The Professional Left Podcast with Driftglass and Blue Gal

We examine the difference between political "weather" and "climate" this week, starting with Trump once again bribing farmers with $11 billion after his own tariffs destroyed their markets. We play audio demonstrating Trump's cognitive decline and discuss his increasingly unhinged Truth Social posts, including a bizarre rant about Marjorie Taylor Greene. The Republican Party is now held together by violence and threats, from ICE brutality to intimidation of Indiana legislators. We revisit the enduring plague of "Both Sides" media coverage with examples from Pharrell Williams to prosecutors describing the DC pipe bomber. But there's hope—the Democratic base is finally done giving Republicans second chances, as Mrs. Frazzled's viral video demonstrates.Post YOUR suggestions for the 2025 Crookie Awards here! More at proleftpod.com.  Stay in Touch! Email: proleftpodcast@gmail.comWebsite: proleftpod.comSupport via Patreon: patreon.com/proleftpodor Donate in the Venmo App @proleftpodMail: The Professional Left, PO Box 9133, Springfield, Illinois, 62791Support the show

The dangerous convergence of Trumpian immunity and media complicity creates for Trump an imaginary “kingdom” once reserved for anointed kings.  Our Constitutional form of “government of the people” has been corrupted by both MAGA's belief that Trump operates with divine authority above the law and a mainstream media that protects its own incompetent insiders at all costs.  As a side quest, what does Mark Halperin's endless media rehabilitation tour have in common with Trump's pardon spree, and why should we be terrified by the answer?More at proleftpod.com.  Stay in Touch! Email: proleftpodcast@gmail.comWebsite: proleftpod.comSupport via Patreon: patreon.com/proleftpodor Donate in the Venmo App @proleftpodMail: The Professional Left, PO Box 9133, Springfield, Illinois, 62791Support the show

No show today; we've had quite a weekend.  We'll be back to our regularly scheduled podcasting on Thursday.  See you then! Support the show

In this week's episode, we experience the whipsaw—that aggressive, back-and-forth sawing motion that's now a perfect metaphor for what Republicans are doing to millions of American families over the Affordable Care Act.We watch in real time as Trump's promised two-year ACA subsidy extension is announced, then delayed, then killed by Mike Johnson—all within 48 hours. Why did Republicans pull the rug out from under tens of millions of Americans who depend on these subsidies? Because destroying every trace of Barack Obama's legacy remains their load-bearing promise to the MAGA base.We also discuss why Mamdani's meeting with Trump wasn't surprising (treating grandpa like he's at the nursing home works), celebrate Lindsay Halligan's legal troubles, and reveal that a huge number of MAGA accounts on X are actually foreign side hustlers getting paid to polarize Americans. Plus: DOGE employees suddenly realize Elon might not protect them from prosecution, Bari Weiss wants to redefine acceptable debate by elevating "charismatic" figures like Alan Dershowitz, and Trump denies disaster aid to Chicago after devastating summer storms.Happy Thanksgiving from the Cornfield Resistance!  (We're off Thursday but will be on The Bob Cesca Show on Wednesday, 9/26!) Stay in Touch! Email: proleftpodcast@gmail.comWebsite: proleftpod.comSupport via Patreon: patreon.com/proleftpodor Donate in the Venmo App @proleftpodMail: The Professional Left, PO Box 9133, Springfield, Illinois, 62791Support the show

In this week's episode, we dive deep into the infrastructure project nobody wants to talk about: the construction of political lifeboats.What are we witnessing as Trump's administration unfolds? We're seeing the familiar pattern of those who enabled catastrophe beginning to build their escape routes—just as they did after the Bush administration collapsed, when the "Fake Tea Party" served as the greatest mass escape operation since D-Day—allowing pro-Bush Republicans to magically transform into constitutional conservatives who'd never heard of Bush or Cheney. We borrow from Buddhist concepts of Big Boats and Little Boats to understand how media validators help the guilty avoid accountability. We hear from a Charlotte resident about what Trump's policies are doing to his city right now. And we ask: when Trump falls, will there finally be a reckoning—or just another round of "let's look forward, not backward"? All this and more on this week's Professional Left podcast.Warning: This episode is not safe for work.Stay in Touch! Email: proleftpodcast@gmail.comWebsite: proleftpod.comSupport via Patreon: patreon.com/proleftpodor Donate in the Venmo App @proleftpodMail: The Professional Left, PO Box 9133, Springfield, Illinois, 62791Support the show

GOP rats are slowly but surely abandoning the sinking Trump ship, and we have to ask:Will "Republican Lifeboats" once again successfully allow the MAGA/Tea Party faithful to escape accountability?We analyze Marjorie Taylor Greene's masterful deployment of the "Magic Words" to blame "both sides of the aisle," framing her slow-motion exit from the Trump pandemonium bandwagon as an act of high principle. She's the first and possibly best lifeboat builder of the post-Trump era, claiming victimhood to elevate herself into the media's "Serious Women with Powerful Voices."How does the media's insistence on the "Both Sides Do It" lie enable this political evasion, even when the stakes are life-and-death (see the US Healthcare system)?Join us as we connect the dots from ancient trauma to modern political evasion, and in the end have a laugh at David Brooks' ludicrous attempt to diagnose—and "Somehow" cure—Christian Nationalism with his own big, dumb, Both Sides Do It meatgrinder.All this and more on this week's Professional Left podcast.Warning: This episode is not safe for work.Stay in Touch! Email: proleftpodcast@gmail.comWebsite: proleftpod.comSupport via Patreon: patreon.com/proleftpodor Donate in the Venmo App @proleftpodMail: The Professional Left, PO Box 9133, Springfield, Illinois, 62791Support the show

This week, we're talking about the Epstein Files, the shutdown that wasn't really about the shutdown, and why six words might just end a presidency.Meanwhile, some privileged podcasters are dismissing angry "online" Democrats as if losing our healthcare is just a theoretical concern.  Plus:  The increasingly evident mental decline of a president: Trump goes from "inventing" the word "affordability" to *not wanting to hear about it.* George Orwell's question—"Was he, then, alone, in the possession of a memory?"—has never been more relevant.All this and more on this week's Professional Left podcast.Warning: This episode is not safe for work.Stay in Touch! Email: proleftpodcast@gmail.comWebsite: proleftpod.comSupport via Patreon: patreon.com/proleftpodor Donate in the Venmo App @proleftpodMail: The Professional Left, PO Box 9133, Springfield, Illinois, 62791Support the show

This week, we're celebrating our first post-Blue Tsunami show! Democrats won across the board on Tuesday, and we're sleeping a little better. To quote Churchill: "This is not the end, but it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning."Happy 21st blogiversary to the amazing Fran Blue Gal!Zohran Mamdani won NYC mayor with over 50% of the vote. And yet the Wall Street Journal immediately declared, "Election Wins Won't Ease Democratic Party's Troubles." And hoo boy Tucker Carlson just released a friendly interview with Holocaust-denying, Hitler-praising white nationalist Nick Fuentes. Why would THIS tear the Republican party apart?  It's The Heritage Foundation versus Ted Cruz, Mitch McConnell, Ben Shapiro, and Mark Levin?  Everyone in these circles is complaining about "thought police"—so much for the tolerant Right!Here's the sublime comedy: Never Trumpers who swore they never knew their party was full of bigots are now telling Ben Shapiro exactly what we told them. "You lying assholes! You built this thing."High comedy, indeed.Links for this episode: Driftglass and Blue Gal on the Bob Cesca Show https://www.bobcesca.com/the-bob-cesca-interview-driftglass-and-blue-gal-11-5-25/ Driftglass on the Nicole Sandler Show  https://nicolesandler.com/11-5-25/ Driftglass on the BradCast (with Brad Friedman, Digby, and Desi Doyen) https://bradblog.com/?p=15554 Not safe for work. Recorded live from the Cornfield Resistance.Stay in Touch! Email: proleftpodcast@gmail.comWebsite: proleftpod.comSupport via Patreon: patreon.com/proleftpodor Donate in the Venmo App @proleftpodMail: The Professional Left, PO Box 9133, Springfield, Illinois, 62791Support the show

This week, we're recording on election day while awaiting results to find out which version of "Democrats are doing it wrong!" the pundits will run with tomorrow.We open with words of wisdom from Illinois Governor JB Pritzker to the American Federation of Teachers. Then we come to bury Dick Cheney, not to praise him.We'll explore our "12 Rules for Staying Fing Sane," which we redefine as a playbook for Democratic victories.  And then we dive deep into Three Days of the Condor (RIP Robert Redford).  MAGA voters simultaneously demand government protection for their economic interests while raging against assistance for "undeserving" others.  What does Cliff Robertson's character Higgins teach us about "paternalistic authoritarianism" and the fascist bargain? Plus: Why getting rid of Citizens United, child tax credits, and taxing the rich all poll very well—but you'd never know it from the consultant class.Not safe for work. Recorded live from the Cornfield Resistance.Stay in Touch! Email: proleftpodcast@gmail.comWebsite: proleftpod.comSupport via Patreon: patreon.com/proleftpodor Donate in the Venmo App @proleftpodMail: The Professional Left, PO Box 9133, Springfield, Illinois, 62791Support the show

On Driftglass's birthday, the hosts tackle the pressing need for Democrats to stop caving to Republican demands. They question why it's always up to Democrats to accommodate the whims of fragile egos. The critique of mainstream narratives includes a deep dive into voter perceptions and the failure of centrist strategies. They highlight strong public support for anti-corruption initiatives. The idea of letting Republicans suffer the consequences of their actions sparks an intriguing debate about accountability.