But my lord. If you are a US elected Democratic politician in 2025, and you cannot see that the American Republic is ending, and you have no ideas but the status quo, you are failing our nation. I understand where you’re coming from but do not agree. Lead, follow, or get the hell out of the way.
At this point, I can't understand where they're coming from. It's not possible to miss that we're being pushed into fascism. Unless they start behaving otherwise we'll have to assume top Dem leaders are ok with that. If so, you will be primaried.
The Republic is saveble but if the Dems don't fucking fight they're going to let Trump quietly walk us into a dictatorship. (and I mean: fight, as in gum up the gears of government, do everything in their power to hit his approval, file lawsuits, etc. none of this consultant shit.)
This is not true. The major issue is that Democratic leadership likes their job the way it is, know how to be successful in the current system, and are temperamentally not risk-takers. Don’t bring this u**party or “controlled whatever” or “both sides are the same” garbage. They’re not the same.
You are simply wrong here. The Democratic leadership's first priority is maintaining the status quo which includes protecting Republicans. This has been true for a long time.
Yes, plus leading Democrats are not democratic: they genuinely believe that we are uninterested in and incapable of self government. E.g., they consistently tack opposite of mass protests or how they pantomimed the second impeachment. They have the typical beliefs of their class.
> know how to be successful in the current system see: The Iron Law Of Institutions
It's 100% true. They like their job the way it is, because it's a free gravy train where they don't do anything while in power and engage in toothless outrage theater when out of power, while the legislation their corporate owners lobby both parties for gets passed. THATS their measure of success.
This is true. We see the same donors donating to both parties in significant amounts. We see the same consultants working with both parties to ensure they align on issues. Pretending this isn't happening is to ignore a major force in American politics.
Fixing any problem requires having a correct f*cking diagnosis first!!!!
The centrist consultant quoted in the article is specifically rebutting this assertion. He says “voters say they want fight, but they don’t want fight they really want deliverism.” No. But you can see why that’s appealing to those who want the status quo.
‘It would be wrong to do anything that might inconvenience some rich asshole’ - Guy whose income relies on sucking up to rich assholes
The article here sheds a lot of light on this
Yes, as we were saying: The choice is the Mamdani-Lander pro-democracy coalition or the billionaire-centrist-Musk-Cuomo status quo coalition. The choice is an easy choice
And for people saying that Dems don’t have the majority so we have to wait until they do: this thread shows just one idea for something they could do now.
They need to do the whole Shadow Government thing and give their own press conferences every day talking about all the failures at the different govt agencies.
Love to hear from people who say “Pelosi presided over two impeachments” who obviously have no idea how hard Pelosi worked to delay both impeachments until her hand was forced. And then how hard she worked to keep them short and avoid the kind of media engagement we are calling for.
Anyone paying attention in 2018 remembers how Pelosi repeatedly tried to quash talk of impeachment, saying “we have to get his numbers down first.” Reader, they still don’t know how to get his numbers down—kitchen table and bipartisan is all D leaders will attempt—and they have given up trying.
After we all discuss how leaders are just doing the normal things, and failing to do anything unusual, it’s funny to see this. People like this say “but look Jeffries is doing the usual things BUT he starts his post with ‘Extreme MAGA Republicans!’” Disappointing
The whole point is that Jeffries wants us to THINK he’s doing everything he can; he wants to project that he is fighting. He can read the polls, and the centrist consultants are freaking out because the polls for Dems are terrible. So yes bluesky posts are a good way to do that.
As far as I can tell the plan Ds in leadership have is to let Trump blow everything up while they watch. Voters will be so impressed at how well Dems stood like statues, they will race for vote for them. Based on polling Dems voters are not impressed with this hence Bernie and aoc being more popular
Pelosi is complicit, complete neoliberal Vichy corporatist shit
Pelosi didn't keep the impeachments short. The GOP refused to call witnesses and illegally announced a verdict BEFORE the trial had even begun!
