Ordinary People, Extraordinary Times: Skye Perryman's Guide to Reclaiming Power in Trump's America

Andrew Keen (0:00)

Hello, my name is Andrew Keen. Welcome to Keen On America, the daily interview show about the United States.

Hello, everybody. It's Wednesday, the 9th of September, 2026 Three years ago, we did a show with Skye Perryman. She's an influential figure, political figure. She's the president and CEO of Democracy Forward. And back then, three years ago, it seems a long time, she asked what our kids will ask us about what we did. This was, of course, before the second Trump administration. She has a new book out. It's already a New York Times bestseller, Ordinary People, Extraordinary Times, and she's joining us from San Francisco, just down the road. She's on Book Tour. Skye, congratulations on the success of the book. So what have you been doing in the last three years that you'll be able to tell your kids about?

Skye Perryman (1:22)

Look, I mean, we have the privilege at Democracy Forward of working with so many communities across the country that are really, they're committed to their rights, they're committed to their communities, they're committed to this democracy. So the last year and a half, we've been in court a lot, having to challenge executive overreach by the Trump Vance administration. And of course, even before that, as you know, because we talked about it three years ago, we were in communities across the country doing everything from helping challenge book bans to helping communities find the resources they needed for important life-saving programs to dealing with the fallout of decisions like Dobbs at the US. Supreme Court.

Andrew Keen (2:01)

What's so extraordinary about our times? America, of course, has had the better or worse in extraordinary history. Is there something extraordinary about what's happened over the last couple of years, especially in this second Trump administration?

Skye Perryman (2:16)

Sure. I mean, this is a country that has had so many extraordinary moments and pivotal moments and times, but we are definitely living amidst one right now.

The attacks on United States democracy, the attacks on the progress that so many people made generations before us are right now at a very, very high point and are unprecedented in many ways. This is not a country that is immune from threats to democracy, from movements that seek to undermine people's rights or the ability of people to thrive in this country. That's always been here since our founding, of course. But we are in a moment now where the question isn't just, are we going to be able to move forward to truly achieve that democracy that works for all people? It's also about whether we're going to be able to hold on to some of the hard earned gains, like equal rights, like voting rights, in the midst of what is a generational threat to people, communities, our Constitution and our democracy.

Andrew Keen (3:17)

Your book comes with some very illustrious blurbers, including Hillary Clinton, the Illinois Governor JB Pritzker, Gloria Steinem, who unfortunately isn't around anymore, Stacey Abrams, the very successful, prominent Georgian activist. They're all Democrats, of course. Are you an adjunct part of the Democratic Party? Are you just against what the Republicans are doing?

Do you have people in the Republican Party who are supporting what you're doing?

Skye Perryman (3:51)

Yeah, I appreciate you highlighting those blurbers very much, but you neglected to highlight people like Michael Steele, who ran the Republican National Committee and Convention for many years, who also blurbed the book and said, it's a book and this is work, regardless of your politics. And that's really what my work has always been about. And that is what the work of Democracy Forward is about. We are open to anybody that wants to be part of the work in this time to promote freedom, to enable communities to thrive. We are going to oppose anyone, regardless of what letter they may have behind their name. If they do things like strip people of their constitutional and due process rights, if they do things like threaten journalists or have masked ICE agents killing American citizens in the street, we will hold them accountable, regardless of what political party they're in. Of course, in this moment, just the facts are that the president is leading the Republican Party, and in many instances, that party is aligning with him behind an agenda that is deeply harmful to the vast majority of Americans, including by the way, Americans that may vote Republican, Americans that may live in red areas like my home state of Waco, Texas. And so that's kind of where the bidding is right now, but I assure you in the same way we fight for everyone, we will oppose anyone that seeks to violate the American people's rights.