Unlike Saudi Arabia, though, Israel is actively fueling the flames of this war and likely will continue to do so as peace talks advance and a potential permanent end to the conflict comes into view. Hugh Hewitt was willing to say out loud what many others are thinking: that Israel should blow up the negotiations to pursue its own political interests. Israel’s massive strike on Beirut after last month’s ceasefire agreement is an object lesson in precisely this craven willingness to place civilians’ lives in danger in the name of regional dominance. Our conversation then turns to the future: what will make peace possible? And what might make Trump and Netanyahu want to undermine it?

Thanks for tuning in. You can listen to this conversation as a podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and other major streaming platforms.

While Fox News and other right wing media were proudly and openly genocidal, the strategies deployed by the traditionally liberal mainstream press were more subtle. They were also potentially more consequential given that it was a Democratic President who oversaw the bulk of the murder, starvation, and displacement. Biden has faded into the shadows of American politics now, but we can and must ensure that an inescapable and central part of his legacy is the role he played in enabling Netanyahu and his ghouls to end, destroy, and uproot so many lives. Adam’s book provides a comprehensive overview that should be studied by historians and taught to students for years to come in hopes that “Never Again” may one day mean something.

Thanks for listening. This episode is now available on major streaming platforms.

We also connect this conflict and the U.S.’s bungling of the so-called peace talks to a bigger failure on the global scale: other countries, watching the U.S. launch a campaign of destruction, have not spoken out. The lack of outrage, in powerful and wealthy countries like Italy and the U.K., refuse to put any pressure on the U.S. to end the war. And that’s what enables Professor Marandi to say, in what will be a major focus of conversations to come: “This is far bigger than Trump.”

Thank you for listening to KK&F.We’re grateful to you. And we also want to remind you that you can find this episode as a podcast on major streaming services.

Taking a look under the facade of America’s commitment to international peace and democracy — a facade that appears more cracked than ever during Trump’s endless, baseless war — we talk about the U.S.’s violent posturing, how it’s being perceived by Iran, and the instability and lack of control that our country’s defense forces are hiding. This could, we argue, mark the beginning of the end of American hegemony.

Thanks for watching (and for your continued support of the show!). This episode will be available on major streaming platforms, including Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Pandora, and more.

We cover a lot more in this episode, from the conflict’s economic ramifications to Europe’s reaction, Israel’s role in and perspective on the war, and much more. We’re grateful to Murtaza for joining us for this conversation, and we hope you enjoy. Thank you for keeping us ad-free! You can listen to this episode on major streaming platforms.

As Angie puts it, there’s “more of us than there are of them.” Though Trump and the Mar-a-Lago set have sought to create the Sunshine State in their own image, we have cause to believe that coalition can’t hold, and Angie’s potential win in the Senate race would be a major sea change. As she points out, Trump has a Democratic representative! And hey, he voted by mail. Krystal and Angie have a lively conversation about Angie’s grassroots, pro-union and progressive campaign, what it means for the state of Florida, and what her path to the seat is.

Thanks for listening. You can listen to this podcast on major streaming platforms, like Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Pandora, and more.

America is making worse than a fool of itself in Iran, as weeks of casualties and destruction have piled up and Trump’s war (co-fought with Israel, of course) is losing him major support. As we watch gas prices go up, we also watch Trump continue to lock in on his senseless war, and it’s becoming clearer and clearer every day that not only do our elected officials have anything but our best interests in mind, but they also just can’t govern to begin with. This belongs to a larger international context, from the kidnapping of Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro to Trump’s squeezing of the Cuban government and people to pursue his own economic and political agenda there.

Trump should be scrambling to save face with his base. And he’s pursued a pretty shoddy, patchwork half-plan to make “peace” in Iran, but that hasn’t worked either! Meanwhile, what remains to be seen is also how he continues to try and cover up his (extensive) presence in the Epstein files. We talk about the unraveling regime, Trump’s own view of his image and legacy, and the role progressive politicians have to play here to help take down our tyrant.

Thanks for joining us for another week of KK&F! You can listen to this episode as a podcast on major streaming platforms.

It’s not a pretty picture of the darkest corners of the internet, but it’s a necessary and detailed one, and we hope our conversation serves as a provocation to acknowledge and challenge that increasingly influential part of our culture. You can listen to this episode on major streaming platforms, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Pandora, and more.

Thanks for joining us for this conversation. And thank you for keeping us ad-free! You can listen to this podcast tomorrow on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Pandora, and other major streaming platforms.

AI regulation is more of an imperative than ever, and the discussion of the threat of automation taking jobs from workers in a country without UBI came well before AI. But the advent of ever more sophisticated forms of AI has moved its reach into the white-collar workforce, and as it strengthens its stranglehold on increasingly vast swaths of American industry, the time is now to protect jobs and legislate against economic monopoly. We talk about all of this and more. Thanks for tuning in! You can listen to this podcast on major streaming platforms, like Spotify, Pandora, Apple Podcasts, and more.

A lot has been made on the American left about Zohran Mamdani’s endorsement of Kathy Hochul for re-election as New York governor. The move struck some as a surprise. After all, Hochul is very much a mainstream Democrat. She endorsed Mamdani, but she does not belong to the tradition of class-struggle politics that elevated Zohran to an incredible upset in the mayoral race. Now Mamdani has returned the endorsement, and the distance between his own political commitments and his endorsee’s has caused friction among some of his supporters. Our discussion of this topic focuses on the thin line Zohran is walking when it comes to sticking to his principles and actually making sure that they are realized in successful policy.

We also talk about how the bombshell of the Epstein files release (with much more to come, if the government is actually held to the law) is revealing a shadow government of moneyed interests at the helm of American politics. Billionaires guilty of the most heinous and brutal crimes have yet to face real repercussions. Now, the arrest of disgraced former prince Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor shows that the shock of the information unearthed in the Epstein files may actually cause some political consequences. We fit this discussion into the context of class warfare, contextualizing it with considerations of how those implicated by the Epstein files’ release have the power to scapegoat and attack immigrants, trans people, and other civilians they designate as “political enemies” to distract from their behavior.

Thanks for tuning in to KK&F. You can listen to this episode this evening on major streaming platforms.

We hope you enjoy our conversation. This episode is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Pandora, and other major streaming platforms.

As far as the Epstein files are concerned in this episode, we’ve basically learned that the most powerful men in our society participated in a vast child sex trafficking ring but also went to the greatest possible lengths to hide it and to protect its major architect, Jeffrey Epstein. Revelations about the role of billionaire overlords like Bill Gates and their deference and loyalty to Epstein reveal the manipulative powers Epstein wielded over those who willingly participated in his disgusting crimes.

Thanks for listening. You can listen to this episode when it’s released tomorrow on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Pandora, and more.

Krystal’s interview with Ken lets us get into the nitty-gritty of what’s actually going on within the shadowy evil of DHS, what it will mean for people affiliated and unaffiliated with resistance, and what we can do while the government struggles to cement its control over American life. This episode is available to everyone via Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Pandora, and other major streaming services.

These right-wing influencers’ public displays are absolutely linked to hatefulness and the desire to oppress entire groups of people right-wingers view as subhuman, and also, they’re not all based in the exact same ideological tendencies. We think about how the point has often been to “trigger the libs,” and the more triggering the actions and words are, the more fascist salutes and insanely evil statements happen on camera, the more these people have fulfilled their goal. We’re seeing that these people increasingly aren’t putting limits on what they’re willing to say and that they actually feel more and more emboldened (and platformed) when it comes to testing those limits as much as they can. It’s pretty depressing to watch all of this play out among the state-run terror Trump is raining down on American communities like Minneapolis, where literal five-year-old children are being put in concentration camps. F**k all of this. We need to dismantle the platforms these people have, to radicalize their followers against violence and fascism, and to take away the power the right-wing influencer world has to rot our society.

This episode is available on major streaming platforms like Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Pandora, and more.

We think through the avenues of legal and political authority that could prevent these nightmarish outcomes by holding Trump, Vance, and their national takeover at bay. The Supreme Court will play a huge role in all of this, and we should keep our eyes on them to exercise the power they have been given to stop exactly this kind of situation. When it comes to preventing illegal election cancellations or the invocation of the Insurrection Act, the opportunity to intervene and pull the U.S. back from the brink is theirs. There’s cautious optimism in our conversation that this truly unique moment of terror will force the Supreme Court to recognize the importance of rejecting Trump’s fascist moves. Still, like so many other political actors and institutions, the Court’s willingness to actually act on that recognition is up in the air. In our discussion, we imagine, for better and for worse, what will actually come next.

Thanks for listening! You can catch this episode on major streaming platforms like Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Pandora, and more.

In this episode we discuss what that organization could look like, what is already happening, and why the abolition of ICE is, as it’s been for nonwhite immigrant communities for so long, a matter of life or death. We’re grateful to Graham for joining us for this truly heartbreaking and sobering episode that makes us confront this decisive moment in our country’s history.

This also provides us with an opportunity to think critically about the faults of JD Vance and Gavin Newsom. We don’t have time to get into everything that’s wrong with JD Vance as a political figure. But here’s what we picked out for our discussion: He’s an incredible hypocrite who has sold old anti-Trump political commitments down the river. Vance has proven himself willing to say and do anything, putting down his own family members, to grab at power and latch on to what the MAGA base wants to see from him if they’re willing to vote him into higher office. (Yikes!)

It’s a jam-packed episode, one that takes on contemporary political and cultural trends we’re going to have to contend with seriously to make sure that younger generations of voters are not radicalized to profoundly conservative and inhumane ideas about what masculinity means and who should run our country. Even if it’s not the most lighthearted conversation, we think there’s a lot to learn here, and we hope you enjoy! This episode’s available to everyone via major streaming platforms.

Is it time for accelerationism? We talk about how everything just seems to be getting worse, and how Trump is hitting the gas on destroying American life. There’s always the belief that, as we put it, voters have to “touch the hot stove” and see how bad things can get (and they’re getting pretty bad!) before they fully reject and denounce Trumpism. After all, most anti-Trump politicians are famously bad at offering alternatives that appeal to working-class voters. At the same time, it might be the case that the possibility of coalition between liberals and leftists seems closer than ever. The Republican coalition is undergoing an absolute meltdown, with fragmentation over everything from Trump’s handling of the Epstein files to antisemitism and Islamophobia in the party. We’re looking at a political landscape that could blow up at any moment. Keith takes us through the moment we’re living in and where the conventional arrangement of American politics is headed.

Thanks for joining us! You can listen to this episode now on major streaming platforms, as well as here on Substack.

We also talk honestly about the struggles his campaign will face. It basically goes without saying that other candidates have money — dirty money, family money — on their side. Grassroots funding and support will make a big difference in this race. It’s also difficult to be the only candidate brave enough to raise political consciousness about what truly isn’t working for his potential constituents: pointing out what needs to change is already tough, and getting people on board with a vision to change it is even harder. Cameron has been an outspoken critic of Israel’s genocide in Gaza, meaning he’s also going to have to battle Zionist opposition, and as you may remember from Zohran’s campaign, that opposition is willing to go extremely low. But Cameron’s big sell is that your paycheck shouldn’t be eaten up entirely by rent and healthcare, and it also shouldn’t fund human rights abuses abroad. We think it’s a compelling vision that could form part of a progressive tide sweeping American politics.

Thanks for tuning in. You can listen to this episode on Apple Podcasts, Pandora, Spotify, and more.

She was also able to highlight everything that the Republican Party has failed to do in Tennessee, despite how powerful Trump’s rhetoric has been there — people are clearly beginning to reject that rhetoric as hypocritical and harmful to their communities. Aftyn and her coalition aren’t going to let Republicans privatize the Tennessee Valley Authority. And they’re not going to let people like Van Epps coast into office on anti-worker platforms.

What does it mean to turn to political satire when the state of our nation feels beyond parody, and what kind of revelatory and radical potential does comedy really have? Now seems like the time to find out. How do we keep clowning on Trump as successfully as possible, and how does comedy fit into the landscape of political action against this evil, oafish, endlessly mockable man? We offer some answers in Episode 254, and we hope you’ll find them both insightful and, of course, funny! You can listen to this episode when it’s released tomorrow on major streaming platforms like Spotify, Substack, Pandora, Apple Podcasts, and more.

We talk to Andradi and Simpson about how Trump’s failures in office call for Democratic leadership, why the old guard isn’t meeting the moment, and what we can do about it. You can listen to this conversation as a podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and other streaming platforms.

Kathy Hochul has long been a fixture of New York politics. As Governor of New York, she’s a major player in the Democratic establishment. But Democratic leadership in the state of New York are now looking to Zohran Mamdani as part of a democratic socialist vanguard looking to transform City Hall into an institution that works for the working class. Zohran’s election was particularly telling. People like Hochul either refrained from supporting Mamdani or waited until the last minute to do so. They see his mayoralty as a sign of even more widespread rejection of the status quo among New York voters.

Antonio’s campaign for Governor of New York is another force in this sweeping movement toward left populist governance. We talk to him about what a Delgado-led New York would look like. You can listen to this episode on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and other major streaming platforms!

Again, we’re so grateful to the insightful Ryan Grim for joining us again on KK&F — one of our favorite friends of the show! Remember, you can listen to the audio of this episode when it’s released tomorrow night on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Pandora, and other major streaming platforms.

Max points to the difference in scale, speed, and coordination as Trump ramps up the voter suppression tactics that have just become politics as usual in American “democracy.” He takes us through the new restrictions, district formations, and policies that will deny Americans — again, overwhelmingly, people of color and people from low-income areas — the right to decide the country’s leadership. As he puts it, it’s a “five-alarm fire for American democracy.” Who among our elected leadership will step up and put up a fight?

We hope that our conversation in Episode 250 of KK&F will provide answers! You can listen to this episode on major streaming platforms.

The Republican Party establishment, in other words, is in crisis as party members scramble, in increasingly obvious ways, to cover up the involvement of the world’s most powerful people in child trafficking and sexual abuse. It comes down to whether or not Republicans can run out the clock and continue to delay the seating of Democratic legislators, as they have tried to do and are trying to do now. Our conversation with Ro illustrates exactly what’s happening right now as he, Massie, and their supporters fight to make sure Trump and his lackeys can’t put the files out of sight and out of mind. We hope you’ll appreciate Ro’s insight into the inner workings of our legislative body as some of its members try to get justice for the survivors of Epstein’s crimes, and as they’re forced to go up against the president and his supporters in order to do so.

We hope you’ll enjoy this conversation with a fearless fighter going up against government fascism. You can listen to the episode above or on all streaming services, including Spotify, Pandora, and Apple Podcasts. See you next week!

How will politicians continue to keep the pressure on the government to cease our support of the genocide, even as a ceasefire may give us a false sense that the struggle has ended? We talk to Abdul about this important question. You can listen to this episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Pandora, and more.

Believing in the basic rights of your fellow Americans could get you labeled an extremist on gender, race, and immigration status. So while we’re all extremists over here, how can we fight back? What follows is an insightful and compelling conversation with an extremely talented journalist who’s covering the issues that mean the most to us. Thanks for tuning in! You can listen to this episode when it releases tonight on Spotify, Apple Music, Substack, Pandora, and more.

Chris also helps us understand, by thinking about the massive unpopularity of fascist regimes in history, that fighting back is possible, and that our overlords don’t have the numbers (even though they have the money. In our conversation with one of the leading voices on why we should reject fascist control, we dig deep into the quickly escalating war our government is waging against the people, and what we can learn from the past.

