This week on the pod, we interviewed two moms in Chicago who were arrested last year for protesting outside of an ICE facility. Nikki and Sarah said that they wanted to draw attention to what’s happening in this country by using their privilege as white suburban moms — moms not so different from Renee Good in Minneapolis.

Not everyone has to go out and get arrested to stand up for immigrants in their community. There are so many ways to get involved, from helping your school with a food drive to going to a local meeting to simply having a conversation with the people in your life.

But before we can take meaningful action, we have to feel all the feelings. Especially after Renee’s tragic murder. So cry, hug a loved one, or scream in your car. And then it’s time to do something about it

Nikki and Sarah's story was already inspiring — suburban moms who were stepping up to defend their neighbors and risk their own safety — but with last week’s news, our conversation with them was more important than ever. We hope you get as much out of it as we did.

For a transcript of this episode, please email comms@redwine.blue.

You can learn more about us at www.redwine.blue or follow us on social media!

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Last night, Red Wine & Blue held a virtual event we called Moms for Good where our community got together to process and grieve for Renee Good, who was killed in Minneapolis last week by a member of ICE.

We talked about how it’s okay to feel all the feelings – sadness, fear, anger, overwhelm – but we also talked about how fear is being used to silence us. As moms, neighbors, and friends, we have to stay in the fight.

Tomorrow on the pod, we’ll be joined by two suburban moms in Chicago who were arrested for protesting ICE last year. Nikki and Sarah were among our guests at last night’s event and you’ll get to hear her story in more detail tomorrow.

If you want to take any of the actions mentioned in this event, here are the links:

• Take action and find resources and organizational links here: https://go.redwine.blue/MomsforGood/Resources
• Contact your member of Congress to hold ICE accountable: https://go.redwine.blue/mfg-callcongress
• Sign up for a Social Bank: https://go.redwine.blue/mfg-socbank
• Find your local TroubleNation group or Start One: https://go.redwine.blue/mfg-tn

For a transcript of this episode, please email comms@redwine.blue.

You can learn more about us at www.redwine.blue or follow us on social media!

Instagram: @RedWineBlueUSA

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Red Wine & Blue is back from the holidays and ready to tackle 2026! So it feels right that we were joined for our first pod of the new year by two of our favorite RWB colleagues, Rebecca and Janice.

All last year, Rebecca did the hard work of tracking Project 2025 as Trump put it into place, one dangerous policy at a time. So of course we had to ask what her strategy has been to do this depressing research every day without losing her shit! She told us that the antidote has been seeing the amazing work that RWB and women across the country did in their local communities all year long.

So to hear more about that on-the-ground work, we also chatted with our North Carolina Program Director, Janice Robinson. Janice and her team have been training women to run for office, protecting kids from ICE at their local schools, and so much more.

The year 2025 may be over, but Project 2025 isn’t going anywhere. The Trump administration plans to continue and expand their authoritarian work in 2026. And although that feels daunting, we know how to counter it: by working in our local communities and talking to our friends, family, and neighbors.

As Rebecca put it, Project 2025 was “an enormous horrible group project” that included the work of hundreds of conservative authors. But we have our own group project to protect our communities and our country—and there’s no telling what millions of passionate women can accomplish when we work together.

2026 is going to be a big year. Let’s go!

For a transcript of this episode, please email comms@redwine.blue.

You can learn more about us at www.redwine.blue or follow us on social media!

Instagram: @RedWineBlueUSA

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Last week, Red Wine & Blue held our last live virtual event of the year. First, Katie Paris shared some of the wins we saw in 2025 elections and how we're approaching 2026.

Then we're joined by our favorite political strategist and event guest, Jess McIntosh, to share some tips and tricks for navigating holiday parties. What should you do if a MAGA relative corners you and insists on a debate? What actually moves the needle, and what's a waste of your energy?

Thanks so much for joining us this year - we'll see you in 2026!

For a transcript of this episode, please email comms@redwine.blue.

You can learn more about us at www.redwine.blue or follow us on social media!

Instagram: @RedWineBlueUSA

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Back in 2020, members of the violent group The Proud Boys jumped a fence and defaced the Black Lives Matter sign at Metropolitan African Methodist Episcopal Church. They filmed themselves destroying the sign while chanting racial epithets.

Metropolitan AME wasn’t the only Black church in D.C. to be attacked that night, but their response to the violence was unique. They sued the Proud Boys for damages, and when the group failed to pay, the church won the rights to their trademark. Now, they’re selling merch using the PB logo to raise money for their Community Justice Fund.

