Breaking Points with Krystal and Saagar
Breaking Points with Krystal and Saagar

10/15/26: Kamala Weak Biden Criticism To Tee Up 2028, AI Researchers Smoke Expecting AI To Cure Cancer

October 15, 2026

AI Summary

5 min read

Kamala Harris Tests the Waters as the Democratic 2028 Field Takes Shape

Kamala Harris has begun laying groundwork for a potential 2028 presidential run, barnstorming through Nevada, Mississippi, New Hampshire, Wisconsin, and Georgia while offering her most direct criticism yet of the Biden administration's Gaza policy. "We should have acted sooner and more forcefully," Harris said, acknowledging the administration's failure to use leverage to curtail Israel's conduct in the war—a position that, as Krystal and Saagar note, still stops well short of calling the situation a genocide, which would implicate her own complicity as vice president. The question hanging over her nascent campaign is whether voters will remember her as a cautious, scripted candidate who stayed silent during the existential fights of the past two years.

The Kamala Conundrum

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What you'll learn

  • 1 (02:00) **Kamala Harris's Cautious Break with Biden on Gaza** - Harris offers her most direct criticism yet of the Biden administration's Gaza policy, admitting the U.S. "should have acted sooner and more forcefully" as she begins laying groundwork for a potential 2028 run.
  • 2 (07:44) **Gavin Newsom's Conditional No-Run Pledge** - Newsom tells Jake Tapper he will not run for president in 2028 if Kamala Harris does, a statement the hosts debate as either sincere deference or a strategic tell that she won't actually run.
  • 3 (11:04) **California's Billionaire Tax Battle: Newsom vs. Ro Khanna** - A California ballot measure to tax billionaires becomes a proxy war for the 2028 Democratic primary, pitting progressive Ro Khanna against Gavin Newsom, who has positioned himself as the measure's leading opponent.
  • 4 (13:49) **The 2028 Field: Osoff, Warnock, and the Electability Question** - Jon Osoff pledges to serve a full six-year Senate term, a promise the hosts dismiss as meaningless, while Raphael Warnock's recent comments in New Hampshire signal presidential ambition.
  • 5 (17:20) **Pete Buttigieg's Israel Flop** - Pete Buttigieg refuses to pick a side between Israel and Iran in a Fox News interview, an evasive answer the hosts argue is disqualifying for a 2028 run given the Democratic base's views on Gaza.
  • 6 (21:32) **The AGI Chronicles: Why Kevin Roose Wrote the Book** - Kevin Roose joins to discuss his new book on the race to build Artificial General Intelligence, explaining his motivation to document the "21st century's Manhattan Project" before the story is lost.
  • 7 (23:19) **The "Fuck That Guy" Mentality and Model Personalities** - The hosts and Roose explore how the intense personal enmity between AI leaders drives them to build technology they genuinely believe could destroy humanity.

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Guests on this episode

Show Notes

Krystal and Saagar discuss Kamala sets up 2028 run with weak Biden criticism, AI researchers take up smoking expecting AI to cure cancer.

Kevin Roose: https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250454010/theagichronicles/

Logan Phillips: https://www.racetothewh.com/

Trita Parsi: https://x.com/tparsi

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Breaking Points with Krystal and Saagar