Krystal Kyle & Friends

Thanks for joining us for another week of KK&F — this one centering on the Colombian presidential elections, drug wars, and more. A left-wing candidate has taken the lead in the first round of voting; his right-wing opponent, who has styled himself as anti-establishment and anti-corruption, has his own charges of corruption to deal with. To get a fuller sense of what’s happening and what’s to come in the runoff, we’re joined by journalist Toby Muse, author of Kilo: Inside the Deadliest Cocaine Cartels.

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

The brutal killing of nineteen children and two teachers at Robb Elementary in Uvalde, Texas has left us in national mourning, as the sickeningly familiar news of a school shooting continues to trickle in. As we learn more about the inaction of law enforcement on the scene and the agony of the children seeking help in their final moments, we confront one question above all: What will it take to make sure this never happens again?

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.

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’s guest is the inimitable Doug Henwood, economic journalist and analyst — and the person we’ve come to in order to discuss the crypto crash of just a few weeks ago. Whether you have a deep understanding of all things blockchain and are looking to hear a left-wing perspective on the recent turmoil, or whether you’ve never heard of a “stablecoin” before, we think you’ll enjoy Doug’s sharp analysis of why cryptocurrencies have become so popular, what they seem to offer beyond our current system, and how they fall short.

Thanks for tuning in. You can listen to this podcast tomorrow 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

Professor and historian Harvey Kaye and Executive Director of Progressive Democrats of America Alan Minsky join us on episode seventy-two of Krystal Kyle & Friends. These two give their sharp insight into how Democrats are doing on the issues we care most about, like economic inequality and poverty — and how they’ve positioned themselves on these issues in the past.

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.

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, we’re joined by Ari Rabin-Havt, deputy campaign manager for Bernie 2020. Ari recently released a book, The Fighting Soul: On the Road with Bernie Sanders, that gives an insider’s view of the groundbreaking campaign. The book provides funny, surprising, and moving anecdotes that give the reader unusual insight into the man behind the campaign — a campaign that deliberately steered away from focus on its central figure, encapsulated in its famous slogan, “Not Me, Us.”

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.

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, Marianne explains how the divide between Turner and Brown — and some current “progressive” electeds’ rush to side with the status quo — bears lessons not only for this singular race, but for the Democratic Party more broadly. Progressives can earn their name by standing behind essential policies like debt cancellation and Medicare for All time and time again — choosing to back away from these policies or their champions when reelection is at stake means that the desire to hold power comes first, and the responsibility to use it wisely comes second. Now, Democrats have allowed themselves to become a party of moneyed interests: even those who call themselves progressives aren’t willing to confront the establishment forces that uphold the status quo.

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.

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

After inspiring millions through her work as a campaign chair for Bernie 2020, Nina Turner has gone on to fight for the democratic-socialist vision of single-payer healthcare, student debt cancellation, and housing as a human right through two campaigns for a congressional seat in Ohio’s Eleventh District. She’s rejoining us on KK&F to talk about her political vision and work since she last came on the show.

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.

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, author and Starbucks union organizer Daisy Pitkin joins KK&F to break down the Amazon Labor Union’s thrilling win — but also to give us a sense of what comes next and what this victory means for workers attempting to keep up the momentum of unionization at Amazon, Starbucks, and other mega-corporations.

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.

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, for Episode 67 of Krystal Kyle & Friends, we sit down with Paul’s Ego of Deep Fat Fried. Self-described as “an educational show made by and for the uneducated,” the beloved show offers everything from a review of President Biden’s first year in office to a meticulous takedown of Marjorie Taylor Greene — plus lots of hilarious and thoughtful content on Waffle House, space travel, and “cool sci-fi guns.”

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.

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, we talk to progressive candidate Amy Vilela about the campaign trail for Nevada’s First District and the fight for Medicare for All — why we can’t get discouraged, why there’s never going to be a “perfect moment” for this policy to be enacted, but why we can’t wait any longer. Amy’s voice is an essential one within the discussion of strategy for Medicare for All, and we think you’re sure to appreciate what she contributes to this urgent conversation.

You can listen to this conversation as a podcast when it’s released tomorrow on Substack, 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