Things have spiraled quickly into a dark moment for freedom of speech. People have been fired from their jobs for voicing negative opinions about Kirk, others have been doxxed, and as a recent media flurry has focused on, Jimmy Kimmel’s show has been suspended for some pretty benign remarks about the conservative freakout. This week, we discuss and debate with Cenk about where things are headed and what we can do about it.

Thanks for tuning in to KK&F. You can listen to this podcast episode via major streaming platforms, including Spotify, Pandora, Apple Podcasts, and more. See you next week!

Joy Reid is a household name. Her show on MSNBC has drawn millions of viewers, and she’s covered everything from the Iraq war to the Trump years. Now, after being fired from MSNBC earlier this year, she’s continuing with The Joy Reid Show, a podcast and YouTube series airing daily. What was it like to leave the channel where she built such a massive following, and why did it happen in the first place? She says that after she spoke out on Israel’s violence following October 7, she was getting HR complaints, others cautioning her not to talk about it and risk being fired. Her own convictions — her commitment to the journalistic profession, to its standards of truth and courage, and her desire to use her platform for good — led her to speak out against the mainstream media narrative demonizing Palestinians and denying their genocide.

Joy also gives us really important insight into the changing landscape at MSNBC leading up to and through the Trump years. She recalls other commentators — Melissa Harris-Perry comes to mind — who were treated badly and pushed out by the network for not conforming to the demands it made on its employees. Watching the repressive attitude at the outlet over the last decade and more, Joy’s able to give insight into what the network wanted its liberal audience to hear and what it didn’t.

We hope you’ll enjoy this conversation; thanks for listening. This episode will be available as a podcast tonight on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Pandora, and other major streaming platforms.

Who gives a f**k about the celebrity news of the week? We’re not engaging at all in whataboutism when we notice the utter lack of coverage given to the defining crime against humanity of this century. While bread and circuses grab public attention in the U.S., there are unbelievably courageous people working with practically no international support or material aid to do what they can in keeping Palestinians alive. Dr. Mo is one such person. He’s made multiple trips to Gaza and seen what many Westerners are too afraid or cowardly to see. The driving force of our conversation is the grief and outrage that he feels when noting the lack of aid coming in from other nations to make the lifesaving work of doctors on the ground in Gaza possible (and also to keep those doctors safe). Quite the opposite, in a place like the U.S., where our tax dollars fund Israel’s genocide and our president completely supports and enables Netanyahu. Dr. Mo’s work has also been to bring attention to this situation, calling on world leaders to pay attention to what they don’t want to pay attention to.

There’s nothing harder to listen to than Dr. Mo’s account of the brutality that Palestinians face as they’re murdered and mortally wounded at every moment, while the rest of the world turns away. He’s seen children covered in burns and given them treatment. He was one of the first people to enter Gaza after the Central Kitchen Workers were killed. He’s seen the evil tricks the IOF play to use the humanity of Palestinians against them and kill them in cold blood. But Dr. Mo sees the humanity of Palestinians as the reason why they will be free. That level of care for others, that unrelenting bravery and sense of justice with which they approach every day and care for one another in the face of death, will overcome the brutal, inhuman, and pathetic cruelty of Israel. Our conversation covers both grief and hope, and although it’s difficult to hear, we hope you, too, won’t turn away.

Thanks for tuning in. You can listen to this conversation starting tonight on major streaming platforms.

Please disregard the previous Episode 240 with Richard Ojeda which was sent out as it contained an audio error. This version corrects that issue. Our sincere apologies for the mistake! We are troubleshooting our process to make sure it does not reoccur.

Sincerely,

The KK&F Team

That’s exactly the mission Richard’s on, seeking to offer something other than mainstream Democrats’ stock response to the loss of the party’s working-class base. We discuss Richard’s path to victory and what that victory would mean for working people. You can listen to this episode as a podcast starting tonight on major streaming platforms. Thanks for tuning in.

We take a look at the larger phenomenon of celebrating Christian, right-wing, and tradwife culture within right-wing circles, a confluence that ultimately seeks to remove women from social life and force them into emotional and physical submission to their male partners, upon whom they are totally reliant. Part of Tate’s disgusting attitude toward and treatment of women is his understanding of them as property rather than people, like (as we point out) a crypto coin or a gig economy. Evolving from the twentieth-century patriarchal practice of trapping women in marriages are new phenomena of exploiting and violating women, and Andrew Tate is just one example — a very powerful example.

Thanks for joining us for Episode 239 of KK&F. This episode is available as a podcast on major streaming platforms.

Our conversation turns to holding Dem electeds accountable for supporting genocide in Gaza, and when those Democrats enter an election year, how to approach a vote. Jennifer talks to us about how Democrats accepting AIPAC money and funding Israel’s grievous war crimes do not reflect the views of the people that those Democrats represent. Still, she offers voting for those Democrats as the highest priority during an election year. Jennifer shares that she’s seen the result of Trump’s regressive policies on people in her community, and that from her perspective, the most important thing is to use one’s vote to make sure that Democrats beat back the Republican MAGA wave. We discuss the multiple sides on this issue and consider how to value the importance of voting blue no matter who while America continues to fund a genocide, with the support of some Democrats.

Thanks for tuning in. You can listen to this podcast on major streaming platforms like Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and more.

And, of course, we talk about how electeds — especially Democrats — are still (STILL!) voting to send offensive weapons to the IOF to perpetuate the genocide in Gaza. We talk about how this support for Israel works. Is it ideological? What is its basis, and why is it worth it? Finally, we discuss the importance of political education as a weapon to combat corrupting money in our elections — one of the most important ways the left has to take back control of what’s going on over on the Hill.

Thanks for tuning in to this conversation on KK&F. This episode is available on Spotify, Pandora, Apple Podcasts, and other major streaming platforms.

Andrew’s interview with Hunter Biden, released last week, ran the gamut from an extremely based defense of immigrants including an El Salvador invasion threat, to expletive laden tirades against George Clooney and the Pod Save Bros. It was, in other words, great content. It was also a rare look at a man who we’ve mostly seen through tabloid headlines and leaked photos from that infamous laptop.

Whatever else you can say about Hunter, his business dealings and art sales are absurdly quaint compared to the Trump family’s corrupt dealings cashing in on the presidency through crypt scams and corrupt foreign business deals.

Thanks for tuning in. You can listen to this episode as a podcast when it’s released on major streaming platforms.

We also look at everything Trump has said that attests to his involvement in the sexual exploitation of young women and history of sexual harassment and abuse. Now, Trump is trying to divert attention away from any proof of connection to Epstein. The big question is whether he’ll get away with it. This article from the New York Times maps out how Trump’s most important allies, both inside and outside of his administration, are split over whether the base should allow him to demand we move on from his Epstein connections, or whether those connections deserve more scrutiny and public attention. With Ben, we dive into the political implications of that rift, thinking about Trump’s next few years in office and the potential (in)stability of the MAGA cult caused by polarization around this issue.

Thanks for tuning in to KK&F. You can listen to this episode as a podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Pandora, and other major streaming platforms.

Our conversation also covers how off-track Democratic electeds see from the actual positions of their constituents on important issues. Opposition to Israel’s genocide (and full support of Israel from most of our government) shows how disconnected from its voter base the Democratic Party has become. We critique the lack of a true opposition party to Trump’s fascist evils and consider what in our political system needs to change.

Thanks for tuning in to Krystal Kyle & Friends. This episode will be available as a podcast when it’s released tomorrow on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Pandora, and more.

It seems almost hard to believe that these legislators, from the most powerful to the least, are willing to sacrifice their last shreds of respectability in the eyes of their constituents for a golf shirt. In this conversation with David Dayen, we lock in on how Republicans are caving to Trump without a fight and how the smallest and most frivolous of favors and gifts are enough to get them on board with what Bernie Sanders is calling “the worst piece of legislation in modern American history.”

Thanks for joining us for another episode of KK&F. You can listen to this episode as a podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Pandora, and other major streaming platforms.

Also in this episode, Pastor Dixon brings our attention to a serious problem sweeping social media, especially X: violent rhetoric directed at the black community, pointing toward actual mob violence. He points to Grok’s assessment of this rhetoric on X, which predicted a 50 percent chance of targeted violence against the black community in the next 18 months and a 30 percent chance of mob violence in the next two years. It’s a terrifying and bleak time as we witness the encouragement of disgusting racism from the highest echelons of our government.

We talk about this time and what the left can do about it in this week’s episode. Thanks for tuning in. Today’s episode is also available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Pandora, and more.

When Krystal and Cenk last spoke in December (full convo here) Cenk expressed a sense of optimism that the the populist right and the bro comedians in Trump’s coalition would both hold him accountable and create the possibility of some genuinely beneficial outcomes. Has this prediction been vindicated? What ultimately is the most effective strategy to block the worst of Trump’s horrors, win elections, and end the rise of fascism in America? Krystal, Kyle, and Cenk get into all this and much more in a spirited debate. Enjoy!

This episode is also available on major streaming platforms like Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Pandora, and more.

We also talk about the potential of a Trump impeachment. From Trump’s NFTs and crypto scams to his refusal to divest from his businesses, it looks like there are plenty of cases for removing Trump from office. How can we turn that into a situation that translates to lower numbers for Republicans at the polls? We get Pisco’s thoughts on the question of Trump’s impeachment — which becomes a question of when Republicans in the House will grow a backbone and turn the party away from fascism. Watch our thoughts on this, as well as the upcoming NYC election, above.

Thanks for joining us for KK&F. Remember that you can listen to this episode on major streaming platforms like Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Pandora, and more.

By his account, the way for Democrats to move forward isn’t denying that this erosion of the Democratic voter base is happening; the Dems need to confront the erosion head-on in order to win people back. In the age of Trump, and especially as Trump destroys our social support system, filling in political potholes won’t be enough. Renewing faith in our political institutions, as he suggests, will. Getting money out of politics will, too. Those are the things Saikat is interested in accomplishing in office, and we’re excited to see the rest of his campaign.

Thanks for tuning in! You can listen to this episode on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Pandora, and more.

That’s why, with our brilliant guest, we take on the topic of what political strategies will be necessary to combat this newest stage in our country’s political development. How can a grassroots left, disassembled and demoralized post-Sanders and in the wake of a second Trump win, circle its wagons and pose a real threat to the tech goons stripping our world for parts? Naomi sees an opportunity for people to “get out of our little comfort zones” and build a broad coalition that pits the many against the few.

You can listen to this podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Pandora, and other major streaming platforms.

To Omar, the hard truth is that these measures as they exist right now constitute a “fig leaf” — not enough to put actual pressure on Israel to change, but enough to allow these leaders, down the road, to claim that they stood up to Israel. What would standing up to Israel look like? Omar suggests that cutting off diplomatic relations — ostracizing Israel until it stops killing Palestinians — is the step these countries will have to take if they actually support the Palestinian cause.

Thanks for tuning in. Remember that you can listen to this episode as a podcast tomorrow on Spotify, Pandora, Apple Podcasts, and more.

It’s a harrowing story that, according to Hasan, likely doesn’t have to do with just one individual agent pursuing an agenda; Hasan felt like they knew who he was. We hope you enjoy this exclusive episode, and remember, you can listen to it as a podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Pandora, and more.

Lisa points out that crypto accounts for a significant amount of recent election spending, even though it’s relatively new — and the lack of regulation of this scam means people like Trump can get away with using it to buy power and influence. Under the auspices of a meme coin, Trump is able to line his own pockets, as he tried to do via a crypto-friendly executive order that Public Citizen called out in January, during Trump’s first days in office. The whole thing is a disgusting racket of billionaire self-interest and self-promotion using our own government as a means to private wealth, and we’re grateful to advocates like Lisa who have spent the first days of Trump’s administration calling out his abuses of power.

Thanks for tuning in. You can listen to this episode as a podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Pandora, and other major streaming platforms.

We also talk with David about Canadian-American relations, strained by Trump’s aggressive and American-exceptionalist leadership, and the threats of annexation and border changes that Trump has suggested he’d like to impose on our neighbors to the north. The elections serve as a sampling of Canadian national opinion on what they’d like the future of their country to be like; ideally, it seems, Trump is nowhere in the picture.

Thanks for watching. You can listen to this episode as a podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Pandora, and more.

It’s because he knows that the tariffs are not popular and not working. Dr. Wolff walks us through the tariffs’ reception and effects, and it’s not a happy story, either for American consumers or for foreign governments. Increased inflation and job loss threaten working people in America as a result of the tariffs, and they’re sure not to help Trump curry favor with the working class. Globally, Dr. Wolff also shows how other countries cutting or reducing economic ties with the U.S. to lessen the impact of U.S. tariffs on the global economy will result in increased isolation for the U.S. as China continues to grow its power.

Thanks for tuning in. This episode is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Pandora, and more.

Ben shows in our conversation how these were just more of Trump’s lies, everywhere from the desire of Americans to return to factory jobs (polling shows they don’t want to) to way higher prices, consumer freakouts about loss of access to goods, longer delivery times, and an overall mess in the economy that could have way bigger shockwaves as it continues to grow. Reindustrialization isn’t going to happen like this, and Ben walks us through the how and the why, from the fact that this could result in a global recession to the devaluation of the American dollar that’s happening now.

We hope you enjoy this wide-ranging conversation, which touches on everything from the trade war to Trump’s cruel and inhumane deportation policy, which we’re getting increasingly horrifying news about from El Salvador and from immigrant communities around the U.S. You can listen to this episode as a podcast when it’s released tomorrow night on Spotify, Substack, Pandora, Apple Podcasts, and more.

These are two examples of the new grassroots campaigns coming up through a withered, toothless Democratic Party to take it on and revitalize it for working people. We hope you’ll enjoy Jackson and Kat’s reflections on what it’s like to imagine changing a party from the inside and how they plan to make it happen if elected. You can listen to this episode as a podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Pandora, and other streaming platforms.

We could be staring down the barrel of a global recession as Trump slaps trade partners with major tariffs, particularly triggering a crisis in US relations with China — which is reciprocating the tariffs. Then there’s the crazy (big if true???) news that Musk is on his way out. How would this influence the far right’s rampage through our social support network? We chat about it with Michael, who’s heard the rumors and has insight into how the clown car would keep rolling without the attention-grabbing Musk at the temporary helm.

Thanks for tuning in. You can listen to this episode as a podcast on Spotify, Substack, Pandora, and more.

All states’ voter files, as Greg explains, would be open to Elon under this order, since he’s the DOGE (ugh) administrator. The point is to stop “aliens” from voting in elections, removing them from voter rolls, and the extent of the voter suppression will clearly go well beyond this stated goal to push Trump and Elon’s bid for endless power. Greg gives us some necessary background on the history of voter suppression that has actually done very little to address the tiny number of so-called “illegal aliens” who do vote in American elections, facing massive consequences. He reminds us that Trump can’t name three people who voted illegally, not to mention three million. Yet these people are the scapegoats for the Republicans’ ugly project of making sure working people can’t vote for their own interests. What remains to be seen is how the political establishment absorbs this news and how the so-called opposition party chooses to fight back.

You can listen to this episode as a podcast on Spotify, Pandora, Apple Podcasts, and more.

