Guy Christensen and Vaush join the pod for a big, lively convo about the latest in American and international politics alongside their own lives and journeys as political commentators. From being offered money to come out as pro-Israel to seeing TikTok becoming an increasingly censored space, Guy and Vaush both have important insights into the decline of free speech in American media spaces and the rise of conservative control of dissenting left-wing opinions. We also bring back a question core to the conversations we’ve had on KK&F over the last 5 (!!!) years: What is the future of the Democratic Party, assuming (and it’s a big leap) they actually want to win? Watch below!

It may not be exactly the same as the feudal lords from hundreds of years ago (inbred!) but the rulers who control our lives, extract wealth from us, and keep us from rising up against them are, especially of late, profoundly incompetent people. We see from Trump’s actions in the first year of his second presidential term that he can be effective at sowing fear among the American public and placing heavy restrictions on free speech — most importantly, putting the lives of civilians on the line on the basis of immigration status. But as our guests discuss with us this week, we seem to be nearing the conditions for a major political revolution. With financial collapse likely in the cards, an extremely unpopular, expensive, and out-of-control war unfolding in the Middle East, and our allies abandoning us, life in this country could become untenable for a vast majority (as it has been for so many, for so long).

To that end, we’re having a necessary conversation about what’s holding us back from organizing collectively at the grassroots level as the American public. The major setback, perhaps, is that the center-left and left lack a cohesive vision to move forward. Bernie ‘16 and ‘20 gave people something to rally behind, acknowledging what makes life in America so unbearable and unsustainable for working- and middle-class people, and de-emphasizing dead-end identity politics without denying the major effects of race- and gender-based discrimination on economic stability and social life. We arrive at the realization that moving beyond electoral politics as a limiting framework (but, to be clear, without abandoning it, and while continuing to see it as a primary site of class struggle) is the only thing that will allow us to collectively think beyond the day-by-day horrors Trump and his cronies foist upon us to keep our heads down and our noses to the grindstone.

Thanks for joining us for this conversation. And thank you for keeping us ad-free! You can listen to this podcast tomorrow on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Pandora, and other major streaming platforms.