Ted Cruz Pays Himself $555k From His Campaign | The Kyle Kulinski Show

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"The first time I ever really listened to Kyle Kulinski’s show was in the back of a cab last summer. The driver had his phone hooked up through the stereo and was pumping out an episode through the car speakers - loudly, as if looking to convert a captive audience.
“Do you like Kyle Kulinski?”
The driver, Ahmed, was a recent immigrant and apparently a die-hard fan of Secular Talk, the political talk show that Kulinski broadcasts on KZbin. I told him, yes, in fact. I do like Kulinski, had come across his show several years ago, and, all things considered, he seemed pretty good.
“He understands what we’re up against,” Ahmed said. “Like Bernie.”
But I was surprised to hear Kulinski’s name mentioned in the same breath as Bernie Sanders, particularly with such adoration. Because what I did remember about Kulinski’s show struck me as mostly capital-P “progressive” takes on the news - the left wing of the Netroots crowd more than the democratic socialism Sanders has popularized.
It’s an impression that wasn’t entirely incorrect.
“I have no time for philosophical, airy bullshit,” Kulinski tells me from his home in Westchester, New York. “I don’t want to hear about Lenin. I don’t want to hear about Marx. I just want a super plainspoken, straightforward agenda with a straightforward way of selling it.”
With over 800,000 subscribers and nearly 670 million total views on KZbin, selling a progressive agenda is clearly something Kulinski knows how to do - even Democracy Now, the long-standing flagship of progressive media, cannot match his reach on the platform. Chapo Trap House can certainly boast a wildly devoted fan base (and a not insignificant degree of media influence), but their audience is roughly half the size of Kulinski’s.
While Secular Talk might be more likely to be looped in with the progressive networks around Air America and Pacifica alums like Sam Seder than the more resolutely socialist world, Kulinski’s fiery rhetoric, razor-sharp class instincts, and knack for withering takedowns sets him apart from his peers. Judging by his rhetoric alone, he’s closer to a Eugene Debs than a Chris Hayes.
But unlike Hayes, Amy Goodman, or his friend Cenk Uygur of The Young Turks - who began airing Secular Talk on his web network seven years ago - the thirty-two-year-old Kulinski is virtually invisible in the mainstream media. Despite his enormous fan base, his show has never once been mentioned in the obligatory trend pieces on “the Millennial Left” pumped out by the prestige media. Nor has Kulinski’s name ever popped up at all in the New York Times, Vox, the New Yorker, New York Magazine, or the Washington Post, despite his leading role in cofounding Justice Democrats, the organization widely credited with sweeping Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and the rest of “the Squad” to power.
Just last week, his Wikipedia page was deleted. The reason? “There is very simply no [reliable source] coverage of this person,” according to one moderator. In new media, he’s king - the Sean Hannity of the Berniecrat left. In old media, he’s nobody.
I suspect there are a few reasons for that. There is nothing “cool” about Kulinski’s show. (As a friend put it, “‘Welcome to Secular Talk’ sounds like something you’d hear on Egyptian radio.”) His no-nonsense social-democratic politics won’t get him much cred with the Full Communism crowd. He records his show not in Brooklyn or Los Angeles, but in a studio he built himself in his modest Westchester home. His hair is too groomed and his taste in clothes too preppy to qualify as “Dirtbag Left.” Nor has he ever attended an n+1 release party. “Not only have I not attended one,” he says, “I have no idea what that means.”
And yet he’s astonishingly plugged-in for a young man in the suburbs. Wondering how Sanders ended up on the Joe Rogan Experience? Kulinski, a frequent guest on Rogan’s wildly popular show, introduced them. “You make the most sense to me,” Rogan told Kulinski on a recent episode. “You’re a normal person.”
Much like Sanders himself, Kulinski’s show has a massive audience that just doesn’t compute with our media’s understanding of “what the kids want” or even “what the left-wing kids want.”
It’s probably for the best - the very woke and very WASP-ish decorum haunting much of the media world is nowhere to be found in Secular Talk. “Corporate Democrats over-focus on identity as a trick to divert you from the issues that unite us all - class issues,” he said on a recent episode. “That Raytheon decided they don’t hate gays or trans people - frankly, I don’t really give a shit what their take on that is..."
Read More Here!:
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#KyleKulinski #SecularTalk

[@Omnicloudx13]

And nothing will be done about it.

