Breaking Points with Krystal and Saagar - 7/8/26: Arizona Candidate Says Israel Buying Elections, Ryan's DSA Friend Runs For Mayor

Episode Date: July 8, 2026

Ryan and Saagar discuss AZ candidate says Israel buying his election, Ryan's DSA friend runs for Mayor. David Morales: https://www.davidmoralespvd.com/ Kai Newkirk: https://kaiforaz.com/    To become a Breaking Points Premium Member and watch/listen to the show AD FREE, uncut and 1 hour early visit: www.breakingpoints.com    Merch Store: https://shop.breakingpoints.com/   See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Now, interestingly, I was with a friend recently, and they got a text message that was very similar to these. They come in asking you about Israel, and as you respond, it then goes back and forth about your positions on Israel. So joining us now is Kai New Kirk candidate for the fourth congressional district. Kai, thanks so much for joining us here. Great to be with you. Good morning. Yeah, good morning.

So this is quite an extraordinary kind of turn of events in American politics. We're very used to, of course, A PAC or a Democratic majority for Israel or any number of other PACs that are headquartered. here in the United States and are funded by American citizens who are supportive of our relationship with the state of Israel. Now, APAC often takes direction and it is publicly known that the Israeli government speaks directly with APAC routinely, which a lot of people argue, say, means they ought to be registering under FARA. They do not have to. They're an American-funded organization. This, though, is something different. So what is going on in Arizona? What does you guys uncover? Well, we don't know, to be honest, yet what exactly is happening. All we know is as much of the information that you reported

there, that we started getting these text messages asking if we wanted to talk about the U.S. Israel relationship. And then when people would engage what we think is the AI chatbot, in that conversation, it was clear that it was that program was pushing for deeper military and government integration, right? At a time when most Americans are saying we don't want to be sending in this unconditional military to Israel, we don't want to be complicit in this genocide. It's arguing, no, you're seeing it wrong. We need a deeper partnership. Israel's the best ally, et cetera.

And then when people started asking the chat box questions about who was behind it, what was going on, we got some information that we could then follow back to the website that to my great surprise said right there at the bottom this is on behalf of the state of Israel. I mean, this is not some conspiracy theory. This is just the facts of what the people doing this are saying. And then the public reporting that's from various outlets saying that it was Brad Parzcal who was behind Cambridge Analytica and all of that stuff on Trump's campaign is doing it. So to me, it's shocking. We saw it in our district, and then we've seen it happening in other places around the country. I think we don't know exactly what all they're trying to do, but to me it's clear that a foreign

government is trying to interfere in our elections and our politics using this AI political persuasion texting program. In my view, that's clearly illegal. It's something that needs to be responded to. It's not just about my election, but it seems from those that are looking into it that they may be targeting areas where APAC is more invested or where these issues are more at stake. And that's very much the case in my race,

because I'm taking on one of the most powerful corporate dems in the country, whose top contributor, according to Open Secrets, this is not me, open secrets is APEC. Yeah, tell us a little bit about your race and why the state of Israel might have an interest in it. Yes, as I said, Greg Stanton, co-chair of the new Dems that I'm taking on. APEC is his top contributor. He has been, in my view, actively complicit in the genocide in Gaza. that we've been pushing on him, pushing him on this for years, but he's refused to take any step to hold the extremist Israeli government accountable,

not only voting for endless, unconditional military aid, but pushing back when anybody tried to do anything else. When Biden paused the 2,000-pound bomb shipments, you'll remember, Stanton spoke out against that, said he needed to resume those illegal arms sales. When the International Criminal Court indicted Netanyahu, Galant Hamas, leaders for war crimes, he voted to sanction the International Criminal Court.

So he's pushed back on every front. I've been a leader in the fight to try to stop that genocide to secure Palestinian freedom and human rights for all the people in the holy land. And this is a huge fault line in this election. So it would make sense that this would be one of the areas that they would target with this persuasion program to influence voters. We don't know for sure, but we know enough that we filed this complaint with the attorney general. I called to follow up, as you saw on the video on Monday. We haven't got a response yet. But we trust that she will do something she's been great on standing up for integrity of Arizona elections, and we hope that she will now.

