Krystal Kyle & Friends

Welcome to episode 208 of KK&F, where your hosts get into Biden’s final days for a special episode. As the sun sets on the Biden admin, it seems like until the last minute, Biden is asking, “Won’t somebody do something?” It’s a vibe that has haunted his whole presidency as for the last four years he’s performatively gestured toward shoring up essential policies like abortion rights, antitrust, and more, ultimately failing to enshrine Roe and bring Big Tech to heel because of the party’s own financial interests and conservative establishment. Listening to Biden’s account of the last four years, Biden is insisting that he himself wanted more— but he wasn’t able to build public confidence in his political commitments because he didn’t fully commit to building that confidence. Now, the policies Biden offered mealy-mouthed support will languish under Trump’s shocking and audacious plan to undermine what little his predecessor accomplished in office.

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.

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This week on Episode 207 of KK&F, British journalist Owen Jones joins us to help make sense of what Elon is up to in Britain, whether his boost of the far right Reform Party will prove successful, and what to make of his falling out with Nigel Farage.

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.

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

Welcome to the show, Pisco of Lib & Learn! We’re thrilled to have him on the pod with us to discuss the current civil war hitting MAGA’s ranks and the future of the bromance between Trump and Elon (is it built to last?). Like the Democrats, Republicans have their own big tent that brings a vast array of political tendencies into a single party. From the paleoconservatives to Wall Street libertarians, across major divides over economic policy, Republicans don’t adhere to a single form of conservatism; rather, interpretations of conservatism abound, without the party’s top brass demanding more coherence and structural integrity to the party.

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!

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

With this week’s guest, Matt Bruenig, we debunk the biggest misconceptions and lies about single-payer healthcare. After the 2020 election, so many of us can mindlessly rattle off the most pernicious lines used among both conservatives and liberals to keep our healthcare system private. From zingers about wait times for care in Canada to (more than anything, it always comes down to this) the argument that we can’t afford to keep everybody insured, the case for private healthcare sure isn’t creative, but (among our representatives, if not among the American people) it’s held on for dear life.

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.

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

In our interview with Ken for KK&F Episode 204, we cover everything we know about Luigi Mangione so far and the media’s fascinating, highly telling reaction to every new revelation about the case. Ken published a separate article about how the Times, for example, has made a point of avoiding pictures of Mangione’s face — anyone on Twitter the last few days will understand why. Apparently he’s too hot for the Times.

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.

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

We have Michael Tracey on this week to give us the lowdown on Trump’s Cabinet picks, from Pete Hegseth to Tulsi Gabbard. Michael addresses the perception of Pete Hegseth among some of Trump’s base as an anti-war figure, Trump’s leverage in getting his picks through the confirmation process, and much more.

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.

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

We’re back with KK&F Episode 201, featuring MSNBC regular turned critic Steve Schmidt. The “Morning Joe” duo has gone from comparing Trump to Hitler to begging for a meeting in two weeks time to their audience’s utter disgust, a move Steve describes as cynical capitulation in a blistering rant. Add the network’s rating collapse to the news that Comcast is spinning MSNBC off into a new entity, and the whole enterprise may be on the verge of collapse.

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.

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

Episode 200 features Juan David Rojas talking to us about how AMLO, Mexico’s Bernie, won. From strategic alliances with billionaires to successful public works programs, AMLO followed what our guest calls a “politics of pragmatism.” By keeping the media at bay and ensuring the rich paid their fair share, he was able to pursue a left-wing political agenda without becoming, as Democratic candidates in the U.S. often are, embattled by media opponents and a dearth of wealthy supporters.

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.

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

Welcome to Episode 199 of KK&F, with special guest Ettingermentum for election results analysis. Watching many voters shift away from Harris, whether toward Trump or rejecting voting entirely, reminded us that many groups — for example, the disaffected young bros that seem to have broke for Trump in surprisingly massive number — were moved by the message of Bernie Sanders but, now that the only choice is between neoliberalism and Trump-style conservatism, have simply shifted to the right: those people are Republicans now. And the Democrats were never interested in them. The Democrats, rather, trotted out Liz Cheney time after time to tout the feasibility of consolidating party establishments — the last thing populist-inclined voters wanted to see or hear.

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.

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

Listen to our contentious debate with Will Chamberlain on this week’s episode of KK&F. A major point of contention comes up between us and our guest around analysis of the conflict in Israel-Palestine, which Will makes clear he’s unwilling to perceive as a genocide. As we see it, events and tactics like the current starvation strategy Israel’s using in north Gaza make it clear that this event should be perceived as an ethnic cleansing. Will argues that not only does this framing not apply, but his own preferred candidate, Trump, wouldn’t allow for an event like this given that other allies in the region also wouldn’t allow for it.

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.

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