Yes, it’s bleak, but people are fighting back — from government employees getting fired left and right to grassroots organizers watching their communities face instability and lose important resources. We’ll continue to cover the developing story of Trump’s post-’28 ambitions, and we’ve also got plenty of lighter material to cover. Plus, Bernie’s increasingly urgent call to progressives to run as independents could mean there’s some hope for a real opposition. We’ll talk about all this and more in this week’s episode of KK&F. You can listen to this episode tomorrow as a podcast on Spotify, Pandora, Apple Podcasts, and more.

A particular important victory comes in the form of the Supreme Court’s 5-4 decision to rule Trump’s freeze on USAID funding unconstitutional. Weissman tells the amazing story of how Public Citizen and other groups are suing Trump for violating the Constitution, but that in general, Trump’s powerful and endlessly wealthy machine can simply wait out and run red tape around these completely legitimate cases. However, in the case of USAID, something different happened. Multiple courts found that Trump’s team had defied court orders and potentially the Constitution, and even though the government tried to ignore a temporary order from a judge demanding that the USAID funding be unfrozen, they were eventually held to account by (of all things!) the Supreme Court.

This is a story of hope and, for both existing and nascent political organizations opposing Trump fascism, inspiration. We’re glad to have Robert on the show to shine a light on this important story in hopes that it’s one of many. You can listen to this episode as a podcast on Spotify, Pandora, Apple Podcasts, and more.

What is Trump actually trying to accomplish here? Will he follow through next time at a time when the US is also in danger of slipping into recession? Is he actually trying to annex Canada as he has frequently insisted? Luke helps us explore the question of what the hell Trump is actually thinking with this disastrous policy.

Looming over Cabinet meetings and following the president around like a shadow, Musk seems to be setting the terms for what the Trump agenda has in store. Which leads us to a disturbing conclusion: Because Trump is so “nakedly transactional,” what are the chances an actual transaction took place? We don’t think it’s that hard to imagine Musk, the richest man in the world, buying out the highest position of power in the world in exchange for infinite campaign funds. We get into this and plenty of other shockers on this week’s episode of KK&F. You can listen to this as a podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and other streaming services.

We’re grateful to Greg for taking the time to bring attention to this critical story, which could have serious implications for the future of our political landscape and our understanding of the current scope of voter suppression happening in our country. Thanks for listening to Krystal Kyle & Friends. You can listen to this episode as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Pandora, and more.

In case you missed it, Tuesday featured a press conference with Musk and Trump as the latter announced an executive order to give the former even more power over government spending.. In reporting on the presser, our guest Judd notes DOGE’s goal as described by one source close to the organization, “to depress workforce morale and increase attrition” within government employment, basically forcing people out of jobs and making government jobs less tenable, more dysfunctional work environments. Judd breaks the situation down for us and helps us get a sense of where Elon might be headed.

This episode is available as a podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Pandora, and other major streaming platforms.

Gil offers truly valuable insight into the psychology of Musk’s insane, unprecedented power play: his “shock and awe” tactics, eliciting praise from the far right that has assumed power, are protected by the certainty of a pardon from Trump if his antics go too far. That sense of security is why he felt comfortable doing a Hitler salute at the inauguration festivities, and why he’s empowered to destroy our government agencies for the sake of destruction. Elon’s true danger is that he wants to see how far he can go, and with Trump backing him, the limit to his power to make millions of lives miserable may not exist.

This episode is available on Spotify, Pandora, Apple Podcasts, and other major streaming platforms.

Pushing the issue to a potential crisis is the revelation that China can produce cheaper, better AI, and has been able to do so for a while. Air is starting to come out of the U.S. tech bubble already: in one day, over one trillion dollars of market capital in U.S. and E.U. tech companies collapsed. DeepSeek AI, the Chinese company completely revolutionizing the entire lucrative and hot-button field of AI, is open-source: anyone can access the code and understand how it works, for free. In our conversation with Ben, we chat about why this newest development is so important to the story of the U.S. stock market bubble, how and when a collapse could happen, and more. This episode will be available tomorrow on Spotify, Pandora, Apple Podcasts, and other major streaming platforms. Thanks for listening!

This episode is available as a podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Pandora, and more.

So long, Biden. In this episode, we look back over his presidency, mourn the lost opportunities, note the accomplishments, and get ready for what’s to come. You can listen to this episode on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Pandora, and more.

We’re so grateful to have Owen back on the pod to share his thoughts on everything from Elon’s British Invasion to the current state of the far-right frenzy that skyrocketed Trump back into the White House. He describes what it’s been like, from the perspective of a leftist British journalist, to watch Trump’s second ascendancy to power and to interview Americans espousing views that, in the U.K. and elsewhere abroad, would be considered even farther-right than they are here in the U.S. We’ve normalized that as part of our daily post-2016 political discourse, but it’s a sobering reminder that what we’re living through isn’t in fact normal — it’s a significant right shift that the left will be fighting for decades. What can we do to reverse those trends and rebuild class consciousness?

We hope you enjoy the conversation! This episode is available on Spotify, Pandora, Apple Podcasts, and other streaming platforms.

Take the ambiguity in the Republicans’ use of “populist” as a descriptor of their political project. If that word can be used to describe anybody from Steve Bannon to Vivek Ramaswamy, Elon Musk, and of course Donald Trump himself — all while ignoring the fact that these political figures actively reject popular policies for public welfare — it shows that the Republicans can serve up a broad span of austerity-focused policies while still applying a grassroots label.

We discuss these party schisms, the future of robber-baron Elon Musk in Trump’s admin, and much more. You can tune in to this podcast on Spotify, Pandora, Apple Podcasts, and more. Thanks for listening!

Matt helps us flip that case on its head, pointing out the waste of money and talents that is our private healthcare system and the ways that single-payer can revolutionize this (beyond the most important thing of all, which is that nobody in this country is forced to suffer or die because payment forms a barrier to care). Matt indicates that there’s another way forward without the waste, privation, and cruelty of our current healthcare system, and in this episode, we like to think we make a strong case.

Thanks for listening! You can listen to this episode as a podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Pandora, and more.

All of this points to the importance of the media’s role in managing public perception of significant events like the UnitedHealthcare CEO’s shooting, and we’re glad to have Ken with us to explain that importance and help us understand how the mainstream media is wielding it. You can listen to this episode on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and other platforms.

Who is the cast of characters currently taking shape as Trump’s next admin, and who do we need to watch out for? You’ll hear about all of this and more on this week’s episode of KK&F. You can listen to this episode as a podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and other streaming platforms.

We can expect to see many similar heel turns from mainstream media outlets, corporations, and the like as Trump returns to power and sets the nation’s political agenda for years to come. Staunch opponents of Trump will show themselves to be opportunistic, savvy readers of the financial and political landscape, as our conversation with Steve reveals. We get into this greater phenomenon of media’s allegiances to political figures — especially in the case of those switching sides from the Biden era to the Trump era — and what it tells us about our relationship to politics, the truth, and our leadership.

Thanks for tuning in. You can listen to this conversation as a podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and more.

Our guest also makes the interesting observation that there’s a similarity to Trumpism here in the way AMLO was presented in the media — appearances in the news often featured one member of his government surrounded by opponents, answering for AMLO’s agenda (of course, very different from Trump’s). Now, we turn our focus to how this relationship between government and media will evolve with the new President Sheinbaum, and how her version of left-wing governance will be informed by AMLO’s legacy. We get into it plenty more in the rest of the episode! You can listen to this episode as a podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Substack, and more.

As Bernie Sanders pointed out in a recent post-election statement, do we think the top Democratic operatives will learn anything from this? Probably not. Their jobs are cushy, and they’re used to hopping from Biden to Kamala to, who knows, Newsom or Buttigieg next time — or to a Republican if that’s where all the money goes. But because the rest of us are stuck with four years of Trump, we need to know what happened Tuesday night — and Episode 199 of KK&F has some good answers to start with. We hope you enjoy listening.

This episode is available as a podcast on Spotify, Pandora, Apple Podcasts, and more.

In terms of austerity, Will doesn’t believe that Trump will be an austerity president, but he does personally believe that the excesses of our government, its inefficiency in using the money it commands, point to the argument that spending cuts are in order and that we need to tighten our belts. Krystal argues that Trump’s plan to fund the government with tariffs and get rid of income tax will result in austerity, regardless of his policy proposals otherwise, and Will’s perspective is that this latest proposal from Trump is just eleventh-hour food for thought, not a genuine plan. We can certainly agree with our guest that Trump’s rhetorical and political style tends toward the wild and unpredictable — but, as in the case with his latest wacky proposal to seriously undermine a major source of revenue for our government, it’s hard to tell reality from fiction, and to know when we should be concerned.

You can listen to this episode as a podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Pandora, and more.

It’s more than a little scary to think about where Elon’s power play is headed, and what degree of influence over society will be enough. Sam does a great job of taking us through how the political conditions Trump created have been favorable for Musk’s business ambitions and how their unholy alliance holds benefits for each. Now, as the election approaches (less than two weeks away!), our conversation turns toward the role Musk has played in the 2024 presidential race and, depending on the result, what his political involvement will look like going forward.

You can listen to this episode as a podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Pandora, and other major streaming platforms.

We’re nothing if not fair, of course, so our discussion delves into what has worked about the campaign — and what stands out is the excitement we felt as progressives about the decision to make Walz the VP nominee. At the same time, we remain strongly opposed to the campaign’s sustained refusal to condemn and pledge an end to the Israelis’ genocide in Gaza that the Biden admin keeps funding. There’s also the campaign’s unabashed pride in the endorsement it received from Dick Cheney and the relative weakness of its policy platform. Why are we watching the Democratic Party make itself even more palatable to Republicans when many Republicans themselves acknowledge Trump as a threat — and when Democrats could simply choose a message of economic support to entice disaffected voters inclined toward Trump but disgusted by his racist vitriol?

You can listen to this episode as a podcast now on major streaming platforms.

Some have compared the violence in Lebanon to the genocide taking place in Palestine. Omar points out the massive similarities — decimating infrastructure, targeting medics, killing civilians — while also indicating the potential of the strikes in Lebanon to expand into an even bigger regional conflict. Netanyahu’s recent remarks addressing Lebanese civilians, a pretty clear threat to reject Hezbollah or suffer the same violence as Gaza, opens up the possibility of sectarian civil war, just as it suggests that Netanyahu is totally ready and willing to repeat the genocide in Gaza that is still ongoing.

Thanks for tuning in. You can listen to this episode as a podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Pandora, and other streaming platforms.

There’s even more to hear in this week’s episode, like our conversation about the evolving situation with Israeli attacks on Iran, and Jack’s most recent filing in the Trump election interference case. We hope you enjoy it. Thanks for tuning in — this conversation will be available as a podcast via Pandora, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and more starting tomorrow night.

If you look at Trump’s most recent debate performance (and we’ve discussed it at length in recent weeks), you’ll see baseless claims that appeal to emotion and paranoia, without any grounding in basic fact or reality. That’s always been a hallmark of Trump’s rhetorical style, but as the far right has only gone farther in the last few years, and new figures like RFK Jr. have risen to amplify Trump’s fearmongering claims or to add new ones to the litany, could it be that Trump is actually getting out of touch? What else is contributing to what feels like a less potent campaign and a less effective message to America’s disaffected political outsiders?

You can listen to this episode as a podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Pandora, and more.

It’s a serious topic, and we’re glad to have the singularly insightful Adam Johnson on to talk about it. You can listen to this episode as a podcast on Spotify, Pandora, Apple Podcasts, and more.

This week, we had David Sirota back on the show to talk about his new pod Master Plan — give it a listen! He’s been working on it for years at The Lever, and currently available episodes cover decades of top-secret government corruption, giving Sirota the chance to flex his formidable investigative-reporting skills. Here’s an opportunity to learn more about the profit motives guiding our government to sell out public interest, overturn our most cherished rights, and entrench its own corrupt power — David and his team has made it possible in this wonderful new podcast, which we discuss in our exclusive interview with him! You can listen to this episode as a podcast when it’s released tomorrow on Apple Podcasts, Pandora, Spotify, and more.

We hope you’ll enjoy this urgent and serious conversation revealing the true story of what happened in Flint, Michigan before and after the government announced the water crisis, how the local community continues to be affected by the tragedy, and who’s still paying attention to the suffering of working-class people when national public interest has long since turned away. We’re so grateful to Jordan for sharing his necessary reporting and insight with us. This episode will be available as a podcast tomorrow on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Pandora, and more.

Is there a better way? We make the case for social democracy in our debate with our guest, and we think you’ll be interested. You can listen to this episode on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Pandora, and more.

We’ve also heard an increasing number of attacks on Tim Walz from the far right, which takes issue with his history securing free meals for schoolchildren, supporting gay students at the high school where he was a teacher, and more. From one former Governor of Minnesota to the current one, Jesse fires back at the right in Walz’s defense and shows how “weird” his conservative detractors really are.

Thanks for tuning in! You can listen to this podcast tomorrow on Spotify, Pandora, Apple Podcasts, and more.

With our friend Ettingermentum, we look at the polling and see why the predictions of Kamala’s detractors didn’t end up bearing out. There were no tradeoffs to be made between Biden and Kamala: his base has moved to support her, where voters more leery of the aging, anti-progress Biden have proved more likely to back the Kamala-Walz ticket. Why is this? And will it be enough to carry her over the finish line in November? You can get answers to all these big questions in our wide-ranging deep dive of a conversation, Episode 186 of KK&F. This episode will be available tomorrow on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Pandora, and more.

Omar and Kyle also speak at length about the awful revelations regarding the Israeli detention camps, where Palestinian prisoners are brutalized and sexually assaulted (as recently released footage documents), and about the Biden admin’s position on and response to this information. As they point out, Democrats and Republicans are in a perpetual race to see who can support Netanyahu’s genocidal regime more, and the right’s tactic is to paint Democrats as antisemitic, a claim that Democrats often scramble to reject in the wrong ways. They also discuss developing political crises in the region: at this point, is war with Iran inevitable?

Thanks for tuning in. You can listen to this episode as a podcast on Spotify, Pandora, Apple Podcasts, and more.

Jill Stein, as always, has insightful takes on the latest developments in national and international politics, and we delve into them in this wide-ranging interview, including Jill’s vision for her campaign following Biden’s exit and Kamala’s entrance, Trump’s racist remarks in a recent interview, and more. You can listen to this episode as a podcast on Spotify, Pandora, Apple Podcasts, and more.

We talk about all of this and more in Episode 184 of KKF! Join us on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Pandora, and more for the podcast release of this episode.

In this episode of KKF, we chat with Chase about his analysis of the 2024 election, who he expects to be running against, what his path to the White House will be, and more. Thanks for tuning in — you can listen to this episode as a playlist when it’s released on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Pandora, and more.

When we think of the figureheads of the Democratic Party, we can’t help but think of people like Debbie Wasserman Schultz, whose commandeering of the DNC cemented much of the party elitism and anti-democracy that has brought us the fatally flawed Biden 2024 candidacy. That’s why we’re so excited to speak this week with Jen Perelman, who’s challenging Debbie to take over as representative for Florida’s 25th district. In our wide-ranging conversation, we chat with Jen about her vision for the district and her substantive political differences with her opponent, and much more.

Listen to this week’s episode on Spotify, Pandora, Apple Podcasts, and other streaming platforms.

