“The American consumer is the horse that pulls the cart economically in our country, but really the whole world. When consumer confidence falls—when people think they may not have a job, when they see how much credit card debt they’ve got, more credit card debt than savings right now—the consequence is people start to pull back. That starts echoing backwards through the economy.”
-Elizabeth Warren, episode 411 of Talk Easy with Sam Fragoso
An outspoken advocate for working families, Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Massachusetts) has made a career out of taking on Wall Street, Silicon Valley, and the Beltway. And while she may be tired of Washington, she’s not too tired to make it better.
At the top, we discuss the constitutional crisis (5:00) surrounding the deportation of Kilmar Abrego Garcia (9:00), this administration’s attack on public education (12:00), and the GOP’s fealty to Donald Trump (13:25). Then, we dive into Senator Warren’s proposed bill to limit the power of special government employees like Elon Musk (25:48), her fight for campaign finance reform (28:05), and the values her Oklahoma upbringing instilled in her (35:43).
On the back-half, Senator Warren reflects on her early work in bankruptcy law (39:47), why she’s devoted her career to fighting for the middle class (45:45), the challenges she’s faced in the past decade in office (1:00:19), and what she sees for the future of the Democratic party (1:05:30).
Feedback, guests ideas, or a power-ranking of your favorite Warren takedowns? Email us at mail@talkeasypod.com.
This episode was recorded at Spotify Studios.
Watch this conversation on YouTube:
Show-notes:
- Find Senator Warren’s work on her website.
- Read her books Persist, This Fight Is Our Fight, A Fighting Chance, All Your Worth, and The Two-Income Trap.
- Learn about The SEER Act, her recent bill to rein in Special Government Employees.
- Learn more about her work on her website.
- Follow Elizabeth Warren on Instagram, Twitter, Threads, and Facebook.
- For more talks, hear our episodes with Chris Hayes, Ezra Klein, Margaret Atwood, David Remnick, and Congressman Maxwell Frost.
- Order your Talk Easy mug in cream and navy or our vinyl record with Fran Lebowitz.
Additional Resources:
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- “The Constitutional Crisis Is Here”(The Atlantic, 2025)
- Trump on Kilmar Abrego Garcia (Forbes, 2025)
- Letter to SEC (Elizabeth Warren, 2025)
- “How Trump Fails to Deliver” (The Daily Show, 2025)
- “Senator Warren Confronts JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon” (CNN, 2021)
- “Senator Warren Questions Wells Fargo CEO John Stumpf” (C-Span, 2016)
- “Elizabeth Warren on What We Get Wrong About Inequality” (The Ezra Klein Show, 2021)
- “The Making of Elizabeth Warren” (Politico, 2018)
- “The Virtual Candidate” (The New Yorker, 2015)
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Illustrations by Krishna Shenoi. Reference photograph by Sarah Schneider.
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