The Professional Left Podcast with Driftglass and Blue Gal

Episode 987 of The Professional Left takes a deep look at the concept of authority — where it comes from, who really has it, and what happens when the people in charge decide the rules no longer apply to them. Driftglass and Blue Gal trace a clear line from the lawless Bush years straight through to today, making the case that what looks new and shocking is really just the same old playbook with the volume turned all the way up. A surprising visit from a 500-year-old German philosopher helps explain exactly why Trump's war with Pope Leo is going so badly for him, and what that tells us about the difference between real authority and just really loud bullying. And if you think the answer to all of this lies in yelling about the Constitution at people who couldn't care less, this episode will make you think again — and offer a more useful strategy borrowed from a very unlikely historical source.

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Episode 986 of The Professional Left traces how one simple political rule — Ronald Reagan's "Eleventh Commandment" never to speak ill of a fellow Republican — quietly mutated over decades into something far more dangerous. Driftglass and Blue Gal dig into how that rule created a closed loop where loyalty to the team mattered more than the truth, and how the endless flood of dark money on the Right kept feeding the beast no matter how extreme it got. A disturbing New Yorker article about a new generation of young, openly fascist activists who think Trump wasn't nearly radical enough takes center stage, raising hard questions about where the Republican party goes from here. If you thought MAGA was the bottom of the barrel, this episode will make you think again.

LINKS FOR THIS EPISODE:  

The New Yorker “How the Internet Fringe Infiltrated Republican Politics:  Inside the battle for the post-MAGA G.O.P.” By Antonia Hitchens (paywall)  https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2026/04/13/how-the-internet-fringe-infiltrated-republican-politics

Thanks to David B for the “freshly poured” jingle via Musely. 

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

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"The cheaper the crook, the gaudier the patter." -- The Maltese Falcon 

Episode 985 of The Professional Left takes a deep dive into the word "normalizing" — a term that gets thrown around constantly in political coverage, but rarely gets a clear definition. Driftglass and Blue Gal trace how a stubborn 30% of Americans have believed one wild conspiracy theory after another for decades, and argue that what looks like normalization on the Left is really just exhaustion from years of fighting battles that others are only now waking up to. The episode uses a surprising example — the slow, hard-won acceptance of women priests in the Church of England — to show what real normalization actually looks like, and why it's very different from what pundits mean when they scold people about Trump. Personal stories, sharp media criticism, and a 1973 sci-fi film all make appearances along the way, connecting the political moment to something much bigger and longer in the making.

Link for this episode:  Driftglass and Blue Gal on The Bill Show from Australia!  https://www.podbean.com/ep/pb-q42x7-1a99204

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

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In this episode of The Professional Left, Driftglass and Blue Gal take a hard look at how America ended up in yet another Middle East war — and why the whole thing feels like a rerun that somehow got worse the second time around. Drawing a sharp line from the lies that launched the Iraq War to the chaos of today, they walk through the playbook Republicans use every time reality refuses to cooperate with their sales pitch. The real question isn't just what happened — it's what comes next, and who's already lining up to offer the MAGA base a way to forget they were ever on board with any of it. If you think some of the loudest voices suddenly breaking with Trump are doing it out of principle? Naaah.

Links for this episode: 

• Driftglass on The Bob Cesca Show:  https://www.bobcesca.com/the-bob-cesca-interview-driftglass-day/ 
• Driftglass on The Nicole Sandler Show (second half) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6jxANUK4Y6k 
• Media Matters for America, “Heretic”: After Trump spiritual adviser Paula White-Cain likens Trump to Jesus during Easter, right-wing media figures lash out. https://www.mediamatters.org/donald-trump/heretic-after-trump-spiritual-adviser-paula-white-cain-likens-trump-jesus-during 

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Email: [email protected] 

Website: proleftpod.com 

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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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In this episode of The Professional Left, Driftglass and Blue Gal dig into the decades-long project that brought American politics to its current breaking point — and what it really means that we've arrived here. A viral social media feud involving a Twitch streamer leads to a sharp look at who gets handed a megaphone in today's political landscape, and why the wrong people keep holding them. The episode closes with a story about a specific third party and the oldest trick in the book.

