Welcome to Episode 240 of Krystal Kyle & Friends, featuring politician and current North Carolina congressional candidate Richard Ojeda. He’s here for a tell-all on MAGA, especially in working class regions of the U.S. where the far right has taken hold. How is Donald Trump, an exploitative billionaire, able to go to the veterans in North Carolina or the coal miners’ communities in WV and sell hard-working people empty promises? Richard takes us through the history of those communities and what they faced at the hands of company owners just like Trump. From the start of mining jobs in the U.S. as basically “legalized slavery,” with wages paid in company scrip and goods bought at company stores, miners have always had to fight uphill for survival. Now, Trump is able to play on these narratives and speak to the fear and anger people feel at their lack of mobility in order to win support for his deeply anti-worker politics. He’s always portrayed blue-collar workers as a cornerstone of the MAGA coalition. Is there any way for these workers to be won back in favor of policies that actually center their needs?

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.

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