So, I figured given my constant talking about Kyle Kulinski and bashing people like vaush, I would discuss various left wing podcasters and youtubers who I listen to at least semi regularly.
David Pakman (5/10)- Ya know, when I came over to the left, I craved left wing talk radio, and David Pakman's show was one of the first I came across. It seemed solid at the time. A gateway to liberalism and social democracy. I even bought his hatriot mail calendar back in the day and found that segment hilarious. But over the years I've cooled on the guy a lot. Starting in 2016, he went hard in the establishment liberal direction, and went full blue no matter whoer, which was a major turnoff. Then I got back into his show in the years between 2016 and 2020, and he alienated me again going into 2020, again going full blue no matter whoer. These days he comes off as a full on Biden bro type and posts videos constantly about Trump. He clearly has TDS. And yeah, he's boring to listen to now. I still pop in on occasion, but eh, between watching his videos, and trying to interact with his fanbase (full of obnoxious neolibs) I've gotten turned off pretty hard. Still, much like Biden and neolibs themselves, I cant give them a horrible rating, so a 5/10 is as milquetoast of a rating as this dude is.
Richard Wolff (7/10)- Ah, my first gateway to socialism. He's a marxist economics professor, runs the show economic update, and it's actually fairly good. He explains socialism in ways that are actually approachable, and much of my understanding of market socialism is from him. I dont always agree with the dude, and he sounds like a broken record for a while, but much like David Pakman, there was a point where he was regularly in my diet so to speak as far as left wing podcasts go.
TYT (8/10)- Eh, probably one of the better shows. I do respect Cenk Uygur a lot. I think he's a fairly honest guy and while he's had a lot of critiques over his past leveled at him over the years, a lot of it seems like really stupid and petty complaints to be honest. I know he once worked for MSNBC and quit because he wasn't establishment enough for them and didn't tow the line. And then he went off and made his own network. Now, I do have SOME issues with him. I mean, his show is a little talking heads-ish? if that makes any sense. And it seems like they can get mad when people cross them or if partners disagree with them. In a sense they are kind of their own establishment on the progressive left and have a lot of power to pull support from those who disagree with them. I don't like that aspect. And honestly, they seem kinda anti UBI at times and I find that as kinda cringe. Still, one of the better networks out there.
Jimmy Dore (1/10)- There was a time, around the 2016 election and soon after, where Jimmy Dore was an island of sanity for me. In an election cycle where everyone just fell in line behind Clinton in a cultish blue no matter who manner, he was the guy ranting and raving about how the dems sucked and didn't do enough and supported NOT doing that. The problem was that over the years, the guy went from fairly reasonable criticism to just being an unhinged lunatic who screams constantly at progressives for not getting anything done (despite not being able to do anything), and who peddles conspiracy theories. I might have issues with the likes of pakman for going neolib, but at least he didn't go full nutcase somewhere along the way like this guy did.
Majority Report/Sam Seder (6/10)- This guy tends to irk me sometimes. Like he's the epitome of a smug liberal. He can be informative, but sometimes comes off as extremely smug and condescending and can be quite incendiary when people disagree with him. He's very rational, but that's the thing, he acts like he's the smartest guy in the room and everyone else is dumb. I guess I'd slightly prefer him to pakman, but yeah, not a huge fan of his.
Secular Talk/Kyle Kulinski (9/10)- I mean, if I did a podcast, I'd probably sound most like this guy. He's a pretty reasonable leftie who sounds a lot like me, although as you can tell I do nitpick him from time to time. I think his takes on foreign policy are crap, but he's a pretty chill social democrat who doesn't lean hard into wokeness, while still going after the right when he needs to, and on economics I am only SLIGHTLY off from him, him being a more mainstream bernie bro who is a little UBI curious as opposed to me being a bit more yang gang.
Rational National/David Doel (6/10)- Idk, no real strong opinions either way. I find the guy kinda boring tbqh.
The Humanist Report/Mike Figurado (7/10)- I mean he's progressive, and he can be fairly even handed as well, but sometimes the dude just leans too hard into wokeness at times where I find the dude kinda alienating. His takes are worth checking out here and there, but I can't say I really REALLY like him.
