‘I’ve Had It’ podcast popular with disaffected Democrats: NPR

For those who don’t like the Trump administration’s policies or how the Democratic Party has responded, chances are I got it came across their social media feeds.

It only takes a few seconds of listening to get a sense of who hosts Jennifer Welch and Angie “Pumps” Sullivan consider their target audience – and the target of their ire.

“Patriots, Gaytriots, Theytriots, Blacktriots, Browntriots and all the fucking crusty bullshit that don’t support them, you can fuck off,” a recent episode began.

Welch is an interior designer. Sullivan, a lawyer. They’re two middle-aged women from suburban Oklahoma — and former Bravo reality TV stars — whose show has become a vocal coalition of a liberal base that’s had enough with Democrats.

“It sounds like the ‘Preservation Party,’ which wants to preserve the status quo,” Welch said in an interview. “It seems almost conservative in the sense that they’re not evolving and moving.”

Speaking to NPR in late October, Welch and Sullivan talked about the show’s growing popularity and the Democratic Party’s unpopularity among voters who say its leaders aren’t fighting hard enough against President Trump.

“Hakeem Jeffries and Chuck Schumer are writing strong letters and it’s like this guy is destroying democracy,” Sullivan said of the Democratic leaders of the House and Senate. “We need more action than forcefully worded letters.”

The two hosts have different backgrounds: Welch is a lifelong liberal atheist who has always been outspoken and just moved to New York for a while, while Sullivan was raised as a conservative evangelical Christian who slowly became more comfortable sharing her political views.

Both say top Democratic Party leaders aren’t doing enough to advocate for marginalized groups, to support young progressive candidates like Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani in New York, or to oppose Trump’s policies.

One such recent moment took place with New Jersey Senator Cory Booker being asked about Israel’s war in Gaza. Specifically, he was asked whether he thought Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was “a war criminal,” allegations Netanyahu denied.

“These are questions that a lot of people consider litmus tests, which are loaded and hot-button,” a visibly troubled Booker said. “My urgency is to be an effective leader to end this crisis. And I get these questions all the time that, to me, undermine my urgency.”

The same senator who spoke for 25 hours in April to protest the Trump administration, Welch said, was filibustering on what should be a simple yes or no question.

“The thing about Cory Booker is I can disagree with him if he’s honest,” Welch said of the interaction. “But giving us a chicken-shit, cowardly response to the question ‘Is Benjamin Netanyahu a war criminal?’ The answer to this question is objectively yes. »

His response illustrates another reason why some people can’t get enough of I’ve Had It: a brand of crude, unvarnished, and often impolite descriptions of current American politics.

In an episode titled “America’s Dumbass Dictator” that premiered on Election Day last week, Sullivan lamented what she called the “MAGA propaganda machine” surrounding the suggestion that Trump might illegally seek a third term.

“I feel like we’ve gone from either you’re on the side of legality and the Constitution and democracy, or you’re a full-blown fascist and you don’t give a damn,” she said.

Welch says the podcast’s tone reflects exactly how people talk: “a little gossip, a little politics, a little ‘F yous’… it’s more digestible, it’s more interesting that way.”

She also highlights Trump’s new media successes and how he’s making politics more conversational.

“I don’t agree with everything he says, I think he’s a compulsive liar, etc.… but the way we talk is really the way Trump has been doing it for ten years on podcasts,” Welch said.

Jennifer Welch (left) and Angie Sullivan (right) attend a GLAAD Pride Month event on June 26, 2025 in Brooklyn, New York.

Bryan Bedder/Getty Images for GLAAD

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Bryan Bedder/Getty Images for GLAAD

Sullivan adds that the duo’s self-deprecating humor is key.

“I think since we don’t take ourselves as seriously — like so many politicians — it makes us more of just a buddy that you run with,” she said.

Online, clips of the show went viral for their salty language and derogatory descriptions of Trump, Vice President Vance, House Speaker Mike Johnson and other Republicans.

But it was their sharp rebukes of Democratic Party leaders — sometimes to their faces — that also helped the duo gain millions of followers on Instagram, YouTube, TikTok and more.

“Hakeem and Chuckles – that’s what we call Chuck Schumer – and the Cory Bookers of the Democratic Party, if they don’t get their act together, a crook like Donald Trump will come and fill that void,” Welch said.

The twice-weekly broadcast “I’ve Had It” and its shorter, twice-daily news counterpart “IHIP News” land in the top podcast charts alongside shows like the Rachel Maddow Show and the Charlie Kirk Show, amassing hundreds of thousands of views and listens per week across all mediums.

“We have all age groups, red states, blue states, rural areas, big cities,” Welch added, when asked who was consuming their content. “What’s so interesting about us is that we’re middle-aged women from a red state, and we’re like, ‘Oh my God, white people care! Also, the fact that we’re new, I think it’s a little sad.’

At a time when the political podcasting space is dominated by the manosphere and the search for the “Joe Rogan of the left” to bring voters back to the Democratic Party, the hosts of “I’ve Had It” say their show is trying to push elected officials toward voters.

“I’m cautious of the mentality of a lot of leftists: ‘Let’s burn it all down, it’s the only way we’re going to get better,'” Welch said. “I say, let’s confront and push the politicians we have as far as we can. And if that makes them both vulnerable in the primaries, then they weren’t the right leader for us anyway.”