[@rafters35]

They don't hold anyone left or right

[@rudeboyjohn3483]

@@rafters35 and yet, I can't find any "Left" examples of this

[@waltergrace565]

@@rudeboyjohn3483 Huh? AOC paid her boyfriend over $200k. Krystal Ball pulled this same scam through her PAC for progressive candidates. Except she paid herself over $800k in salary even though she only raised just under a million dollars.

[@serpico1616]

@@rafters35 lol if it happened on the left, there would be so much infighting

[@JFLTX]

Biggest slimeball in politics.

[@hannibal398]

Yep. Even Lindsay Graham looks good in comparison.

[@dlg5485]

@@hannibal398 Nah Graham is just as bad, perhaps even worse at empty grandstanding.

[@waltergrace565]

They all do this. Krystal Ball paid herself over $800k out of almost a million dollars she raised through her PAC for progressive candidates.

[@dlg5485]

@@waltergrace565 wtf are you even talking about? Stay on topic.

[@waltergrace565]

@@dlg5485 Haha, what? Isn't corruption and fraud the topic?

[@saininj]

Yet the Republican voters who claim that politicians are corrupt will keep voting him in...for some reason.

[@rudeboyjohn3483]

Cruelty. That's the reason

[@mhearte8038]

Did you not hear him say republicans don’t like him either?

[@Kevo6492]

@@mhearte8038 Could’ve fooled me. He’s invited to like every conference to speak.

[@rustyford5511]

​@@mhearte8038 how is he voted in still?

[@mhearte8038]

@@rustyford5511 lesser of two evils perhaps.

[@HopeLoveMatters]

No businesses or foreign governments should ever be allowed to donate to political funds.

[@autohmae]

I'll tell you how it's done in my country (Netherlands also sometimes called Holland, in Europe): the political party gets autographs from enough people, the party gets money from the government. Which means the budgets are equal (I think their are 2 tiers though: small and bigger). The money can be used for marketing, etc. I personally think their shouldn't be any other money flowing into the parties. Their are lots of regulations, but it's not completely disallowed. It's clearly not like the US, in the US money in politics dictates everything. Not what the voters want.

[@HopeLoveMatters]

@@autohmae Thank you. The US government should take some guidance from your Country. This sounds like a great option.👏👏👏

[@wrathofainz]

Nobody that wealthy should be in politics. It's a conflict of interest with the poorer masses they're exploiting (instead of helping).

[@colettithekid]

Kyle masterfully sums up Ted Cruz in under a minute. 👏

[@mdaddy775]

What's really unbearable about Ted is that he behaves so despicably AND always gets angry at other people for their (often much better) behavior.

[@ColdCutz]

“Ted Cruz cut himself” Ohhhhhhh?!?!??!!??😃 “A 550k check.” AWWWWWwwww!!!😩

[@yourseatatthetable]

Yep, half a mil. What could 'you' do with a payment of half a mil? Buy a house? Pay all your debts off? Put your kids or grandkids through a 4 year university? Set up a retirement fund worth having? Let's see. My house cost me $82k, so I could pay it off; pay off my $9k in credit card dept; pay off my van; buy a new van, replace my roof, furnace, and fix the uneven floor in the garage. Do that and pay for healthcare for a few years, too. Maybe even have some left over that could go into that retirement fund I don't have, 'cause, I've been poor all my life - worked my ass off, but still poor. Yep, how nice that Cruz can grease his own palms.

[@someothergrl16]

Couldn’t sleep so I turned on you tube. Now my anxiety is raging,. Thank you Kyle, I really should know better by now.

