Shortly after the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003, progressive talk radio host Thom Hartmann introduced a new segment on his radio show on WDEV in Vermont. He invited then-Rep. Bernie Sanders on for a segment he dubbed “Brunch With Bernie.” The program featured Vermonters calling in to pepper Sanders with questions, and the representative took on all comers and all issues. The program was a hit, and Hartmann took “Brunch With Bernie” national when he moved his show to Air America and SiriusXM. These freewheeling national town halls, which aired for 11 years, introduced many people around the country to Sanders. 

“When people called who were hostile to Bernie, he was like, ‘Please, put them on, I want to talk to those people.’ The only people that we ever didn't put on the air where people were just obviously intoxicated or screaming obscenities — that would happen occasionally,” Hartmann said.

“Whatever small role I may have played in not just helping make Bernie a national figure and a serious candidate for the presidency, but also — and I think this is the most important part — I believe that Bernie's candidacy, particularly in 2016, altered the course of American politics as one of the most consequential events of the last two or three decades.”

Hartmann has been broadcasting for the past two decades on the radio, TV, online and satellite radio. He hosts a daily radio program and writes a column at The Hartmann Report, where he recently reported on the “nightmare scenario” of how the U.S. Supreme Court could subvert the 2024 election and the business of tracking and lying to pregnant people. 

Hartmann is a four-time winner of a Project Censored Award and he is the New York Times bestselling author of more than 30 books. His latest books are “The Hidden History of Neoliberalism” and “The Hidden History of Big Brother in America,” which were both published this year.