Vaush (3/10)- Vaush is weird. He's like the anti me of lefties. He's simultaneously a leftist, but also a Biden bro. He calls this weird continuum "anarcho bidenism" and he portrays himself as a pragmatic leftie. And just about any opinion I have, he will just completely crap on in one way or another. He's the kind of dude who will outflank me from both the left and the right simultaneously but act super smug and condescending about it. He's a leftist at heart, but likes to play this hyper realism game with politics where everything is about acting pragmatically. He's also OBNOXIOUSLY SJW and his whole worldview seems to boil down to fascists bad and we must defeat fascism at all costs. There's like no nuance. Everyone he doesnt like is a fascist or fascist enabler. He's a hardcore vote shamer and his viewer base is just as obnoxious when I argue with them online. And yeah, he leans SUPER hard into the social justice stuff to the point he will literally try to privilege shame people. Idk, I think he's really annoying and obnoxious. My first video of his I watched was him bashing UBI and andrew Yang. It didn't get much better. STILL, I do have to give him some points for actually providing some of the best ukraine coverage when the war started. For as many leftists with crap takes on those issues (i mean, gotta be "anti war" no matter how irrational it is, m i rite? murica bad!), he was actually reasonable on that one and didn't offer complete crap takes. SO he has some redeeming qualities. At least he aint jimmy dore.
Destiny (4/10)- I dont watch destiny much, but he comes off as a really hardcore neolib. I kind of find his takes alienating and offputting. Still, not the worst commentator on this list.
Hasan Abi (5/10)- I dont really watch this guy much. I know he's Cenk Uygur's nephew and a socialist or something, but given the others listed, I've only checked in to a handful of videos of his. He seems okay, but I have no real opinion either way so sticking to a 5/10.
Tim Black (4/10)- His podcast is centered around the African American political community, and basically his entire world revolves around that. While he offers interesting insights and is generally an anti establishment progressive with some interesting things to say, the niche idpol focus is a bit too much, and he has a habit of screaming at others for not prioritizing those concerns about all else. Which is a turnoff for me. Sorry, it is.
Breaking Points (Krystal and Saagar) (7/10)- Eh, this show is weird. It's basically kyle kulinski's wife cohosting a show with a right winger. And it's kinda weird. Both are anti establishment and populist so it works, but sometimes it can be cringe. The general synopsis is krystal generally has good takes, and saagar bad takes. Still, not a bad show overall and one of the ones on this list I find preferable.
Forward/Andrew Yang (9/10)- Yes, yang has a podcast. And it's pretty good. And he discusses a lot of niche issues related to AI, the future of work, human centered capitalism, democracy reform, polarization and the like. I will admit I've cooled on him slightly, but despite me crapping on Yang here sometimes for seemingly turning his back on UBI, his podcast reminds me he didnt really change, he just can't really openly advocate for it like he did in conjunction with forward due to some very bad decisions he made with the direction of that party. You know what I'm talking about. But either way, podcast is worth checking out.
Second Thought (2/10)- Now we're getting into breadtube type stuff. I came across a video of his about the future of work once and found it pretty good as the dude is anti work, but then the dude went all braindead leftist in every other video I watched and I ended up unsubbing. Also apparently andrew yang is a "bonapartist" because of his "it's not left, it's not right, it's forward" pitch. AHEM! Excuse me, that pitch started with Scott Santens on the UBI subreddit, Yang just coopted it for his own campaign. And as a strong ally of the UBI movement, don't even TRY that crap with me. But yeah, "leftists" m i rite? While I've discussed a few of them who are half decent, this guy's views are complete and utter crap.
Adam Something (2/10)- I subbed to this guy since vaush recommended him in relation to his Ukraine war coverage, being a european leftist. However, virtually every video I've clicked on of his is just him bashing american infrastructure and pushing for green cities and the like. Like...dude? Not every issue with america ever is because we have car centric infrastructure. And I dont really fetishize this stuff. Like, I dont get it. I live in a fairly mid sized city, it's small, it's dense, it's walkable, it has public transport, but you wouldnt wanna walk it because you can get robbed, and the public transport isn't exactly reliable. PEOPLE DON'T WANNA GIVE UP THEIR CARS DUDE, GIVE IT A REST! Leftists, m i rite?
The Amazing Atheist (8/10)- I subbed to this guy recently. I'm mostly getting small blurbs rather than full videos, but the dude largely thinks like me, is progressive, anti establishment, and blasts Biden a lot while largely being independent. Should probably watch him more to get a better view of him but I like what I see so far.
And there we have a decent selection of leftie and left leaning youtubers and podcasters. This list isn't really intended to be conclusive, I know some people are missing. I heard Briana Joy Grey has a podcast for example. I know Kyle Kulinski recommended "good politics guy" and I subbed to him but havent watched anything of his simply from having access to too much stuff already. And yeah. But I figured, with me talking about podcasters and youtubers regularly, it might be best to explain my views in relation to the kinds of people I reference. Some people I like, some I don't, many are somewhere in between. Being an independent left leaner who is effectively politically homeless, no one represents me completely, and you can see I have a range of opinions on a range of different podcasters. And yeah.
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