Briahna takes us through her experience at The Hill, why questioning a guest about her Zionist beliefs led to the loss of professional opportunities, the political landscape of Palestine advocacy in media right now, and much more in this exclusive interview. We’re thrilled to have her on the show, and we hope you’ll enjoy the conversation! You can listen in on Spotify, Substack, Pandora, Apple Podcasts, and more.

According to Annelle, although the number of people who have taken the action she took is relatively small, a larger number of American government workers have more quietly resigned — or even retired early — out of refusal to condone the Biden admin’s aid of Israel’s genocide in Gaza. The thought of burning all professional bridges in a “one-company town,” she notes, dissuades many people from doing so. It requires throwing out all one’s professional connections and work experience. Annelle believes she’s relatively lucky to be able to return to her academic background in think tanks. Still, some of those who don’t resign, publicly or quietly, have been writing anonymous letters and joining protests. There may not be sufficient rejection of Biden’s genocidal Israel policy among governmental workers. But the number of dissenters is growing.

You can listen to this conversation as a podcast on Spotify, Pandora, Apple Podcasts, and more.

One major question that comes up in our conversation with Ben is how much political change Sheinbaum will be able to effect in the presidency — given the more conservative tendencies of the United States under Biden. As the U.S. is a global hegemonic force capable of preventing the solution of social and economic problems it’s produced for neighbor nations, we discuss with Ben if Sheinbaum will be able, as president, to tackle the issues that matter most to Mexicans.

This episode is also available on Spotify, Pandora, Apple Podcasts, and more!

Israel has been furious about the allegations brought against them, insisting that their slaughter of thousands of Palestinians only amounts to a few problems that don’t add up to a humanitarian crisis. The challenge for South Africa and other entities sympathetic to Gaza’s plight, Norm points out, is that the court has been unsure who to believe in these exchanges. Now, as Israel continues to deny the existence of a humanitarian crisis and images of unbelievable horror and pain pour out of Rafah, the court has said in no uncertain terms that it doesn’t believe Israel any more.

What does this mean for further proceedings, and for potential prosecution of Bibi and the other war criminals? We talk through all of this and more with Norman Finkelstein this week. You can listen to this episode as a podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Pandora, and more.

We sat down with Ken Roth to unpack the case the ICC is making against Netanyahu and how successful it’s likely to be, what kind of international consensus is building around it, and whether Biden’s refusal to cooperate will be a major hindrance. Ken’s an expert on this topic, so we think you’ll appreciate his essential insight! You can listen to this episode as a podcast on Spotify, Pandora, Apple Podcasts, and more.

We tackle these questions with music critic Anthony Fantano, who leads us through the backstory and gives us a breakdown of this explosive back-and-forth. We hope you’ll enjoy this fresh new pop-culture focus on KK&F, and we can’t wait to hear what you think. You can listen to this episode as a podcast when it’s released tomorrow on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Pandora, and more.

On this episode of KK&F, we have the opportunity to talk to Jill about what a third-party, pro-Palestine presidency would mean for the nation, how she plans to fight this uphill battle, and why fighting back against two-party hegemony is more important than ever. You can listen to this episode as a podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Pandora, and more.

These alliances are not new. They characterized the university’s response to protests against apartheid in South Africa and against the Vietnam War. What’s especially disturbing is that from the local level to the federal level, our government is, on the whole, utterly failing to protect these young people peacefully exercising their right to protest a genocide. The failure of leadership from Biden in particular — a president who has and will again demand the youth vote as the anti-Trump — is galling. Students across America are being left at the mercy of cops’ batons as they lose their housing and face total uncertainty in their academic careers.

We talk with Zaid Jilani this week about this massive uprising that’s sweeping the country, the insidious response from universities and governments, and what any principled free speech advocate should be doing right now about it. You can listen to this podcast when it’s released tomorrow on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Pandora, and more.

This episode is available tomorrow on Spotify, Pandora, Apple Podcasts, and more.

Moataz is on Capitol Hill every day, confronting them with his humanity, as Krystal comments on this week’s episode. Congress is showing its true colors by (often proudly) voicing its support for an ethnic cleansing campaign, and Moataz’s courageous work is holding them to account. In this episode, we cover the essential organizing work Moataz is doing, how he and other Americans are tirelessly bringing visibility to the Palestinian cause, and more.

This episode is available as a podcast on Spotify, Pandora, Apple Podcasts, and more.

We talk about these incredible efforts, the Freedom Flotilla, and much more on this week’s episode of KK&F. You can listen to this episode as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Pandora, and more.

What will be the result of this ethically bankrupt approach? We talk about this and much more on this week’s episode of KK&F. You can listen to this episode as a podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Pandora, and more.

But again, as Palestinians’ lives are literally on the line — after nearly six months of ongoing violence in Gaza — our purpose is to reframe these kinds of viral Zionist arguments to place emphasis on the actual mass suffering, death, and privation taking place among the Palestinian population at the hands of the IOF. In this episode, we undertake that kind of reframing with our guest, whose expertise on this topic helps shed new light on Israel’s decades-long subjugation of Palestine and why it’s an issue we should care about.

In this episode of KK&F, Mouin Rabbani joins us for an essential conversation on the latest in Israel’s brutal war on Palestine. You can listen to this episode as a podcast on Spotify, Pandora, Apple Podcasts, and more.

For Zionists to take issue with this film tells us everything we need to know about their absolute dismissal of Palestinians’ humanity and complicity in the violence that Israel’s very existence is currently premised on. Humiliation and cruelty are part of the system. We talk about much more in this episode, including Katie’s debunking of the oft-said statement that Israel protects Jews and why that statement is so harmful. You can listen to it tomorrow when it’s released on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and more.

Omar Baddar joins us to unpack this movement and think about the power of electoral organizing as one of multiple political tools available to members of the Palestinian liberation movement abroad. We talk through the latest developments in American policy surrounding Israel-Palestine, including waning support for Netanyahu, and much more. We hope you’ll enjoy this latest episode of KK&F, which will be available tomorrow through Spotify, Pandora, Apple Podcasts, and more.

This was just one part of a (sometimes) fascinating speech, with equally interesting responses from Biden’s colleagues. We get into it on KK&F this week — you can listen to the episode as a podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Pandora, and more.

Mehdi’s latest project is the creation of a digital media company that can challenge mainstream narratives legitimizing violence and normalizing inequality. Zeteo will include video, audio, and text reporting — the launch will take place via Substack. (Check it out here!). “How many times,” the project asks, “have you complained about the ‘mainstream media’? […] About softball interview questions or lazy ‘both sides’ coverage?” Well, we complain about those things regularly on KK&F, so it’s exciting to see the development of a new project primed to take them head-on. We hope you’ll listen in to this episode to learn more about this exciting project, and more! This episode is available as a podcast via Spotify, Pandora, Apple Podcasts, and more.

We talk about all of this and much more on this week’s episode of KK&F. You can listen to this episode as a podcast tomorrow on Spotify, Pandora, Apple Podcasts, and other major streaming platforms.

The inhumanity of mainstream American political discourse surrounding immigration is particularly stark in light of the destabilization of foreign governments and exploitation of resources that form the major part of the U.S.’s treatment of its southern neighbors. Refugees fleeing regions marked by post-regime change violence and precarity are then turned away (or worse) at the U.S. border for seeking safety. It’s an issue on which both Republicans and Democrats generally remain conservative, to the grave detriment of people facing unprecedented danger.

You can listen to this episode as a podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Pandora, and more.

You can listen to this episode as a podcast now on Spotify, Pandora, Apple Podcasts, and more.

As the ICJ moves to condemn Israeli violence in Gaza but fails to call for a ceasefire, we discuss recent updates on Israel-Palestine along with Vaush’s insights into the forthcoming election and the terrain of independent left media. We hope you’ll enjoy this wide-ranging conversation. You can listen to this episode as a podcast on Spotify, Pandora, Apple Podcasts, and more. See you next week!

What can we do about this? We hope you’ll enjoy this thoughtful conversation with Owen, which you can listen to as a podcast on Spotify, Pandora, Apple Podcasts, and more.

The ICJ does not have the coercive power to enforce an outcome after it has made a decision, report Noura Erakat and John Reynolds for Jacobin. But it can massively sway international opinion. While the case might ultimately take years to come to a final decision, the ICJ could provisionally demand a ceasefire, by which, Erakat and Reynolds write, Israel would be “formally bound.” In our conversation with Norm Finkelstein, we discuss the politics of the ICJ, the likely outcomes of this case, and what a decision in favor of Palestine — or of Israel — would do. You can listen to this episode as a podcast when it’s released tomorrow on Spotify, Pandora, Apple Podcasts, and more.

For a country that prides itself on upholding democracy (don’t think about those overseas regime changes, please), the U.S. has also revealed itself to be a nation in which you might have to spend $2 million just to get on the ballot if you’re running for president. Anyway, that’s what’s happening to Dean Phillips right now, and he’s got a great analysis of how this system upholds a political status quo. It’s easy to see how candidates championing the interests of the working class — and opposing those of big business donors — can’t break out onto the national stage as easily, and often can’t mount a high-visibility campaign to the same degree as their establishment counterparts. It’s another level of anti-democratic that just getting on the ballot also might mean paying your way.

Phillips, who currently may not appear on ballots in MA, WI, FL, TN, and NC, is challenging these decisions, but says that it costs money to do so — and he may not be able to overturn all of them. Dean tells us that his time interacting with regular Americans led him to embrace more left policies like Medicare for All. We hope you’ll enjoy our debate with Dean on Israel, Trump and his explanation of what he has learned about the breakdown of American democracy. This episode is available on Spotify, Pandora, Apple Podcasts, and more.

Decades down the line, a new generation, inspired by (and in the case of Jerry Falwell Jr., literally related to) the old, is carrying on their cultural and religious crusade against progressivism, the welfare state, multiculturalism — you name it. How has Trump drawn support from this base, and can he do it again this election cycle? Listen to this week’s episode to find out. You can also find this podcast on Spotify, Pandora, Apple Podcasts, and more.

Under the guise of protecting Jews in America from the “hate speech” of Palestinian liberation, many Jews will in fact be marginalized and silenced for their political beliefs and activism. The Anti-Defamation League’s treatment of Jewish Voice for Peace as a hate group means that an organization tasked with preventing attacks on Jewish people will be putting them at risk of those attacks on the basis of their opposition to an oppressive colonial ideology.We hope you’ll enjoy this essential and timely conversation. You can tune in through Spotify, Pandora, Apple Podcasts, and more.

Given our country’s notorious history of pouring money into proxy wars, destabilizing foreign governments, and pursuing its own imperial interests throughout, the history Scott gives us in this episode of KK&F is essential to keep in mind, especially as the American government continues to pour money into Israel’s genocidal campaign. We hope you find this historical deep dive as urgent and fascinating as we did. You can listen to this episode as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Pandora, and more.

Time has told us that it isn’t good practice for progressives to uncritically stan the Squad. Nor, we’d argue, is it good practice to dismiss the contributions they’ve made to American politics, the public support they’ve amassed, or the power they’ve won within the Democratic Party, limited though it may be at the moment. The question of how progressives can effectively work within the Democratic Party — if they can at all — is one with which we’ve long been interested. Ryan’s great new book gives us the opportunity to return to it with the Squad as a fascinating case study.

You can listen to this episode of KK&F as a podcast when it’s released tomorrow on Spotify, Substack, Apple Podcasts, Pandora, and more.

Listen to our conversation with Abby Martin about the ongoing genocide in Gaza, now available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and more.

The pool of candidates for the Republican nomination is shrinking. Five candidates took the stage in Miami last night to trade zingers and get into heated debate over how many new wars to start, who supports Israeli atrocities the most aggressively, whether to sic the DOJ on pro-Palestine college protesters, and more. We talk about what’s at stake in this week’s episode, available on major streaming platforms.

Watch our interview with Omar for more in-depth discussion of Israel’s siege on Gaza, the international response, and growing grassroots organizing to call for a ceasefire. You can listen to this episode as a podcast on Spotify, Pandora, Apple Podcasts, and more.

Why is this the case? Why do the interests of our major news outlets align with Israeli oppression, especially when the interests of the average working American align with those of Palestinians fighting for survival? In this week’s episode, we analyze the media narratives circulating around Israel’s siege on Gaza — who’s creating them, who they’re intended for, and who they exclude. Thanks for joining us for this important conversation.

You can listen to this episode as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Pandora, and more.

In this episode, we chat with Cenk about the brass tacks of his presidential run: why he’s running, what policies and ideologies he’s representing, how his presidency would affect the lives of working Americans, and whether he has a credible path to the presidency. Is Biden certain to lose? What is the level of threat Trump poses to the country and is his political strength overestimated given his legal jeopardy? Why not throw in with Marianne Williamson who is already running to Biden’s left in an attempt to avert disaster? We get into this and much more over an extended conversation.

Thanks for joining us. You can listen to this episode as a podcast on Spotify, Pandora, Apple Podcasts, and other major streaming platforms.

Thanks for listening to Krystal Kyle & Friends. You can listen to this episode as a podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Pandora, and more.

In our discussion, we take a close-up look at the biggest moments of the night, including back-and-forths on foreign policy, zingers from Nikki Haley, and the final winners and losers at the end of the night. We hope you enjoy the deep dive!

You can listen to this episode as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Substack, Pandora, and more.

Naomi joins us to discuss her brilliant latest book, in the process revealing indispensable insight into our current political moment and the way it’s influenced by fringe conspiracy theories. We think you’ll enjoy the conversation. You can listen to this episode on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Pandora, and more.

In our conversation, he nods to the role of mainstream news and social media in sharpening divides between Republicans and Democrats, creating the conditions, as he sees it, for more widespread political violence that meets the criteria for civil war. Our conversation with Yang becomes an opportunity to hash out what is most contributing to this conflict, whether The Last Election could play out in our own political reality, and what we can do about it.

Is it worth voting for Biden if he’s the democratic candidate to preserve labor gains and block another disastrous Trump term in office? Or is there a real possibility for a third party to succeed even in a rigged American political system? We weigh our options, and discuss much more, in this week’s episode.

You can listen to this episode as a podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Pandora, and more.

Per Sohrab’s description, right-wing populists hold opinions that are significantly separated from the economic analysis they put forward, suggesting that they’re not simply leftists waiting to be reached and won over through economic issues. But Sohrab also suggests that circumstances may call for coalitions between right- and left-wing populists, and we think about what those might look like, if they’re possible.

Thanks for tuning in. You can listen to this episode as a podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Substack, and more.

Part of Wednesday night’s political spectacle were the heated exchanges between candidates looking to elbow their way to the front of the pack by scoring points on each other. Take, for example, this heated exchange between former NJ Governor Chris Christie and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy:

As the frontrunner for the Republican nomination, Trump’s shadow was bound to loom over the debate, and it’s in their affiliation with or self-distancing from Trump that the candidates have differentiated themselves. From Christie’s critiques of Trump to Ramaswamy’s praise, there’s a spectrum of support for Trumpism among the 2024 presidential hopeful pack. (It’s worth noting that six of the eight candidates on the stage raised their hands to show that they would back Trump as Republican nominee even in the event of his conviction.)

