The Professional Left Podcast with Driftglass and Blue Gal
"Fiercely and unapologetically progressive, and definitely NSFW. 'The Professional Left' features award-winning bloggers Driftglass and Blue Gal as they skewer right-wing absurdities and dismantle mainstream media mealy-mouths with razor-sharp wit and zero filter. From mercilessly mocking partisan hacks to elevating stories the media ignores, it's the profane, unflinching political commentary you didn't know you needed. More at http://ProLeftPod.com."
The Professional Left Podcast with Driftglass and Blue Gal
Ep 1019: Where's The Beef?
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Episode 1019 asks the question rarely posed — "Is our Republicans learning?" — and finds them relearning the exact same 2006 playbook: distance yourself from an unpopular president, rebrand as "independent," and blame everyone but yourselves. Driftglass and Blue Gal line up MAGA voters furious about tariff-driven beef prices, ICE snatching their own spouses, and grocery costs, all while insisting none of it is their fault after voting for Trump three times. The episode traces the eerie parallel between Bush's 2006 collapse — GOP candidates scrubbing his name from campaign ads and a mass rebranding into "independents" that eventually became the Tea Party and then MAGA — and today's Illinois Republicans barely mentioning Trump's name at the state fair. It's about pattern recognition as the Left's greatest weapon, and why this time "the lifeboats" need to burn.
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SPEAKER_07This is the podcast for September 1st, 2026. It's not safe for work.
SPEAKER_02Recorded live from the Cornfield Resistance, where rarely is the question asked, is our MAGA learning? It's the professional left with Driftglass and Bluegal.
SPEAKER_07First, we have a bit of housekeeping. Driftglass is going to be on the Bob Seska show and the Nicole Sandler show tomorrow. So make sure you get your full dose of Driftglass this week.
SPEAKER_02This is why I don't do two shows today, Blue Gal. That's why I can't do two shows today.
SPEAKER_07I think you do really well with both of them because they have a different format for the shows. So it's it's a very different experience listening to you on this on these two different shows.
SPEAKER_02And who was Nicole interviewing yesterday but Brad Friedman?
SPEAKER_07So I'm like, Oh, how it's a small world. It really is. Uh anyway, the the other piece of housekeeping we have is that we had a friend of ours from England write us and ask, can a foreigner contribute to the campaign of an American politician? He wanted to kick in a few book bucks for Democrat Dr. Cindy Worth's campaign to flip Indiana's 6th district, which was very sweet of him, and we told him so. Uh, even though insane amounts of foreign money pour into American elections through shell companies and influence ads, it actually would be illegal for him to kick $5 to Dr. Wirth's campaign. His only alternative would be to form a super PAC. And since our friend is Andy from England, uh, we suggested he call it APAC and see what happens.
SPEAKER_02Yes, we're starting off today with a gentle reminder that Donald Trump was not the first idiot Republicans elected to the White House in our lifetime. On January 11th, 2000, during a campaign speech in Florence, South Carolina, while promoting his education platform, Irony of Ironies, during his first presidential run, George W. Bush asked the audience, rarely is the question asked, is our children learning?
SPEAKER_07A line famous enough that every OG blogger remembers it, along with making the pie higher. I mean, he did a lot of these, but uh Is Our Children Learning is certainly a classic. Famous enough that the political strategist Paul Bagala used the quote as the title for his book, Is Our Children Learning? The case against George W. Bush. Uh so today we address the question which is rarely asked: Is our Republicans learning?
SPEAKER_02And the answer is not really, no. Uh or rather, they're relearning all the terrible lessons they learned the last time they invested their body and soul in a dear leader who then proceeded to wreck the economy, explode the deficit, and lie us into a disastrous war which nearly broke the military. Or war which was opposed by respected opinion writers, social activists, opposition politicians, and even some of America's financial elite.
SPEAKER_07We're speaking, of course, of the Philippine-American War, launched in 1899 by President William McKinley, who sold out the Filipino people, who, after the Spanish-American War, expected independence after Spain's defeat. Instead, for $20 million, the Treaty of Paris transferred ownership of the Philippines from Spain to the United States. Fighting broke out between U.S. and Filipino forces near Manila on February 4, 1899, and escalated into full-scale war. A war which was opposed by the American Anti-Imperialist League, whose members included Mark Twain, Andrew Carnegie, Jane Adams, and William Jennings Bryan. That is quite a mix of people.
SPEAKER_02That's quite the murderer's row of influential Americans at the turn of the uh 19th, 20th century.
SPEAKER_07Yep.
SPEAKER_02Uh, and and see, see, Heather Cox-Richardson doesn't have a monopoly on history, does she? Huh? Does she?
SPEAKER_07She does not, but we love Heather Cox Richardson. Yeah, we're just kidding.
SPEAKER_10We're just kidding.
SPEAKER_07Uh, but no, that's not the stupid war we're talking about, obviously, and that the MAGA morons are starting to recycle as their new playbook.
SPEAKER_02And before we dive in deep here, it's important that everyone keep their eyes on the ball. The prime directive of every Republican, remember, every Republican voter today, and about 95% of all former Republican never Trumpers today is always the same. That none of the disaster, that their stupid, vicious, racist actions unleashed is their fault. Remember that. It's in their heads, nothing can ever be their fault. Therefore, they never have to have anything to be sorry about or to atone for.