[@nasis18]

Just when you think that they can't make bribery more brazen.

[@betterlucktomorrow7957]

He’s definitely top 5 smarmy and weasiliest politicians ever.

[@donalobrien9422]

Top 1 in my view

[@noneoftheabove5816]

the guy who complained about slacker baristas...so slimy

[@christineherrmann205]

That's his next three Cancun vacations, Kyle.

[@gabe5661]

Love him or hate him, politicians benefits from what he did. He will face no consequences. It’s legal. Money in politics rules all.

[@TheTeaNinja]

The murder for hire comparison is gold

[@vs-yy5cx]

the easiest most efficient money laundering scheme ever, and brought to you by teddy cruz and the scotus. wow!

[@m1thras]

Should have been $666,000

[@rikmichaels9233]

Throwback to the Antichrist himself Ronald Wilson Reagan

[@ManobadhikarForEveryone]

NO. 666,666 😆😆😆

[@phaZed9]

Gee, Bernie 2016 sounds pretty good now - seeing as Trump would have never had a SC pick. OH well, that pooch is already screwed and Dems agree, cutting checks to themselves is a great idea! I mean, look at their stock trades!

[@jackjohnson5672]

FACTS 💯

[@tenkenroo]

Even Hilary would have been nice.

[@Kevo6492]

Did you vote for Hillary over Trump if we’re talking SCOTUS?

[@nickthompson1812]

@@tenkenroo nah

[@kenetickups6146]

@@tenkenroo no

[@KevinDixon]

Man I should have went into politics!

[@waltergrace565]

Really. Krystal Ball pulled the same scam to the tune of over $800k through her PAC for progressive candidates and she only raised just under a million dollars.

[@Lord_Cannabis420]

Ted "Yes We Cancun" Cruz

[@nickmoradi711]

Ted Cruz AKA the Cruzo AKA Cruzmaster

[@ChrissyBeTalking]

Lesson: if you have one million dollars to lend yourself and you have a law degree, there are no laws. 🤷🏾‍♀️

[@leavesarerandom]

I would be a different man with this kind of balance on my account, damn

[@tylerdipietro4201]

“America is effectively an Oligarchy!”- Kyle Kulinski!!!!

[@CoolMoeDea21]

In other news, water is wet.

[@xyzmediaandentertainment8313]

Would've paid himself $666k if he wasn't a conservative Christian 😂

[@cerealeater7369]

Loathsome gives too much praise for Ted Cruz.

[@helene420]

This is something Trump would do, too, but his cult followers would never condemn it.

[@SG-dq5pj]

Public financing of election and a cap on how much they can spend

[@missshroom5512]

Could we ever take money out of it🤔

[@MuggleKarp]

No, the Supreme Court would say that's discrimination against rich and/or white people, probably.

[@philliphessel6788]

“There’s a form of corruption that’s still illegal? Of course, we’ll legalize it!” That’s been the Court’s apparent rule for decades. We need people ready to match McCain’s example of leadership to the extent of *overturning* such judicial activism. Unfortunately, what’s happened since the 1970s is that both major parties have jumped on the gravy train of legalized bribery.

[@ase2060]

Laundries are alive and well!

[@kotoroshinoto]

re: murder for hire, murder is already illegal. They'd have to establish that you knowingly paid for that service, but thats already the legal standard, money being speech doesn't change that. re: prostitution, I think it absolutely should be legal, I don't have a problem with that.

[@modernpeasants7]

Shouldn’t he be in jail then?

[@jetter820]

well I for one am shocked!

[@tonytooshort]

They literally made it legal for them to pay themselves from campaign contributions hahahahahhahahaha the high way robbery just smacks you in the face!

[@JaguarAudio]

Kyle, positive signs with the KZbin algorithm today. There appears to have been a reset. I’m getting MSNBC fed to my account again (after blocking them) but I’m also seeing a lot of new independent content, such as Ben Shapiro. Maybe this signals a reduction in the suppression of your content. I believe the "Do not recommend channel" feature is also new.