That is true. So is what I said. Both/and
Nancy wasn't/isn't the problem. She's served her constituents and America exceptionally well.
From all appearances these town halls in GOP districts arr doing very well Could do more but at this point it’s entirely authentic people so I am hesitant to encourage the Cory Bookers to pick up on that
Some Dems are beyond adjusting to this reality. They need to go.
That’s a good point
I think one of the biggest problems Dem leaders have (both Houses), is they’re corporate and billionaire donors. Then there’s the AIPAC takers who lecture us about American freedom while hiding behind a man’s head in an AIPAC photo…Cory Booker. Btw: isn’t he a Buddhist? 🧐
What is Mamdani lying about exactly? Was Trump lying when he said he'd do half the stuff he's been doing now that seemed impossible when he said it?
I don't hate Cuban like a lot of people on this site instinctively do, but I've seen several of his skeets today and it's super obvious that he's been spending too much time in the billionaire groupchat.
Yeah like wtf???
lol I read that as status quoalition.
The James Carvilles & other consultants that are hired use dirty tactics to distort statistics in specific directions, like LANDLINE PHONE POLLS in this day & age. Once you realize who still even responds to landline polls, & BAM. There's the reason the politicians don't listen & are out of touch.
If Dems are in power we want deliverism (a godawful word), but if they are out we want resistance. Join the Resistance and tell your grandkids you did. (Which most of them can do right away!)
why does it have to be just one of those things? I hate that so much.
I’m willing to bet Dem consultants got us this far into fascism by saying the same thing for 40 years.
It is underappreciated that consultants, by the very nature of their profession, default to telling those who pay them what they want to hear. In this case that gets couples with the arrogance of "you smol folks don't know what you want but I do, even if it contradicts what you say to me repeatedly"
The entire Dem consultant class is Principal Skinner convincing himself yet again it’s the children who are mistaken, like Ozymandias they say look at my polling and give up all hope… But the polling demos are fubar and the questions are all leading…
Sadly Dems don't fight for what they delivered on. They aren't making the connection to why you have internet at your farm or that new bridge. They ran away from ACA and lost too. And CALL OUT by name GOP standing in way.
Hi, I'm calling to order a fight. Yes, make it delivery.
I’m one of those liberal but moderate democrat seniors completely frustrated by the leadership’s failure to fight the way the times demand. The old guard’s got to step back, bring out a myriad of fighters & speak with one voice. Crockett’s brash but she’s got serious credentials behind her.
That's a false dichotomy and ironic, since we just had a centrist Dem regime that didn't deliver. No CTC, family leave, broad student debt relief, minimum wage, expanded Medicare, and they squashed Bernie on M4A—that's why centrist deliverism isn't credible. But for Zohran, free buses etc. worked.
But this is nonsense.
Biden literally cut out every goal people would feel in their own pockets. That was the problem, not disgruntled progressives.
Biden had the lowest unemployment in 50 years, reversed neoliberal policy on antitrust, huge labor renaissance. they did expand medicare, there was a huge amount of student debt relief.
And since Biden declined to reform SCOTUS and institute a DOJ that prosecuted treason he was able to "welcome back" a convicted felon into the WH and none of those "accomplishments" survived the first six months of Donald's regime.
he didn't do everything progressives wanted, but he did deliver a ton (including massive stimulus). no one cared; progressives insisted it didn't matter. so yes, deliverism doesn't work as an antifascist tactic, in part because
even progressives will not give credit for progressive change in a lot of cases.
They hid Biden for four years and barely ever mentioned any accomplishments. Dem consultants base EVERYTHING on fear of how GOP swing voters react so they walk around in abject terror that they won't like loan forgiveness. If Biden just wiped it out for 56 million loaners, he'd be Prez today.
It is never good enough. And that is fine when arguing for more, but it is not fine during election time. You give credit and say we look forward to during more when we elect more progressives.
economic progress is good in itself, but defeating fascists means crushing fascists. there's no substitute. www.everythingishorrible.net/p/democrats-...
