Breaking Points with Krystal and Saagar

Episode: Republicans Cope, Airlines Shutdown, Ritchie Torres Challenger & MORE!
Date: November 7, 2025
Podcast by: iHeartPodcasts

Episode Overview

In this Friday episode of Breaking Points, Krystal Ball, Saagar Enjeti, and the team break down the fallout from the recent U.S. elections, the mounting airline shutdown caused by the ongoing government closure, and a deep dive into the challenge against Congressman Ritchie Torres by Michael Blake. The episode explores themes like affordability and cost-of-living in political messaging, the fragility of independent journalism in the face of legal threats, and what the future may hold for both parties as they navigate increasing polarization and practical governance challenges.

Key Topics and Discussions

1. Legal Threats to Independent Journalism: The Dropsite Libel Suit

[03:33–05:48]

• Ryan updates the team on ongoing legal challenges facing Dropsite, which is being sued under UK libel law after publishing an investigation into systemic bias at the BBC regarding Israel coverage.
  • Dropsite and writer Owen Jones face high legal costs (~$40,000 so far), but community fundraising (over $50,000 overnight) is helping.
  • The libel suit doesn’t allege factual errors, just that the conclusions were damaging—highlighting the difference between UK and US press freedoms.
• Larger concern: Precedent that expensive lawsuits could chill independent media.
  • “If you come after us, like, we will defend ourselves and we have a community of readers who will help us defend ourselves.” (Ryan, [04:44])
• Krystal and Emily discuss how such “process is the punishment” strategies by powerful entities threaten journalistic independence.

2. Election Fallout: GOP “Cope” and the Changing Political Chessboard

[09:22–26:23]

• Emily and panel review surprising Democratic wins in VA and NJ, noting margins were much larger than Republicans expected.
  • Quote—on Democratic messaging: “Even these sort of Spanberger, Mikey Sherrill types have kind of unlocked the key to... actually challenging MAGA on some of those actual questions that people go to sleep with and wake up in the middle of the night with. And that's... a revelation.” (Emily, [10:25])
• Republicans' explanations for losses:
  • Low GOP turnout, “happiness” among voters, and misaligned focus on social wedge issues over pocketbook concerns.
  • Krystal critiques this: “The key to an election defeat is happiness.” ([12:52])
• Noted Republican “coping” from figures like Vivek Ramaswamy and J.D. Vance, pivoting quickly to say the party must focus on affordability/cost of living.
  • “You have to focus on affordability and cost of living. Then Donald Trump came out and said the same thing. He's like, they have this new word: affordability.” (Emily, [18:01])
• The group discusses how Republicans' cultural tactics are now out of sync with voters’ real economic anxieties, referencing Zoron’s victory and the shift in Democratic strategy away from “woke” peak issue politics.

3. The Ongoing Government Shutdown and Airline Chaos

[28:02–32:27]

• Krystal and Saagar discuss deepening impacts of the shutdown:
  • 42 million lacking food stamps, rising desperation.
  • Federal judge forces administration to pay out benefits, but Trump administration appealing, extending hardship ([28:12]).
  • Air travel chaos: with air traffic controllers unpaid, the government enforces a 10% across-the-board reduction in flights ([30:41]).
  • “Never in modern U.S. Aviation history has the federal government done an across the board cut of flight capacity like this.” ([31:00])
• Blame game over shutdown: Dems think Trump admin will take the hit with the public, especially as Trump-aligned officials become the public faces of these crises.

4. Debunking Economic Narratives

[32:27–34:49]

• Play clips of Trump touting lower prices; panel quickly fact-checks:
  • “Crystal, you have been debunked, actually. Everything is cheap and everything's down.” (Emily, [32:58], sarcastically)
  • Community notes and personal experience show that government stats are often manipulated or misleading, so lived experience tells the real story.
  • “Controlling CBS News is only going to get you so far because people live in the world. They go to the grocery store... nothing Barry Weiss tells them is going to change that.” (Ryan, [34:18])
• Democrats appear dug in: refusing to cave on shutdown until Republicans allow a vote on subsidies ([35:22]).
  • Republicans fear setting precedents (filibuster, court manipulation) that could be turned on them by future Democratic administrations.

5. Steve Bannon’s Existential Warning to the GOP Base

[39:05–40:42]

• Clip of Steve Bannon warns if the GOP loses midterms/2028, “some in this room are going to prison, myself included.”
  • “If we lose the midterms and we lose 2028, some in this room are going to prison, myself included.” (Steve Bannon, [39:13])
  • Panel notes the shift in U.S. culture toward a more existential and escalated sense of political stakes and the dangers of normalizing “lawfare.”
• Discussion of political prosecutions, norms, and the risk of tit-for-tat legal battles—“You don't want to be the type of country where anybody who runs for office does so with the expectation that they could go to prison because the incentive structure is just a disaster in that case.” (Emily, [41:40])

6. Challenging Ritchie Torres: Interview with Michael Blake

[51:08–82:52]