[@MuggleKarp]

Shapiro and other right wing channels are pushed in the algorithm same as always, and same as on other social media (despite their clueless base who complains that lib content is pushed more, against the well-known evidence to the contrary).

[@JaguarAudio]

@@MuggleKarp I haven't seen a single video from Shapiro in my feed for months after blocking them. Today, videos from many independent content providers I had blocked in the past or have never seen. The Do Not Recommend Channel is not new but was not an option in my interface in recent past. Definite changes today.

[@brandonb.5304]

The "do not recommend channel" option has been a feature for a while now. I've been clicking on that for some time.

[@serpico1616]

@@brandonb.5304 Only problem is there seems to be a limit on how many channels you can set to not recommend. AND a limit on videos you can remove.

[@sly13]

Technically Tulsi did the same thing...her husband's production company shot her crappy ads and pocketed the campaign donations

[@hs-fp4vp]

the way to deal with these issues isn't thru laws, it's thru voters demanding disclosure from candidates. if a candidate won't swear off cruz-like slimeball tactics, or won't disclose their finances, or won't promise to disclose their finances after leaving office, don't vote for them.

[@GregBedard]

I misread the thumbnail. Thought it said $555K a day .....

[@ryanhutchinsen]

This is an extremely common practice among both parties. You're wasting your time.

[@cultistsash]

Still looking for the guillotine sharpener

[@gurgleblaster2282]

Ted Cruz just needs a friend

[@deregulatethisnow4555]

Kyle hasn't watched the Colbert Report on campaign finance where he worked with a lawyer to make his own Super PAC.

[@cjburch24]

Du, Dewhurst, Dewhurst mich!

[@misael008]

10 bucks is enough to express free speech, why would u need hundreds of thousands or millions oh wait because whoever pays more gets heard. smh

[@NarcolepticLTD]

RIP Dave

[@supernamek]

Cruz isn’t popular he almost lost to Beto O’Rourke in 2018.

[@nostalgiatrip7331]

republicans in texas try to downplay it but the fact that he only won by 4% in Texas against a democrat is insane. who knows how this gov race will go, probably would've given beto more favor if he didn't have the whole "hell yes we'll take your guns" thing

[@chetanreddy533]

haha, you wife Krystal ball did same thing with her campaign PAID HERSELF.

[@TheSaltyAdmiral]

I do not like that man Ted Cruz...

[@mikemattingly5128]

Legalized corruption

[@richardcrosby6682]

How much has Greg Abbott paid himself?

[@pdeezzel]

Is Ted a Hexican!?!

[@publicdomain1103]

Grifters spoiling it for the rest of us.. Got Pitchfork?

[@Bostonceltics1369]

Legal 🚫🟰 Ethical

[@karlosmontoya459]

If money is speech then we don’t have equal rights

[@wearebecomedeathstar2658]

I guess Six hundred Sixty Six was just a bit too on the nose for even Ted.

[@loloc7664]

Yep when they say! U can buy anything in America if u have the money for it! They mean it!

[@craigbrowning9448]

In certain ways Ted Cruz and Nancy Pelosi have quite a bit in common

[@profoundclarity8497]

takes me a few years to make that and he just cuts a check to himself

[@soulife8383]

I use the word smurmy to describe him too! lmao 😂

[@donnyg.1681]

Can't talk bout my senator like that. If I told the truth you would be demontitized.

[@ScepticalSkeptic]

Hmm ... I'm surprised it wasn't $666,000.

[@anthonyrose2232]

He paid himself BACK. As in, it was his money to begin with 😅

[@ComaSeason]

Kyle gets more box than the Fedex central hub.

[@TheSpacecraftX]

Laundering bribes has never been easier.

[@SignumInterriti]

Notice that this is once again Kyle attacking policy and not questioning intentions. He assumes Ted Cruz has principled but wrong belives about campaign finance as free speech. Anyone else would likely say, and I couldn't blame them, that Cruz is acting purely out of greed. Props to Kyle, I guess, for sticking to his approach even in a case of very low hanging fruit.

