The Professional Left Podcast with Driftglass and Blue Gal

Episode 1031 coins “the Tribe That Rubs Shit In Their Hair” to explain why Republican candidates thrive inside their media cave but collapse the moment they face real questions, from Andy Harris illegally threatening a journalist for recording him to Ken Paxton dodging every debate invitation. Driftglass and Blue Gal praise the “Ossoff-El-Sayed School of Excellent Elocution,” showing how Democratic candidates win by going straight at opponents with facts and refusing to let them change the subject. The episode notes a quixotic third-party Senate bid in Illinois as one more symptom of Both Sides Do It rot eating away at American politics. It’s about the power of forcing Republicans out of their echo chamber and onto a stage where lies actually have consequences.

The drunk Democratic candidate who promised to fire all Republicans.  https://bsky.app/profile/newseye.bsky.social/post/3mxs2ewlxv22l

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Episode 1030 catches Marjorie Taylor Greene mid-rehabilitation tour, exposing how her media-friendly break with Trump is laying the groundwork for a “Trump Off Machine” that lets unrepentant election deniers stay angry at Trump while still believing their original lies. Driftglass and Blue Gal then dig deep into what Build Back Better actually promised versus what survived Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema’s gutting, tracing the bill from its original $2,100-page scope down to the much smaller Inflation Reduction Act, and then watching Trump’s administration dismantle even that.  It’s about watching reputation-laundering in real time, mourning what two senators’ betrayal actually cost real families, and naming what Trump’s "policies" really are: treason against the working class.

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Episode 1029 uses H.G. Wells’ Eloi and Morlocks from “The Time Machine” to explain how the Republican intellectual class spent decades designing policy in comfortable think tanks while ignoring the ugly, racist work being done below them to actually win elections. Driftglass and Blue Gal trace how Heritage Foundation types like Sarah Longwell claim total surprise at today’s GOP, despite living through Rush Limbaugh’s reign, the Tea Party’s open racism, and three Trump elections in a row. The episode argues that pride and professional self-interest explain why these former Republicans still insist there’s a hidden reservoir of decent GOP voters waiting to be enlightened, rather than admit they were catastrophically wrong about their own party for over twenty years. It’s about who does the dirty work of winning elections, who gets credit for the ideas, and what happens when the workers realize they never needed the thinkers at all.

Link for this episode:  The New Yorker,  "The Battle for the Post-Trump Right". https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2026/10/12/the-battle-for-the-post-trump-right  

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Episode 1028: We open with a surprising local story: former Illinois House GOP leader Jim Durkin endorsing Democrat JB Pritzker over Republican Darren Bailey, exposing deep cracks in the state party even as MAGA loyalists like Mary Miller double down. Then we trace Trump's escalating bribery strategy as the midterms approach, from $5,000 promises at a half-empty Dallas rally to $500 Obamacare rebate checks mysteriously concentrated in battleground states to surprise $90 Medicare payments raided from a fund meant for something else entirely. The episode also spotlights a local TV personality's dubious rise to assistant White House press secretary, built on a resignation story the station disputes and a degree she never finished. It's about fear, greed, and why a cornered con man reaches for the checkbook when the scare tactics stop working.

Thanks for listening!  Driftglass and Blue Gal 

Links for this episode: 

The New Yorker, Donald Trump's Pardon Economy  https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2026/05/04/donald-trumps-pardon-economy

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Mail: The Professional Left, PO Box 9133, Springfield, Illinois, 62791

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Episode 1027 tracks the widening cracks in MAGA's coalition as elite Conservatives and Republican officeholders begin quietly distancing themselves from Trump while his approval craters to 31%, proving the mob was never really following him — he was following the mob, and now the mob is splitting. Driftglass and Blue Gal pull a bizarre, rambling Time Magazine interview in which Trump complains about unfair press coverage paragraph after paragraph, then compare it word-for-word to his identical meltdowns from a decade ago during the 2016 campaign. 

The episode also digs into Democratic healthcare proposals, with Medicare for All framed as the gold standard Democrats should be unafraid to champion. 

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Mail: The Professional Left, PO Box 9133, Springfield, Illinois, 62791

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Episode 1026 marks the 18th anniversary of the 2008 financial crash by pointing out MAGA voters' selective amnesia about who was president when, then pivots to a Springfield civic meeting on election security that carefully documented every safeguard in Illinois elections while never once naming why the "controversy" exists in the first place. Driftglass and Blue Gal unpack Midwestern code phrases like "this isn't about Republicans and Democrats," showing how the same words mean belligerent deflection from a Republican and nervous conflict-avoidance from a Democrat, both serving to protect MAGA feelings from plain facts. The episode also covers Senator Eric Schmitt's spectacular self-own trying to nail Jack Smith with a mixed-up basketball game, and John Fetterman fundraising off Republican donor email lists that compare a Democratic Senate candidate to a terrorist. It's about the exhausting art of coaxing a skittish, dangerous animal into a pen without ever naming what it actually is.