SPEAKER_07You will notice that they may all rationalize themselves into that state of mind by following different paths. Yeah, some will say they were tricked into it, some will say, I'm not perfect, I'm just forgiven. But like the poet Swinburne's Weary River, they always wind up in the same place. This is from Fox News.
SPEAKER_01And just within the last hour, the president posted this quote, the cattle ranchers who I love don't understand that the only reason they are doing so well for the first time in decades is because I put tariffs on cattle coming into the United States, including a 50% tariff on Brazil. If it weren't for me, they wouldn't be do they would, excuse me, be doing just as they've done for the past 20 years. Terrible. We asked Secretary Rollins how buying Argentinian beef would be helpful for these ranchers back home. She said this is necessary to lower the price of groceries. I mean, look at this. These are some approximate price changes. Ground beef up 13% year over year, roast 14%, steaks, 17%. Earlier this week, the National Cattlemen's Beef Association responded to all these changes, in part saying, quote, this plant only creates chaos at a critical time of the year for American cattle producers while doing nothing to lower grocery prices.
SPEAKER_07Now, was that from today, Driftglass? You pulled that. Was it from yesterday, week ago? When was that?
SPEAKER_02No, Bluegill. That was from a year ago. That was in October of 2025. And it was with footage shot about two hours north of here in Sandwich, Illinois. And one year later, after Trump has yet again decided to allow the import of 300,000 metric tons of tariff-free mystery meat from who knows where, here we go again from Fox News quote, while the administration previously expanded quotas, especially specifically for Argentina, by 80,000 metric tons earlier this year. The new 300,000 metric ton announcement did not restrict sourcing exclusively to Argentina, leading to widespread public and media speculation regarding the exact origin of the meat. Unquote. It really is mystery meat. You don't know where it came from, you don't know what it's made out of, just don't ask any questions. And this was the weak-ass response from the National Cattlemen's Beef Association, NCBA, chief executive officer Colin Woodall, which sounds exactly like he just copy and pasted last year's complaints. Eh, quote, should I do it in a whiny voice? Because he's a whiny guy.
SPEAKER_06No, just read it straight, but honestly, unpaste is right. This is boilerplate.
SPEAKER_02Oh, yeah. Oh, this is this is delightful. Uh NCBA is disappointed by President's reads like a Susan Collins letter.
SPEAKER_06Yeah.
SPEAKER_02It's disappointed by the president's statement. While America's cattle producers share the goal of keeping groceries affordable for consumers, flooding the market with government subsidized below market beef is not the way to build the American cattle herd. Cattle markets have already turned sharply lower this morning due to the detriment of uh to the detriment of farmers and ranchers. Unquote. By the way, any questions you have about farming in America, about farms, cattle, chicken, what farmers get up to, et cetera, et cetera. Um, check out the YouTube channel for farming while beige. Um, he's real smart, he's real funny, and he doesn't pull any punches at all. And so go from here to there. If you've not heard of him before, you will thank me for turning you on to it.
SPEAKER_07He's very, he's a very smart person and uh doesn't take uh guff from anybody.
SPEAKER_02And and does his homework, really does his head.
SPEAKER_07Does his homework, yeah. Yeah. Farming while beige. And and he's I love that title. Anyway. Uh and as pissed off as these MAGA cattle barons are at Trump, and they are pissed at him. Right down the line, they're sure of one thing. None of this is their fault. And how dare anyone try to hold them, cattle ranchers, responsible for their stupid racist decision to vote and support Donald Trump.
SPEAKER_02For the third time.
SPEAKER_07For the third time. Like this guy.
SPEAKER_00I don't know where we've gotten to in society when if I voted for someone, now all of a sudden they do something I don't like, now all of a sudden it's my fault because I voted for them.
SPEAKER_07And this guy.
SPEAKER_04A lot of the comments from our uh previous video are very disheartening. You got what you voted for nonsense. Whip one fingers and realize the American agriculture machine is here to feed you and the world.
SPEAKER_02Then there's a creature from Illinois named Shannon Adcock. She is a blonde trad wife. She works at a MAGA advocacy outfit here in Illinois, and she is on a mission from Republican Jesus to rush around Illinois and to and from Washington, D.C., trying to scare the hell out of people about the evil trans agenda because they're, quote, dissecting our children, unquote.
SPEAKER_07Can I just interrupt for a moment and say that any person who is rushing around Illinois and to and from Washington, D.C. is not a trad wife?
SPEAKER_02Well, please.
SPEAKER_07Just you should she's being a trad wife influencer.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_07Which is an act.
SPEAKER_02I play trad wife on, and she's got this very angry, like tight-lipped livery. Um, Dana Lash. She's just very angry all the time and very grim, and everyone's out to get her, uh, and everyone's wrong, and the liberals are out to destroy America. And in her spare time, her ministry extends to doing short, angry TikToks from her car, which she just has to do quickly because she's so very, very worried and angry about all the usual stupid shit these MAGA clowns are worried about. You know, communism and immigrants and liberals and critical race theory. Basically, anyone who's not straight, white, MAGA, and evangelical. And this woman's like a sponge that sops up whatever MAGA meatheads are furious about this week and spits it back into their mouths, blonde and angry, baby bird style. Oh, and she's also a big supporter of ice thugs doing whatever the hell they damn well please.