And your primary is on July 21st. I saw you've been getting a little bit of attention recently because people have noticed that you've been arrested something like 25 times. For people don't know, I've been, I've known quite some time because I cover these types of protests. And every time I look up, you were getting arrested for some, for some, for some, for some, for some, for some, for some, for some, for some, for some. protest or another. You talk a little bit about your background. Usually when voters find out that somebody's been arrested 25 times, it's a press conference and they're resigning from office or they're dropping out of the campaign. But for you, it's actually, I think, kind of propelled your campaign in this moment. So give people a little flavor of like how you got into politics and

what you've been doing up until this. Absolutely. I've been a community organizer in many different non-violent movements for a long time, going back to the anti-war movement as a college student, what we called the global justice movement, to the labor movement where I was a shop floor leader in union to immigrant rights movement, climate justice. And what I'm best known for is the work I've done in the democracy fight, trying to end the big money corruption of our politics and protect voting rights with 99 rise in democracy leading a march from Sacramento, from L.A. all the way to Sacramento, 500 miles, 12 straight days of sit-ins at the the California Capitol from the Liberty Bell all the way to D.C. and then mast it ends at the

U.S. Capitol there in 2016. And I have been arrested over 25 times in non-violent civil disobedience. Everyone to me is a badge of honor, not a mark of shame. And I look to people like Dolores Werthe, Presidential Medal of Freedom recipient has been arrested 25 times or more of Martin the King Jr. 29 times. John Lewis over 30 times. And it's not, it's an act of deeper fidelity to the law because it's fidelity to the spirit of the law, which is about justice, which is about what is right. And when that's in conflict, sometimes we have to break the law. And we've done so non-violently and peacefully. And I've been encouraged by what people say at the doors, you know, because people want someone who's going to fight and stand up to Trump's authoritarianism.

And I've proven that I will put my freedom and my safety on the line to stand up for justice many times. And that's the kind of leadership people want when we're taking on oligarchy authoritarian and war criminals. And I'm going to take them on and a stand up to them, are what to win in Arizona that we can afford in America that's free of ISIS cruelty once and for all in a world where genocide never happens again. We talked to Will Lawrence last week on breaking points. He's running in a competitive, you guys may know each other competitive primary in Michigan. And he was saying that the issue that has really propelled his campaign was opposition to data centers, which is a big issue across the country, but particularly in Michigan,

He has two corporate-backed candidates, and even though they may recognize which way the political wind is blowing, they're tied back, and they're not allowed to put their sail up in that direction. Is our data center is an issue where you are, and where are you on AI and the Bernie Sanders backed an AOC-backed data center moratorium? Yes. Well, I love Will. We know each other from the sunrise movement, so go, brother. And this is an important issue here in the district. Absolutely. They're trying to build Meta is trying to build an AI data center in the district in the Awatuki neighborhood as part of Phoenix. I've been standing with the community there. We've helped to organize protests. We've been pushing back.

The incumbent Greg Stanton has been silent on the issue. He takes a ton of corporate pack money and including money from the big tech companies that are driving this. And this is being built right within residential neighborhoods. It's homes on across the street, every side. A zone commercial should be like a shopping center. Instead, it's going to be this mega industrial facility. If it gets completed, we're fighting to stop it. But I think that Bernie Sanders and AOC are right that we need this moratorium on new AI data center construction to make sure that if they are being built, right, they're being built in a safe way with clean power, that they're not creating issues in terms of water or local pollution, et cetera, but also that this transformative technology, artificial intelligence that I think has constructive purposes

we're already seeing with scientific and medical research, for example, but has, according to experts in the industry, existential risks also. We need this moratorium, and we need, in my view, negotiations toward an international treaty bringing all the world together to create a regulatory framework to make sure that this technology benefits all of us, not just the oligarchs, and to address those existential risks. In my view, democratic socialists like myself should be thinking about how we could make something like this useful to bring down to a 30-hour work week, right, to be able to shift. We're being more productive to society.