• Michael Blake (former DNC Vice Chair) joins from Puerto Rico, launching a primary against Congressman Ritchie Torres in NY-15, the nation’s poorest district.
  • Critiques Torres for absenteeism, ties to AIPAC, focus on foreign policy over local issues, and receiving major funding from national groups while Bronx residents struggle.
  • “If you care about the Bronx, you care about Puerto Rico. Which is exactly why I’m running for Congress, because you need someone who’s actually going to fight for the people in the Bronx; and Richie Torres is, once again, absent.” (Michael Blake, [52:00])
• Blake’s journey:
  • Born in Bronx, Jamaican heritage, product of NYC public schools, has crossed paths with Zoron, shares focus on affordability.
  • Outlines progressive platform: ending credit checks for housing, localizing median income metrics, Medicare For All.
    • “Credit scores for housing have to end. It is a institutionally racist, discriminatory policy...” (Michael Blake, [66:15])
  • Critiques Torres: “His focus on AIPAC and supporting AIPAC... is not having a focus on what the people need right now, which is better housing.” ([63:53])
  • Emphasizes linking foreign policy stances (Israel, AIPAC) with local cost-of-living failures; says every dollar sent to Israel is money not spent on Bronx schools, housing, or social services ([82:57]).
• Supports a full weapons embargo on Israel:
  • “There should be.” (Blake, [81:54])
  • “Every dollar we are spending on that, we are not spending on books in the Bronx.” ([82:57])
• Blake also forcefully supports protecting constituents from ICE, expanding safe spaces, and providing legal help, all rooted in his immigrant family experience ([78:07–81:00]).

Notable Quotes

• On UK Libel Laws and Journalism:

  • “It's utterly insane how expensive this stuff is. But we are... 100% standing behind the story, and we’re planning to defend it.” (Ryan, [04:14])
  • “If you come after us, like, we will defend ourselves and we have a community of readers who will help us defend ourselves.” (Ryan, [04:44])

• On The GOP and Election Fallout:

  • “Even these sort of Spamberger, Mikey Sherrill types have kind of unlocked the key to... actually challenging MAGA on some of those actual questions that people go to sleep with and wake up in the middle of the night with. And that's... a revelation.” (Emily, [10:25])
  • “The key to an election defeat is happiness.” (Krystal, sarcastically, [12:52])
  • “You have to focus on affordability and cost of living. Then Donald Trump came out and said the same thing. He's like, they have this new word: affordability.” (Emily, [18:01])

• On Economic Messaging:

  • “Crystal, you have been debunked, actually. Everything is cheap and everything's down.” (Emily, sarcastically lampooning Trump, [32:58])
  • “People live in the world. They go to the grocery store, they see what a bag costs, they know what it used to cost... nothing Barry Weiss tells them is going to change that.” (Ryan, [34:18])

• Michael Blake Interview:

  • “If you care about the Bronx, you care about Puerto Rico. Which is exactly why I’m running for Congress, because you need to have someone who’s actually going to fight for the people in the Bronx; and Richie Torres is, once again, absent.” (Michael Blake, [52:00])
  • "Credit scores for housing have to end. It is a institutionally racist, discriminatory policy..." ([66:15])
  • “Every dollar we are spending on [weapons to Israel], we are not spending on books in the Bronx… It's a question around priorities, and mine is the Bronx.” ([82:57])

Key Timestamps

| Segment | Time | Description | |---------|----------|--------------------------------------------------------------------| | Dropsite legal challenge | 03:33–05:48 | Ryan discusses lawsuit and the threat to indie journalism | | Election fallout—GOP reactions | 09:22–19:19 | Virginia, NJ results, GOP "cope," pivot to affordability | | Economic reality vs. narratives | 32:27–34:49 | Trump’s claims debunked, lived experience trumps propaganda | | Government shutdown impact | 28:02–32:27 | Food stamps, airline chaos, shutdown blame game | | Steve Bannon’s existential threat| 39:05–40:42 | “We lose, we go to prison,” panel unpacks the new “norms” | | Interview: Michael Blake | 51:08–82:52 | His challenge to Torres, Bronx policy, and stance on Israel |

Tone and Style

The episode is lively, fast-paced, and forthright, weaving skeptical humor through deep policy discussion. The hosts maintain their trademark populist, anti-establishment edge, aiming to ground every national issue in real-world material consequences for working people. Interview subjects and hosts alike use candid, often colorful language but always draw connections between political drama and lived experience.

Conclusion & Takeaways

This episode of Breaking Points highlights the ongoing shift in American politics: a popular demand for politicians to address immediate economic realities over cultural grievances. The panel dissects both the Democratic pivot to affordability messaging, the Republican Party’s post-election soul-searching, and the perils facing independent journalism. Michael Blake’s candidacy against Ritchie Torres illustrates an internal Democratic battle over foreign influence, priorities, and the need for economic populism rooted in local experience.
For listeners seeking an insightful, inside-baseball review of this week’s seismic political events, this episode is essential.

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