There’s so much to talk about this week with our guest Tommy Vietor of Pod Save America fame — and we got to as much of it as we possibly could. For our takes on everything from the recent floods in Texas and the deadly consequences of DOGE to why the Democratic Party tent should include people like Zohran Mamdani and his base, watch below:

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. Trump’s usual henchmen within and beyond the government are also doing their best to protect Trump’s image, but a look at Trump’s recent destruction of disaster relief and climate change research funding tells us that he doesn’t deserve any protection. 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. The floods are also, as we point out, a tragedy that makes us reckon with the pressure the Democratic Party could be putting on the Trump administration — and, for whatever reason, isn’t. 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.