For people who don't like the Trump administration's policies or how the Democratic Party has responded, there's a good chance I've Had It has come across their social media feeds.
It only takes a few seconds of listening to get a sense of who hosts Jennifer Welch and Angie "Pumps" Sullivan consider their target audience — and the target of their ire.
"Patriots, Gaytriots, Theytriots, Blacktriots, Browntriots and to all the crusty motherf****** that don't support them, you can f*** off," one recent episode began.
Welch is an interior designer. Sullivan, an attorney. They're two middle-aged suburban women from Oklahoma — and one-time Bravo reality TV stars — whose show has come to represent a vocal coalition of a liberal base who has, well, had it, with Democrats.
"It feels like the 'Preservation Party,' that they want to preserve the status quo," Welch said in an interview. "It almost feels conservative in the sense that they are not evolving and they are not moving."
Speaking to NPR at the end of October, Welch and Sullivan talked about the show's rising popularity and the Democratic Party's unpopularity among voters who say its leaders don't fight against President Trump enough.
"Hakeem Jeffries and Chuck Schumer, they're writing strongly worded letters and it's like, this guy's tearing down democracy," Sullivan said of the House and Senate Democratic leaders. "We need more action than we need strongly worded letters."
The two hosts have different backgrounds — Welch is a lifelong liberal atheist who's always been outspoken and just moved to New York City for a spell, while Sullivan was raised as a conservative evangelical Christian who has slowly become more comfortable with sharing her political views.
Both say that key Democratic Party leaders are not doing enough to stand up for marginalized groups, to support young and progressive candidates like mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani in New York City, or to push back against Trump policies.
One of those recent moments on display was with New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker, who was asked about Israel's war in Gaza. More specifically, he was asked if he thought Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was "a war criminal," allegations that Netanyahu has rejected.
"These are questions that a lot of people think are the important litmus tests that are loaded and hot," Booker said, visibly flustered. "My urgency is to be an effective leader in bringing an end to this crisis. And I get these questions all the time that, to me, undermine my urgency."
The same senator who spoke for 25 hours on the floor in April to protest the Trump administration, Welch said, filibustered what should be a simple yes or no question.
"The thing with Cory Booker is, I can disagree with him if he's f***** honest," Welch said of the interaction. "But to give us a chicken**** cowardice answer about 'Is Benjamin Netanyahu a war criminal?' The answer to that is objectively yes."
Her answer illustrates another reason some folks can't get enough of I've Had It: a brand of raw, unvarnished and often impolite descriptions of American politics right now.
In an episode called "America's Dumbass Dictator" that premiered on Election Day last week, Sullivan bemoaned what she called the "propaganda machine of MAGA" around the suggestion that Trump could illegally run for a third term.
"I feel like we've gone from either you're on the side of legality, the Constitution and democracy, or you're full-blown fascist and you don't give a s***," she said.
Welch says the podcast's tone is just how people talk: "a little bit of gossip, a little bit of policy, a little bit of 'F yous'... it's more digestible, it's more interesting that way."
She also points to Trump's new media successes and how he makes politics more conversational.
"I disagree with everything he says, I think he's a compulsive liar, etcetera… but the way we talk is really the way Trump has been doing it the last ten years on podcasts," Welch said.
Sullivan adds that the duo's self-deprecating humor is key.
"I do think that since we don't take ourselves so seriously — like so many politicians — it makes us more like just a gal pal that you're running around with," she said.
Online, clips from the show have gone viral for their salty language and pejorative descriptions of Trump, Vice President Vance, House Speaker Mike Johnson and other Republicans.
But it's their withering rebukes of Democratic Party leaders — sometimes to their faces — that have also helped the duo gain millions of followers across Instagram, YouTube, TikTok and more.
"Hakeem and Chuckles – that's what we call Chuck Schumer – and the Cory Bookers of the Democratic Party, if they don't get their s*** together, a grifter much like Donald Trump will come in and fill that void," Welch said.
The twice-a-week "I've Had It" and its shorter twice-a-day news counterpart "IHIP News" find themselves on top podcast charts next to shows like the Rachel Maddow Show and the Charlie Kirk Show, amassing hundreds of thousands of views and listens a week across mediums.
"We have all age groups, red states, blue states, rural areas, big cities," Welch added, when asked about who is consuming their content. "What is so interesting about us is that we're middle-aged women from a red state, and it's like, 'Oh my God, white people do care! Also, the fact that we're novel — that, I think, is kinda sad."
At a time when the political podcasting space is dominated by the manosphere and a search for the "Joe Rogan of the Left" to bring voters back to the Democratic Party, the "I've Had It" hosts say their show is trying to nudge elected officials back towards the voters.
"I'm cautious to have the mentality that a lot of leftists do: 'Let's just burn it all down, it's the only way we're going to get better,'" Welch said. "I say, let's confront and push the politicians we have as far as we can. And if that makes them both vulnerable to primary, then they weren't the right leader for us anyway."
Copyright 2025 NPR