SPEAKER_07Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_07Yeah. And this time around, she was worried that about her cattle rancher friend and what her dear leader Donald Trump is doing to cattle ranchers, the overwhelming majority of which voted for Donald Trump over and over again. After Mrs. Adcock goes on and on about how ordinary middle class people like her and her family can barely afford groceries anymore, eventually what she gets around to is this quote. And I'm amazed by how many people say, oh, well, you voted for Trump. Yeah, yeah, we did. Because if you have a choice, for example, of a pet and somebody says, here's an alligator or a dog, you're gonna pick the dog. Kamala was the alligator. Woke, Democrat, they're alligators. I don't want them in my home. I'm going with the dog. But when I get that dog, I don't want it to bite me. When I command it to sit, I want it to sit. Sit, Donald. Sit, I guess is what she's saying. Yeah. President Trump, this is what she said. President Trump is the dog I voted for in the fight. Unquote.
SPEAKER_05Yeah.
SPEAKER_07Well, her story just fell apart because the alligator would eat the dog. Uh, number one. Number two, she's recording from her car because her house is too messy. I swear.
SPEAKER_02She's just very angry and had to record.
SPEAKER_07She's very angry about everything.
SPEAKER_02She couldn't let it go on a minute longer. She had to get it all down on tape because, you know, her public awaits. Then she goes on and lists a bunch of things that Trump needs to do, which Trump is definitely not going to do. He needs to do this and he needs to do that, and he's definitely not going to do any of that shit. And then, quote, so when we criticize President Trump, that's our right. We voted for him. We have expectations of him. I didn't want the alligator Kamala. I voted for Trump to be the dog in the fight, and I gotta tell you, he's pretty fucking disappointing right now, unquote. Yes.
SPEAKER_07Did she say a swear?
SPEAKER_02She said a swear. Just to emphasize how angry she is. Church lady, church lady. Because it's it should come as no surprise that if you go to her website, and please do not go to her website, uh, you will find that all of the horrible shit she believes, all her hypocrisy, all of the racism. She claims all of that is guided by her deep Christian principles.
SPEAKER_07Oh, great.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_07Moving on, we find Chef Creole owner losing his staff because he voted for Trump.
SPEAKER_08I voted for Donald Trump.
SPEAKER_09The Chef Creole restaurant in Miami's little Haiti neighborhood is typically bustling with customers. Not today. People are scared. Owner Wilkinson Sejor says it's not just the clientele. After 34 years in business, he's lost his entire management team at seven locations and will likely have to shut down two stores due to the end of temporary protective status.
SPEAKER_08The end of TPS means for me that my future in the hospitality business is almost gonna be nonexistent.
SPEAKER_09On Sunday, federal officers made an immigration arrest outside one of his restaurants. What would you say to the president that you voted for?
SPEAKER_08He told to me that he is the businessman and that he will be making business decisions. Do you regret your vote? Yes, I do.
SPEAKER_07Then there is the 75-year-old Texas sugar daddy who was distraught that ICE snatched his 45-year-old fiance at the airport.
SPEAKER_05Mr. Gannon, from my understanding, you're a pretty staunch Republican and you voted for Trump. Is that correct?
SPEAKER_08That's correct, ma'am.
SPEAKER_05What do you have to say to those people who say, you voted for this?
SPEAKER_02Well, I didn't I didn't vote for that. I mean, I had voted for, you know, get the criminals out. And when you listen to this guy, this upper tier of the MAGA mindset guy, the MAGA mindset at that level is all right there for you to observe. Rich, white, privileged Republican. And politics is something you do in a voting booth once every couple of years. You probably write checks to candidates who you know through a friend or who you golf with. But the rest of the time, politics has no effect on you personally at all, other than lowering your taxes, which is what politics should do, because you are rich and white and straight and privileged and Republican. They don't bother to learn anything about the effect that their vote is having on other people. People who aren't rich, white, straight, privileged, and Republican. Because beyond the self-soothing slogans they hear on Fox News, all the lies, or they hear from other members of the Chamber of Commerce, they don't have a fucking clue about anything. In fact, for all their wealth and privilege, they're they're pretty fucking stupid. And then at last, when the monster they created comes for them and theirs, they shatter. Like an eight-year-old finding out there ain't no Santa Claus. And not a typical eight-year-old who has slowly started to notice the Santa thing, something weird is going on here. It has some pretty glaring physics and timing problems to go along with it. The numbers just don't add up. Not a gentle entry into the world of adulthood and facts and doubt.
SPEAKER_07They get their idea of Donald Trump as a businessman from The Apprentice. And they watched The Apprentice for entertainment.
SPEAKER_02I would say gently.
SPEAKER_07I know that's their image.
SPEAKER_02And they've had three elections to learn about Donald Trump. So they are clearly lying to themselves. Or they're just incredibly stupid. Either way, they are uh they are a blight on democracy. Yep, and of course, it's not their fault. I thought he was a businessman. I just just I chose not to pay attention to a fucking thing that happened in politics for the last 10 years.
