Krystal Kyle & Friends

This week, we’re bringing you a special episode on the history of the Israel-Palestine conflict. With Mac’s help, we think through the greater terrain of Mideast politics in which the Israel-Palestine conflict is situated, drawing connections to Israel’s attempted deal with Saudi Arabia, relations with Iran, and more. Our conversation looks back at the history of Israel’s colonization of Palestine and the response from the international community in order to understand how those conditions have led to the current conflict.

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From her work as Ohio State Senator to her leadership on the Bernie campaign and runs for national office, Nina Turner has been a consistent voice in favor of working people. In our interview, we ask her why she’s putting her political efforts into bolstering striking workers right now — rather than into electoral endorsements or runs (which she says aren’t off the table). Because Nina wants to see changes in the material conditions working Americans experience, she’s looking to organized labor as the agent capable of effecting these changes. From raising the minimum wage to improving workplace conditions and building working-class political power, the issues Nina’s championed are issues that robust, militant unions can address — so she’s announced an organization to back these workers when they stand up to the bosses and demand a better deal.

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

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While Trump skipped the debate (and the UAW picket line, unlike his Democratic rival, Biden) for a rally at a non-union auto plant in Detroit, seven competitors for the Republican presidential nomination took the debate stage at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library last night to try to challenge Trump’s lead and stand out among the pack. Who succeeded? Who fell short?

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!

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Welcome back to another week of KK&F! This week we’ve got a special episode for you, featuring activist and writer Naomi Klein on her latest book covering conspiracy culture. Heading into an election cycle, it’s hard not to acknowledge the massive impact conspiracies (from vaccine fearmongering to misinfo on the results of the 2020 election) have on electoral outcomes — and the lack of confidence they point toward in mainstream media and communication from our government. As we’ve discussed with past guests, there are few challenges more urgent and more difficult than getting those who’ve been radicalized by conspiracy culture to detach from it.

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.

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

What would it mean for there to be another civil war in the United States? Under what conditions could it happen? These are the questions we’re asking this week’s guest, political commentator, author, and former presidential candidate Andrew Yang. Yang’s recent book, The Last Election, captures a nation beset by systemic corruption, on the brink of collapse. Yang himself has been thinking about how intense political polarization — an increasingly hostile struggle between right and left — may lead to intense political violence, and his fictional work taps into what he imagines could become reality.

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.

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This week, we bring political commentator Briahna Joy Gray on the show to debate the big question: Where, if anywhere, does the Democratic Party deserve credit? And when does it become dishonest to ignore the real gains made by the current administration? Certainly, in the past few years, we’ve seen movement in the right direction, and state democrats in the Midwest passing phenomenal legislation, suggesting that a new future for the party could be possible.

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.

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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 this episode of KK&F, Sohrab Ahmari joins the show to discuss how right-wing populism makes the attempt to reconcile conservative social views with leftist economic principles. Our conversation takes the form of a debate: What do left- and right-wing populists have in common? On what issues can they unite — if they can at all?

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.

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

What happened on the debate stage in Milwaukee among Republican presidential candidates last Wednesday — and what’s Trump got to do with it? In this special episode of KK&F, we give you a detailed breakdown of the first debate of the campaign season. Analyzing everything from spicy exchanges between the candidates to who came out on top Wednesday night (and whether or not it’s enough to threaten Trump’s lead), we’ve got a comprehensive look at the debate that we think you’ll enjoy. Watch clips and listen to our conversation here.

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.

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 137 of Krystal Kyle and Friends, featuring special guest Matt Karp. The focus of our conversation is this: How do we build a party apparatus worthy of support from working-class voters — and capable of making good on its promises?

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.

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 week on KK&F, we’re bringing you a heated debate with our guest, Michael Tracey, on the topic of Trump’s indictments.

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.

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