Krystal Kyle & Friends (private feed for slynque@hotmail.com)

Episode 252 Audio: Antonio Delgado

In Episode 252 of KK&F, we talk about the insane bombshell of the released Epstein files, and Trump’s increasingly desperate attempts to direct attention away from them. Plus, we talk to New York Governor-hopeful Antonio Delgado about his campaign.Kathy Hochul has long been a fixture of New York politics. As Governor of New York, she’s a major player in the Democratic establishment. But Democratic leadership in the state of New York are now looking to Zohran Mamdani as part of a democratic socialist vanguard looking to transform City Hall into an institution that works for the working class. Zohran’s election was particularly telling. People like Hochul either refrained from supporting Mamdani or waited until the last minute to do so. They see his mayoralty as a sign of even more widespread rejection of the status quo among New York voters. Antonio’s campaign for Governor of New York is another force in this sweeping movement toward left populist governance. We talk to him about what a Delgado-led New York would look like. You can listen to this episode on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and other major streaming platforms! This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit krystalkyleandfriends.substack.com/subscribe

Episode 251 Audio: Ryan Grim

Our faves (just kidding), like Ben Shapiro, have been engaging in some truly historic fearmongering about the election of someone who wants to make housing affordable and buses free. God forbid! They’re calling Zohran a far-left extremist, a totalitarian who will attack basic American freedoms. Like the voters of New York, clearly, we reject these ideas as rooted in hatred for working people, Islamophobia, and a refusal to recognize the outcome of a fair election. Clearly, in the eyes of the right, destroying democracy is okay, but these major conservative voices draw the line at recognizing a popular mandate among New Yorkers for improving the material conditions of the working class. This conversation lets us consider how these prominent commentators use their power and platforms to actually undermine the very principles and political programs that they profess, hypocritically, to support.Again, we’re so grateful to the insightful Ryan Grim for joining us again on KK&F — one of our favorite friends of the show! Remember, you can listen to the audio of this episode when it’s released tomorrow night on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Pandora, and other major streaming platforms. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit krystalkyleandfriends.substack.com/subscribe

Episode 250 Audio: Max Flugarth

Max Flugrath of Fair Fight is on the show this week (for our 250th episode!) to talk all things Trump election rigging. Fair Fight is based in Georgia, so Max has seen some of the worst of Trump’s attacks on democracy. It’s a microcosm of Trump’s bigger project of maintaining power without popular consent. There, hundreds of thousands of people have been purged from voter rolls through racial profiling. Trump’s fight to overturn the Georgia election results in 2020 — which took several days to come out — garnered massive media attention and is one of the bedrocks on which the case for his criminal behavior has been built. All of this is to say that upholding democracy in the age of Trump can literally be an issue of life or death, both immediately for those fighting for it and in the longer term as Trump’s fascist government uses election rigging to terrorize the public with ICE, police forces, and other wings of a repressive government.Max points to the difference in scale, speed, and coordination as Trump ramps up the voter suppression tactics that have just become politics as usual in American “democracy.” He takes us through the new restrictions, district formations, and policies that will deny Americans — again, overwhelmingly, people of color and people from low-income areas — the right to decide the country’s leadership. As he puts it, it’s a “five-alarm fire for American democracy.” Who among our elected leadership will step up and put up a fight?We hope that our conversation in Episode 250 of KK&F will provide answers! You can listen to this episode on major streaming platforms. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit krystalkyleandfriends.substack.com/subscribe

Episode 249 Audio: Ro Khanna

Congressman Ro Khanna is back on the show this week! For Episode 249, we’ve brought him to KK&F for a conversation about his fight with Thomas Massie to get the Epstein files released. Ro explains to us how and why he’s taken on the massive task of bringing the Epstein files to light, something Republicans up to the highest levels of power — including Donald Trump, whose involvement in those files is clear — have worked both secretly and explicitly to prevent. For a month, Mike Johnson has been able to prevent a vote on releasing the files. With Democrat Adelita Grijalva waiting to be sworn in (and suing for delay), Khanna and Massie will get the 218 signatures they need for a vote, and the vote will happen a week later.The Republican Party establishment, in other words, is in crisis as party members scramble, in increasingly obvious ways, to cover up the involvement of the world’s most powerful people in child trafficking and sexual abuse. It comes down to whether or not Republicans can run out the clock and continue to delay the seating of Democratic legislators, as they have tried to do and are trying to do now. Our conversation with Ro illustrates exactly what’s happening right now as he, Massie, and their supporters fight to make sure Trump and his lackeys can’t put the files out of sight and out of mind. We hope you’ll appreciate Ro’s insight into the inner workings of our legislative body as some of its members try to get justice for the survivors of Epstein’s crimes, and as they’re forced to go up against the president and his supporters in order to do so. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit krystalkyleandfriends.substack.com/subscribe

Episode 248 Audio: Kat Abughazaleh

Kat Abughazaleh, Illinois Congressional candidate, joins us to talk about how Chicago is peacefully fighting back, her unorthodox campaign organized around mutual aid and livestreams, and how her time studying online right wing extremists prepared her for this moment. Recently, a video circulated of her being thrown to the ground by jackbooted government thugs outside the Broadview ICE Detention Facility in a horrifying display of tyrannical violence. I really hope you’ll take the time to hear her testimony and imagine how transformational it would be to have political leaders with her courage and principle in charge. If you are moved to support her campaign her website is here. We hope you’ll enjoy this conversation with a fearless fighter going up against government fascism. You can listen to the episode above or on all streaming services, including Spotify, Pandora, and Apple Podcasts. See you next week! This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit krystalkyleandfriends.substack.com/subscribe