Let's have that wealth go to all the people because really AI is a product of the collective sum of human cultural endeavor across generations. And so the benefits of that should flow to everyone. But that's not going to happen unless we stand up to the oligarchs. And the military leaders, military industrial complex that are the ones driving this, right, out of either greed or fear to say that, no, we're going to have a democratic process led by wisdom that is going to decide what this technology is going to be and how it's going to be used and what the framework is for that. So I think it's a critical issue standing up locally

in terms of the impacts with data centers. It's another corporate power versus democracy and people issue, but also on the bigger front of AI. And it's moving so fast. We've got to make it a priority, even if it feels more distant in places where the data centers are not an issue. So I'm in that fight. My incumbent is not taking money from those interests. It's another reason why people are coming to support our campaign and why I believe we can win. And last question for me, I'm curious kind of as a democratic socialist in this rising moment, rising moment, when you are coming across a voter on the street, handing out literature, you're knocking on a door, and you're trying to get them to vote for you and the kind of democratic social agenda, like, how do you frame it? Like, what's the, what's the

15 to 30 seconds, you know, when you've got a voter's attention, like what you stand for and like why you're different than the new damn corporate Democrat who's in office? Well, look, I say if we're going to deal with this cost of living crisis, if we're going to stand up to Trump's authoritarianism, we need leaders that aren't beholden to the same corporate interests that are screwing the working class over, that are running independently that can fight and stand up for us to shift power from the oligarchs to the working class and give us a better life from Medicare for all to freezing utility rates to getting ice off our streets forever, disbanding that agency and ending our complicity in war crimes.

Democratic socialism doesn't come up very much, to be honest. But if it does, I talk about Dr. King. I wrote an article about Kingian democratic socialism in 2021, pointing to his legacy is something we needed to follow in the left. And he said, as Zoran said in his campaign, call it democracy, call it democratic socialism. and we need a better distribution of wealth for all God's children. We have to focus on that. I don't care what you call yourself.

I'm going to be honest about what I call myself, but I'm focused on change for you and your family, for basic justice for democracy in our country. And that's what we're doing. In this race, there's no other primary in the country this month, right? We have a chance to be the next big victory following on Colorado, on New York, to continue this wave of momentum. And we're asking people from around the country to join us in this fight

to go to kai phrasey.com and be part of this. We can take out one of the most powerful corporate Dems in the country, and APEC is his top contributor and continue to send a message to the Democratic Party. We don't want to be beholden to corporations anymore or APEC. We want to go in a different direction. We want to start now. I can say, as somebody who's been in Washington for too long, if the chair of the New Democratic Caucus, which is basically the kind of pro-corporate wing of the party, lost on July 21st, it would be a it would be a shockwave here, here in Washington. So we'll find out.

Kai, thanks so much for taking some time. Really appreciate it. Thank you for having me. Have a great day. Appreciate it. You got it. Take it easy. Canadian women are looking for more.

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I'm Munga Shatigula, and I'm back with a new season of the podcast, Skyline Drive. This time I'm diving into a rabbit hole of peptides, organoids, blood boys, blue zones, and brain replacement to try to understand what this longevity obsession is all about, and what it really means to live forever, for all of us. I learned about some rad science. I can make a brain for you, and then we can test what draw is the best for your brain, as opposed to his brain.

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I don't know. Listen to Skyline Drive, How to Live Forever on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Joining us now is State Representative Dave Morales, who is a candidate for Providence mayor, and maybe the next kind of DSA-backed mayor. after New York and Seattle.

Are there any others that we know of? Well, we have to keep the movement going. As of right now, again, I think those are the prominent examples that we have of the executive officers that have that back, you know, be democratic socialists. Yeah, and Rhode Island is such an interesting state. I will speak ill of it, so you don't have to. But, you know, our smallest, it is our smallest state. That's great. And by population, you know, quite small.