Another interesting element of the debate-stage dynamics was, of course, interaction between newcomers on the political scene and those who have gained establishment — especially through top roles in the Trump admin, as was the case with former Trump VP Mike Pence and UN ambassador Nikki Haley. Watch Pence’s dust-up with “rookie” Vivek Ramaswamy here, and Haley’s exchange with Ramaswamy below:

Altogether, a major focus of the night was the political outsider: Vivek Ramaswamy’s was not the biggest name in this race going into Wednesday, and he certainly lacks much of the polling support that other candidates — not just Trump — have been counting on. Yet he was a major focus on the debate stage, playing foil to more established candidates and suggesting himself as an alternative to entrenched Washington career politicians. In our conversation, we get at the significance of this new dynamic in the race for the Republican nomination, which is only just getting started.

Thanks for joining us. You can listen to this episode on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Pandora, and other major streaming platforms.

As we’ve discussed in past KK&F convos, the Biden admin’s gambit — making centrist-friendly proposals to begin with, then, in many cases, watering them down in the face of Republican opposition or just plain amenability to austerity — has left many working-class voters wanting more. As we analyze the trend of class dealignment from midterms data, we’re inclined to think about the failures of the Democratic Party that have provoked this trend. Empty rhetoric about basic rights and fearmongering about Trump don’t seem to do the trick when it comes to retaining working-class support. What is the Democratic Party prepared to do to secure this support? What else is possible?

Thanks for tuning in. You can hear this episode as a podcast on Spotify, Pandora, Apple Podcasts, and more.

Michael maintains that a reasonable person wouldn’t judge Trump’s behavior as criminal. Of course, the Trump campaigns and presidency have heavily featured a high degree of political theater, so that it’s possible to take the stance — as Michael does — that the charges of (for example) election interference that the former president now faces are taking his politicking too seriously. But we take the other side of the debate: that Trump worked to undermine the 2020 election and took meaningful steps toward doing so. The indictments he faces are legitimate, and in our argument, we lay out the reasons why.

In this episode, Freddie lays out evidence against AOC as a consistently leftist figure, describing insufficient support for key progressive policies and not enough to show for her years of fundraising and her image as a major figure on the American left. What is her theory of change? And how has it collided with the comparatively conservative agendas of establishment members of her party? If she hasn’t accomplished the things her base expects her to, realistically speaking, is it because she lacks the political will to do so, because that change is hamstrung by her centrist colleagues, or some combination of these things?

We’ll be taking on these important questions and more in this conversation, which you can listen to via Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Pandora, and more.

That’s the crux of our discussion with YouTubers Adam and Sitch, rejoining the show to talk about wokeness versus anti-wokeness and debate which side has the tendency to censor and repress. You can listen to this episode as a podcast on Spotify, Pandora, Apple Podcasts, and more.

We consider the other challenger who’s emerged in the 2024 Democratic field — Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. — and talk through the political miscalculations we see in his campaign for the Democratic nomination. From support of Elon Musk to strong critique of Fauci — a beloved figure among Democrats — RFK Jr.’s political affiliations don’t seem poised to strike a chord with the Dem base he’s meant to appeal to. What will this mean for his campaign? We discuss all of this and more in this week’s episode. Remember that you can listen to this conversation as a podcast on Spotify, Substack, Pandora, Apple Podcasts, and more.

We also just watched the former vanguard of the elected progressive left, Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, endorsing President Biden for reelection. We press Congressman Khanna on why he and the Squad and Senator Sanders all jumped in early to back Biden. Their decision to endorse is not only at odds with the left but at odds with a Democratic base that overwhelmingly says they want a contested primary including debates. Our conversation with Representative Khanna gives us a sense of why he and other progressives in Congress are publicly putting their weight behind the incumbent — and we also share our thoughts on why doing otherwise might be a stronger choice for the progressive movement. You can hear it all here and on major streaming platforms, including Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and more.

Our discussion of vaccine conspiracy theories with Dr. Wilson opens up an opportunity to think about political motivations driving polarization around matters of public health — and we think it’s an important one. We’re glad you’re joining us for this conversation. You can listen to it as a podcast episode on Apple Podcasts, Pandora, Spotify, and more.

On our minds this week is the strikingly awful suite of decisions handed down from the Supreme Court that will put a tighter financial squeeze on cash-strapped Americans and promote discrimination against LGBT people. We watched as the Biden admin dragged its heels when it came to making good on campaign promises to alleviate student debt — then rolled much of its initial plan back. (A recent post from More Perfect union shares the tuition costs of the Supreme Court justices, adjusted for inflation; John Roberts, who delivered the majority opinion, paid the 1979 equivalent of $337,652 for his Harvard degree.) Now, the Supreme Court has ruled that this plan is unconstitutional, throwing millions of borrowers and their families back into financial stress and uncertainty. A second 6-3 conservative decision backed businesses’ rights to refuse service to LGBT people, identifying the matter as an issue of free speech. Justice Sotomayor’s dissent refers to the decision as “Orwellian thought policing,” keeping an eye to the far-reaching effects it’s expected to have on civil liberties in the years to come.

More on these decisions in the weeks to come. We hope you’ll enjoy this week’s podcast, which you can listen to on Spotify, Pandora, Apple Podcasts, and more.

Taking a broader view of political debates, we also talk strategy: when do the drawbacks outweigh the benefits? In conversation with this week’s guest, we lay out our case for a nuanced approach to debate. When it comes to deeply unpopular fringe opinions, for example, spending time and energy in dialogue with opponents feels like a waste: we’re not here to take down Flat Earthers. But when, as Krystal puts it, “the cat’s out of the bag” — when the view we want to refute has a prominent, active base of supporters, and when we believe its impact is widely felt and holds significance for everyday life — we want to confront our adversaries head-on. For our full thoughts, and Emily’s response, check out the episode, which we hope you’ll enjoy. You can listen to it on Apple Podcasts, Pandora, Spotify, and more.

We’ve talked in recent weeks about the match-up between Trump and DeSantis, and what a DeSantis presidency would mean for civil liberties and economic policy. We’re taking a look at the gravity of the charges Trump is facing now, as well as at how they might change our perception of his time in office and how they will shape the coming election.

Listen to this episode as a podcast on Spotify, Substack, Pandora, and other streaming platforms.

As a dwindling number of companies bought up all the record labels — generally companies with no interest or non-financial investment in the creative industry — profit became the primary motive and marker of success for many record labels, imposing limitations on musical production and political expression. We see the further development of those limits in the music of our own time — and it’s fascinating to see the road that led us here.

You can listen to this episode as a podcast on Spotify, Pandora, Apple Podcasts, and more.

We also weigh in on whether we should be more worried by a Trump or a DeSantis presidency, looking at the “creative malevolence” of DeSantis on social issues versus Trump’s massive incompetence and despicable record on those same issues. Together, we evaluate Kyle’s proposal that Trump is the Republicans’ least electable general election candidate — but also that he isn’t necessarily guaranteed to lose to Biden. Find out more by listening to the audio above — you can also find it on Spotify, Pandora, Apple Podcasts, and other streaming platforms.

Republicans have made it clear that the debt ceiling itself is their concession — they’re doing all they can to set the terms of this parley. Is Biden, hailed by centrist Democrats during his campaign as the great negotiator capable of reaching across the aisle in a way his further-left counterparts could not, actually living up to that promise? Or are we seeing the Democrats giving in and playing by Republicans’ rules of the game? We answer all these questions and more on this week’s episode. You can listen to this conversation on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Pandora, and more. Thanks for tuning in.

Jason discusses his strategy and goals for appearances, his views on “platforming” extremists, and how he stays sane in the face of insanity.

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Fox’s massive resources, along with the popularity of its claims of election fraud, have emboldened the company to make and stand behind such conspiracies. Who has the power to fight back, and on what legal grounds? What kind of speech is protected under American free speech rights, and what crosses the line into defamation? These are the questions we’re lucky to have Mark to answer for us, and we’re glad you’re joining us for the discussion. You can listen to this conversation as a podcast when it’s released later tonight on Spotify, Pandora, Apple Podcasts, and more.

It’s a bleak picture of the state of our judicial system, bought and paid for with corporate and billionaire dollars. What do we do with that picture, and how does it come together? How can we change it? We’re digging into these questions with insightful political scientist and writer Corey Robin, and we hope you enjoy the episode — it’s available on Spotify, Substack, Apple Podcasts, Pandora, and more.

You can listen to this conversation on Spotify, Pandora, Apple Podcasts, and more.

This episode is available as a podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Pandora, and more.

As Steven, himself an attorney, points out, this degree of unapologetic, outright corporate power being wielded for private prosecution is truly unprecedented. We hope you, like us, will appreciate hearing from Steven on this crucial case, reflecting on how corporate power and lack of accountability goes all the way up the American judicial system. Remember that you can listen to this episode through Spotify, Substack, Pandora, Apple Podcasts, and more.

How should we assess the admin’s decision to guarantee uninsured deposits — is Biden right that because taxpayer dollars aren’t going into the bank to revive it, we can’t call this a bailout? Or is this a useful framework to think about the government’s decision to take unusual action to shore up a floundering financial institution?

Thanks for tuning in. You can listen to this episode as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Pandora, Spotify, and more.

This episode is available on Substack, Spotify, Pandora, and everywhere else you get your podcasts!

You can listen to this episode as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Pandora, and more.

Through her time as an author and a figure on the national political stage, Marianne has gained insight into the intense disparity between the most advantaged and the least advantaged Americans, revealing the difficulty of survival for those who are “locked out of the club” and the way that our system is rigged for those with the keys to the castle of elite privilege. As she tells it, she plans to shine the light on the inherent problems with this system — but also to transform it for the improvement of working-class life in America. This is what she views as the role of the politician, and in this wide-ranging interview, you’ll hear how she envisions herself stepping into that role as the nation’s next president.

We hope you enjoy this special episode of Krystal Kyle & Friends. You can listen to this episode as a podcast on Pandora, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and more.

What emerges is the story of a man who strove to stoke violence and discord through deeply disturbing means — encouraging the destruction of neighborhoods, bringing weapons to organizing spaces, putting activists in peril. We’ll talk about why the FBI’s agenda here is so significant, and what lessons the left can take away from this governmental attack on crucial grassroots activism.

Thanks for tuning in to Krystal Kyle & Friends. You can listen to this episode on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Pandora, and more.

Thanks for joining us for this essential conversation. You can listen to this episode as a podcast when it’s released tomorrow on Spotify, Pandora, Apple Podcasts, and more.

Thanks for subscribing to KK&F! You can listen to this episode in podcast form on Spotify, Substack, Pandora, and more.

Thanks for tuning in. You can listen to this conversation as a podcast on Spotify, Substack, Pandora, Apple Podcasts, and more.

Larry Summers, Alan Dershowitz, Steven Pinker: Harvard refuses to remove these people from its payroll regardless of their extremely public links to Jeffrey Epstein, allegations of sexual abuse, the list goes on and on. Students recently walked out of a Harvard classroom to protest the school’s continued employment of John Comaroff, who has been accused of sexual misconduct (accusations that Harvard then failed to do anything about, and is now facing a lawsuit for this mishandling). When it comes to employing people who may put students in danger instead of teaching them, the university doesn’t back down. But when it comes to reporting on human rights abuses, when that reporting challenges the status quo, the school — like so many other powerful organizations — isn’t above blacklisting.

We’re grateful to Ken for coming on the show, talking to us about his story, and helping us understand how those who speak out about human rights abuses in Israel are regularly silenced. Thanks for tuning in for this important conversation. You can listen to this episode as a podcast on Pandora, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and more.

When should the left call for censorship? When do hateful words become life-threatening actions? These are the questions we’re grappling with, and they’re urgent ones for the left to address.

You can listen to this episode on Spotify, Pandora, Apple Podcasts, and more. Thanks for tuning in!

We dive into these questions and more with Philion, this week’s guest, and we’re grateful to you for joining us. Remember that you can listen to this episode as a podcast on Spotify, Pandora, Apple Podcasts, and more.

We’re glad to have Will with us to unpack the insanity unfolding in D.C.’s halls of power, and we think you’ll appreciate his insight. Remember that you can listen to this episode as a podcast on Spotify, Pandora, Apple Podcasts, and more.

We hope you enjoy this episode of KK&F. You can listen to this conversation through Pandora, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and more!

Why did Musk focus on banning the promotion of other, “competitive” social media platforms like Mastodon on his site, a policy so inflammatory that it’s since been rolled back? And why were some social media platforms the focus of his ban, while others, like TikTok, remained untouched? Our purpose in the conversation with Matt is to get a sense of the political and economic agenda behind these decisions — it may not be as easily spelled out as “free speech” for all.

Thanks for tuning into Krystal Kyle & Friends and merry Christmas! You can listen to this episode as a podcast on Spotify, Substack, Apple Podcasts, Pandora, and more.

How does this fit into the current fiasco in the crypto world, the fall of FTX? Coffeezilla leads us through the charges against SBF, the government’s response to violation of campaign finance laws, and where this story could go from here. Thanks for joining us, and remember that you can listen to this podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and Pandora.

We connect this history to our present moment to understand how corporations have been building power through appeals to constitutional rights for more than a century — and how we can fight back. Thanks for joining us for this important conversation. You can also listen to this episode through Spotify, Pandora, Apple Podcasts, and more.

Well, it’s arguably a pretty powerful move on the government’s behalf to shut down a potential strike on behalf of capital, knowing that the workers involved are being denied paid sick leave. Where, from the party that claims it represents the interests of labor, is the opposite, equally powerful move to get the votes, push through a different plan, seek out other options like nationalizing rail corporations? What can we expect from the remaining period of Biden’s leadership? We’re asking the big questions with our return guest, labor reporter Jonah Furman, on the latest episode of KK&F. As always, we’re grateful to you for joining us and tuning in. Remember that you can listen to this episode as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Pandora, Spotify, and more.

From smaller questions (will Trump return to Twitter?) to other speculations for the 2024 presidential elections (and who will lead the Warmongers’ Caucus), we’ve got a packed show for you tonight, and we hope you enjoy. Remember that you can listen to this episode as a podcast when it’s released tomorrow on Spotify, Substack, Apple Podcasts, Pandora, and more.

Crypto, he contends, is really at core just a “shitty spreadsheet” with fake money that allows for money laundering and results in massive crashes and upheavals, like what we saw this week with FTX’s downfall (discussed at length in this week’s episode). So the problem then becomes: What do we do about the corruption in our financial system? And what will come from our taking it on?

We hope you enjoy this latest episode of KK&F. Remember that you can listen to it as a podcast now on Spotify, Pandora, Apple Podcasts, and more.

Look at the field: people had plenty of opportunities to get behind watered-down, moderate versions of the progressive candidates and policies they cast their votes for. Instead, they validated the idea that the options American voters have in this country aren’t left enough. Maybe we can’t say exactly how far people are willing to go. But we know for sure that what’s on the table right now isn’t enough. In this episode, we talk about what the midterms mean for Democrats’ future as a party, and just why a progressive future is the only way forward.

You can listen to this episode as a podcast on Spotify, Substack, Pandora, and more. Thanks for tuning in.

Understanding the Democrats’ political conundrum means understanding the history of neoliberalism in American politics, focusing on the Thatcher-Reagan era and its hard swing toward globalization, deregulation, and outright attacks on organized labor. Rana’s assessment of where we’re at now is that it’s a pendulum swing in the opposite direction of the Reagan-Thatcher period. The Democrats, especially with Biden in office, have what Rana sees as an opportunity to lead us out of that moment and to escape the harm done by decades of neoliberal policy. Whether or not they’re up to that task is up for discussion on Episode 97 of KK&F, and we hope you enjoy the debate.