It’s an amazing story, but it’s only the backdrop to our conversation this week with Reverend Lamar. Katie and LaFonda’s conversation with him spanned so many topics, from the importance of storytelling to the power of love to how to have conversations with our family members at the holiday table. They discussed how the far-right has tried to co-opt Christianity but progressive pastors like Rev. Lamar are still fighting for justice and love — you know, actual Christian values.

Rev. Lamar has a book coming out next year called Ancestors: Those Who Bless Us, Curse Us, and Hold Us. He’s more directly connected to the past than most—Metropolitan AME is the oldest continuously Black-owned property in D.C and held the funerals of Frederick Douglass and Rosa Parks—but we’re all shaped by our ancestors. In recognizing our ancestors, we recognize the stories we tell about ourselves.

This conversation is a great way to get in the Christmas spirit, but even if you don’t celebrate, his humanity and leadership are inspiring. We hope you enjoy it.

And if you'd like to join us for our virtual "Pre-Gaming 2026" event, you can learn more and RSVP here.

For a transcript of this episode, please email comms@redwine.blue.

You can learn more about us at www.redwine.blue or follow us on social media!

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We were so lucky this week to be joined by Prentis Hemphill: a therapist, teacher, political organizer, and bestselling author of What It Takes to Heal.

So often we hear women say that things feel deeply wrong right now and they want to do something about it. But how do we engage without losing ourselves? It can feel like pain is the only way to make change, like we can only heal the world if we’re willing to be exhausted and broken ourselves along the way.

Prentis offers a different perspective. What if we can actually heal our systems while healing ourselves? What if it’s not about checking off items on a to-do list? They suggest that if we can be more present, listen with curiosity to ourselves and our neighbors, it doesn’t just make us feel more centered. It’s actually more effective organizing.

You can try out a centering practice with their video here or by checking out their work at prentishemphill.com. And if you’re interested in attending our upcoming virtual event When the World’s on Fire: Caring for Ourselves and Our Kids, you can learn more and RSVP here.

For a transcript of this episode, please email comms@redwine.blue.

You can learn more about us at www.redwine.blue or follow us on social media!

Instagram: @RedWineBlueUSA

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In 2018, Jessica Yellin founded News Not Noise. She’d spent 17 years working in TV news (including as CNN’s Chief White House correspondent) and through those years, she learned that traditional news media is really good at generating anxiety and ratings. What it isn’t so good at is helping people understand what’s really going on (at least, not without a daily panic attack). What we really needed was… well, the news without the noise.

Meanwhile, around that same time, Katie Paris was seeing similar shortcomings in politics itself. Pundits out of Washington, D.C. were trapped in the way things had “always been done,” while Katie was seeing suburban women across the country getting together to make real change in their communities — not just following marching orders from D.C.

When you think about it like that, of course it makes perfect sense that News Not Noise and Red Wine & Blue would collaborate!

The news media has long been under attack by the Trump administration. He’s explicitly called journalists “the enemy of the people,” verbally attacked reporters (especially women), and his latest ridiculous move is launching a new page on the actual White House website called “Media Offender of the Week.”

We’re all for thoughtful media criticism, but this partisan and deeply unserious web page insulting “Democrats and Fake News Media” is… not that.

It’s why we’re so grateful to journalists like Jessica for bringing us political news in a way that helps us understand what actually matters and what’s a mere distraction. Without knowing what’s going on, after all, how can we make a plan to fix it? As the saying goes, “when you know better, you do better.”

For a transcript of this episode, please email comms@redwine.blue.

You can learn more about us at www.redwine.blue or follow us on social media!

Instagram: @RedWineBlueUSA

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This week is Thanksgiving, so we're celebrating gratitude with the RWB fam. We heard from our colleagues about what they're grateful for this year -- from brave kids walking out over ICE to the work we get to do every day to the joys of a good book.

That's not to say that we're not also pissed off! Trump's latest misogynistic jibe (calling a female reporter "piggy") has Katie and LaFonda fuming. But the response we're seeing online from other women and the ways that our communities are standing up to extremism across the country give us hope.

We can hold many things at the same time. 2025 has been an unbelievably difficult year, but it's also been full of moments that make us grateful. We hope you have a safe and happy holiday and we'll see you next week.

For a transcript of this episode, please email comms@redwine.blue.

You can learn more about us at www.redwine.blue or follow us on social media!

Instagram: @RedWineBlueUSA

Facebook: @RedWineBlueUSA

YouTube: @RedWineBlueUSA