Yet also has two senators, just like every other state. and the senators from a democratic kind of grassroots perspective are often good on some things, often bad on some other things. And being a one-party state, whether it's Republican or Democrat, creates an interesting kind of political economy because the reactionary and corporate forces have to go somewhere. And if there's only one party, then they create kind of a massive faction within that party. And for many years in Rhode Island, a very, very corrupt, I would argue, faction of democratic politics has been just hegemonic. But I've been covering this push in Rhode Island for almost, you know, it's been going on more than a decade now to say,

wait a minute, like, what are we doing here? Like, this state's small enough. We should not actually be getting run over by just a few. Like, if the many of us joined together, So Rhode Island's left has done this in fits and starts. Give us the kind of the insight into how you got into this and how we got to a place where DSA might actually now take control of the most powerful position in the city, in the state's biggest city. Yeah, so I'm happy to share that there have been strides

around the progressive movement all across Rhode Island really since the start of 2020. We saw a wave of state representatives and senators get elected that sent shockwaves to the political establishment. That is correct, yeah. So we had at the time what was known as the Rhode Island Political Cooperative, which was running a slate of candidates, in addition to DSA being actively involved, as was to working families party. And that led to systemic change in the sense that we were able to shift the culture inside of the statehouse. I was very proud to have been elected in 2020. And during that time frame, being able to pass bold legislation around raising the minimum wage finally towards 15.

being able to guarantee health care coverage to every child in our state, regardless of immigration status. Like those are meaningful victories that we've been able to have. In a large part, it was because of the electoral results of getting more progressives in office between 2020 to 2022. But we have seen the pendulum swing on the other side where the status quo and the political establishment has doubled down to try to stomp this progress out. Now, I'm happy to share that over the course of the last several years, our Providence

City Council in particular has gone a lot more progressive. than policy oriented than ever before. This year, they put forward rent stabilization, which would cap rent hikes at 4% a year. They passed it. Unfortunately, it was vetoed by the current mayor, who is the corporate-backed incumbent that I'm taking on. And it goes to show the strength that we've been able to demonstrate,

not just in the form of more representation, but actually in the form of delivering when it comes to meaningful change. And so I'm running for mayor, because right now Providence is becoming far too expensive for so many working people. And we've been building a moment. movement, unlike any other in our city, where we have hundreds of volunteers that are actively

knocking on doors, feeling inspired by our message of building a providence for all. And in large part, we're doing it alongside a coalition of other council candidates and candidates for state legislature, because we want to make sure that all levels of government have that level of representation of those that align with the principles of democratic socialism. And one reason I wanted to talk to you about all of this is because obviously a lot of our audiences in New York City, because a lot of the public is in New York City, but it's a vast minority of the overall number of people in this country, and a lot of people who have been watching the success of the DSA

and the left more broadly, populist, more broadly in New York City, are like, how can I do this where I am? Like, I want to be involved in politics, and I want to be able to overthrow the old guard. Now, Rhode Island's labor movement has historically been, and you tell me how much of this is a caricature, associated with the mob, with kind of broad organized crime elements. Yet, organized labor seems to have become a real battleground for this fight.

How have you, so how has DSA been able to kind of, DSA and the cooperative and your movement more broadly, been able to kind of influence and penituary? been able to kind of influence and penetrate organized labor in Providence, and how true is that character today? Does it vary by union? What is the situation with organized labor in Rhode Island now? So the same way that we've seen a shift in terms of the culture we see at the State House, where there's more progressive representation and action that is being met with urgency, we're seeing the same trend across organized labor. I'm really proud to share that we've been endorsed by the SEIU State Council, which represents thousands of health care and home care and

child care workers. Which is kind of crazy, right? The first time in over 15 years that they had engaged in a mayoral primary in province, the fact that they're flexing this muscle as a part of this race speaks volume. In addition to that, we have the Providence Teachers Union that, again, in a shocking turn of events, is not supporting the incumbent, but instead is supporting our campaign because it speaks to the vision that they want to align with, which is one centered around progressive values. And that has a lot to do with some of the shifts that we've seen in organized labor in terms of leadership.

