The Real America—The Weekly

As the United States approaches its 250th anniversary, Guest Host Mike Madrid and Susan Del Percio (MS NOW political analyst and crisis communications expert) grapple with a central question: when Americans say “this isn’t who we are,” are we describing an aspiration—or denying a reality? They confront the collision between ideals and reality, examining government overreach, due process, and what it means when executive power stretches beyond long-standing constitutional limits. The conversation moves through voter exhaustion, institutional breakdown, and why secrecy inside government is often the clearest warning sign that something has gone wrong. They look deeper than just the crisis of “democracy” in the abstract, and discuss how Americans are losing freedom itself, the right to privacy, bodily autonomy, and protection from arbitrary state power. The episode ends with an unsettling possibility: if the American experiment depends on restraint and shared belief, what happens when those beliefs fracture—and no institution is strong enough to hold the line? Then, in Politicology+ they dig into why housing affordability has become the central economic and political problem heading into the midterms. POLITICOLOGY+ Not yet a Politicology+ member? Don’t miss all the extra episodes on the private, ad-free version of this podcast. Upgrade now at politicology.com/plus. CONTRIBUTE TO POLITICOLOGY politicology.com/donate SPONSORS & PROMO CODES https://bit.ly/44uAGZ8 Send your questions and ideas to podcast@politicology.com or leave a voicemail at ‪(703) 239-3068‬ Follow this week’s panel on X (formerly Twitter): https://x.com/madrid_mike https://x.com/DelPercioS Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices