At a moment when trust in institutions is fraying, immigration enforcement is escalating, and more voters say they feel politically homeless, today’s conversation asks a bigger question:

What does leadership look like when the existing system no longer feels responsive to ordinary people?

Facts Over Fear
Natalie Bencivenga
May 27, 2026

Just this week, the New York Times reported that a confrontation outside an ICE detention facility in New Jersey left protesters affected by pepper spray and raised new questions about transparency, detention conditions, and what happens when elected officials themselves say they’re denied access.

If a governor cannot enter a detention center in their own state, what does that say about the state of democracy in our nation?

Today I’m joined by Butch Ware. He is a historian, educator, activist, former Green Party vice presidential nominee, and now a write-in candidate for governor of California.

His campaign argues for universal healthcare, housing, immigrant protections and structural reforms, while also challenging ballot access rules and the dominance of the two-party system.

We discuss California’s future, immigration enforcement, surveillance, affordability, abortion rights, trans rights and whether alternative political movements are filling a void the major parties have left behind.

Because this isn’t only a conversation about California. It’s a conversation about power: who has it, who challenges it, and what happens when ordinary people decide the existing system no longer speaks for them.