Breaking Points

Breaking Points with Krystal and Saagar (or simply Breaking Points) is an American political news and opinion series created and hosted by Krystal Ball and Saagar Enjeti. It was launched in June 2021 by Ball and Enjeti, both former hosts of The Hill's Rising web series. They publish an audio-only podcast and the video program is available on YouTube, Rumble, and Spotify. Its format includes one anchor representative of the political left (Ball) and one right-of-center anchor (Enjeti), who provide news and commentary with a populist view from divergent sides of the political spectrum.

Format
Breaking Points features commentary and analysis of political news and current events, in-studio interviews with journalists, politicians, campaign staff and surrogates, political advisors and strategists, and members of the news media, and occasional live-analysis segments. Ball and Enjeti, the primary hosts, usually publish on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays. Journalist Ryan Grim and culture writer Emily Jashinsky co-host on a show on Wednesdays and Fridays called Counter Points with the Friday segment hosting political and cultural debates between guests.

Ball and Enjeti each produce, write, and deliver a monologue each episode highlighting an important topic in current events. The hosts analyze the topic, usually organized into three or four bullet-points. This is followed by an open discussion with the other host, available to premium subscribers.

Business model
The majority of the show's revenue comes from premium subscribers, with some additional revenues from YouTube and podcast ads. In 2022, their expenses were said to be around one million dollars a year.

History
On May 28, 2021, Krystal Ball and Saagar Enjeti announced their departure from The Hill's Rising. The Breaking Points program and channel launched at YouTube on Monday, June 7, 2021, and reached 285,000 channel subscribers by Friday of that week.

Ball and Enjeti had spoken about subtle pressure they experienced working under The Hill's corporate umbrella when choosing topics to cover and the angles used in their coverage there. These anecdotes match their thesis about how power is wielded in Washington; with Breaking Points, they sought to free themselves of any such corporate influence.

At the new venture, they gained complete editorial control over their work. They also lost access to certain resources they enjoyed at Rising, such as a small network of field reporters and regular remote hits with members of Congress from inside the Capitol dome.

Other personnel
In September 2022, former Rising hosts Ryan Grim and Emily Jashinsky also joined Breaking Points, at first filling in on as co-hosts and for special coverage as needed. Grim and Jashinsky now co-anchor their own show, Counterpoints, which airs one to two times a week on the Breaking Points YouTube channel.

The Breaking Points YouTube channel occasionally features contributions from a number of other reporters or writers. The channel also posts cross-over content from other affiliated partners and programs. These have included:


 * Ken Klippenstein
 * Maximillian Alvarez
 * Matt Stoller
 * The Lever
 * Marshall Kosloff
 * Kyle Kulinski
 * James Li (YouTuber)
 * Spencer Snyder