SPEAKER_07Except that I do my own research.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_07All right. Uh but it's as if they've come downstairs early on Christmas morning to find out not only is there no Santa Claus, but Trump and his ice goons are dragging their parents off to who knows where, and they've taken all the presents, and they're taking turns kicking their brand new puppy around the room. It is incomprehensible to them. And if they were eight-year-olds, Driftglass, they'd have every right to be stunned and terrified. But these clowns are grown-ass men running their own businesses. And even after Trump showed himself for what he really was a thousand times, and in three elections, they still fucking voted for him. One more, shall we, Drift Glass? This is from the New York fucking Times, which, by the way, earned that fucking word this week and continues to do so. Keep watching Blue Sky for that. Uh, on August 17th of this year, quote, years of Trump support came undone in 15 minutes in an airport. Brent Jindra, a tech salesman, voted for President Trump three times, drawn by his aggressive immigration agenda. He never imagined the crackdown would ensnare his own wife. Last month's moments, excuse me, last month, moments after the couple got off their flight in Burbank, California, a young man in a brown hooded sweatshirt stopped Galena Bobraniva. Congratulations, you've been chosen for secondary screening, he told her, according to the couple's recollection. The man was a federal agent, and after questioning Miss Bobraniva for about 15 minutes, he led her away in handcuffs to an unmarked vehicle. I'm only doing my job, he said. Everything will be okay.
SPEAKER_02No, it won't.
SPEAKER_07So began a 16-day ordeal, a night on the floor of a basement holding cell in downtown Los Angeles, two weeks in a Mojave Desert detention center, and a frantic legal effort to win her release. Freed on a $35,000 bond with an electronic monitor clamped to her ankle, she is now fighting to stay in the United States against federal charges of overstaying her visa. Unquote.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. Not not a criminal.
SPEAKER_07No.
SPEAKER_02Not a monster. Not one of the bad ones. Just one of the people that Trump promised he would sweep up.
SPEAKER_07And frankly, one of the lucky ones because she had the resources to bail herself out. Intellectual and and financially to be able to, okay, my husband's going to get a lawyer, my husband's going to get a bond, my husband's going to continue to fight for me for 12 days. And nowhere and have the wherewithal to be aware of where I was.
SPEAKER_02And what is it about mass deportations that you did not understand?
SPEAKER_07Yeah. Mass deportation now was the sign at the convention, folks.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. But he's a businessman, Blue Gal. He's just a businessman. So to answer our original question, is our Republicans learning? The answer predictably is no. Or rather, they're going back to a well-worn playbook they've used over and over again to get through these kind of hard times. And the last of these hard times began. And the reason we're doing this as a no fair remembering stuff episode is the last time these hard times began, uh it was exactly 20 years ago, Blue Gal. From this is how long, this is how long we've been at this, actually a little bit longer. From the Pew Research Center, February 9th, 2006. Quote, Bush is a drag on the Republican midterm prospects. We nine months before the midterm elections, the Democrats hold a sizable lead in the congressional horse race and an advantage on most major issues. Democrats lead by 50 to 41% among registered voters in the test ballot, which is little change from last September, 52 to 40%. While retaining a huge advantage on traditional party strengths like the environment and healthcare, Democrats are also seen as better able to deal with the economy by 46 to 36% and reform the federal government, 42 to 29%. Terrorism and to a lesser extent crime remain the GOP's only strong issues among 12 tested in the survey. President Bush's unpopularity has become a drag on his party's prospects in the fall, unquote.
SPEAKER_07That was February of 2026. 2006, excuse me, 2006, 20 years ago. This is a month later from CBS News, March 10th, 2006. Quote, voters down on Bush and Congress. More and more people, particularly Republicans, disapprove of President Bush's performance, question his character, and no longer consider him a strong leader against terrorism, according to an AP Ipsos poll documenting one of the bleakest points of his presidency. Nearly four out of five Americans, including 70% of Republicans, believe civil war will break out in Iraq, the bloody hot spot upon which Bush has staked his presidency. Nearly 70% of people say the country is on the wrong track. Obviously, it's the winter of our discontent, said Representative Tom Cole, Republican of Oklahoma. Republican Party leaders said the survey explains why GOP lawmakers are rushing to distance themselves from Bush on a range of issues. Port security, immigration spending, warrantless eavesdropping, and trade, for example. Trade? Trade?
SPEAKER_02Immigration? What?
SPEAKER_07The poll suggests that most Americans wonder whether Mr. Bush is up to the job. Just 37% approve of his overall performance. That is the lowest of his presidency. Unquote.
SPEAKER_02Now, March of 2006 was also when the GOP's flailing around looking for a message spilled out into the public. From the Washington Post, March 19, 2006, the headline, quote, GOP struggles to define its message for the 2006 elections, unquote. May of 2006 was when the hardcore Republican voters began pointing fingers at the radioactive disaster that was the Bush regime. Also from the Washington Post, this is May 11, 2006, the headline, quote, Bush GOP Congress Losing Core Supporters, subheadline, Conservatives Point to Spending and Immigration, unquote.
SPEAKER_07And almost exactly 20 years ago today, this was on September 4th, 2006, stories like this began spilling into the open from CBS News, quote, GOP candidates seek distance from Bush. Republicans who were once cozy with President Bush are distancing themselves from both the president and their party in campaign ads. Consider Representative Deborah Price, the fourth-ranking House Republican, struggling to hold on to her seat in an evenly split district in central Ohio near Columbus. Now everyone pay special attention to this next paragraph. In 2004, her campaign website featured a banner of her and President George Bush sitting together smiling. But in her latest television ad, Price is described as independent. Independent. She's independent, Blue Gat. She's an independent.