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Alexandra and Kyle lay out how manosphere commentators are able to identify and speak to struggles that we would think of as systemic, but present these struggles as individualistic, offering misogynistic diatribes, self-help advice, and, of course, often a mixture of both. But Alexandra argues that it doesn’t have to be this way. It’s possible for the left to take on this topic and ensure that people who struggle in this way aren’t radicalized to the far right.

Thanks for tuning in. You can listen to this conversation on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Pandora, and more.

We dive into the past, present, and future of this process with this week’s guest, Owen Jones, and we hope you’ll appreciate his insight into the tumult currently sweeping British politics; we certainly did. You can listen to this conversation as a podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Pandora, and more.

Luke’s book focuses on twenty-first century liberalism, touching on everything from media (The West Wing) to the politics of the Obama years, explaining how we’re left with an undead center in mainstream politics — a politics that’s deeply disconnected from the struggles that everyday people experience, yet continues to go on shaping our day-to-day lives through its entrenchment in our political establishment. We highly recommend listening to this conversation — and checking out Luke’s book — if you find yourself wondering how the lethargic politics that brought Biden back into power and have carried Democrats through various recent elections just keep hanging on by a thread.

This conversation is now available as an audio episode via Pandora, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and more. We’re grateful to our paying subscribers for helping us stay ad-free — subscribing is just $5 a month, and we promise you’ll enjoy the full video conversations for each weekly episode, delivered to you a whole day early.

This hypocrisy reminds us how important — and difficult — it is for the American left to fight back against corrupt media institutions. For her part, Katie has done an incredible job bringing attention to the topics those institutions have deemed “taboo,” and she’s also spoken on other platforms about the significance of her firing from The Hill (you can check out this interview on the Intercept). We hope you enjoy this critical conversation with a truly important voice in international left politics, and we’re grateful to you for joining us for another week of KK&F.

We at KK&F believe that, given leftists’ serious and dedicated focus on the truly tough straits working people find themselves in today, it’s essential to have a good laugh — and to appreciate the potential of comedy to carry across a powerful political message at the same time that it provides entertainment. So, on to our interview with one of our favorite comedians, RM Brown. RM’s got a channel full of hilarious commentary on our political moment and its most notable figures, and his work provokes us to think about how important it is to turn to comedy for memorable, sharp political commentary with the power to draw people in.

Thanks for tuning in — and thanks to our paying subscribers, whose support helps keep us ad-free. You can listen to this conversation right now as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Pandora, and more.

The share of our organizing that should focus on electoral politics is hotly contested on the Left. According to Dr. Chibber, it’s essential to acknowledge how the change we agitate for at the grassroots level can be stymied or stalled by hostile bureaucracy and establishment feet-dragging. If we intend to take on our opponents through the democratic channels of our government, we’ll need comrades in the halls of power — those who will bring a working-class agenda to the floor for votes, and those who won’t pursue a directly antagonistic agenda to stop our voices from being heard. In other words, electoral organizing isn’t at all isolated from other forms of protest and political work: it can provide support to those other avenues that go beyond ballots and elections, and a powerful Left will be able to balance these efforts together.

We hope you enjoy this episode of KK&F. Remember that you can listen to this conversation as a podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Pandora, and more.

We look at how this sentiment applies to the Democrats’ overarching approach to governing and policymaking as we near the midterms, where big losses could very well loom for Dems in the absence of significant efforts like the child tax credit, fighting for some version of the promised public option, and more. Tune in to get our read on what comes next for the Democrats, whether they’ve got the will to do what it will take to keep power, and what they plan to do with that power.

Thanks for tuning in! We’re especially grateful to our paying subscribers, who pay $5 a month to keep us ad-free. You can get KK&F convos a whole day early, in video format, by subscribing today. Remember that this conversation is also available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Pandora, and more.

Neither Trump nor his closest associates have faced true legal consequences for crimes committed during Trump’s administration; rather, the potential of political consequences has become a major, rotating fixture in the American news cycle, where incidents like Trump’s involvement in the January 6 riot (or the recent raid by the Feds on Mar-a-Lago) place the former president under threat of legal action but fail to fully bring him to justice. Is there a long game in play here? These efforts may well serve to foreclose the possibility of future Trump candidacies. As Kyle posits, it could create a political situation where Trump is able to perform well in primaries, but in general elections, his total lack of trust and respect outside a group of die-hard supporters leads to losses.

With Matt, we talk through what’s ahead on Trump’s political horizon and how it’s going to affect the rest of us. We hope you enjoy the conversation. This episode is also available on Spotify, Pandora, Apple Podcasts, and more.

As you’ll see in our conversation, we think carefully about how to balance issues of personal freedom, mental health, and a return to normal social life with basic measures for health and safety. It’s not clear whether there are COVID surges ahead, and if more illness is in our shared future, we continue to see the value in preventative steps like masking and vaccinating. At the same time, we focus on the essential question of why Americans feel dubious when it comes to taking health guidance from our government. From the profit motive behind pharmaceutical companies to histories of racial and economic injustice playing out in health care, we delve into the problems of trust, transparency, and, of course, greed that undermine public faith in our government’s ability to care and provide for us — faith that is undermined far beyond the issue of COVID.

Thanks for tuning in. Remember that you can listen to this conversation as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Pandora, Spotify, and more.

Thanks for tuning in. You can listen to this podcast tomorrow on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Pandora, and more.

This discussion of how Trump went rogue with top-secret government intel fits into a longer timeline of Trump’s cavalier approach to classified info — like his Twitter calls to declassify Russiagate info, which his administration later nullified. With Ken leading the way, we put it all in context, adding our own ideas about Trump’s future plans for presidential races, strengthening Saudi ties, and more. We hope you’ll enjoy the conversation, and as always, we’re grateful to you for listening. This episode is also available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Pandora, and more.

Our conversation with Ventura captures his unique experiences organizing his pro wrestling colleagues, formulating a politics against violence and exploitation, and creating a viable path to third-party victory in his home state of Minnesota. We hope you enjoy the discussion. You can listen to this episode as a podcast on Spotify, Pandora, Apple Podcasts, and more. If you’d like to support our work, which will always be available to you ad-free and for just $5 a month, we invite you to become a paying subscriber and get your episodes one day early. Take care and see you next week for more.

We hope you enjoy this episode of KK&F, featuring our breakdown of the Alex Jones trial; a discussion of Roe v. Wade and what Kyle, Adam, and Sitch see as the ideal situation for reproductive rights in the U.S.; and much more. Thanks for subscribing — remember that you can listen to this episode when it’s released tomorrow on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Pandora, and more.

Thumbnail image: Sergio Flores / Getty Images

So says Prospect editor David Dayen in a recent piece on the shocking Manchin-Schumer deal that will use $369 billion in funding to combat the climate crisis and address energy security. David is a seasoned political writer, covering issues from Build Back Better to the Supreme Court in recent weeks, and his piece captures the senator’s surprising heel turn from forestalling governmental action on climate disaster to allowing a basic level of climate funding to see the light of day.

Of course, the funds set up by the Inflation Reduction Act are only the beginning of the resources and dedication required to tackle the issue of impending environmental disaster. As long as Manchin preserves his lucrative ties to the fossil fuel industry, we won’t see the bold action on climate change that our government is more than capable of, and the American working class will be the first to suffer as a result. So, with David, we take a well-rounded look at what this bill means for the American people, what it means for the future of power relationships within the Democratic Party, and what it means for our shared future.

This episode is also available on Spotify, Pandora, Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, and more.

Then it’s time to consider what lies in store for us in 2024, especially whether the Left will have a candidate to coalesce behind. From familiar faces like Bernie and Marianne to potential newcomers, we imagine the campaign that could bring a left perspective to the 2024 presidential election. You can listen to this podcast on Spotify, Pandora, Apple Podcasts, and more.

We hope you’ll enjoy this discussion on Episode 81 of KK&F, with Gerstle’s insights on how neoliberal economic approaches continue to shape the world we’re living in, on what could come next, and on how this all fits into the political moment we’re living through. Thanks for joining us for another week of Krystal Kyle & Friends.

We hope you enjoy the episode! It’s also available as a podcast on Spotify, Pandora, Apple Podcasts, and more. If you liked this conversation, consider becoming a paying subscriber for $5/month:

Roe v. Wade is our focus this week, with guest Pascal Robert (he hosts This Is Revolution podcast, and you can find the Patreon here). With Pascal, we discuss the history of unaccountability and undemocratic decision-making within the highest court in the country, as well as the path forward offered by liberalism — and how that path may well be a dead end.

Thanks for tuning in. You can tune into the podcast through Pandora, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and more.

We’ve got a great show for you this week, centering on issues of free speech and attacks on independent media. Journalist Branko Marcetic, author of Yesterday’s Man: The Case Against Joe Biden, as well as a staff writer at Jacobin magazine, joins us to discuss online censorship of left and independent media, the extradition of Julian Assange, and much more.

We hope you enjoy this episode of Krystal Kyle & Friends. Audio is available through Pandora, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and more.

When we wonder why our representatives don’t take on these corporations in defense of the planet and its people, it’s illustrative that these representatives bring in a formidable haul from the fossil fuel industry — up to $93 million in stocks, according to the American Prospect, as of 2020. What’s clear is that to make climate change the priority we need it to be in national politics, electoral change is needed — alongside the organizing work that extends far beyond anything that can be accomplished at a ballot box in November.

We hope you enjoy this conversation. Audio can also be found on Pandora, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and more.

With a leftist candidate who could change the course of Colombian politics for the benefit of the working class, this is shaping up to be a watershed moment for the international left, and Toby does a great job situating the election among other leftist movements in Latin America and beyond. Thanks for joining us, and we hope you enjoy.

You can listen to this conversation as a podcast on Spotify, Pandora, Apple Podcasts, and more.

This is a major topic of discussion for this week’s episode of Krystal Kyle & Friends. From the policies we’d like to see surrounding gun control to the way politicians are responding, we cover a lot of ground, joined by our guest Mac (you know him as @GoodPoliticGuy). We hope you enjoy the episode, which will be available to stream tomorrow through Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Pandora, and more. Thanks for joining us this week.

Thanks for tuning in. You can listen to this podcast tomorrow on Spotify, Pandora, Apple Podcasts, and more.

Dr. Kaye, whose work focuses on FDR, the Progressive tradition, and the Four Freedoms, among other things, gives us the historical background on the progressive demand for an economic bill of rights, and a survey of how poverty in rural and urban areas has shaped our political terrain. The eagerness of this party to act like Republicans at best, as Harvey puts it, has laid the groundwork for our current politics of austerity and privation. Meanwhile, Alan helps us get a sense of how the Democratic Party is currently failing to fight back against this politics, and how it should take up the mantle of demanding economic justice. We discuss how the economic component of this agenda has fallen to the wayside and how it should be reclaimed at the heart of our politics.

We cover everything from the foundations of Bernie’s socialism and his advocacy for democracy to the way that the Bernie 2020 team developed their strategies for the campaign. As Ari explains, Bernie himself built trust with his team to take on work when it became impossible for him to oversee everything. While the years after the 2020 primary have outlined political and creative differences within that campaign team, we think you’ll enjoy hearing about the process of building a campaign that mobilized people across the country, a process in which Ari was directly and closely involved.

Thanks for listening to the podcast! You can listen to this episode on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Pandora, and more.

A Congress with Rep. Nina Turner and others like her would be different. How do we get there? Is it even possible to redeem and reclaim the soul of the party? We tackle these questions and more in our discussion with Marianne, and we hope you enjoy.

Listen to this conversation as a podcast on Spotify, Pandora, Apple Podcasts, and more.

Up against massive corporate donations funneled to her centrist opponent, Turner lost the first election, but she’s running again — and we talk about why this election is different. With a newly redrawn, more progressive district, Nina is reaching the right people with her vision of working-class empowerment. And she thinks she has a winning message for those who have shouldered the burden of COVID-era financial downturn. Proposing robust social support programs and a government built to fulfill the needs of everyday people, this message addresses what the residents of her district are looking for — and we can’t wait to see the result at the polls.

You can listen to this episode on Pandora, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and more.

Daisy herself has spent decades in the union fight, organizing with laundry and garment workers both in and outside of the United States. She brings essential insight to this discussion of a massive step forward for the labor movement, how we make sense of it, and how we can support it moving forward.

You can listen to this episode as a podcast on Spotify, Pandora, Substack, Apple Podcasts, and more.

With Paul’s Ego, we dive into the topics of class reductionism, voting for the lesser of two evils, how leftist politicians can avoid the pressure of the status quo, and much more. The massive victory of the Amazon Labor Union, which beat the odds without the help of big-name left politicians, offers a powerful lesson to the electeds who would step back from the most essential fights in the labor movement and beyond. Transformative power for the working class lies in the labor movement, and it’s the role of leftist politicians to lend that movement support — but that support needs to be more than a tweet.

You can listen to this episode as a podcast on Spotify, Pandora, Apple Podcasts, and more.

You can listen to this conversation as a podcast when it’s released tomorrow on Substack, Spotify, Pandora, Apple Podcasts, and more.

Our conversation with Christian also reminds us that even though big-name progressive politicians have attempted to signal their support for unionizing Amazon workers through retweets and posts, real solidarity extends into meaningful action, and support for workers facing exploitation from one of the world’s biggest corporations should be a real litmus test for our electeds. We talk about what this external solidarity looks like, along with much more on this episode of KK&F.

You can listen to this episode as a podcast on Spotify, Pandora, Apple Podcasts, and more.

This episode of KK&F is available to everyone through Spotify, Pandora, Apple Podcasts, and more.

You can listen to this conversation as a podcast on Spotify, Pandora, Apple Podcasts, and more. Thanks for tuning in.

But she also connects the development of this militarism through the twentieth century to the rise of the PMC. Think tanks have played an increasingly important role in beating the drums of war, and Catherine points to the idea of “expertise” in foreign policy that they promote, adding a veneer of intellectualism, experience, and professionalism to this country’s practice of destroying the lives of people overseas in senseless, bloody wars.

Our conversation with Catherine helped us to think through this week’s troubling, complicated events, and we think you’ll enjoy the conversation, too. Thanks for your support! You can find this episode as a podcast on Spotify, Pandora, Apple Music, and more.

Michael’s answer is that it’s hard to see a way out of the bind we’re in without a mass populist movement — one that can demand the political changes we so desperately need to see, rather than asking politely for them and being rebuffed by Democrats and Republicans alike. We address questions like these and others with Michael, and we think you’ll want to hear his response.

You can listen to this episode on Spotify, Pandora, Apple Podcasts, and more.

As he does in projects like Chapo and Fighting in the Age of Loneliness, Felix is able to speak to the despair of a generation promised a future that years of economic instability have taken away. Faced with mountains of debt and the exploitation of the gig economy, young people are staring down economic crisis. With Felix, we gain insight into how we ended up here, and what the stakes are for everyday people.

Audio of this conversation is available on Substack, Spotify, Pandora, Apple Podcasts, and more. Thanks for tuning in.

You can listen to this conversation as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Pandora, and more.

You might know Johann Hari from his books, including Lost Connection: Uncovering the Real Causes of Depression – and the Unexpected Solutions (2018) and his newly released Stolen Focus: Why You Can't Pay Attention. We focus on the latter, drawing on various perspectives — from the content creator to the everyday consumer of online media — to understand how the online world has eroded our collective attention spans, and to hear Johann’s argument on how we can reclaim them.