So I certainly believe that that's helped contribute, but also the fact that... So you've been challenging, like, your folks, your movement has been, like, winning leadership positions in the unions and, like, organizing the members themselves. Like, what's... How have you gotten to this place? I think what we have seen over the years

is just rank and file speaking up. Rankin-Files speaking up in recognizing that they're legislators and that there are advocates and activists on the ground. These new young people coming into the unions or these are older people who are like just sick of how things have been going? It's a mix of both. It's a mix of both. Those who have been a part of the union and want their union to be a lot more active and engaged as a part of the electoral process. And also beyond that, also seeing a wave of new younger members also being part of the union as well. So again, I'm very proud to just share that SCIU State Council, the Providence Teachers Union, And local 26 from Unite here have been actively supporting us. And again, these are unions that, generally speaking, might have just stayed neutral when it came to a mayoral primary, but instead have gone behind our movement.

And so I give a lot of credit to the shift in the leadership that we've seen. And also their willingness to take what is otherwise seen as a quote-unquote political risk, which is going up against an incumbent that is backed by corporate interests. you know and as people organize go door to door and like you know they run campaigns volunteer for campaigns they know that they're taking risks professionally they're taking they're giving their time but in some cases like there's an actual threat going on and I'm curious if um as as your movement has grown in providence if any anybody has been kind of threatened or like the power structure there like we're saying, like, this is not a small town council where you're just going to, like, they're just

going to, like, say, oh, it seems like the political winds blowing their way. They got more votes. I guess we're going to, you know, fold up shop here. I would imagine that they are fighting back and might be fighting back in ways beyond just the ballot box. Like, have you been threatened? Like, what's, what has it been like for people who are trying to stand up for their communities here? So power concedes nothing without demand. And we have watched it's a status quill will fight tooth and nail to try to prevent any shift. Like literal tooth and nail? Like what's... So what we have seen are certain city council members that essentially have

corporate-backed challengers. And I am talking specifically around large developers and industrial facilities that have been polluting our waterfront. These are corporate interests that do not want our movement to move forward because they don't want a cap around rent increases. They don't want us to transform the waterfront and tax industrial polluters at a higher rate. And so what we've seen are members of the Providence City Council who voted, advocated, and spoke up in regards to rent stabilization are all now facing challengers. And some of whom we are actively backing and supporting as a part of our campaign. So it's been exciting to watch that despite the fact that, yes, the status quo and the political establishment is now going

on the offense, we're ready. We're ready to defend these existing legislative seats while at the same time also running candidates for open seats and recognizing that the establishment also has their series of candidates. So a lot of what we've seen are certain council members that during the legislative process, we're being pressured. We're being pressured not to support rent stabilization. Otherwise, they would face a major challenge when it came to re-election. Right. But at least we're talking democratically. You haven't seen threats of political violence. Thankfully not. And I would hope that it remains that way over the next two months and beyond. Right. And so what are you finding that is like, that is really landing with people? And are you,

are your opponents trying to use the Democratic Socialism label, or do they recognize that it kind of backfires at this point? And people are like, oh, okay, then I know who to vote for. Well, it resonates is speaking to the needs of working families all across Providence. Right now, we have so many of our neighbors that are just being priced out because the cost of rent has gone far too expensive. So when we speak about rent stabilization, it is literally speaking to their needs because the working mom who just watched her rent go up

from $1,400 to $2,000, know that that that's not sustainable. And so when they hear that we have a plan to cap rent increases that 4%, it provides that level of reassurance. When we talk about the ways that we're going to maximize the city solicitor's office to be able to prosecute fascist ICE agents and take action around the activity of ICE that has been abusing our neighbors, that speaks to the needs of what our immigrant community is going through. So I believe that our campaign and our movement as a whole is meeting the moment. And to your point, our opponents are certainly trying to use the term around democratic socialism and red skin. scare up against us while also trying to demonize us as being overly radical and inexperienced to be able to take on the responsibilities of the mayor's office. But I think what has been shown over the last several months as a part of our campaign is that

one, we're speaking to the needs of our neighbors, but two, we have a plan to make sure that we're actually delivering. And so for people who are outside of Rhode Island, outside of New York, and are trying to figure out how to develop some kind of a movement like this, one thing I'm curious, maybe you could offer some advice on. As I've watched Rhode Island's populist progressive movement go through its growing pains and it's fits and fits and starts, you know, huge wins and then setbacks. Every movement has severe factionalism that develops at times and you guys in your state had some of the most dramatic that I've seen such that at times I thought, well, I guess

this is over. Like they're just going to rip each other's throats out at this point. Yet that didn't happen. I mean, throats were ripped, metaphorically. Thankfully, not actually. I'm a pro wrestler, so I just want you to know it. Use these terms. It means something else to me. Exactly.