SPEAKER_02Oh God. And there it is. Right there.
SPEAKER_07She is right there. We told you. This is where they're going.
SPEAKER_10Yeah.
SPEAKER_07And in 2029, there's going to be a whole lot of independence out there.
SPEAKER_02Lots of independence.
SPEAKER_07And there's going to be a brand new political movement. Just wait. And we're going to be there to stomp on it. All right. With the election in about two months and Bush's approval rating still low, 33%, in the most recent Associated Press Ipsos poll, Republicans involved in tight races are avoiding party labels and playing down their ties to the president. On issues from the Iraq War to Amtrak spending, GOP candidates are trying to argue that they don't follow in lockstep. In Minnesota, where an open Senate seat is at stake, Republican rep Mark Kennedy has an ad titled Crossing Party Lines, in which he said, this is in a primary, right? Open Senate seat. Oh, I'm sorry, open Senate seat. All right, crossing party lines, in which he says, I'm a Republican. On issues like taxes and spending, I vote like it. But on other issues, I cross party lines. In 2002, in his run for the House, a Kennedy ad showed him walking and shaking hands with Bush at the White House. Today he lists issues on which he has split from the president. In South Florida, heavily populated by retirees, Republican Representative Clayshaw criticizes the president's stalled plans to change Social Security and says in his ad, I represent the state of Florida, not a political party.
SPEAKER_10Derpa, derpa, derpa. Yep.
SPEAKER_07Democrats naturally have a different view. What we're seeing is a number of candidates who embraced Bush in previous elections are now treating him like a leper, said Phil Singer, spokesman for the Senate Democratic Campaign Organization. Unquote.
SPEAKER_02We now leap ahead two full decades and take you to this year's Republican Day at the Illinois State Fair. This is from Capitol News, August 20th, 2026. Quote, with Trump barely mentioned, Illinois Republicans focus on common enemy, Pritzker. GOP officeholders' candidates lay blame for high prices and taxes on Democrats. Ooh, scary. President Donald Trump has been the dominant political force within the Republican Party for more than a decade. But as Illinois GOP faithful gathered Thursday in Springfield for their annual day at the Illinois State Fair, their party's national leader was barely mentioned. Instead, the GOP candidates were laser focused on Governor J.B. Pritzker and Democrats, who hold all statewide offices and supermajorities in the General Assembly. Thank goodness. It was a stark contrast to Democrats' day on the fairground on Wednesday, where Pritzker and other statewide elected officials focused their ire on Trump while barely mentioning their underdog Republican opponents. Not even worth mentioning. Not even worth worth it.
SPEAKER_07It's true. I don't know who I don't know the name of the guy running for Senate on the Republican side at the moment. Do you? I know.
SPEAKER_02Don't care.
SPEAKER_07No.
SPEAKER_02Really don't care. But that's the thing. It's our our opponents are such ciphers. They're such creatures of Donald Trump. We don't even need to talk about them because they're going to lose, knock on wood. And Trump is the real issue. Trump is the is the is all of it. On Republican Day, Trump's name was conspicuously absent, with GOP leaders blaming the state's Democrats for soaring energy costs, high property taxes, and other affordability concerns on voters' minds. Unlike the previous day, there was no mention of the impact of Trump's tariff regime and the war with Iran on the price of, you know, consumer goods and gasoline. We need to stop looking at Washington and start looking at Springfield. Said Aaron Del Mar, future losing running mate of Darren Bailey, unquote.
SPEAKER_07And and the thing is, there are lots of four-year-old video.
SPEAKER_10Oh, God.
SPEAKER_07Different videos of Darren Bailey, who ran last time. Yeah. Saying how how attached at the hip he was to Donald Trump and his message.
SPEAKER_02Oh, I had to cut this uh this show of ours, the notes, way down.
SPEAKER_10Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Because they they got Darren Bailey talking about dinosaurs.
unknownYeah.
SPEAKER_02Because he believes that and and his answer, because they're at the state for going, do you still believe that the earth is 6,000 years old? Humans and dinosaurs are and his answer was, Were you there? Oh Were you there? And and well, you know, and and science has come up with all kinds of amazing things all the time. And he's just such a fucking bum. He's such a fucking tomato can. And this is how screwed up the Republican Party is in Illinois. He lost last time. He lost badly last time, and they're running him again.
SPEAKER_07Again. Well, who else have they got? Right. Well, who's willing to take, you know, get run over by the Pritzker bus, which is what's going to happen.
SPEAKER_02And this is a reminder to everyone there is nothing new under the sun. And also because the greatest superpower we on the left have is just remembering stuff. You know, watching for old patterns to repeat themselves, then factoring in, you know, human nature, changing conditions and so forth, and figuring out what's likely to come next. Right now, the resistance is like a bow and arrow that's been stretched to the absolute breaking point limit. Enormous amounts of stored up potential energy ready to be released. Whereas MAGA feels like a spent force, you know, something that's limping under the porch to die. Bitter clingers who prop themselves up by blathering idiocy and wild conspiracy theories. And that's all they got.