You can listen to this episode on Pandora, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and other major streaming platforms.

Lords of Easy Money’s story leads us to today’s inequality and financial instability. In other words, it’s hard to fully understand our current moment of fiscal crisis without having a grasp on how the Federal Reserve was the key architect of past decades of financial policy, and whose interest that policy was made in. We’re grateful to Christopher for joining us. Remember that you can listen to this episode on major streaming platforms like Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and Pandora — and thank you for joining us, too.

In the new year, we’re returning to a familiar question: is it possible to build an alternative to the Democratic Party, and how could it make concrete gains for the working class? Chris helps us think it through, contextualizing the “lesser evil” argument we hear every election cycle with the real assaults on civil liberties that Democrats have perpetuated in recent decades. This conversation was an opportunity for us to rethink the meaning of “lesser evil” as it’s used in contemporary politics, but also to imagine a political framework where votes are motivated by a positive leftist movement, not a false choice between two corporate parties.

Right-wing talk radio and local news are breeding grounds for the idea that strikes, during which workers withhold their labor to strengthen workplace protections and benefits, come at a significant cost to the customer, who is deprived of those goods or services until the strike concludes. While our markets and consumer culture support the customer, workers can’t count on meaningful support from any major political parties. What if this were different, and both Democrats and Republicans were willing to make this a central issue? Right now, displays solidarity are as low-stakes as they come, tweeted words of support when it’s the policy that matters. But we see potential to bring over others on this essential issue, at a time when neither major party is making a serious bid to provide substantial support to the labor movement.

While a grassroots movement rallied together in support of Steven, establishment media was notably silent. Only on the day of his sentencing did a mainstream news outlet step up to bring attention to the case. While their interests remain vested with Chevron and with other capitalist behemoths, ours remain with Steven — remembering that sharing his story and fighting together for his release can have a measurable impact, now and in struggles to come.

We bring in another perspective, arguing that among other issues, the left has been hobbled by the inaccessible and insular rhetoric that has been adopted in its struggle for some key policies. Freddie brings an interesting and well-argued perspective, and we think you’ll enjoy the debate. Thanks for joining us — and if you want to listen to this episode as a podcast, you can find it on Pandora, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and more.

We explore how and why the left has fallen short of building robust, lasting coalitions, and why it’s so important now. We also get into the central issue of money in politics — what kind of model, existing or otherwise, will bring about democracy in American elections? We’re incredibly grateful to Professor Reed for joining us on the show, and we hope you enjoy this thoughtful conversation.

You can listen to this conversation as a podcast on Pandora, Spotify, Apple Music, and more.

We also cover big-ticket questions of principle and strategy when it comes to building independent platforms. David, as the host of The Rational National, shares his own expertise as someone who has built a massive online following from sharing leftist political perspectives — helping us understand how leftists can get the message out there.

You can listen to this episode as a podcast on Spotify, Pandora, Apple Podcasts, and more.

As the host of The Katie Halper Show and co-host of Useful Idiots, Katie is a major voice in leftist independent media. Comedian, writer, and director, she’s lent her talents to many different projects, from stand-up comedy to political organizing to documentary work. We hope you enjoy this conversation — it’s also available on Spotify, Pandora, Apple Podcasts, and wherever else you get your podcasts.

You can listen to this conversation as a podcast on Substack, Spotify, Pandora, Apple Podcasts, and wherever else you get your podcasts.

We’re grateful to TJ for this deeply philosophical discussion, one that also touches on his own experience building a massive online platform that has reached so many people on personal, engaging topics. You can also find this conversation on Spotify, Pandora, Apple Podcasts, and wherever else you get your podcasts.

We’re welcoming Jordan Chariton to the show this week, getting his expert’s insight into building an independent media platform, tracking the stories he’s following on the ground and documenting with everyday Americans’ perspectives, and delving into the week’s political developments. You can also hear this podcast on major streaming platforms like Pandora, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, and more.

Taking a look at the conditions that brought the workers to reject the proposed contract, John Deere management is using a strategy dating back to the beginning of capitalist exploitation: dividing workers to prevent them from uniting behind common interests. But instead of accepting these divisions, Deere workers are fighting back. In this episode, we discuss how.

We address questions like these with this week's guest: Jeff Stein, White House economics reporter for the Washington Post. From the budget bill to the debt ceiling and beyond, Jeff speaks to the key political and economic struggles of the moment, the role our president is playing in them, and how they will affect the American people. We're grateful to him for joining us.

By joining the bills, however, progressives in the Senate have created a “take it or leave it” situation for Kyrsten Sinema, who will need to support the reconciliation bill in order to keep her corporate donors happy. Pulling a missed lesson from the Obama era, David argues that delivering big, substantive change for the American people will be the Democrats’ real key to building support for upcoming elections — not patting themselves on the back for victories that are too little, too late.

Audio of this conversation is available on Substack, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Pandora, and more. Thanks for tuning in.

Thanks to Russell Brand for joining us on Krystal Kyle & Friends this week to discuss his political philosophy, the future of struggle against inequality and his current work “infusing political discourse with spiritual ideas.” We also had to get his views on Nicki Minaj/ballgate, Candace Owens, and AOC’s “tax the rich” dress. We hope you enjoy!

After the Bernie campaign, Faiz has shifted to independent media work, founding More Perfect Union — which provides coverage of the labor movement, from the unionization effort in Bessemer to the current strike among Nabisco workers. He tells us about his experiences sharing working-class stories that have been excluded from mainstream coverage and bringing these critical issues to light. It’s a conversation we think you’ll enjoy.

Audio of this conversation is available on Substack, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Pandora, and more.

But Charlie and Ben’s analysis of charismatic, engaging behavior extends beyond politics and into the realm of personal life. What qualities draw other people toward you? How can you strengthen those qualities in order to build your relationships and lead a more fulfilling life? Our guests lay it out for us — what they’ve explored in Charisma on Command, and what they’ve learned from work and life.

This interview offers rare insight into the full story of Donziger’s incredible case against the fossil fuel behemoth Chevron. From start to finish, Donziger explains how he became involved in the fight to hold Chevron to account for destroying the Amazon and poisoning the Ecuadoreans who called it home, all in the name of a profit motive. Fighting Chevron’s attacks from house arrest, Donziger wants to bring his story to light — the story of how a massive corporation has evaded justice for exploiting the environment, and how the attempts to uncover and publicize this exploitation have been stifled.

Irami asks you to imagine being a vegetarian who has thirteen choices of meat for dinner. That’s the way we look at the dysfunctional, punishing healthcare programs that are available to most working people in this country. The free-market virtue of choice, embraced by the U.S. ruling class over the evils of socialism, guarantees that we must be free if we’re at liberty to choose our fate. But when the choice on the table is “Medicare for all who want it,” and we have either a vastly underfunded, under-enrolled public option or a prohibitively expensive private one, can we say that the liberal illusion of choice is bringing us prosperity? Would it be such an infringement of our freedoms if the U.S. government guaranteed high-quality healthcare for all, like it or not?

To get the whole conversation on audio, find our podcast on Substack, Spotify, Pandora, Apple Podcasts, and more. Thanks for joining another week of Krystal Kyle & Friends.

The reconciliation bill negotiated by Senator Sanders includes significant items like a renewable energy standard, universal pre-K, and 2 years of community college. It also is a very long way from being final or complete. Will Democrats allow the parliamentarian to kill the PRO Act or the renewable energy standard? Will corporate democrats demand sweeping changes and dramatically lower the pricetag? We get to these questions and more on this week’s episode of Krystal Kyle & Friends. Listen now on Substack, Spotify, Pandora, Apple Podcasts, and more.

Briahna wants to talk about the weakness of the liberal consensus that is held together by the power and riches of the Democratic Party. She knows it’s not working for us, and she knows we’ve noticed. An essential part of the Bernie campaign was the task of acknowledging and mobilizing the real, material hurt that working people face in everyday life: debt, massive medical bills, poor housing, feeding a family on poverty wages. For while these are things that everyday Americans tend to think about the most, the Democratic establishment is eager to pass them over, offering empty, performative gestures to ignore constituents’ cries for help. It doesn’t have to be this way, no matter what the party insists.

We’re so grateful to Briahna for sharing her time and wonderful insight with us. Don’t forget to check out her podcast, Bad Faith. And to listen to this episode as a podcast, find Krystal Kyle & Friends on Spotify, Pandora, Apple Podcasts. Thanks for tuning in, everyone.

The task of reframing our society’s perception of psychedelic use is a big one, but as you’ll hear in this week’s conversation, it offers a great deal of positives — which decades, and even centuries, of drug policing have fought to hide from us.

Where does the story of government control of substances start in the United States? In our conversation, Ismail traces it back to the 1800s, following a line of prohibitive legislation, but he also draws upon a history of colonialism that predates the founding of the United States. Understanding why certain substances are criminalized in the U.S. means more than understanding their chemical composition. It means understanding how different religious groups have interacted in the past centuries, how different societies have developed moral codes, and, more recently, how drug criminalization has been used to continue the legacy of colonialism into the twenty-first century.

In our last post, we discussed the basics of the unjust imprisonment of Julian Assange, founder of whistleblowing org WikiLeaks. Now, Gabriel and John reveal details about Julian’s current living conditions, the discovery of fabricated testimony against him, and the U.S. media’s determined blackout of his case.

For so many of us, the feelings of patriotism that this weekend’s holiday is supposed to drum up has been forever changed by the information that Julian sacrificed to share with us. We know that the American government’s demand for unquestioning allegiance comes at the cost of safety, health, freedom, and life for millions of people across the world. We also know that the values that supposedly build our national character — freedom to express ourselves, to question, and to speak to our beliefs — can be bought and paid for, whisked away for the Department of Defense’s convenience.

We had to kick off the episode by talking about this week’s big story: Britney Spears gave testimony on the cruel, exploitative nature of her thirteen-year conservatorship. With her most basic rights thrown away to the discretion of her father, Britney detailed the truly horrific abuse that has followed the loss of her autonomy.

Working seven days a week without control of her money, denied the most basic power over her body: Britney’s story is a chilling example of the linkages between ableism and the restriction of reproductive rights. It’s also a story of labor abuses. The call to #FreeBritney is an essential feminist mandate: nobody should have to live this way.

For historians of the ‘60s and ‘70s, one of the most pressing questions to ask is: What did the revolutionary movements of this period get right, and where did they go wrong? Of course, David and Margaret give us thought-provoking and insightful answers — on modern cynicism toward leadership; movements’ source of direction and inspiration; the importance of coalition-building; and the role of solidarity in the revolution. There’s an unbelievable wealth of knowledge to gain here. We’re grateful David and Margaret took the time to spell it out for us, and we think you’ll enjoy.

Pete Davis begins his 2021 book Dedication: The Case for Commitment by describing the modern refusal to commit with a low-stakes example. “Infinite browsing mode” is perfectly captured by an evening spent trawling the full Netflix database, rejecting each movie option in case a better one comes along. But in his appearance on this week’s episode of Krystal Kyle & Friends, Pete makes it clear that the stakes of indecisiveness are far greater than permanently scrolling through media sites. Our conversation inspired us to reflect on the value of commitment to ideals, principles, political movements. How well are we serving ourselves and our world by refusing to stand by what we believe in? And when there’s room for us to commit ourselves to these projects, how can we make the leap?

As Pete points out, the victories we achieve through commitment tend to be quiet success stories. Hollywood prefers to glamorize stories of epiphanies and “big breaks” — single moments that change a person’s life or redefine their sense of self. Given that the escape from infinite browsing mode is hard-won and often difficult, we can’t expect to watch the value of commitment play out on the big screen in popular culture. But the personal and social enrichment that these commitments yield, Pete argues, is what makes it all worth it. We’re inclined to agree.

For Rose, the story of the Democratic Party is the story of a cult: Google the definition, she suggests, and it’s all too obvious. The demand of unconditional loyalty sits at the center of this comparison. Leftist organizers know that lobbying the Democrats for universal healthcare, a jobs guarantee, or reduced police budgets results in personal attacks, accusations of supporting the far-right, empty gestures — in essence, anything but the basic human right we’re asking for. The Democratic establishment depends upon partisan polarization — the eternal, anti-materialist struggle between Team Red and Team Blue — to insist that any political activism outside this binary is toxic, dangerous, “asking too much.” Rose’s critiques of this controlling political cult, which asks for everything and gives nothing in return, remind us how essential it is that we not only ask for more, but demand it. We hope you enjoy this thought-provoking episode of Krystal Kyle & Friends — and we hope you come back for more next week.

Audio of this episode of Krystal Kyle & Friends will be available on Substack, Pandora, Stitcher, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and more tomorrow evening.

When Tara Reade, a former congressional staffer for Joe Biden, came forward in early 2020 to report that Biden sexually assaulted her, mainstream news outlets like The New York Times dismissed the allegation against the Democratic establishment candidate. While these sources probed Reade’s past landlords for details in order to paint her as a dishonest and untrustworthy voice, few were willing to give her the opportunity to tell her story, one that she had told to various people in her life for many years. Reade found an ally in Rose McGowan. Refusing to be silenced by establishment dismissal of her rape allegation against Harvey Weinstein, Rose criticized the treatment of Reade’s story as “politically inconvenient” for the Democratic Party — supposedly the party of believing women and supporting survivors.

Rose has continued to call out the hypocrisy of the Democratic Party, comparing it to a cult and observing the ways in which it calls its followers are led to abandon their principles. From smearing survivors to protecting predatory billionaires, the Democrats often stand for little other than performative opposition to the Republican Party, whose political agenda they’re all too happy to allow. Mainstream outlets like the New York Times want you to think that Biden is the new FDR and that Trump’s replacement means the end of rape culture, but Rose McGowan knows how empty those proclamations are. We can’t wait to share our conversation with you — Friday is only a few days away.

Paid subscribers access the video of our KK&F episodes on Friday evenings, when they drop on Substack. Everyone else can listen to the audio through Substack, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Pandora, and more once it is released on Saturday evening.

During an age in which we head to YouTube to learn essential skills, enjoy ourselves, and gain some political perspective, Vaush has made a name for himself by delving into timely leftist discussions, sharing his insights and analyses with hundreds of thousands of people online. From a “Politics 101” intro video with thousands of hits, to more recent responses to Ben Shapiro and PragerU, Vaush doesn’t shy away from clashes with the far right — he’s happy to take on their ideas from a leftist perspective, and we were excited to hear more about that perspective during this week’s conversation.

Vaush, Kyle and Krystal also dive straight into areas of some disagreement. Bernie or Bust, the Populist Right, woke ideology and Vaush’s critique of Rising were all addressed. We think you’ll find it very interesting.

In addition, Krystal had a chance to talk a bit more about her big news. In case you missed it, Krystal and Saagar are leaving The Hill for a new chapter in their work together! To be the first to know the details of what comes next, sign up at krystalandsaagar.com.

Become a paid subscriber to gain access to our video conversations! We’re grateful to you for tuning in to Krystal Kyle & Friends.

Even as the current violence against Palestinians is at the front of so many people’s minds, from Biden and Pelosi to supposed Senate lefties Markey and Warren, many Democrats are pushing the same dangerous denial of Palestinian genocide. Old video footage reveals, in fact, that Biden has a long history of unconditional support for Zionism, a stance that he’s reiterated throughout his political career.

