The Professional Left Podcast with Driftglass and Blue Gal

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 Wo...

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...

This week, we're recording on Driftglass's birthday while he's still battling a cold and sounding disturbingly like RFK Jr. meets Broderick Crawford—so we're keeping it simple and direct.

Why should Democrats stop accommodating Republican sociopaths who inflict pain on their own base as leverage? And what happens when Democrats finally say "let them burn" instead of rushing to pay the ransom?

Why are the...

Does Driftglass with laryngitis sound like Brenda Vaccaro?  The podcasters disagree, YOU be the judge! 

(See you on Thursday, which is also Driftglass's 65th birthday!  Woot!) 

Stay in Touch! 

• Email: proleftpodcast@gmail.com
• Website: proleftpod.com
• Support via Patreon: patreon.com/proleftpod
• Donate via PayPal:  https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/proleftpodcast
• or Donate in the Venmo App @proleftpod
• Mail: The Professional Left, PO Box...

This week, we're examining the legacy media's desperate attempt to plug a 20-foot hole in their Both Sides narrative—and why their favorite solution won't work.

The New York Times Editorial Board insists that "moving to the center is the way to win," but the data show that this strategy is already exhausted. Talking of compromise with an enemy who wants no reconciliation is absolutely ridiculous.

Links for th...

Find your No Kings Protest March/Rally at https://www.nokings.org/ 

This week, we're asking the only question that matters: Will what we do actually help?

What does it mean to be "effective" in the fight to save democracy? Did throwing pies at Bill Kristol, Rupert Murdoch, or Newt Gingrich ever change anything? And why should we always ask ourselves the Bridge of Spies question: "Would it help?"

We'll exp...

This week, we're watching the media scramble for survival as tectonic forces fracture the landscape—and the billionaires are building lifeboats while Mount Vesuvius smokes overhead.

Why is The Bulwark declaring itself "the future" while The Washington Post and CBS News die? 

And what does it mean that CBS just hired Bari Weiss to, let's face it, manage the death of broadcast TV news?

We'll reveal the secret to...

In this week's episode, we tackle the concept of "ethos"—what people actually stand for versus what they claim to believe. Drawing parallels from the Cornerstone Speech of 1861 to George Wallace's segregationist campaign, we explore how America's ugliest movements had clear, comprehensible (if abhorrent) belief systems. But what about today's MAGA movement? Beyond rage and resentment, what do they actu...

Welcome to Book Club Day at the Professional Left, where we're spoiling a 141-year-old novel that remains the undisputed champ of American literature—and revealing why it's more relevant than ever.

What does Mark Twain's Huckleberry Finn teach us about the struggle for America's soul in the age of Trump? 

Huck faces an agonizing choice: turn in his friend Jim and save his soul, or commit what he believes is a mort...

This week, we're unpacking a tale of two shutdowns—and spoiler alert: they're both Trump's.

First, the government shutdown:  Why are Republicans celebrating a government shutdown while simultaneously blaming Democrats for it? How can they claim it's the "Schumer Shutdown" when they control all three branches of government? And why can't they keep their messaging straight—celebrating the shutdown on...

This week, we're delving deep into a question that's been making the rounds on those very large political never-Trump websites: Why don't Democrats have their own Charlie Kirk network?

What's the real secret behind the conservative propaganda machine's success? Spoiler alert: it's not "moxie," fearlessness, or bootstraps. Surprise!  It's billions in oligarch money—what many observers have...

What does it mean when the government exists primarily to entertain the MAGA base rather than serve the people?  We examine how Conservative media have adopted a "Tell, Don't Show" approach to cover Trump's increasingly erratic performances, particularly his rambling United Nations speech that foreign diplomats called "stark, raving mad."  Everything is a show in Trump World, and the Trump administrati...

We missed the rapture! This week we're diving deep into the political machine playbook - because understanding the past is the only way to make sense of the insanity we're witnessing today.

Why are Republicans frantically trying to turn a dead podcaster into the next Confederate monument? And what does it mean when your political strategy depends on keeping your base at a "full boil" 24/7?

Plus, we examine how his...

A wide-ranging conversation with the incomparable Charlie Pierce of Esquire Magazine.  What should the Democratic base be doing now?  What should Democrats in Congress be doing now?  And what for which NFL team should Blue Gal and her daughter go all in?  (Driftglass has an opinion, and it starts with Da and ends with Bears.) 

More at proleftpod.com. 

Charlie Pierce image is a screenshot from, YES, "Jimmy Kimmel Live!"  For...

We look at how the crazy stuff happening in national politics is playing out right here in our hometown of Springfield, Illinois, by checking out what local radio, TV, and newspapers are saying about recent events. Why do big-name media people like Chuck Todd come to small-town radio shows to push their "both sides are equally bad" message, and how does this lazy reporting help cover up dangerous political talk? What happ...

How did the late Charlie Kirk build his multi-million dollar empire, and what role did billionaire oligarchs play in funding his operation?  And why was it so worth it to them to dump millions on this right-wing demagogue? 

What critical facts does Ezra Klein conveniently leave out when praising Kirk's "moxie and fearlessness"? 

There's a huge difference between democratic discourse/debate and Kirk's actual l...

Alt Title:  What 'Road House' Can Teach Democrats

What is the hidden wisdom in Patrick Swayze's movie Road House (MST3K IYKYK) that Democrats desperately need to understand? 

Answers to this and more, in this week's episode! 

Stay in Touch! 

• Email: proleftpodcast@gmail.com
• Website: proleftpod.com
• Support via Patreon: patreon.com/proleftpod
• Mail: The Professional Left, PO Box 9133, Springfield, Illinois, 62791

S...

Why do we keep lurching violently between Democrats and fascists if every election is supposedly a "change election"? What happens when the media's obsession with "disruption" as a political cure-all actually gets what it wished for?

We examine the fundamental split in American politics: Do we want change that means progress toward a better tomorrow, or change that means a belligerent return to an imaginary ...

Kash Patel, Dan Bongino, Tulsi Gabbard, and Jeanine Pirro are in positions of power to finally bring justice to history's greatest villains?  So why are there still no indictments of Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton?  We know why!  

We trace the straight line from Bush's load-bearing lies about Iraq and Katrina to Trump's promises of revenge against Democrats, and examine what happens when the MAGA mob's expectat...