Good Politic Guy AKA Mac joins us to break down the biggest news of the week — which contains some major bombshells and revelations about the future of this country, including the increasing precarity of the economy as we know it. Layoff and unemployment rates are skyrocketing, and the cost of living in the U.S. is higher than ever; AI is playing a significant role in eliminating jobs and prompting layoffs, and that role is only going to increase. We foresee that the rise of AI companies will be major step in the consolidation of capital in a tiny section of our economy.

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.

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On this special episode of KK&F, investigative reporter Ken Klippenstein shares info from insiders about the Trump admin’s growing surveillance machine. From those leaks, he’s learned that Border Patrol and ICE have been gathering sensitive personal data on anyone even suspected of having a connection to anti-ICE activity or resisting the immigration raids on their cities. That info, according to info Ken got from a Border Patrol agent, includes license plates, biometrics, and names of civilians they view as a threat.

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.

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Andrew Tate and Clavicular at the club, singing Kanye’s “Heil Hitler” on the way… we’re calling it the right-wing freakosphere, and its gross, mask-off embrace of fascist culture needs to be studied so it can be eradicated. As we discuss with A Bit Fruity host Matt Bernstein, that space is fracturing right now in a fascinating way. Clavicular is, for example, different from the Candace Owens type of antisemitic conspiracy theorist. Then there’s the whole TPUSA Charlie Kirk brand of more traditional conservatism. These factions are increasingly running afoul of each other and can’t find totally common ground.

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.

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Youtuber and legal expert Pisco joins us this week to lay out the case for why ICE is guilty of murder. As ICE continues to terrorize Minneapolis, kidnap residents, and perpetuate violence after the murder of Renee Good, Trump is throwing around a ton of horrifying comments showing his awareness of different legal and electoral ways to officially shut down this country’s accountability to the people. To think that the Army and National Guard could be in the conversation when it comes to shutting down popular resistance puts us in the position of having to put our lives on the line for constitutional freedoms. And throwing out the midterms will ensure that Republicans can retain power the American people increasingly don’t want them to have. It’s also a great rehearsal for doing away with presidential elections and making sure we’re stuck for the foreseeable future with a fascist con artist.

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.

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Senate candidate Graham Platner joins us to discuss the murder of Renee Good by ICE agents mere blocks from where George Floyd was murdered only a few years ago. Now, residents of Minneapolis have seen truly how far Trump’s government is willing to go to create a reign of terror over working class people and peaceful dissidents. Good’s wife was forced to witness her killing, covered in her blood. It’s an unthinkable image of cruelty that has ignited communal resistance against ICE’s violent rule, premised upon hatred of immigrants and revealing its sadistic targeting of women, too. The people of Minneapolis have, for years now, lived at the eye of the storm of fascism, and they’ve come together in solidarity to keep each other safe and call attention to the brutality.Following the murder of Renee Good by ICE agents mere blocks from where George Floyd was murdered only a few years ago, residents of Minneapolis have seen truly how far Trump’s government is willing to go to create a reign of terror over working class people and peaceful dissidents. Good’s wife was forced to witness her killing, covered in her blood. It’s an unthinkable image of cruelty that has ignited communal resistance against ICE’s violent rule, premised upon hatred of immigrants and revealing its sadistic targeting of women, too. The people of Minneapolis have, for years now, lived at the eye of the storm of fascism, and they’ve come together in solidarity to keep each other safe and call attention to the brutality.

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.

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Taylor Lorenz, a leading journalist tackling contemporary issues in internet culture, rejoins us to go off on current trends pushing young men to embrace conservative expectations of their physiques. Clavicular is a streamer who’s used his platform to advance aesthetic standards for men based on reactionary, profoundly superficial and often dangerous ideals of masculinity. Many such cases. Clavicular is getting a lot of notice lately because of some comments he’s made about supporting Gavin Newsom over JD Vance, applying those standards in ways that capitalize on ideas of physical dominance and superiority. Clavicular’s own dad was a bodybuilder, and that’s shaped his foregrounding of “looksmaxxing,” encouraging young men to pick up on toxic ideas that define worth through conforming to unhealthy physical criteria. This is the realm of the groypers, and from what Taylor’s seeing through her work on the subject, it’s a terrifyingly dominant ideology spreading online and affecting young men.

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.

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Lefty commentator Keith Edwards joins the show this week for a discussion on the reign of terror and violence Trump has brought to America in under a year of his second term. As a prominent independent news host, Keith is also a great source of insight into the challenges presented to lefty independent media during the Trump years, and we get him to talk through all of it with us.

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.

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It’s relatively normal these days to see candidates expect to ride into office based on buzzy, attention-grabbing social media campaigns, but as we saw with Zohran, that’s only a small piece of the bigger puzzle New Yorkers are thinking about when they cast their vote. Name recognition can play a big role, too. But Cameron Kasky, Parkland survivor and anti gun violence organizer, has what members of political dynasties and incumbent leaders don’t have: a new vision that responds to the kinds of changes — universal healthcare, social housing, and gun violence prevention — that everyday people are thinking about on a day-to-day basis.

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.

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Aftyn Behn joins KK&F to discuss her juggernaut campaign to unseat Republican Van Epps as a progressive in Tennessee. Aftyn thinks of herself as a unifier, closing the gap between Democrat and Republican voter turnout and building a broad coalition that brought in former Trump supporters and rallied them behind a program supporting affordability of housing and healthcare.

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.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit krystalkyleandfriends.substack.com/subscribe

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit krystalkyleandfriends.substack.com/subscribe