"He didn't deliver what progressives wanted," i.e., things people would feel, tangible benefits even popular enough for him to campaign on, under BBB. His student debt relief hit only 9%. Zohran shows how to win with an affordability agenda but it's harder for mainstream Dems to pull off.
And why did that student debt relief number not go higher? The fucking Supreme Court. What magic wand was he going to wave when they said anything g he did was unconstitutional?
The mindless bitching about student debt relieve makes me want to punch a wall. Republicans in Congress wouldn't do a damn thing, so Biden did what he could w Exec Orders, Republicans sued, & Trump's SCOTUS agreed. Now Republicans are systematically dismantling what remains of Biden's efforts.
Not voting for Biden because of student debt relief is among the most spectacular electoral own goals in history.
it was a particularly exasperating discourse. he listened to progressives, reversed himself, and came up with a really thoughtful and exciting debt relief policy—which republicans blocked.
and then many progressives spent years attacking him for not being committed to student debt relief as he forgave billions in debt.
Biden was the most progressive domestic policy president since LBJ, and it isn’t even close.
You're approaching this from the angle of how progressives critiqued Biden. But what mattered wasn't them, it was the 42.5 million Americans of mixed ideology who hold $1.6 trillion in student debt. People know when their loan payments restart, a few months before the election. It can't be messaged.
They expanded medicare to those who already qualified
they also cut drug costs and tried to expand it further. a lot of stuff gets blocked by republicans!
Like, "they expanded it but not enough for me to vote for them so they can expand it more" is just restating my point, which is that passing good stuff isn't a reliable way to defeat fascism.
Unless, its WW2. Then you defeat it in other ways.
You dont defeat fascism. You prevent it with safeguards. Those safeguards might, gasp, not be centrist or technocratic. So he didnt do it.
He didnt do a lot that he needed to do. And now we suffer because he didnt. How many people arent on Medicare. How many voters? How many are unsure they will receive it?
but passing things that are *not* means tested, or restricted to a carefully chosen slice of beneficiaries, is a way to do it. If people weren't dysphoric, spending hours on hold to their insurance companies or trying to meet student loan patients, they'd be less receptive to scapegoating strongmen.
Anything that is restricted in offer can be cancelled because of its limited scope.
I dont care. Not do voters. Thats just tinkering around the edges of a degraded nation.
Literally this bsky.app/profile/nata...
Being a status quo party is essentially being a reagan republican at this point, which is NOT a meaningful improvement over being a trumpanzee. Why is this so complicated?
They aren’t “controlled opposition” but the rest is absolutely true. They did a round of “the groups have too much influence” when that is demonstrably, empirically false. They state as fact “will alienate moderates they need to win” but Mamdani is proof you can win by getting new voters excited.
This. I don’t believe “both parties are the same” but I do believe that Leadership has decided to support this: “sometimes it gets to be our turn”. They don’t believe in anything and so they don’t fight for it.
They support policies that are positionally opposite to the ones Republicans support, but they don’t really believe in them. It’s clear from their actions.
Both are problems are true, and the one you're pointing out is in part a result of the one you're dismissing. Temperamentally risk-averse status quo enjoyers who will serve rather than inconvenience capital are precisely what moneyed donors want, so that's what we get.
Not dismissing! Here is my view on that bsky.app/profile/prot...
But they aren't successful on the current system
Actually Eric, it is true. Get a load of the Democratic establishment's reaction to Kennedy '84, or Brown '92, or Dean '04, or Sanders '16. It's no secret that Neoliberal Democrats loathe the progressive branch of their own party. I agree that both parties aren't the same, and this is not the (1/2)
Jesus christ what they did to mcgovern.