Biden’s past and present refusal to reckon with the human rights abuses committed in the name of Zionism, however, is a sharp contrast with the political leadership being shown by leftist politicians like Rashida Tlaib. While so many of her colleagues push a two-state solution or argue that Palestinians should have no right to self-defense, Tlaib gave a powerful speech on the House floor, calling out her peers’ vocal and material support for a brutal regime. The day will come when American tax dollars are not used to enable the murder of Palestinian children. Tlaib and others are fighting for it, and the least we can do is join them.

So begins James Suzman’s compelling and thorough history of work, beginning at the dawn of the Stone Age and moving forward to an analysis of current labor conditions in our capitalist society. This passage from Work: A Deep History perfectly captures Suzman’s balancing of technology’s wonders alongside the ways in which this technology is manipulated to make work for human beings more, not less, precarious. We’ve been looking forward to having him on the show, and after watching today’s episode of Krystal Kyle & Friends, we think you’ll agree that James makes a necessary intervention into the discussion on how and why we work. Does it have to be this way? History says otherwise.

We’re thrilled to delve into the past, present, and future of labor with James Suzman in this week’s episode of Krystal Kyle & Friends, and we hope you enjoy the journey as much as we did.

There’s much more to hear in this conversation, about the current state of the Democratic Party, Dr. West’s insights for the present moment, and his thoughts on political life. We hope you’ll enjoy this luminous discussion with one of the most inspiring and brilliant leftists of our time.

If you’re familiar with Professor Wolff’s work, you won’t be surprised to hear that in his view, the Biden presidency falls far short of its potential — restricted as that potential is by the admin’s liberal-democratic political framework. At the center of Wolff’s critique is a challenge to the austerity budgets that Biden, like so many other Democratic leaders, has supported during his years in office. Wolff makes the case that what actually drives the formation of the budget is the political will of the elites in power. Along with Stephanie Kelton and other prominent supporters of Modern Monetary Theory, Wolff has shown that when it comes time to offer massive funds to imperialist military projects, the cost-cutting concerns of these “hawks” fly out the window. Instead of allocating the profit made by workers toward projects that deprive those workers of basic needs, Wolff argues, the government has other options. Other forms of distributing wealth are possible — providing essential resources to everyone, as a guarantee, for example, rather than stripping down those programs to pay for more military weapons.

Join us for more Krystal Kyle & Friends next week, and remember that you can find the audio of our conversation with Professor Wolff on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Pandora, and other major streaming platforms.

Subscribe to watch the video! Audio is always free and no ads.

At the end of the day, why is the debate over cancel culture pertinent to our lives? Log off of Twitter (always a good idea) and you instantly lose connection to the day’s debate over who should be de-platformed, who’s problematic, and who needs to take a seat. It’s telling when this discourse distances itself from issues with real, material impact on people’s lives, focusing instead upon adding fodder to the culture wars. When people take issue with cancel culture, it’s often because this culture places heavy punishment on “saying the wrong thing.” This concept is broad: it distracts from the true principles that should drive a group to exclude an unsafe or harmful member. It lumps in genuine and harmless mistakes with words intended to make others feel unwelcome or unsafe, and those seeking to build an inclusive leftist movement should view these scenarios very differently. What Dan advocates for, both in this conversation and in his book, is a greater openness to discussing harm or mistakes not as a precursor to cancellation, but as an opportunity for learning and growth. We hope you’ll enjoy hearing his perspective, and we’re grateful to you for tuning in.

Perhaps we weren’t expecting to hear that a social-democratic political model maintains the ethos of the hunter-gatherer society more fully than a capitalist society, but Christopher is full of compelling, provocative insights. Too often, conversations about leftist political models are shut down by the argument that “humans are inherently greedy” — we’re willing to bet that the vast majority of leftists in the United States have been fed this line. Like you, perhaps, Christopher shows that it’s more complicated, and that classifying humanity as “good” or “bad” by nature doesn’t address the real question: How do we choose to act? Acknowledging that our baser or more greedy personal impulses exist doesn’t mean we must deny other people basic rights. Even alongside those impulses, we can recognize the imperative of a society that prioritizes human well-being and allows us all to live our fullest lives.We hope you enjoy this conversation! Audio of Episode 15 is also available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Pandora, and more. Thank you very much for joining us. To subscribe to our video conversations, which are released Friday, click below:

People across the country know Yang as the person who popularized the demand for a universal basic income (UBI), and the stimulus checks distributed during the coronavirus crisis have shown the power of this cash support to provide essential financial stability. Yang has updated this plan for his mayoral run. As you’ll hear, we dive into some UBI logistics — what does a right- or left-wing UBI look like? — because when you get the chance to talk to Andrew Yang about UBI, you take it.

You’ll also hear us mention some issues important to us and to Yang, including healthcare and his stance on the BDS movement. We disagree with the idea that the BDS movement is rooted in antisemitism, and we take different views on Palestinians’ tactics of struggle for justice against occupation. On the topic of Medicare for All, we go over Yang’s support for single-payer alongside his lack of support for the existing Medicare for All bill, talking about why single-payer is the “common sense” program. We wanted to get a sense of Yang’s reasoning for his positions on these critical issues, and we were grateful to get his responses. We hope you’ll enjoy this episode of Krystal Kyle & Friends — and remember that you can check out our audio on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Pandora, and more.

You’re probably familiar with Taibbi’s work with Rolling Stone, where he’s covered presidential campaigns from an outsider perspective, revealed the corporate evil at the heart of the 2008 financial crisis, and more. As Kyle mentions during our conversation, Taibbi’s fantastic writing captured the full picture of how Goldman Sachs dragged working people into financial peril — a picture that too few are willing to describe now, and even fewer were willing to describe then. We’re grateful to have someone who sees through the mainstream platitudes in order to deliver a clear vision of the monsters that the 99% is up against, and that’s why we’re so grateful to hear from Matt Taibbi.We hope you enjoy this episode of KK&F, and we’re so grateful to you for subscribing. To become a paid subscriber, click below — otherwise, stream our episodes on Apple Podcasts, Pandora, Spotify, and more.

No need to wait until next Saturday for Episode 12 of KK&F — become a paid subscriber below for Friday video access to our conversations: 

How is the argument for a strengthened, involved government and the practicality of leftist demands playing out in the early days of Biden’s term? Nichols spells it out for us. Thanks to grassroots organizers across the country, Biden is evidently feeling the pressure to go beyond performative gestures and provide the nation with material support. Executive orders to protect DACA and to rejoin the Paris climate accords are essential steps. But, we believe, there’s a long way to go. With record numbers of children in ICE custody, a monthlong water crisis in Jackson, Mississippi, and more evictions looming as the federal moratorium is set to expire in weeks, anything less than bold progressive action won’t cut it. Join us and John for a conversation about what comes next.

As you’ll see, our talk with Dr. Hart was truly an interesting and eye-opening conversation. The argument for total drug legalization is controversial, and given the damage that the opioid crisis has done to millions of people’s lives, it’s essential to question whether this is indeed the move that would improve our society’s relationship to drug usage. But it’s clear that this relationship currently places criminalization and incarceration above the healing and wellness of drug users, and imagining how it might be changed is an incredibly important task. Thanks as always for joining us for this week’s episode of KK&F!

At one point in our conversation, Dylan paints the picture of how the relationship between funding and political campaigns should be reformed, carving out a central role for citizen participation in deciding how our candidates access the resources to build their bids for office. Imagine the drastically different political landscape that these reforms would create. Instead of corporate ties leading to full coffers for political campaigns with no connection to the concerns of working-class people (think Hillary 2016), we could build a political system that offers resources to candidates who make meaningful appeals to their fellow citizens’ needs. We’re lucky to have Dylan Ratigan to remind us of this, and we hope you’ll enjoy the episode.

We talk to Glenn about his decades of work bringing important stories to light, from his refusal to buy into the Russiagate insanity to his work with the Snowden archive. We discuss what it means to celebrate when a public figure passes away — and when that figure is Rush Limbaugh, a discussion that leads to a few different conclusions. We delve into Glenn’s advocacy around the issue of homelessness and his preference for Nietzsche among the philosophers. And we truly appreciated the opportunity to see how Glenn’s willingness to confront the status quo throughout his life has led him to his current work and enabled him to do outstanding things in that work. We hope you’ll appreciate it, too.

For access to video of this conversation, we recommend becoming a paid subscriber, just by clicking the button below:

Next, because Krystal Kyle & Friends is just Krystal and Kyle this week, the later part of the show offers a deep, introspective look at how each of us became politically radicalized, how we’ve arrived at our advocacy for issues like organized labor and universal healthcare, and how leftist politics fits into the terrain of our own lives. We’re thrilled to be able to share this with you — not only because you’ll see Kyle in a new light (pro golfer), but also because reflecting upon the meeting of our political journeys and our personal lives helps us to think about our own strategies for building leftist power, the lessons we’ve learned in the past, and the possibilities we envision for the American left in the future. We hope you enjoy! Remember that audio for this podcast can also be accessed on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and other major streaming platforms like Stitcher, iHeartRadio, Pandora, and Google Podcasts.

There is a world of difference between Cuba’s approach to vaccine distribution — which recognizes a collective commitment to global health — and the greedy resource grabs of the U.S., which has treated vaccine development as a race to prove its supremacy. In our discussion, Chomsky points out how the U.S.’s response to the coronavirus is a disaster with international implications. His argument for international solidarity also extends through another crisis of our time: the struggle against climate change. While wealthy countries continue to exploit resources like fossil fuels, threatening communities and destroying the environment in the process, stressing individual responsibility for climate disaster won’t save us. We need international solidarity, and we need solid organizing strategies that will help us to achieve it. To hear more about Chomsky’s ideas on leftists’ challenges and goals, as well as his political journey, join us for this week’s episode of Krystal Kyle & Friends. Audio is available on major streaming platforms like Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and Stitcher. To access the video, which drops on Friday through Substack, click the button below:

These questions are animated by a common theme: workers make the profit, and capitalists steal that profit to play games with it. And our government is staffed by the people who actively engage in that theft, directly profit from it, or act as the puppets of these hedge-fund ghouls. The events of this week have shown that capitalism “playing by the rules” is a misnomer. There’s just one rule, handed down from party elites and their corporate backers: Financial gain for me, and not for thee. Under the new administration, “Nothing will fundamentally change,” remember? So if it seems wrong that Pelosi and Yellen, along with Wall Street, should line their pockets while the people who do the work go hungry or homeless — what do we do to force the change ourselves?We spoke to Justin Jackson this week to get an insightful, strategic perspective on this question, and as you’ll hear, he delivered. Theories about how we work with the corrupt Democratic Party, for example, are in no shortage, and as leftists, it’s on us to consider how to productively engage with electoral politics to deliver victories from the people — without becoming acquiescent, as Nina Turner argued in last week’s episode. Not only is Justin a stellar athlete on the national stage, as a running back for the L.A. Chargers, but he’s an advisory board member of the Movement for a People’s Party. He’s thought deeply about the value of a party that doesn’t dip into Wall Street’s pockets, and he clearly lays out the case for that party while spelling out how we make Democratic electeds fight for the change we need in the present moment. We can’t afford to let politicians attach the word “progressive” to their name while they turn around to support a status quo that bankrupts working people. Justin’s made the point that the future of this country is at stake. We know you’ll enjoy listening to his incisive analysis of how an anti-corporatist left makes a place for itself on the American political terrain. We know you’ll be excited to hear about what he’s working on politically. And we’re so glad to have you tuning in.

Sen. Nina Turner is now running for Congress because she heeds a higher political mandate than unity. In our fourth conversation on Krystal Kyle & Friends, we’re joined by this visionary leader to discuss her campaign for Ohio’s eleventh congressional district, her theory of change, and her thoughts on how a people’s candidate interacts with the political establishment.

Subscribe now to watch the video or listen to the audio above! The audio is also available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and all the major podcasting platforms.

As Nina will tell you, staying “unbought and unbossed” is not a recipe for winning the adoration of the media, of party elites like Pelosi, or of top-dollar campaign donors. But as Sen. Turner believes, referencing the legacies of Shirley Chisholm and Fannie Lou Hamer, it is the only way to challenge the power of institutions that keep the people from rising up.

Those familiar with her work on Bernie Sanders’s 2020 presidential campaign won’t be surprised to learn that at a time when working people are in uniquely dire straits, Sen. Turner is building a movement to bring those people to Congress with her. You’ll want to hear all about this movement — exactly what this political moment is calling for — and you can start by listening Episode 4 of Krystal Kyle & Friends, where Nina Turner spells it all out for us.

In this week’s episode, we sit down with Thomas to flesh out the story of how the Democrats abandoned working-class politics, how Republicans seized the populist narrative, and how Americans can look to a people-led political movement in our own past as a bulwark against Trumpism. Thomas is a leading voice on this topic, as he demonstrates in books from What’s the Matter with Kansas? to last year’s The People, No. Thomas Frank argues that the Democratic establishment has displayed a “lack of faith in ordinary Americans” for decades, right down to Hillary Clinton’s support for Reaganite policies and ideas in her 2016 run for the presidency. On the opposite side of the aisle, Republican elites openly embrace the gutting of social support systems and the oppression of labor. The Trumpian maneuver is to channel legitimate grievance into endless culture war. But Democrats play easily into their hands by centering their party around scolding ordinary people. That’s why “populism” has become a dirty word among liberal politicians and commentators: they use the Trump mob to indict all working people and to crush the core populist idea that ordinary people should have power and a say in governance.

As Thomas argues in his own work, building a strong American left from the lessons and legacy of the Populist movement is precisely what we need to do in the present. Listen to our conversation with Thomas — available here and on major streaming platforms like Spotify, Google Podcasts, and Apple Podcasts — to get a sense of how we honor and learn from that legacy. To become a paid subscriber and access the videos of our weekly conversations on Krystal Kyle & Friends, click the button below. Audio of KK&F will remain free as always, and we’re so glad to have you listening in.

In this (first!) episode, Marianne discusses her intellectual influences, her opposition to the status quo of the Democratic Party, and her views on the populist energy bubbling up around Medicare for All and COVID stimulus checks. Bringing all of these topics together, of course, is Marianne's fierce advocacy for the value of humanity and the promise of a more just world.

What you may find striking is that Marianne transcends the "new-age" spiritual label that is often ascribed to her. Given her attentiveness to the current issues that Americans are facing -- from unaffordable healthcare to hostile elites in power -- Marianne is clearly sensitive to modern struggles. Yet she's also drawing upon a greater tradition of humanitarians and philosophers, those who have argued for generations that human beings inherently deserve opportunities to flourish intellectually, spiritually, and socially. In this way, Marianne offers a perspective that you can't get anywhere else. Hers is a vision that marries pressing demands for justice with profound intellectual considerations of happiness, peace, and the things that give life meaning. After listening to our conversation with her, we think you’ll agree: Marianne Williamson is someone to take very, very seriously.

We hope that you enjoy this (first) episode of Krystal Kyle & Friends! For the next few weeks, you’ll have access to video recordings of our Friday interviews through Secular Talk. After that, paid subscribers to our Substack will have access to the video every Friday. The audio will post on Saturdays and always be free to all here on Substack and on all the major podcasting platforms. Apple takes a little while to verify so it will be a couple weeks before you can find the audio there but it’s available now on Spotify, Stitcher, Amazon, Google and more. Happy New Year! Appreciate you all! Enjoy!