But you guys have thrived, despite some extremely dark and drama-filled moments of sectarian factionalism that kind of threatened to undermine the entire project. So what would you say to people outside who are, who are facing that. Because when people come together to fight for something, tensions are high, and you're gonna have,

just factionalism is gonna develop. How did you, I won't say anybody ever overcomes it, but how did you overcome it enough that you're now pulling together and threatening, you know, power at the highest level here? It's all about coalition building,

making sure that different leaderships of respective organizations are actively coming together and communicating. Because more often than not, we've seen a breakdown communication a mix-up and disagreements around strategy. And that has led to exactly what you described, factions being formed.

You happy hours? Like, what's, like, practically speaking, how do you keep that? Social gatherings are incredibly important. So thankfully, we have a grassroots organization called Reclaim Rhode Island. They've been around since 2020, where some of the endorsing folks that allowed me to get elected the first time around, and they've been very intentional about building relationships with the working families party, building relationships with labor like SCIU.

And some of that does take the form of social gavits. being able to get together at our neighborhood bars and restaurants to just be able to get to know one another as neighbors. And then beyond that, having an actual unified strategy because leadership teams have had conversations on how do we want to tackle this next legislative session. And over the course of the last two years, for example, there has been an ongoing fight to preserve our public transportation system, RIPTA. And that's been a part of an organization called the Providence Streets Coalition that has garnered a group of neighborhood associations, community organizations, unions, and nonprofits to get behind this basic principle that public transit is a right that all of our neighbors should be able to access. And that is led to very strong legislative advocacy that is now transitioning over to electoral organizing. And so I think what's always important to know is that the

fight does not stop in September, November, or the ballot box in general, that we need to maintain this level of advocacy year round. Whether it's during election season or during the legislative session, we need to consistently be partnering. And that's what I want to be able to help formulate and facilitate as mayor, making sure that once we're elected, going into office in January of 2027, that we're mobilizing our neighbors, because we're going to have a tough city budget that will require large industrial facilities to pay more in taxes. But we know the corporate polluters aren't going to want to pay more in taxes. So it's going to be up to our office, alongside organizations like reclaim the working families, party, and some of our labor unions,

to be at these committee hearings, to make sure that it is known that the public here in Providence wants to see a more fair tax structure. And last question for me, like, what made you think the mayor was vulnerable? Like, what made you say, you know what, this is the year and we can do this? A series of poor decisions that he has made. The fact that he vetoed rent stabilization, despite the fact that it is an overwhelmingly popular issue that neighbors wanted to see actively pass, so they had a sense of reassurance. The fact that he allowed for Providence Police to be in a situation where they

collaborated with ICE and then thereafter there was no accountability. There are many moments where the mayor has missed the mark and you combine that with the fact that he is just simply out of touch with the needs of so many of our neighbors given who he takes money from. And I'm talking about corporate landlords. I'm talking about the lawyers representing these industrial facilities and corporate packs. Providence as a whole, a city of 190,000 plus people, is relatively progressive and they want to see change. And so I knew back when we launched in September of 2025 that we were going to meet the moment, that we had an opportunity to mobilize, especially young people, immigrant communities, and folks who generally do not feel engaged when it

comes to local politics and government. All right, David Morales, candidate for mayor in Providence. The election is September. Wednesday, September 9th, and you can visit David Morales, pvd.com to learn more about our movement. All right. What? All right. So election in September, We'll be following this closely the next, next DSA target. Thank you so much, Ryan. You got it. Quick clarification, David Morales is a longtime DSA member. DSA itself is not endorsing in this particular May oral race.

That will do it for us today. I didn't make Sager sit through the two comic questioning sessions. I'm not a total sadist. I try to be a good colleague. But Sager and I will be back for another bro show tomorrow. We'll see you then. Joy is essential and it's also elusive. But now, there's a new and exciting way to start your journey toward a more joyful existence.

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