[@moffig1]

Well said🙏

[@oddmanout4256]

Cmon, has Trump ever even done this

[@Woundedon6s]

Kyle is so baby’s first political show.

[@HopeLoveMatters]

The people want TRANSPARENCY and ACCOUNTABILITY

[@vs-yy5cx]

i see a trip to cancun in his future.

[@AlexRamirez-gq1ks]

dave who lol this video can easily be taken out of context

[@themightykabool]

citizensU vs - allowed big corp to become people. down with roe? viable human. down with citizensU!

[@sstack83]

Ted was the only person who could get me to vote for Hilary

[@odoylerules77]

it's a bipartisan position to say that Ted Cruz sucks

[@seculair2996]

Remember Kyle said: You are objectively wrong if you like fall and you should be ashamed of yourself..

[@adamrielh]

Who’s surprised? Honestly? Lol

[@codbdup88]

What’s funny is not all speech is free. You can actually go to jail for some speech.

[@superusseljames]

Who asked?

[@NikolaiKuznetsov97]

Money talks

[@biguy617]

Well Kyle it takes a weasel to know one.

[@naystercobear9576]

And the people who's applaud him for doing this is the same people complaining about what the lady from BLM did 🙄.

[@tenkenroo]

Yes Cruz is the worst politician

[@supernamek]

He fooled enough people in Texas to vote for him even though he almost lost in 2018.

[@westvirginiaglutenfreepepp7006]

Meee I'm Ted Cruz Meeee! - Kyle "big seltzer sellout" Kulinski

[@charleswomack2166]

Slimey and swarmy. His days are numbered politically.

[@davidtbentley]

Ted is the worst of the worst.

[@davidsmith-uw2ci]

Just when you think Ted Cruz can't get any swarmier and lower and more unlikeable he does something like this.

[@ManobadhikarForEveryone]

Smart narcissist behaving like a smart narcissist.🙃

[@jeffbrewer73]

Sometimes I wish I was rich enough to be a piece of shit lol

[@embluvya]

He's the worst of the worst.

[@PantherGurl86]

Didn’t Krystal cut herself an almost $200k check from her PAC?

[@waltergrace565]

Nah, I'm pretty sure it was over $800k.

[@Gambit0590]

Citation needed

[@Gambit0590]

@@PantherGurl86 is that substantiated? Also, wikipedia is not a reliable source

[@daves2354]

Didn't he just say that 260k was the limit on how much could be reimbursed? Jesus Christ. Try listening to what's being said you hack

[@matt94alexander32]

Cringy Cruz. His speeches are nauseating. He overacts constantly.

[@bozthescrewup410]

What the fuck

[@GrandpaBaner]

This campaign rule seems to better even the playing field when facing billionaires like Trump or Bloomberg since you have to take out loans to compete. Like, do you really think Ted Cruz got more campaign donations because of this debt he had?

[@drfaisalkamal1275]

I am Ted Cruz mememe

[@ehcanadianguy27cod31]

Change your outro its very annoying

[@keer_10]

Didn't Krystal just pay herself a huge portion of the money from the PAC she stated?

[@X0gossipgirl]

Not my problem

[@rafters35]

Why haven't you covered AOC LAST NIGHT?

[@Kevo6492]

Because it’s dumb. There are way worse politicians to protest.

[@imnotmike]

Your murder example isn't very good. If you pay someone money to kill someone, that's more like saying - I want you to go kill this person. It is not legal to tell someone to go kill another person. The prostitution example is a much better example. If money is speech, then giving money to a prostitute is just like saying - I want you to have sex with me. That's perfectly legal. If money is speech, I should be able to give a judge $50,000 and say - I want you to rule in my favor. It's perfectly legal to tell the judge you'd like them to rule in your favor. If money is speech, I should be able to slip a cop $100 to let me out of a speeding ticket. It's perfectly legal for me to tell a cop that I don't want a speeding ticket.