In this conversation with the heroic Dr. Mo, Krystal has a heartbreaking and deeply personal conversation with the doctor about the horrors he’s seen in Gaza and why the world can’t turn away.

Who gives a f**k about the celebrity news of the week? We’re not engaging at all in whataboutism when we notice the utter lack of coverage given to the defining crime against humanity of this century. While bread and circuses grab public attention in the U.S., there are unbelievably courageous people working with practically no international support or material aid to do what they can in keeping Palestinians alive. Dr. Mo is one such person. He’s made multiple trips to Gaza and seen what many Westerners are too afraid or cowardly to see. The driving force of our conversation is the grief and outrage that he feels when noting the lack of aid coming in from other nations to make the lifesaving work of doctors on the ground in Gaza possible (and also to keep those doctors safe). Quite the opposite, in a place like the U.S., where our tax dollars fund Israel’s genocide and our president completely supports and enables Netanyahu. Dr. Mo’s work has also been to bring attention to this situation, calling on world leaders to pay attention to what they don’t want to pay attention to.

There’s nothing harder to listen to than Dr. Mo’s account of the brutality that Palestinians face as they’re murdered and mortally wounded at every moment, while the rest of the world turns away. He’s seen children covered in burns and given them treatment. He was one of the first people to enter Gaza after the Central Kitchen Workers were killed. He’s seen the evil tricks the IOF play to use the humanity of Palestinians against them and kill them in cold blood. But Dr. Mo sees the humanity of Palestinians as the reason why they will be free. That level of care for others, that unrelenting bravery and sense of justice with which they approach every day and care for one another in the face of death, will overcome the brutal, inhuman, and pathetic cruelty of Israel. Our conversation covers both grief and hope, and although it’s difficult to hear, we hope you, too, won’t turn away.

Thanks for tuning in. You can listen to this conversation starting tonight on major streaming platforms.

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Hello all,

Please disregard the previous Episode 240 with Richard Ojeda which was sent out as it contained an audio error. This version corrects that issue. Our sincere apologies for the mistake! We are troubleshooting our process to make sure it does not reoccur.

Sincerely,

The KK&F Team

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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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Welcome to Episode 239 of KK&F, featuring Emma Vigeland on MAGA’s war against women’s rights. The cruel and exploitative culture that supports tradwife content on social media and promotes the lifestyle to right-wing women (and, frankly, all women) has, as we remark, turned back the clock on women’s rights and trapped women in violent and abusive situations. In our conversation, we cover the rape allegation made by former right-wing content creator Lauren Southern against major right-winger Andrew Tate.

We take a look at the larger phenomenon of celebrating Christian, right-wing, and tradwife culture within right-wing circles, a confluence that ultimately seeks to remove women from social life and force them into emotional and physical submission to their male partners, upon whom they are totally reliant. Part of Tate’s disgusting attitude toward and treatment of women is his understanding of them as property rather than people, like (as we point out) a crypto coin or a gig economy. Evolving from the twentieth-century patriarchal practice of trapping women in marriages are new phenomena of exploiting and violating women, and Andrew Tate is just one example — a very powerful example.

Thanks for joining us for Episode 239 of KK&F. This episode is available as a podcast on major streaming platforms.

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Welcome to Episode 238 of KK&F, featuring Jennifer Welch of I’ve Had It podcast. Jennifer provides fascinating insight into how the MAGA world engages in massive hypocrisy when they claim to support the needs of working-class Americans. She mentions a religious community member who calls healthcare a privilege and not a right. And she touches on the threats on LBGTQ people’s safety and bodily autonomy. In other words, Jennifer has seen the oppressive and cruel effects of Trump’s presidency in action, as a Democrat from a deep red state.

Our conversation turns to holding Dem electeds accountable for supporting genocide in Gaza, and when those Democrats enter an election year, how to approach a vote. Jennifer talks to us about how Democrats accepting AIPAC money and funding Israel’s grievous war crimes do not reflect the views of the people that those Democrats represent. Still, she offers voting for those Democrats as the highest priority during an election year. Jennifer shares that she’s seen the result of Trump’s regressive policies on people in her community, and that from her perspective, the most important thing is to use one’s vote to make sure that Democrats beat back the Republican MAGA wave. We discuss the multiple sides on this issue and consider how to value the importance of voting blue no matter who while America continues to fund a genocide, with the support of some Democrats.

Thanks for tuning in. You can listen to this podcast on major streaming platforms like Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and more.

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We’re proud to present Episode 237 with former Congressman Jamaal Bowman. Jamaal was screwed over big time by the AIPAC funds that poured into his congressional race. He ran on a platform centered on the needs of working-class people and saw firsthand how AIPAC was able to plant seeds of fear and hatred into the electorate, tipping the race toward his opponent. People literally switched their voter registration to vote against Jamaal as Democrats. We unpack the effects of this political maneuvering on Jamaal’s campaign and on the political system at large.

