About this episode

The episode explores mid-century Chicago machine politics and its relevance to the current political climate, drawing insights from Mike Royko's work.

Episode 999 of The Professional Left takes a detour through the smoke-filled back rooms of mid-century Chicago machine politics to explain something essential about the moment we're living in right now — because it turns out that Mike Royko had the whole Trump era figured out decades before Trump came along, he just called it by a different name. Driftglass and Blue Gal walk through how patronage systems work, why people stay loyal to them, and most importantly, what happens when the patron s...

People in this episode

Hosts: Driftglass, Blue Gal

Topics covered

• Chicago machine politics
• patronage systems
• Trump era
• political loyalty
• corruption

Keywords

• corruption
• politics
• patronage
• Trump
• loyalty
• Chicago
• Royko

More episodes of The Professional Left Podcast with Driftglass and Blue Gal

• Ep 998: Who's This Jagoff? · June 9, 2026 · 1h 12m

Explore listener stats, chart rankings, contacts and more on the The Professional Left Podcast with Driftglass and Blue Gal podcast page.