishment," said Jennifer Welch, the co-host of the podcast I've Had It. "You can either jump on board with this shit or we're coming after you in the same way we come after MAGA. Period... Stop missing out on these big rallies."
Welch spoke on I've Had It the day after 13,000 New Yorkers packed Forest Hills Stadium in Queens to hear progressive Democratic mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani speak alongside some of his biggest allies: US Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), and New York Gov. Kathy Hochul.
Despite the enthusiasm around Mamdani's campaign, in which he's focused relentlessly on making the city more affordable for working people and ensuring corporations and the rich pay fair taxes, New York Democrats Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, both of whom live in New York City, were no-shows—a fact that Welch proclaimed "an embarrassment."
"Hakeem and Chuck should have been front and center, introducing the next mayor of New York City," said Welch. "But no, they wouldn't show up—because they're pussies. They're pussies that are beholden to the same corporations that helped [President] Donald Trump get elected."
Jennifer Welch from the I've Had It Podcast rebukes "embarrassing" Democratic Party leadership for completely failing to meet the moment. pic.twitter.com/6HSbPNnHM0
— gato fumador (@KweenInYellow) October 28, 2025
Jeffries offered a tepid, last-minute endorsement of Mamdani late last week, but both leaders have refused to give their full-throated support to the popular state assemblyman as he faces disgraced former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who is running as an independent after losing the Democratic primary to Mamdani by 12 points in June. Schumer ignored a question about the mayoral race at a press briefing on Tuesday.
Progressives have condemned the two leaders for not backing the party's nominee, a move that could be seen by some voters as a tacit endorsement of Cuomo, who resigned in disgrace after being accused by numerous women of sexual harassment, has employed racist stereotypes in his attack ads on Mamdani, and has reportedly spoken with Trump about the White House potentially intervening in the mayoral race on Cuomo's behalf.
Welch warned Schumer, Jeffries, and other establishment Democrats that with candidates and leaders like Mamdani and Ocasio-Cortez, the party "is moving on."
"These Democrats, they continue to play patty cake with corporations and lobbyists," she said. "Nobody wants that. Nobody wants you. We want politicians to speak freely, and look at what the benefit is. Look at what's happening in New York. And you dipshits are sitting on the sidelines, running your social media like complete dorks. It's embarrassing. Get your shit together, Hakeem. Chuck, seriously, get your shit together."
Welch has taken numerous politicians to task in recent months for accepting campaign donations from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) and other pro-Israel interest groups—from which Schumer and Jeffries have each taken more than $1.7 million.
She advised the leaders to "stop taking AIPAC money" and "go on an 'I'm sorry, I took AIPAC money atonement' tour, if you want to stay in power."
She added that Sanders, Ocasio-Cortez—often known by her initials, AOC—and Mamdani "are all doing something" that corporate Democrats can't: getting working-class Trump supporters to "cross over and vote for them."
.@ivehaditpodcast - 10/27/2025 - scolding the Democratic establishment for not supporting the @ZohranKMamdani / @AOC / @Bernie Rally
"The Democratic establishment is MAGA lite...they're pussies that's beholden to the same corporations that helped Donald Trump get elected" pic.twitter.com/33lYf9gUci
— CaseStudyQB (@CaseStudyQB) October 28, 2025
Sanders and Ocasio-Cortez spoke to large crowds in both red and blue areas of the country earlier this year, focusing on government corruption and inequality, on Sanders' Fighting Oligarchy Tour. This week, a photo of a man wearing a "MAGA for Mamdani" T-shirt went viral, with the man telling a reporter: “This’ll be the first time I'm voting for a Democrat. I like his policies.”
According to Welch, "Why Democratic leadership and why the Democratic National Committee is not hopping on those coattails and fucking riding the wave, tells you everything you need to know."
"That the Democratic establishment is MAGA lite," she said. "They have the same corporate donors. That's why when you ask them a blunt question you get a word-salad answer. And this is why Zohran Mamdani is rising. This is why AOC is rising."
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Podcast Interviews With Booker, Newsom Reveal How Urgently Democrats Must 'Break From Israel'
"The United States and particularly the Democratic Party, we have to be leaders on this issue," said podcast host Jennifer Welch.
Oct 15, 2025
Two podcast interviews with potential Democratic 2028 presidential candidates went viral Tuesday—but observers said they served only to illustrate how disconnected the party establishment is from its base on the subject of Israel and Palestinian rights and how much work Democrats have ahead of them to reach out to the growing number of voters who oppose Israel after two years of its US-backed assault on Gaza.
US Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) appeared on I've Had It, hosted by Jennifer Welch and Angie "Pumps" Sullivan—Oklahoma-based former Bravo reality TV stars who were called "the future of viral left podcasting" by Rolling Stone last month.
With Welch and Sullivan's "thick southern accents made complete by their Ann Taylor-coded outfits, sharp red lipstick, and blonde highlighted hair" as Rolling Stone noted, some progressive commentators have mused that Democratic politicians eager to engage with podcast audiences are likely to underestimate the pair, who are outspoken in their criticism both of the Trump administration and Democratic leaders.
That appeared to be the case with Booker, who claimed he had to leave the interview as Welch hammered him on Democrats' support for Israel and his vote for Charles Kushner, the disbarred attorney and father of President Donald Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner, to be US ambassador to France.
When Welch asked Booker what he had to say about "the capitulation that [he] participated in" the senator replied with a criticism of "purity tests" that Democratic lawmakers and organizers force on each other.
"That’s such bullshit,” Welch replied, echoing her response to former Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel when he criticized Democrats for standing up for transgender rights on the podcast earlier this year. "It's not a purity test, it's, 'Are we in this fight and are we being beholden to corporations and corporate interests or are we being really the party of the working class?'"
“That is such bullshit” @MizzWelch isn’t having it when @CoryBooker tries to blame Democratic failures to stand up to Trump (including his own vote for Kushner’s dad) on a “circular firing squad”
Full @ivehaditpodcast ep: https://t.co/Qg8kAl0LuH pic.twitter.com/MjMHFSa836
— The Tennessee Holler (@TheTNHoller) October 14, 2025
The hosts were no less direct when the discussion turned to Israel. Welch and Sullivan have been outspoken in their condemnation of Israel's assault on Gaza over the past two years and the support that both the Biden and Trump administrations have given to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as civilian casualties have mounted, a famine has been declared, and top Israeli officials have publicly said they aim to ethnically cleanse Gaza.
"The United States and particularly the Democratic Party, we have to be leaders on this issue, with Israel and Benjamin Netanyahu. It's something that there is a big loud beat in the base that's permeating all across the country," said Welch. "I think for us to come together as a party in 2026, it's going to take leadership saying things like, 'Benjamin Netanyahu is a war criminal.'"
Booker attempted to turn the conversation to conflicts in Africa and claimed the International Criminal Court, which has a warrant out for Netanyahu's arrest for war crimes, "singles out Israel," before dodging what Welch called a "simple yes or no question."
"Do you think he's a war criminal, Benjamin Netanyahu?" asked Welch.
Booker, who voted several times to provide Israel with military aid since it began bombarding Gaza in 2023, answered that such questions "undermine" his efforts to solve the conflict in the Middle East.
It’s a simple yes or no question pic.twitter.com/D6jY01uflY
— I've Had It Podcast (@ivehaditpodcast) October 14, 2025
"The thing that Democrats get so frustrated with, where we are right now, where you see the Zohran Mamdanis and the Graham Platners rise up, because they can go on podcasts and you can say, 'Do you think Benjamin Netanyahu is a war criminal?' and they just say yes," said Welch. "And that's the end of it, it's not all of the rhetoric."
Some observers said the interview, in which Welch also pressed Booker about the more than $871,000 in donations he's received from the powerful American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), should be taken as a warning to Democratic lawmakers as they look toward the 2026 midterms and the 2028 presidential election in a country where polls show the public is shifting away from decades of support for Israel.
"Democratic politicians are getting a preview of the gauntlet they'll have to run in 2028 if they can't break from Israel," said journalist Branko Marcetic.
Mehdi Hasan of Zeteo added that "not only is Jennifer Welch awesome, but what an indictment of our mainstream media and political press that it takes nontraditional journalist podcasters to ask these simple and direct questions of our electeds."
That preview was also visible in an interview Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom did on the podcast Higher Learning with Van Lathan, who told Newsom he would not vote for the candidate who had accepted money from AIPAC.
"It's interesting, I haven't thought about AIPAC—it's interesting, you're the first to have brought up AIPAC in years, which is interesting," said Newsom. "Not relevant to my day-to-day life."
When asked about AIPAC Gavin Newsom freezes and repeats “it’s interesting” 10 times.
He’s a Zionist btw. Never trust him.
pic.twitter.com/76rl6OfY9o
— ADAM (@AdameMedia) October 15, 2025
Any candidate hoping to run for president in 2028, said Matt Duss of the Center for International Policy, "is gonna have to come up with a waaaaay better answer on this than 'it’s interesting.'"
In addition to revealing that top Democrats are unprepared for tough questions on US relations with Israel, said a number of observers, the interviews showed "the utter failure and brokenness of corporate media."
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