SPEAKER_07Yep. Well, let's go back again to 2006. And one more time to the New York fucking Times, November 4th, 2006. Driftglass. Quote: Republicans resigned to the idea of big losses. The battle for Congress rolled into a climactic final weekend, with Republican Party leaders saying the best outcome they could foresee was losing 12 seats in the House. But that they were increasingly resigned to losing at least 15, and therefore control of the House to Democrats for the first time in 12 years. Unquote.
SPEAKER_02Now, do you have any idea how many seats they actually lost, Lugal?
SPEAKER_07Yes, I do. They lost it. We have it in our notes. You put it in our notes. They lost uh 30 seats in the House, and they lost six seats in the Senate.
SPEAKER_02So 30 seats.
SPEAKER_07I will tell you something else, Dre Klass, because I remember everyone thought that that was the wave election to end all wave elections. Right. No party was ever going to lose more than 30 seats ever again. That was the absolute bottoming out of the Republican Party in 2006. And then in 2018, they lost 42 seats in the House. The Republicans lost 42 seats. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Well, and before that, Obama lost a shit ton.
SPEAKER_07Yeah, he lost a shit ton over, you know, the rollout of the Affordable Care Act failed. You know.
SPEAKER_02And that was, and again, we've done many podcasts on this. That was all about him thinking that he had partners, reasonable human beings he could deal with on the right. Right. While they were just busy sabotaging him and the middle of a global economic collapse, healthcare crisis, and they just sabotaged him. They ran every room that they could think of, and they relied entirely on the seething, unhinged racism of the Republican base to drive turnout. Now, this is also the period during Tom suck on this Friedman. You remember him? Remember Tom Friedman? Billionaire, writer, New York Times, been there for 80 years? This is when Tom Friedman 1.0 began to slowly disappear. And it began when he started changing his pronouns, Blue Gal. And the all-new Tom Friedman, version 2.0, pretended to emerge from his neocon chrysalis, wandering the hallways of the New York fucking Times like a newly bliss-punched Indiana Jones, exploring some lost and magical continent. Suddenly there was no we when talking about Bush and Cheney in the Iraq War. Instead, we find Friedman 2.0 getting all aggrieved on your behalf. Oh nice. This is from Tom Friedman in the Times, November 5th, 2006. Quote, George Bush, Dick Cheney, and Don Rumsfeld think you're stupid. Yes, they do. They think they can take a mangled quip about President Bush and Iraq by John Kerry and get you to vote against all Democrats in this election. Every time you hear Mr. Bush or Mr. Cheney lash out against Mr. Kerry, I hope you will say to yourself, they must think I'm stupid, because surely they do. They think they can get you to overlook all of the Bush team's real and deadly insults to the U.S. military over the past six years. Unquote.
SPEAKER_07And after the 2006 midterm election, this is from the Washington Post, November 9th, 2006. Quote, GOP factions point fingers at each other. After minutes upon minutes of soul searching, Republicans are now in recrimination mode. And the GOP's various factions all agree this wouldn't have happened if the party had listened to us. In the aftermath of the historic GOP losses Tuesday night, moderate Republicans quickly concluded that the party needs to be more moderate. Conservative Republicans declared that it should be more conservative. Main Street is angry at Wall Street, theocons are angry at neocons, and almost everyone is angry at President Bush and the GOP congressional leadership. The party purges began formally yesterday as Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld and House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert agreed to step down before they were pushed. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, Republican of Tennessee, had already decided to leave Congress, but GOP insiders said Tuesday's debacle should eliminate him from presidential contention in 2008. By day's end, Republican fingers had pointed at every conceivable Republican scapegoat. Ex-Representative Mark Foley of Florida, remember Mark Foley Clapp?
SPEAKER_10Oh yes.
SPEAKER_07And his scandal-plagued colleagues, Republican National Committee Chairman Ken Melman, presidential advisor Carl Rove, even Senator John McCain of Arizona. The common theme of the recriminate a thon is that the party lost its way after seizing control of Congress in 1994, focusing on power and perks instead of principles.
SPEAKER_02Principles.
