The mendacity of the political left is audacious and delusional. Take this recent view from In These Times magazine, a longtime voice of the progressive left:
“After New York’s Democratic primary shockwaves, there is no doubt: democratic socialism is on the march in the U.S.,” the headline declared.
“This summer, a seismic wave ripped through the foundations of an ossified Democratic establishment as a swell of left-wing challengers channeled disgust at party elites to jolt the entire political system,” according to the analysis.
It gleefully ticks off three recent primary wins by democratic socialists in New York City congressional districts. It goes on to hail other examples of “triumph,” as “(Democratic Socialists of America)-backed candidates won across the state and local levels, with the results sending shockwaves through the corridors of power. As a Fox News chyron blared: ’SOCIALISTS WINNING EVERYWHERE.’”
When the left starts touting Fox News reports, you know we’re in a world of trouble. Are the socialists going to get tired of so much winning?
No serious political observer believes a few elections in New York City and Colorado will turn the tide for the moderate Democrats who have a serious chance in Senate races in Texas, North Carolina and Georgia. Those who do are whistling past their own graveyard.
Collaboration versus confrontation. The progressive and moderate wings of the Democratic Party must find a way to work together.
If progressives really want to see their party regain congressional majorities, they need look no further than their hated adversary, President Donald Trump. For years, Trump has rolled out tired, pathetic attacks on the “communists” and “socialists” in the Democratic Party as a ploy to jazz up his MAGA base. It has worked for him so far.
Now the president is desperate to avoid talking about affordability and his Iran mega-blunder. Yet, progressive Democrats are providing Trump with a golden opportunity to engage in the tired politics of McCarthyism.
Olivia Wales, a White House spokesperson, recently declared that “Democrats’ embrace of socialism and communism is an existential threat to our country,” adding that Trump will “keep calling out their radicalism and drawing a sharp contrast with his commonsense America first agenda.”
Socialists and communists? Bah, humbug. That’s a line of debate that Democrats cannot engage in. It’s a bludgeon that will demolish the Democrats’ big tent.
No matter how hard left-leaning Democrats and MAGA Trumpers try to portray themselves as being in the majority, they need to face the truth. The center is the majority. Collaboration, not confrontation, is the key to victory.
Roy Cooper, the Democratic nominee for the U.S. Senate in North Carolina, would be kneecapped by a message in the midterms that swings heavily to the left. James Talarico, the Democrats’ Senate hopeful in Texas, would be hit with the same blowback.
Sure, New Yorkers may not be happy with their ridiculously high rents. Most politicians who are breathing realize that landlords are not a very popular constituency. Tenants everywhere will tell you that their rents are a problem. But when you start talking about the redistribution of wealth, centrist voters start getting clammy hands.
In Illinois, we saw what happened back in 2020, in the clash of the billionaires. Hedge fund investor Ken Griffin took on JB Pritzker over the governor’s “fair tax,” a proposed constitutional amendment that would have replaced the state’s flat income tax with a graduated system.
The defeat of Pritzker’s crusade to tax the wealthy was a rare major loss in his years as governor.
If the Trump nightmare is ever going to end, Democrats need to be strategic and tactical. The strategy must be focused on the center. Don’t allow Republicans to splinter a base that is in the majority. The Democrats’ dysfunction must not be allowed to doom the party to infighting and distraction.
The American blue-collar vote, once a bedrock of the Democratic Party base, has been surrendered to the GOP, thanks to President Bill Clinton’s NAFTA disaster.
The latest version of that was the 2024 Democratic presidential nominee’s onetime support of access to gender-affirming surgery for people in prisons and immigration detention. Kamala Harris backed off that position during the presidential campaign, but the damage was done.
If that kind of mantra becomes a rallying cry for Democratic activists, the wilderness will look like a vacation for their party. The party has made too many unforced errors. It must stop supporting the wrong causes and candidates.
Graham Platner, Maine’s now-disgraced Democratic U.S. Senate nominee, was once hailed a progressive hero. He enjoyed the backing of U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, an icon of the left. His supporters argued that nominating the anti-establishment stalwart would be the key to Democrats winning control of the Senate.
Platner’s candidacy was subsequently shredded by multiple accusations of sexual misconduct, mistreatment of women and other scandals, and he was forced to withdraw from the race.
Democrats must learn: Putting ideology over practicality loses every time.
Laura Washington is a political commentator and longtime Chicago journalist. Her columns appear in the Tribune each Wednesday. Write to her at LauraLauraWashington@gmail.com.
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