Krystal Kyle & Friends
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Thursdays on EclecticMisc.org is “So We Meet (again)” day, where I explore a progressive show, organization, etc. that I’ve either never seen before, or that I like and think you should know more about.
For today, I picked Krystal Kyle and Friends. Thanks to Chris for M4A aka Screamo Dragon (who I know from TYT Army and Twitter) for gifting me a free month of premium access! The podcast is available for free, but there’s more content for subscribers who support the show, such as behind-the-scenes looks and the video version instead of just the audio.
I’m familiar with both Kyle Kulinski (Secular Talk, TYT Network) and Krystal Ball (Rising, The Hill).
I saw Kyle in person at Politicon 2019 and was so impressed with his debating skills and positions on a large number of issues, I’m subscribed to his podcast. I don’t listen to every episode but really like the show and usually agree with his takes.
I saw Krystal when she was a guest on a TYT election special during the 2020 primaries, and remember her having what I thought was the best comment of the night: We need to make Biden fight to earn progressive votes. Which he did, but only to a very small extent, IMO because of Bernie dropping out and endorsing Biden without any clear concessions from him.
Back to the podcast: I chose the episode where they interviewed Noam Chomsky because, well it’s Noam Chomsky!, and since I’m posting this on Earth Day, because Chomsky also often ties the climate emergency with socioeconomic and political issues. He actually didn’t much in this interview but as usual he gave answers (sometimes surprising ones) on a wide variety of topics that show why he is perhaps the greatest intellectual of our time.
At the beginning of the episode, Kyle and Krystal had some “banter” — not meant as a critique, that’s just what it’s called in the biz (as if I would know, lol!). They talked about what’s up with them, and then transitioned to an off-the-cuff discussion about topics in the news and issues they were going to ask Chomsky about. I liked it because you see them as real people while still learning more about current topics.
I won’t go into the full details of what they discussed with Noam Chomsky, but it was an impressive interview. It’s obvious that Kyle and Krystal did their research and know their stuff, and both came very prepared with a number of great questions on different topics. Just a few:
• is the Left better off now versus before Vietnam?
• what is the success of the progressives’ pressure on Biden versus the pull of the DNC?
• should progressives try to reform the Democratic Party from within or push them through building up a third party despite the institutional barriers?
• should we be concerned about a more competent version of Trump coming along? (Chomsky’s answer was interesting: Trump’s not as incompetent as people think, and was unfortunately successful in massive destruction of institutions while keeping a high level of support.)
• what makes you keep going after all this time? what do you want your legacy to be? (hilarious but seemingly truthful answer from Chomsky btw.)
After the interview, they had a great extended breakdown of what they took away from the interview, tying it into the 2020 elections, the aftermath of Trump’s presidency on the political landscape, the failures of the Democratic Party…
My take: Intelligent discussion, with a great format, covering important issues, with some interesting and impressive guests (others have been Andrew Yang, John Nichols, and more; I see Richard Wolff is coming up soon).
I definitely recommend Krystal Kyle and Friends based on what I’ve seen so far. If you’ve seen it already, what’s your take on it? If not, are you going to check it out?
Hope to see you in the comments below or on Twitter!
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