And, of course, we talk about how electeds — especially Democrats — are still (STILL!) voting to send offensive weapons to the IOF to perpetuate the genocide in Gaza. We talk about how this support for Israel works. Is it ideological? What is its basis, and why is it worth it? Finally, we discuss the importance of political education as a weapon to combat corrupting money in our elections — one of the most important ways the left has to take back control of what’s going on over on the Hill.

Thanks for tuning in to this conversation on KK&F. This episode is available on Spotify, Pandora, Apple Podcasts, and other major streaming platforms.

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Channel 5’s Andrew Callaghan joins us this week to spill all the tea on his deep dive interview with Hunter Biden, from Hunter’s paintings to his drug use. We learn how Andrew scored the biggest interview of his career; what the media has gotten wrong about the former First Son; and Andrew’s take on the post interview reaction. We also hear from Andrew on his time in an ICE detention facility, what he thought about the Nelk Boys trainwreck interview with Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu and why he’s officially done with the MAGA empathy project.

Andrew’s interview with Hunter Biden, released last week, ran the gamut from an extremely based defense of immigrants including an El Salvador invasion threat, to expletive laden tirades against George Clooney and the Pod Save Bros. It was, in other words, great content. It was also a rare look at a man who we’ve mostly seen through tabloid headlines and leaked photos from that infamous laptop.

Whatever else you can say about Hunter, his business dealings and art sales are absurdly quaint compared to the Trump family’s corrupt dealings cashing in on the presidency through crypt scams and corrupt foreign business deals.

Thanks for tuning in. You can listen to this episode as a podcast when it’s released on major streaming platforms.

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In our discussion with Ben Meiselas, we touch on how Trump’s approval rating has only gone up among supporters since the resurgence of discussion surrounding the Epstein case. In other words, people performatively invested in "protecting children” and calling attention to high-profile sexual abusers are not bothered by Trump being an Epstein linked possible pedophile. Epstein has publicly said that he was Trump’s best friend for over a decade. What kind of information or insight is the MAGA cult missing that would actually make them concerned about Trump’s involvement?

We also look at everything Trump has said that attests to his involvement in the sexual exploitation of young women and history of sexual harassment and abuse. Now, Trump is trying to divert attention away from any proof of connection to Epstein. The big question is whether he’ll get away with it. This article from the New York Times maps out how Trump’s most important allies, both inside and outside of his administration, are split over whether the base should allow him to demand we move on from his Epstein connections, or whether those connections deserve more scrutiny and public attention. With Ben, we dive into the political implications of that rift, thinking about Trump’s next few years in office and the potential (in)stability of the MAGA cult caused by polarization around this issue.

Thanks for tuning in to KK&F. You can listen to this episode as a podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Pandora, and other major streaming platforms.

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On KK&F this week, we’ve got Tommy Vietor on the pod to talk about the Dems’ Tea Party moment. About a month after he announced plans to “phase out” FEMA, Donald Trump is now scrambling to back up his policy after the recent flooding disaster in Texas — with over 120 now dead. We discuss the tragedy as one that was profoundly avoidable; nobody should have been abandoned to die by their government. As we get into during our conversation, the lack of preparedness for the floods is a system failure across every level of government, and one that will become more frequent as the climate crisis intensifies.

Our conversation also covers how off-track Democratic electeds see from the actual positions of their constituents on important issues. Opposition to Israel’s genocide (and full support of Israel from most of our government) shows how disconnected from its voter base the Democratic Party has become. We critique the lack of a true opposition party to Trump’s fascist evils and consider what in our political system needs to change.

Thanks for tuning in to Krystal Kyle & Friends. This episode will be available as a podcast when it’s released tomorrow on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Pandora, and more.

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This is Episode 233 of KK&F, where we’re talking all things Big Beautiful Bill with David Dayen. The New York Times just released an article explaining how the hell a bill designed to gut our healthcare system and hike the debt ceiling is making it through the House and Senate. Totally absent from the considerations of House and Senate Republicans voting for the bill is any interest in the well-being of their constituents. Rather, they’re succumbing without any fight to Trump’s “charm offensive,” the epitome of shady back-room dealings.

It seems almost hard to believe that these legislators, from the most powerful to the least, are willing to sacrifice their last shreds of respectability in the eyes of their constituents for a golf shirt. In this conversation with David Dayen, we lock in on how Republicans are caving to Trump without a fight and how the smallest and most frivolous of favors and gifts are enough to get them on board with what Bernie Sanders is calling “the worst piece of legislation in modern American history.”

Thanks for joining us for another episode of KK&F. You can listen to this episode as a podcast 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