Podcast
The Professional Left Podcast with Driftglass and Blue Gal
Hosted by Driftglass and Blue Gal · EN
"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."
46episodes
Episodes
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Ep 997: What Do Democrats Want?
4d ago00:49:11Tap to summarizeEpisode 997 of The Professional Left uses the sudden, very public firing of Scott Pelley from 60 Minutes as a jumping-off point to ask a much bigger question — why do the people with the biggest megaphones still have absolutely no idea what Democrats actually want, or who they actually are? Driftglass and Blue Gal trace the long, embarrassing history of elite pundits who spent decades inventing a fictional Democratic party, got everything catastrophically wrong about the Republican one, and are now loudly demanding that Democrats take their advice anyway. A deep dive into the 2027 Illinois state budget — passed by an actual Democratic majority serving actual Democratic voters — turns out to be a surprisingly clear and satisfying answer to the question the title asks. If you want to know what Democrats want, it turns out you don't need a pundit — you just need to pay attention to what Democrats do when they're actually in charge.Stay in Touch! Email: proleftpodcast@gmail.com Website: proleftpod.com Support via Patreon: patreon.com/proleftpod or Donate in the Venmo App @proleftpodMail: The Professional Left, PO Box 9133, Springfield, Illinois, 62791Support the show
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Ep 996: The Maine Event
6d ago01:11:06Tap to summarizeEpisode 996 of The Professional Left takes a hard look at the media circus surrounding the Maine Democratic Senate primary, asking who is actually stirring the pot, why they're stirring it, and who benefits when a private matter between a married couple drowns out every important conversation about the Republican incumbent's actual record. Driftglass and Blue Gal walk through a long and inglorious history of political sex scandals — from FDR to Gary Hart to Newt Gingrich — to put the whole thing in perspective and make the case that the bar for Democratic candidates is being set in a very different place than it is for Republicans. The New York Times, The Bulwark, and the usual cast of Both Sides Do It pundits all make 'but the Democrats' appearances, right on cue. And a deeply revealing New York F-ing Times piece about young men who get their political opinions from Joe Rogan and still somehow blame Both Sides equally turns out to be less a portrait of a generation in search of answers and more a masterclass in how conservative propaganda and legacy media complicity get permanently bonded together.Stay in Touch! Email: proleftpodcast@gmail.com Website: proleftpod.com Support via Patreon: patreon.com/proleftpod or Donate in the Venmo App @proleftpodMail: The Professional Left, PO Box 9133, Springfield, Illinois, 62791Support the show
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Ep 995: The Politics of Pronouns
2w ago00:59:22Tap to summarizeEpisode 995 of The Professional Left takes a deep dive into one of the most revealing tricks in modern political history — the quiet, deliberate shift from "we" to "they" that happens every time a prominent Republican needs to pretend they had nothing to do with the monster they spent decades building. Driftglass and Blue Gal trace this sleight of hand from the early days of Trump's rise all the way to a recent live Bulwark event, showing how the same lie gets polished and repackaged every few years by the same people who should know better — and who absolutely do. The episode also takes a hard look at the comfortable fiction that Trump "revamped" the Republican Party, making the case that he didn't change it at all — he just finally showed everyone what it had always been. And with episode 1000 just around the corner, this one serves as a timely reminder that the coming wave of strategic forgetfulness about the Trump era will look a lot like every wave that came before it — unless enough people refuse to let it happen.Stay in Touch! Email: proleftpodcast@gmail.com Website: proleftpod.com Support via Patreon: patreon.com/proleftpod or Donate in the Venmo App @proleftpodMail: The Professional Left, PO Box 9133, Springfield, Illinois, 62791Support the show
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Ep 994: An Epidemic of Recycled Lies
3w ago01:03:17Tap to summarizeEpisode 994 of The Professional Left takes a hard look at the war on memory — the long, grinding campaign to erase what actually happened to this country and replace it with a comfortable myth that lets the people who caused the damage off the hook. A fascinating breakfast conversation between a writer and ten of his late father's Trump-voting friends provides the jumping-off point, raising a question that cuts right to the heart of everything: where exactly are these voters getting their opinions about Democrats, and has any of them ever actually listened to one? Driftglass and Blue Gal dig into the epidemic of recycled lies that keeps millions of Americans firmly convinced that Both Sides are equally to blame, no matter how much evidence piles up to the contrary. And with episode 1000 just around the corner, this one serves as a sharp reminder of why remembering clearly and accurately — and saying so out loud — is one of the most radical acts left in American politics.Links for this episode: Open Letters by Mersault – https://patricemersault.substack.com/Driftglass's guest appearances this week:Bob Cesca Show (May 20, 2026): https://www.bobcesca.com/the-bob-cesca-interview-driftglass-day-5-20-26/Nicole Sandler Show (May 20, 2026): https://nicolesandler.com/5-20-26/BradCast (May 21, 2026): https://bradblog.com/?p=16941Stay in Touch! Email: proleftpodcast@gmail.com Website: proleftpod.com Support via Patreon: patreon.com/proleftpod or Donate in the Venmo App @proleftpodMail: The Professional Left, PO Box 9133, Springfield, Illinois, 62791Support the show
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Ep 993: Fools In a Burning House
3w ago01:07:45Tap to summarizeEpisode 993 of The Professional Left finally arrives at the pivotal year of 2008 — the moment the Republican party began eating itself alive — and traces exactly how a party that had just driven the country into a ditch decided that the best response was to sabotage the guy trying to pull it out. Driftglass and Blue Gal walk through the deliberate, coordinated Republican strategy to destroy Barack Obama before he even got started, complete with the death panels lie, the "government takeover" lie, and the racist conspiracy theory that a reality TV con man would ride all the way to the White House. Mitt Romney makes a long, painful, and very instructive appearance as the man who tried to straddle a party that was already too broken to straddle, rewriting his own book along the way to prove it.If you've ever wondered exactly how America got from the wreckage of the Bush years to the rise of Trump, this episode lays out the trail.Stay in Touch! Email: proleftpodcast@gmail.com Website: proleftpod.com Support via Patreon: patreon.com/proleftpod or Donate in the Venmo App @proleftpodMail: The Professional Left, PO Box 9133, Springfield, Illinois, 62791Support the show
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Ep 992: Both Sides Don't Have A Budget Surplus
4w ago01:15:08Tap to summarizeIn this episode of The Professional Left, Driftglass and Blue Gal trace how the Clinton-era budget surplus was dismantled piece by piece during the Bush years, setting the stage for the catastrophic financial collapse of 2008. While millions of Americans lost their jobs and homes, the mainstream media — led by Both Sides propagandists like David Brooks and the newly hired Bill Kristol — refused to lay the blame where it actually belonged: on the Republican Party. Driftglass and Blue Gal have been calling out this "Both Sides Do It" lie for over twenty years, and this episode shows exactly how that lie worked in real time to let Republicans off the hook for disasters of their own making. From the gutting of PAYGO rules to the death of the auto industry bailout in the Senate, the evidence is clear — both sides don't.Stay in Touch! Email: proleftpodcast@gmail.com Website: proleftpod.com Support via Patreon: patreon.com/proleftpod or Donate in the Venmo App @proleftpodMail: The Professional Left, PO Box 9133, Springfield, Illinois, 62791Support the show
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Ep 991: Underbabied?