Links for this episode: 

Illinois Times Article: https://www.illinoistimes.com/news/officials-tackle-election-misinformation/

Rolling Stone: https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/eric-schmitt-botches-bid-corner-jack-smith-basketball-game-1235633725/

Editorial Board: How the rightwing media can turn humiliation into victory https://www.editorialboard.com/how-the-rightwing-media-can-turn-humiliation-into-victory/

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or Donate in the Venmo App @proleftpod

Mail: The Professional Left, PO Box 9133, Springfield, Illinois, 62791

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Episode 1025 opens with a longer off-the-cuff discussion of Mehmet Oz stripping people from Obamacare and the GLP-1 "bridge" program from Medicare, both moves that seem designed to serve Trump's ego and pocketbook more than public health. Driftglass and Blue Gal then turn to the MAGA voters now performing shocked-pikachu-face on TikTok after ICE came for their own employees and girlfriends, revealing they never cared about anyone else's suffering, only their own. The episode traces how Never Trump media figures like Steve Schmidt flip on a dime for billionaire money, and how George W. Bush finally broke his silence this week not to condemn Trump, but to fundraise for the same Republican Party that killed his signature achievement. It's about scapegoats, alibis, and why the mob that built the Tea Party and then MAGA will always turn toward whoever hands it its next target.

Links for this episode - Driftglass is a guest on other podcasts! 

Brad Blog: https://bradblog.com/?p=19336

Bob Cesca Show: https://bobcescashow.substack.com/p/the-bob-cesca-interview-92326

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Email: [email protected] 

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or Donate in the Venmo App @proleftpod

Mail: The Professional Left, PO Box 9133, Springfield, Illinois, 62791

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Republicans are betting the midterms on rewriting recent history. Driftglass and Blue Gal compare Trump's 32% approval to Bush's nearly identical 34% on his way out the door, then trace how "independent" has become the magic word MAGA grifters use to dodge accountability without changing a single belief. The episode also digs into Christian Nationalism's real numbers and history, from Falwell blaming 9/11 on gays and feminists to a Methodist church group just now discovering that 30% of the country agrees with him. It's about the permanent Republican playbook: never admit fault, just say the magic word and grab a lifeboat.

#BurnTheLifeboats

Links for this episode:   PRRI – https://prri.org/research/christian-nationalism-across-all-50-states-insights-from-prris-2024-american-values-atlas/

Steve Benen’s article at MSNow https://www.ms.now/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/republicans-midterm-elections-economy-democrats-mike-johnson 

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Mail: The Professional Left, PO Box 9133, Springfield, Illinois, 62791

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Episode 1023 tracks how Republicans keep telling us who they are, from Darren Bailey embracing young-earth creationism to Trump calling Democrats "the enemy from within" over and over again. Driftglass and Blue Gal line up years of Trump's own words describing political opponents as existential enemies, then ask a hard question: if the Right sees this as a real war, shouldn't we believe them and plan accordingly? The episode also catches Erick Erickson, a longtime Trump critic turned supporter turned critic again, warning about white nationalist infiltration of conservative institutions, proving that even his own allies can't escape the monster he helped build. It's a call to stop assuming compromise will work with people who have told us plainly that compromise was never their goal.

Links for this episode: 

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Email: [email protected] 

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Support via Patreon: patreon.com/proleftpod 

or Donate in the Venmo App @proleftpod

Mail: The Professional Left, PO Box 9133, Springfield, Illinois, 62791

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Episode 1022 asks what history's hardest lessons — Reconstruction's collapse, the Allies' insistence on unconditional German surrender — have to teach about defeating a movement built on grievance and racial resentment rather than "economic anxiety." Driftglass and Blue Gal make the case for treating the whole GOP as an enemy of democracy, not a rival to reconcile with, and for why repetition of hard truths may be the only weapon the Left has left.

Stay in Touch! 

Email: [email protected] 

Website: proleftpod.com 

Support via Patreon: patreon.com/proleftpod 

or Donate in the Venmo App @proleftpod

Mail: The Professional Left, PO Box 9133, Springfield, Illinois, 62791

Support the show