We have so many debates to talk about this week! And as we’re less than a month away from the November midterm elections, there’s no shortage of electoral strategy to discuss — even as we take a closer look at the broader landscape of corruption, repression, and economic privation on which candidates for the working class go up against dark money and big bosses. Vaush and Kyle tell us about what they really don’t want you to miss in the latest batch of high-profile political conversations released to the public this week. Watch below:

“What are the chances we can survive this?” is Kyle’s first question for our guest, because when we take a survey of where the left is at in terms of coming to power, we see that we’re up against a behemoth of exploitative power run by rich, abusive men (many of whom also happen to be pedophiles). In terms of survival mode, Vaush’s take is that as climate change worsens and austerity destroys our dwindling welfare programs, we shouldn’t kid ourselves: things are looking grim. A glimmer of hope, at the very least staving off the worst of an oncoming collapse — but with the potential to help us turn things around at the last moment — comes to us in the form of the upcoming elections, in which Democrats are tentatively favored to make some big upsets. With new politicians like Abdul El-Sayed in Congress, the left can put actually likable, relatable people in the halls of power to move consensus our way. At the same time, the party establishment continues to disappoint in terms of willingness to take the gloves off when dealing with Republicans. Jon Ossoff pretty much gave a masterclass in the Georgia Senate debate, a race in which he’s polling ahead. (His viral line about his opponent “grabbing a billy club” to attack the march from Selma to Montgomery has already drawn a lot of public attention.) If the party moderates are willing to follow his lead, we may actually gain ground in the fight to hold the world’s most powerful criminal accountable and bring him to justice. But if they’re not willing to do so when it’s more important than ever, there’s a very good chance we don’t get the victories we urgently need.

We also talk about the masterclass Abdul El-Sayed offers every time he’s given the spotlight, staying with the issues and avoiding undermining both from unsympathetic mainstream media and from hostile right-wing freaks. While Abdul has faced insane vitriol in terms of Islamophobic attacks, he’s made his opponents look deranged and out of touch by making his message directly and charismatically. He’s an extremely talented position, as we were reminded in the Thursday debate against the deeply bigoted Republican Mike Rogers. When challenged about his refusal to support sending aid to Israel, Abdul reiterated his commitment not to spend taxpayer dollars on foreign wars when funding is desperately needed to support his constituents and working-class people everywhere. He made the question about what Americans actually gain from having their country start and engage in bloody conflicts, and his very convincing answer is that actually, we have nothing to gain at all. The people who own our military and exploit us to fund it would gain from it, but as we’ve established, when they win, we lose!

Thanks for tuning in for this latest episode of KK&F. We’re grateful to our subscribers for keeping us ad-free! See you next week.