SPEAKER_07But behind all the maneuvering, posturing, and backstabbing lingered a serious debate over the party's future and what those principles should be. It's a familiar argument between confrontation and compromise, appealing to base voters on the right, or independence independence in the middle. The moderate Republican Mainstream Partnership. Where are they today, Driftglass? R.I.P. Where is the Republican Mainstream Partnership? They fired their first salvo on election night, unleashing a news release titled Far Right Solely Responsible for Democratic Gains. Sarah Chamberlain Resnick, the partnership's director, complained that GOP leaders had rejected popular causes such as the minimum wage, embryonic stem cell research, and lobbying reforms, while ignoring healthcare issues that did not involve Terry Shivo. Wow. The result she said was that moderate suburban voters saw Republicans as extremists. This election isn't a repudiation of the GOP, Chamberlain said. It's a repudiation of a handful of zealots and a reminder that you can't build a majority party without securing the middle of the American electorate. That wasn't the conclusion the Wright drew from Tuesday's losses. Unquote.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, it this is so this is so eerie. And the ever-shrewd David Brooks, who was still at the New York Times at that moment, knew right away who the real villains were here. From his seat in the Acela Corridor Qui, he could sense that the real problem had nothing to do with any of this stuff. Had nothing to do with any of the election results. The real problem was the culture of leftist snobbery, Blue Gal. That was the real problem. It was us uppity snooty liberals that were causing all this commotion and nonsense and ruckus. And because, you know, I don't know how the fuck he figured that out or what logic he used, but that's what he came up with. That somewhere out there, there's a redneck whose Fife's got hurt, that a dust bunny had wafted out from behind the chemical toilet and scared a son of the soil right out of his sister. So, so thank goodness that David Brooks was there to take up their cause, the real cause of real Americans. The David Brooks headline from December of 2006 was the heyday of snobbery. And right there, in that moment, when uh was when the conservative media and the legacy media teamed up to begin letting Republican voters who had endorsed and cheered for all these horrors and catastrophes let them all off the hook. It was still early days, but just like fourth-ranking House Republican Deborah Price, there began a swift and steady upsurge in Republican voters rebranding themselves as, say it with me now, Bluegal, independence. Independence. That's right. Now they scatter-gunned a lot of modifiers around that word, uh, constitutional, originalist, conservative, uh independent, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Anything to avoid saying the R word. But claiming that they were actually independents and the legacy media letting them get away with it. That was the core of it. That was the start of it. When the global economy imploded on Bush's watch, that rebranding scam really took off like a rocket. The Great Recession, you recall, began in 2007, but it was in mid to late 2008 when the public began to really panic. That was when Lehman Brothers uh collapsed, which triggered a massive global credit freeze, a stock market crash, and a wave of corporate layoffs, including my own. Then Obama was elected, and the already deranged and humiliated racist base of the GOP finally and completely lost their fucking minds. That was when the legacy media became obsessed with all these new independent voters who were suddenly coming out of the woodwork. That morphed, as you know, into the Tea Party, which a few years later rebranded itself yet again, into MAGA. But all they ever were were the same old Republican-based voters avoiding responsibility.
SPEAKER_07And this is where we take it to the future, because of course, this time around, their rebranding scam will probably look a little different. Bush, after all, was a shrewd enough party politician to let Republicans in 2006 run against him and his record, if that's what it took to win. Trump, on the other hand, has adopted a more wrath of con attitude towards the rest of the Republican Party. From hell's heart, I stop it. So this time around, Republican efforts to duck and dodge and run away might take a different form.
SPEAKER_02But as sure as we're sitting here recording this blue gal, they're gonna try. They're definitely gonna try. And this time, we need to really and truly burn their fucking lifeboats.
SPEAKER_07Yep. No rebranding when Trump goes down. Blue Gal 2017.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_07I was saying this the day after inauguration.
SPEAKER_02And when all of your when all of your favorite never Trumpers start handing out mass absolutions to hundreds of thousands, millions of voters saying that you know we we have to come together, we have to all unite, we have to treat them.
SPEAKER_07We have to unite behind blah, blah, blah. No.
SPEAKER_02That I mean, they're gonna try.
SPEAKER_07Yeah.
SPEAKER_02And it's up to us to stop them because beating Trump is not enough. No. Uprooting the Republican Party and getting rid of it, destroying it, that's the real problem. And that is what's going to become very difficult once they feel safe from Trump's wrath.
SPEAKER_07Right. Right. On a happier note, uh, in the Ed Markey versus Seth Moulton Senate primary race in Massachusetts, uh, we don't have to make predictions, actually, Driftglass. At this point, Marky Mark and the funky bunch cruised to a primary win over Moulton.
SPEAKER_02Uh I'm sorry. That just delights me far more than it should.
SPEAKER_07Yeah, well, uh, it's baffling to the one hot take fits all punditocracy and has them all in a tizzy.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. So, so stand back, blue gal, stand back because I'm about to coin a phrase, okay? I'm telling you that right now. I'm calling my shot. I'm gonna coin a phrase that I predict will be even bigger than dumpster fire.
SPEAKER_07Well, that was a big one.
SPEAKER_02It was a big one. It was a big one. I I I didn't get in on, I didn't trademark it, so I didn't make a dime off of it, but that was a big one. And and this one will explain everything, Blue Gal. It will explain everything that went on in Massachusetts. Are you ready?
SPEAKER_07I'm ready. Oh, this is Driftglass coining this. Okay, go ahead.
SPEAKER_02And it explains all the elections that are happening this year. All of them.
SPEAKER_07Okay.
SPEAKER_02Okay, here it comes. This is my hip new political theory, which is mine, which I invented. This is mine. All politics is local, Bluegal.
SPEAKER_07Driftglass. I got news for you. Yeah. You did not coin that.
SPEAKER_10Well, okay, technically.
SPEAKER_07I guess that's a phrase that came from Tip O'Neill in Massachusetts, Drift Glass.
SPEAKER_10Oh, I've heard of him. Yeah.
unknownYeah.
SPEAKER_07Speaker of the house, Tip O'Neill.
SPEAKER_02Oh, okay.
SPEAKER_07Uh, back in the 70s said that.
SPEAKER_02Oh shit. Well, okay, of course. Of course that's true. But see, the hot new thing, whether it's Donald Trump or Rick Wilson, is to claim that you invented something that you damn well didn't, and everyone knows you damn well didn't, and then just see if anyone pushes back. So if no one pushes back, Blue Gal, boom, all politics is local. Trademark Driftglass. Boom.