Exactly. The Democrats aren't exactly "controlled opposition", but their donor class is in no way shape or form aligned with the baseline street level democratic voter, and you can really see this on issues like Immigration, Student Loans, Palestine, and Education/Curriculum.
same as "controlled opposition" (Although that does happen, as we saw with Sinema/Manchin/Fetterman etc.), but the Democratic establishment spends an incredible amount of time and energy trashing progressives and their policies rather than incorporating leftist ideas into their strategy. (2/2)
I think it’s disingenuous to suggest that corporate & wealthy donors don’t sway the establishment Dems decisions. Getting money out of politics should be a TOP priority, but the leadership doesn’t do it because they know it helps them keep the status quo you speak of. It’s both/and.
I agree with most of your thread, but don't get what your issue is with this point. A lot of Dem "timidity" comes from a fear of upsetting their billionaire donors, who don't in fact want them to fight the things that keep them wealthy.
No this is very true. I don’t say there is NO DIFFERENCE between the parties, there definitely is, but current Democratic leadership is just as much in thrall to billionaire donors as Republicans are, and yes they do want to just keep rich people rich and happy
Yeah…no. Whom do you think helped to establish this “status quo”? It certainly wasn’t populist Democrats or Left-Wing Democrats. Neoliberal theology (because it’s more of a religion based on the false belief that every public problem has a private solution) IS the current system they’re protecting
I wouldn't called them controlled opposition, but I would call them domesticated opposition, not a conscious conspiracy but a system where rich donors and insiders select what up-and-comers to support or quash to keep the core party as a whole docile towards wealth.
That's what is happening with Mamdani; donors and insiders see someone who even begins to have teeth and quickly move to do everything in their power (including literally working with Trump in Cuomo's case) to cull him from the herd.
Democratic leadership very obviously does not want to tax the rich or piss off donors in any way. Their timidness is an issue, too, but let’s not ignore that the leadership and most Dems in Congress serve corporate interests more than the interests of their constituents.
If it’s not true, then why, pray tell, do Dem leaders refuse to get solidly behind higher taxes on the rich, which has been an *extremely* popular bipartisan issue with voters for decades?
No answer, eh?
Not sure what you’re disagreeing with here. The poster responding is using off putting hard left language but basically supporting your point?
He explained why he disagrees. Second paragraph.
ty
100%
The following part is the problem. Democratic leaders have been trying to to follow from the front since Reagan, always with the same results. Lead or get the fuck off the stage
The neoliberal establishment Democrats are the controlled opposition. They serve their donors, not their constituents. Their donors want the same thing Republicans donors want. Wealth and power. Progressive voices are marginalized and stifled. They are not interested in change.
This is the truth, with the exception of some social concessions. This isn’t some centralized orchestrated puppet. It’s corrupted by monied interests. Is Noam Chomsky paranoid? Is Naomi Klein stupid? If you see no truth in this than maybe you’ve been asleep since Bill Clinton’s administration.
Yes. Chomsky & Klein are fucking tools.
Please enlighten us with your worldview. Chomsky and Klein are two of the world’s most respected public intellectuals, with a lifetimes of receipts to back up their opinions. What YouTube influencer is responsible for yours?
If that were true, it would be trivial for progressives to get power: they would just have to start donating to political campaigns. But we see that even when we do, establishment Democrats don’t budge. The problem is which Democrats we have, and the solution is primaries.
I agree primaries are how we change the composition of the party. That doesn’t solve the corrosive influence of monied interests though. That’s a much larger battle.
Honestly at this point saving the status quo IS going scorched earth on MAGA
What do you want Ds to do that they are not doing, Ds have little to no power in the House, Senate and certainly not the WH. The SCOTUS is no help even though we making some headway in the lower courts. Tell us what you want Ds to do. Don’t say Ds need to fight because that doesn’t mean anything.
Addressed here bsky.app/profile/prot...
Dems keep building their entire identity around a mythical massive “Republican lite” when they are, themselves, a minority “Republican lite” that everyone despises. The Democratic Party needs to be abandoned and destroyed.
