The Professional Left Podcast with Driftglass and Blue Gal

(And we talk about the Illinois Democratic Primaries!  They were counting votes as we recorded.) 

Episode 977 examines the 2026 Illinois Democratic primary while dissecting David Axelrod's fantasy that Democrats should rerun the Obama 2008 campaign in 2028, as if the berserk Republican backlash to Obama never happened. Driftglass and Blue Gal discuss how legacy media pundits use lazy abstractions about "the people" and "the voters" while pretending the Republican party didn't become a full-on fascist movement on their watch. The episode introduces "an apple made of razors"—David French's technique of piling up Both Sides turds before one perfunctory paragraph disclaiming what he's obviously doing, the opposite of Brooks's "razor in the apple." It's about false choices, selective memory, and why the #1 priority in 2028 must be tearing out the Republican party root and branch, not another round of bipartisan healing.

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Episode 976 examines the signs and portents showing Trump's base starting to fracture as broken promises about Epstein files and "no foreign wars" collide with reality. Driftglass and Blue Gal track special election upsets across the country, from New Hampshire to Georgia's R+19 district where even Trump's handpicked candidate couldn't avoid a runoff after 22% of MAGA voters disobeyed orders. The episode explores why Joe Rogan claims Trump supporters feel "betrayed" while refusing to admit his own terrible judgment, and why Trump is desperately pushing the SAVE Act as his only hope to rig the midterms. It's about reading the obvious signs everyone can see—the temperature dropping, the sky turning green, and the sound of freight trains roaring as the Republican coalition tears itself apart.

Cover art: NASA 

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

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Episode 975 takes a trip back to Chicago to explore how big cities weather economic shocks that would destroy smaller towns—a lesson that matters as Trump's oil crisis, job losses, and ACA cuts hit rural Trump voters hardest. Driftglass and Blue Gal examine the fragile interconnectedness of small-town economies and why cascade failures are coming to red America, where MAGA voters are about to learn the hard way that Obamacare and the ACA are the same thing. The episode explores how scale matters in both directions, from moving government jobs between cities to surviving the economic voodoo practiced by a corrupt racist lunatic. Plus, a language lesson about Gen Z reclaiming the "C" word, and how that impacts us "olds."  More at proleftpod.com.

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

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Episode 974 examines why Trump's illegal war with Iran is splintering the MAGA base and fueling Democratic victories in special elections across the country. Driftglass and Blue Gal trace how Trump won in 2016 by offering Republican voters absolution for the Iraq War disaster—then broke his sacred "No Foreign Wars" promise just like he's covering up the Epstein files. The episode dissects who gets forgiveness in American politics and who doesn't, exposing how Never Trumpers demand we forget Liz Cheney's monstrous lies while they obsess over trivial Democratic moments amplified by Fox News. It's about broken promises, selective amnesia, and why former Republicans now control the narrative while scolding the liberals who were right all along.

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

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Episode 973 explores biblical healing miracles to reveal what they teach about choice, cruelty, and the difference between victims who deserve compassion and abusers who don't. Driftglass and Blue Gal revisit the story of the Gerasene man possessed by "Legion" to examine the long-term trauma inflicted when military forces terrorize civilian populations—then and now. The episode lays out why there can be no forgiveness without repentance, no redemption without atonement, and why "cheap grace" for Trump voters keeps enabling the cycle of abuse. Plus, a perfect diamond of stupid from an "independent" centrist who somehow thinks both sides are equally extreme while Trump launches unprovoked wars and builds concentration camps.

Links for this episode: 

AR Moxon, ‘Culture of Healing’  https://www.the-reframe.com/culture-of-healing/

Cover Art: ‘The Chosen Jesus Tile’ (no affiliation)  https://gcmdesignz.com/product/funny-jesus-tile-the-chosen-jesus-tile-great-gift-or-stocking-stuffer-funny-jesus-sayings-enjoy-the-catholic-and-christian-humor-3/ 

Stay in Touch! 

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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Trump's State of the Union was a two-hour Willie Horton ad designed to keep his shrinking base loyal through blood-soaked imagery borrowed from imperial Rome. Proleftpod traces how Michele Bachmann's 2011 Tea Party response prefigured today's MAGA lies by pretending the Great Recession never happened, just as Trump pretends away ICE murders, the Epstein files, and economic chaos. It's about memory, manipulation, and why the anomalies we remember from the past tell us exactly where we're headed. 

More at proleftpod.com.

LINKS FOR THIS EPISODE:  

Driftglass covers SOTU on The Bob Cesca Show: 

https://www.bobcesca.com/the-bob-cesca-interview-driftglass-day-2-25-26/ 

Driftglass (with Digby and Desi) on the Bradcast with Brad Friedman: 

https://bradblog.com/?p=15649

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

Episode 971 examines why fact-checkers keep losing to Republican lies in America's ongoing culture war, and why better stories—not more facts—are the only way to win. Driftglass and Blue Gal break down Will McGrath's powerful essay "In the Resistance, We Drive Minivans" to show how real stories about real people cut through propaganda in ways statistics never can. The episode also tackles why centrist pundits are tying themselves in knots now that "resistance liberals" turned out to be right about Trump and fascism all along, yet still can't be allowed to lead. It's about storytelling, leadership, and why some people would rather let their Bullshit Igloos collapse than admit the Left saw this coming a decade ago.

Links for this episode: 

Will McGrath: "In The Resistance, We Drive Minivans" 

The New Republic:  "What’s Behind the Centrists’ Resistance to the “Resistance Liberals”?"

Crooks and Liars:  "This Dingus Of The Week Also Seems To Be A Voyeur"

https://crooksandliars.com/2026/02/dingus-week-also-seems-be-voyeur

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

Episode 970 asks why Democrats are always expected to play by rules that Republicans openly mock and destroy, and whether apologies from Trump voters mean anything without actual accountability. Drawing on one writer's (Jamil Smith) refusal to accept an apology from a Trump voter, the show tackles the question of what comes after "I'm sorry" in American politics.

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

Episode 969 explores how politicians and media use vague phrases like "the American people," "the voters," and "the public" without anyone agreeing on what these terms actually mean. Driftglass and Blue Gal trace these polyfunctional words through American history, from Frederick Douglass and Sojourner Truth to Nixon's "silent majority" and today's political battles over who gets to speak for the nation. They examine how these phrases do political work rather than descriptive work, often excluding people while claiming to represent everyone. The episode reveals why this ambiguous language matters so much in the ongoing fight over American democracy and who counts as part of "we the people."

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

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Probably no need to play catch-up on this, except for future reference when we hit episode 2000 and are trying to convince the Neo-Republi-tarian Constitutional Independents who will come to dominate the media in 2045 after the Great Forgetting of 2032, that all of this actually happened...

More at proleftpod.com. 

Link for this episode: Chelsey Gods with that song about Kristi Noem.  

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