4w ago01:02:10Tap to summarizeEpisode 991 of The Professional Left starts with a question that sounds absurd on its face — are Americans "underbabied"? — and then spends an hour making the case that the people asking that question are the same ones who have spent decades doing everything in their power to make starting a family feel financially impossible. Driftglass and Blue Gal trace the long arc from the post-war baby boom through the Reagan era's war on the social safety net, showing how decades of Republican policy quietly transformed children from a shared public good into a personal lifestyle choice that you'd better be able to afford on your own. A detour through the Enron collapse and the Great Recession ties it all together — because low birth rates aren't the disease, they're the symptom, and this episode lays out exactly what's causing them.Stay in Touch! Email: proleftpodcast@gmail.com Website: proleftpod.com Support via Patreon: patreon.com/proleftpod or Donate in the Venmo App @proleftpodMail: The Professional Left, PO Box 9133, Springfield, Illinois, 62791Artwork courtesy of "america has rabies" on BlueSky @thebatshitsutras.bsky.socialSupport the show
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Ep 990: Straining Gnats, Swallowing Camels
May 801:04:02Tap to summarizeEpisode 990 of The Professional Left takes a step back from the daily chaos to talk about something the mainstream media almost never bothers with — scale — and why understanding it is the difference between seeing propaganda clearly and getting played by it every single time. Driftglass and Blue Gal run the actual numbers on one of the most successful political smear campaigns of the last decade, and what those numbers reveal about how a fringe slogan gets laundered into a party platform by people who know exactly what they're doing. The Both Sides media gets its share of the blame too, because without their eager assistance, none of this industrial-scale message warfare would work nearly as well as it does. And just when you think the math can't get any more damning, a certain former president shows up to say something that proves the point all over again.Stay in Touch! Email: proleftpodcast@gmail.com Website: proleftpod.com Support via Patreon: patreon.com/proleftpod or Donate in the Venmo App @proleftpodMail: The Professional Left, PO Box 9133, Springfield, Illinois, 62791Support the show
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Ep 989: 'Velveeta'
May 600:55:51Tap to summarizeEpisode 989 of The Professional Left takes on one of the most overused words in modern politics — "authenticity" — and asks whether anyone in American political media is actually serving the real thing, or just a smooth, processed, cheese-like substitute that melts consistently and tastes like what people want to hear. Driftglass and Blue Gal trace the long, strange history of politicians and pundits who have made a very comfortable living telling their audiences exactly the lies those audiences paid to believe, and why the whole operation works so much better when everyone pretends it isn't happening. A detour through French onion soup, a Bonanza story that will make your jaw drop, and a very revealing moment on CNN all help make the case that what Republican and Independent voters actually want has never really been authenticity at all. If you've ever wondered why the truth keeps losing to a smirk and a folksy quip, this episode has your answer — and it involves processed cheese.Stay in Touch! Email: proleftpodcast@gmail.com Website: proleftpod.com Support via Patreon: patreon.com/proleftpod or Donate in the Venmo App @proleftpodMail: The Professional Left, PO Box 9133, Springfield, Illinois, 62791Support the show
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Ep 988: Schrödinger's Alliances
Apr 2401:01:14Tap to summarizeEpisode 988 of The Professional Left is a drama in three acts, each one taking a hard look at a political strategy that keeps failing — and the people who keep insisting it will work next time. Driftglass and Blue Gal dig into the endless, maddening cycle of reaching out to voters who have made it abundantly clear they don't want to be reached, and why the media keeps writing the same breathless story about it anyway. Then things get complicated when a very familiar face from the enemy camp shows up claiming to have seen the light, forcing a very serious question about exactly who gets welcomed into the "pro-democracy coalition" and why. And finally, a minor pundit with a very convenient memory gets a long-overdue look at her greatest hits — because in this Club, the only thing that matters is who you know and when you decided to care.Stay in Touch! Email: proleftpodcast@gmail.com Website: proleftpod.com Support via Patreon: patreon.com/proleftpod or Donate in the Venmo App @proleftpodMail: The Professional Left, PO Box 9133, Springfield, Illinois, 62791Support the show
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