How has going independent influenced the show's presentation?
Seeing the differences between Rising and Breaking Points, I've been thinking about that Jacobin article about Krystal that proclaimed her the "anti-Rachel Maddow." I think the general ...perkiness of Rising worked so well because it resembled but was also antagonistic to MSNBC--almost to the point of (excellent) parody. The Breaking Points set and format do seem to have a different vibe so far (which is not at all to say that I'm complaining about "production values"--it looks and sounds great, and every single tech/production issue in your FIRST TWO episodes has been cute and endearing). I just wonder whether you guys are still going for that same sort of perky MSNBC aesthetic in the same way, or whether you're pivoting to something a little more ...I dunno...Rogan-flavored. For what it's worth, I think I miss some of the perkiness vibe--I think it's part of what cuts through to so many people who would otherwise turn away. I have a couple silly ideas about how you might cultivate it: (1) more music throughout the show! i suspect that getting the right perky repetitive tune is super hard (so take your time), but I do think it would do a lot to separate the segments-- so it feels less like a standard 80 minute podcast and more like standard morning news, with all its glorious cringe. It's sometimes nice for the viewer to be able to think "damn, that was a good one" or "woof, i need to think about that" and reflect for a few seconds--rather than being like "oh fuck they moved on to the next topic but I was stupidly focusing on buttering my toast now I missed the intro" (2) maybe don't withhold responses to your monologues! I'm of course proudly subscribed, but i think the shareability of your monologues derives a lot of its force from the post monologue discussion between you both, both ways--especially for those monologues most challenging to the non-subscribers to whom we might send them. I suggest restricting some of of your joint segments or some interviews to premium subscribers only instead. Oops, I went off a bit. So much gratitude to you both--You go!!!!
What does accountability look like for the left?
There's not a wealth of AOCs waiting to come up to bat, and waiting till 2022 to argue about something which happened months ago is too long of a response time. So primarying members of the squad for not fighting in the way they promised / we asked them to seems like a path that would be neither constructive, timely, or effective. So what can we do now to pressure them into a more combative space while the legislative agenda is still in play?
Student Loan Forgiveness
What are the odds of $10k of federal student loans being forgiven? It's interesting to me that Chuck Schumer has joined the progressives on this one and is on Twitter pushing it hard and consistently. If you had to bet - will the pressure amount to anything? Saagar, how do you feel about student loan forgiveness in general?