SPEAKER_07I guess, I guess you're lucky you've got me, Driftglass.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, you're like my conscience, Blue Gal.
SPEAKER_07And kind of like your conscience, Driftglass.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, which is a good thing because without my conscience, I would be very, very dangerous.
SPEAKER_07Um, I sent this to you earlier today, Driftglass. Uh, this is from MS Now. Quote, the cool grandpa winning over young Democrats. Uh, he's 47 and running on age, many young Democrats back the 80-year-old in Massachusetts. Democrats have spent two years arguing, and include me in this, by the way.
SPEAKER_02Same here. Yeah.
SPEAKER_07About the age of their leaders and about where the value of experience ends and the case for generational change begins. In Massachusetts, Representative Seth Moulton has built his Senate primary challenge to Senator Ed Markey around that argument that the incumbent and a party led for years by aging politicians are overdue for new leadership. Moulton, who has called for congressional term limits, has cast himself as part of a generation ready to take over at 47. Yes. Yeah, okay. Uh it is an argument the last two years were supposed to have made easy, but the voters who might be expected to embrace that case most enthusiastically are the ones complicating it. And tonight's primary could suggest that voters have not adopted a blanket rule about age. And indeed, that's what happened.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_07Um let's talk for a second about how Seth Moulton's uh what his position was, apart from age. He was a centrist.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. Well, and you know, they loved him over at the bulwark.
SPEAKER_07Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. I like him. I like him, but you know, he's gonna have trouble. I like him, but it's it's not looking good for him. Uh Charlie Pierce, friend of the pod, Charlie Pierce, had a shorter and clearer explanation earlier today when he was on the Stephanie Miller show, which I never miss because Charlie is awesome. Uh he Charlie Pierce has known Ed Markey for 30 years and he likes the guy. He thinks he's a heck of a guy. He's energetic, he's right on the issues. Whereas, quote, Seth Moulton is a dweeb, unquote.
SPEAKER_07Right. Right. And I think if it had been a different kind of Democrat challenging Ed Markey on age and being right on the issues and saying, I have I I'm gonna run as you. I'm gonna I'm gonna match you for issue.
SPEAKER_02I'm gonna run as your successor.
SPEAKER_07Right. Yeah, exactly. It would that would have been a different race.
SPEAKER_02You know why? You know why I blew down?
SPEAKER_07Why?
SPEAKER_02Because all politics is local. Just saying.
SPEAKER_07Right. Well, and I it is time for new leadership in the Democratic Party. And I do wonder, I do wonder if Ed Markey at 80 is going to be Ed Markey at 86 when this term ends.
SPEAKER_02I have no idea.
SPEAKER_07You know, you are electing someone for six years in the Senate.
SPEAKER_02Unless they can't unless they can't make it all the way through. Yeah.
SPEAKER_07Right. Well, and that can happen too. You know, I it would have been perhaps it would have been more fortunate if Ed Markey had chosen his successor and endorsed someone younger to run.
SPEAKER_02But you're forgetting there's a you're forgetting about the Mitch McConnell rule, which is if you're feeling bad, you can just take months and months and months and months and months off. Don't tell anybody anything.
SPEAKER_07Don't tell anybody where you are or if you're alive or not. Yeah. And then have your staff release faked photos of you.
SPEAKER_02Yes. That's the rule now. So that's the rule now.
SPEAKER_07Uh no, but uh, and Ed Markey is very sharp and right on the issues, and and and you know he's cool grandpa, really. He is cool grandpa. Yeah. And and I get that. I get that uh, you know, we had very young Bernie supporters in our house who did absolutely adored, you know, cool grandpa. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02And they also adored cool grandma.
SPEAKER_07And cool grandma.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_07Who who, you know, the the years are showing. Yes, they are. She's traveling the country raising money for Democrats all over the place because she's not running this year. Right. Uh, and she's a very good fundraiser for Democrats around the country.
SPEAKER_02What state is she from? I forget. What state is she from, Blue Gow? Massachusetts. Oh, that's right. Massachusetts.
SPEAKER_07Massachusetts. Yeah. So uh but but you know, Seth Moulton is a dweeb, as Charlie Pierce said. So and he lost tonight. So that's that's how that went. And congratulations to the people of Massachusetts for selecting grandpa over a dweeb. That is that was your choice, and you made the right choice, I think. Uh hey, every Headrift Glass.
SPEAKER_05Yeah.
SPEAKER_07I think our listeners should feel free to write to both of us. I think so. Proleft podcast at gmail.com. We love hearing from you. Be aware that if you write to us at any of our addresses, we reserve the right to read your email or US Postal Service Go Postal Unions letter on the air, unless you say otherwise. And thank you for supporting our show at patreon.com forward slash pro left pod.
SPEAKER_02And you can really help us out by sharing this show on social media. If you love this podcast, please get someone else to listen to it too.
SPEAKER_07Hey Driftglass, how are the Internet Kitties doing this week?
SPEAKER_02Well, Blue Gal, the Internet Kitties are going to remind everyone that freshly poured cat food, our fake sponsor, uses only the finest American grown fictional meat.