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

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Episode 982 asks: Did Trump magically bamboozle 70 million voters overnight, or did the GOP spend 40 years deliberately breeding an army of angry, paranoid, racist chumps? How is it that we are living in "Dune III" right now, when the movie doesn't come out until later this year? And why is the MAGA universe suddenly eating itself—MTG attacking Fox News, Rogan ditching "dorks and weirdos," and then there's Iran demanding JD Vance -- THAT JD Vance -- lead negotiations with the Trump administration? It's about two launches on the same day—one soaring to the moon, one exploding on the pad—and why, when it comes to Trump World, they all have it coming.

PS.  Bye-bye, Pam Bondi, see you under oath! 

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

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Episode 981 traces the Republican descent from the 1990 New York Times editorial warning about Gingrich's "slash and burn" politics through Limbaugh, Fox News, and Trump—a 36-year disaster that Liberal bloggers warned about while being dismissed as cranks. Driftglass and Blue Gal use a science-fiction classic AND a rebuilding story from the not-too-distant past to argue that democracy can be rebuilt and improved, with new/old systems to prevent the next Trump. 

This episode marks 21 years of Driftglass blogging to, in the case of one popular post, 33,000 total views, while MAGA bottom-feeders pull millions daily.  But Driftglass insists that the work is more necessary than ever. It's about consequences, not retribution, actions, not sins, and why rebuilding will take a generation—so what? Nobody promised it would be easy or quick.

Link for this episode:  Science Fiction University, “The Day The Earth Stood Still” in Historical Context  -- https://www.sciencefictionuniversity.com/2024/04/the-day-earth-stood-still-in-historical.html 

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

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Episode 980 uses The Walking Dead's central question—"The world we knew is gone, but keeping our humanity? That's a choice"—to examine whether we accept that the political and cultural America we once knew is finished. Driftglass and Blue Gal trace the Republican zombie apocalypse from its inciting incident (Bush's 2004 reelection) through Obama's failed experiment in compromise, to Hillary's "deplorables" moment that proved prescient, to today's desperate pleas to coddle Trump voters with ouchless absolution. The episode dissects why the "Let's get back to normal" caucus keeps insisting we forget the past while Republicans only get worse.

Link for this episode:  Driftglass on The BradCast with Digby, Brad, and Desi

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

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Episode 979 begins with Project Hail Mary and science fiction nerds auditing movies on street corners, then pivots to Ozymandias and what lasts versus what crumbles to dust. Driftglass and Blue Gal ask why there are hundreds of documentaries about the Roman Empire but not one major film tracing the Republican party's descent into fascism—and answer that question by naming who it would implicate. The episode examines what history will remember about Trump and Bush, what gets footnoted and what defines a legacy, and why the next Democratic administration cannot make Obama's mistake of looking forward instead of backward. It's about burning lifeboats, prosecuting crimes against democracy, and ensuring that 77 million bigots and imbeciles don't slip back into the shadows unpunished after their king's monuments are torn down.

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

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Driftglass and Blue Gal compare Bush's Iraq debacle with Trump's Iran war—the lying, the cover-ups, the profiteering, the attacks on critics—revealing Trump isn't a break from the Republican past but a continuation of it, just bigger, dumber, and louder. The episode also discusses how the New York (effin') Times deliberately cleans up Trump's incoherent rambling while adding "uhs" and "ums" to try to make AOC look stupid. All this plus Illinois primary results and the national media's desperate hunt for "Democrats in Disarray." It's about fake WMDs then and now, and a very, very complicit media sanitizing fascism.  More at proleftpod.com. 

Link for this episode:  Catch Driftglass on The Bob Cesca Show:  

https://www.bobcesca.com/the-bob-cesca-interview-driftglass-3-18-26/

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