Episode 1025 opens with a longer off-the-cuff discussion of Mehmet Oz stripping people from Obamacare and the GLP-1 "bridge" program from Medicare, both moves that seem designed to serve Trump's ego and pocketbook more than public health. Driftglass and Blue Gal then turn to the MAGA voters now performing shocked-pikachu-face on TikTok after ICE came for their own employees and girlfriends, revealing they never cared about anyone else's suffering, only their own. The episode traces how Never Trump media figures like Steve Schmidt flip on a dime for billionaire money, and how George W. Bush finally broke his silence this week not to condemn Trump, but to fundraise for the same Republican Party that killed his signature achievement. It's about scapegoats, alibis, and why the mob that built the Tea Party and then MAGA will always turn toward whoever hands it its next target.

Links for this episode - Driftglass is a guest on other podcasts!

Brad Blog: https://bradblog.com/?p=19336

Bob Cesca Show: https://bobcescashow.substack.com/p/the-bob-cesca-interview-92326

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Mail: The Professional Left, PO Box 9133, Springfield, Illinois, 62791

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Republicans are betting the midterms on rewriting recent history. Driftglass and Blue Gal compare Trump's 32% approval to Bush's nearly identical 34% on his way out the door, then trace how "independent" has become the magic word MAGA grifters use to dodge accountability without changing a single belief. The episode also digs into Christian Nationalism's real numbers and history, from Falwell blaming 9/11 on gays and feminists to a Methodist church group just now discovering that 30% of the country agrees with him. It's about the permanent Republican playbook: never admit fault, just say the magic word and grab a lifeboat.

#BurnTheLifeboats

Links for this episode: PRRI – https://prri.org/research/christian-nationalism-across-all-50-states-insights-from-prris-2024-american-values-atlas/

Steve Benen’s article at MSNow https://www.ms.now/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/republicans-midterm-elections-economy-democrats-mike-johnson

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Mail: The Professional Left, PO Box 9133, Springfield, Illinois, 62791

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Episode 1023 tracks how Republicans keep telling us who they are, from Darren Bailey embracing young-earth creationism to Trump calling Democrats "the enemy from within" over and over again. Driftglass and Blue Gal line up years of Trump's own words describing political opponents as existential enemies, then ask a hard question: if the Right sees this as a real war, shouldn't we believe them and plan accordingly? The episode also catches Erick Erickson, a longtime Trump critic turned supporter turned critic again, warning about white nationalist infiltration of conservative institutions, proving that even his own allies can't escape the monster he helped build. It's a call to stop assuming compromise will work with people who have told us plainly that compromise was never their goal.

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Episode 1022 asks what history's hardest lessons — Reconstruction's collapse, the Allies' insistence on unconditional German surrender — have to teach about defeating a movement built on grievance and racial resentment rather than "economic anxiety." Driftglass and Blue Gal make the case for treating the whole GOP as an enemy of democracy, not a rival to reconcile with, and for why repetition of hard truths may be the only weapon the Left has left.

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Episode 1021 exposes a $6 million Republican ad campaign that manipulated grieving parents of murder victims into unknowingly slandering North Carolina Senate candidate Roy Cooper with lies their own children's killers had nothing to do with. Driftglass and Blue Gal trace how this fits a decades-old pattern — Fox News and Hate Radio building a toxic "coal ash pond" of propaganda so complete that facts bounce off true believers, illustrated by journalist Barton Gellman's failed attempt to fact-check a January 6th supporter into reality. The episode contrasts that with Illinois' actual record — credit rating upgrades, record tourism, real economic gains — that MAGA voters refuse to acknowledge no matter how much evidence piles up. It's about what happens when lies become load-bearing walls in people's minds, and why no amount of truth can dislodge them once they're structural.

Links for this episode:

Question Everything Link: https://www.kcrw.com/shows/question-everything/stories/3-the-journalist-and-the-firefighter

Gellman Atlantic Link: https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2022/01/january-6-insurrection-trump-coup-2024-election/620843/

News and Observer Link: https://www.newsobserver.com/news/politics-government/election/article317086926.html

Capitol News Link: https://capitolnewsillinois.com/news/sp-global-upgrades-illinois-credit-rating/

Links for this episode:

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Mail: The Professional Left, PO Box 9133, Springfield, Illinois, 62791

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Episode 1020 opens with a deep dive into the Snoopy vs. the Red Baron novelty songs — where continuity gets rewritten and enemies become "friends" who never have to answer for their body counts — before turning that fairy tale into a warning about how Republican history keeps getting whitewashed the same way.

Snoopy shoots down the Red Baron, then toasts him as a "friend" — no accountability, no memory. Sound familiar?

Bush's real damage to America's reputation got erased, replaced by the fictional Obama "Apology Tour" lie.

Now ask: who fixes what Trump broke, and how?

More at proleftpod.com.

Links for this episode:

Driftglass on The Bob Cesca Show

https://www.bobcesca.com/the-bob-cesca-interview-driftglass-day-9-2-26/

Driftglass on The Nicole Sandler Show

https://nicolesandler.com/9-2-26/

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Mail: The Professional Left, PO Box 9133, Springfield, Illinois, 62791

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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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Mail: The Professional Left, PO Box 9133, Springfield, Illinois, 62791

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Episode 1018 features Driftglass in conversation with Dr. Cinde Wirth, the Democrat running to flip Indiana's 6th Congressional District. A seventh-generation Bartholomew County Hoosier, high school science teacher, and first-generation college graduate with a Ph.D. in cultural and educational policy, Wirth brings an unusual résumé to the race — including a stint as a congressional fellow writing science and education policy. The conversation covers what drove her to run for office, her priorities around working families, public education, healthcare access, and the environment, and what it takes to flip a seat in deep-red Indiana. It's a chance to hear directly from a candidate who says Hoosiers are worth the fight.

Her website: Wirth For Congress: https://wirth4congress.com/

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Email: proleftpodcast@gmail.com

Website: proleftpod.com

Support via Patreon: patreon.com/proleftpod

or Donate in the Venmo App @proleftpod

Mail: The Professional Left, PO Box 9133, Springfield, Illinois, 62791

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