Our guest for the second half of the show has represented workers going up against their employers, argued before the US Supreme Court, and is the author of half a dozen or so books on American politics, law, and labor — including his latest, The History of Democracy Has Yet to be Written: How we Have to Learn to Govern All Over Again. It’s about his long-shot campaign for Congress in the Obama era, and his ideas for fixing what’s wrong with American democracy.

Governor JB Pritzker is up for reelection in 2022, and he joined The 21st to talk about COVID-19, climate change, criminal justice, and threats to American democracy.

In December 2021, there was written evidence from former White House lawyers and the former chief of staff to then-President Donald J. Trump about attempting to use the military to overturn the results of the election and keep Trump in power. The 21st was joined by a political scientist and professor to tackle the question of why the U.S. has been characterized as a "backsliding democracy" and if it can be saved.