Ash

Another principle of war in politics: power is everything. The left eschews power, preferring moral victories or expressions of ideological purity. Mamdani might be the first crack in this self-defeating pattern. We’ll see.

Outstanding piece, a must read. One principle left out: in war, the enemy of my enemy is my friend. Until progressives embrace this, they will continue to do the job of MAGA for them.

That's not a neurotypical thing. That's a "I demand you read my mind and when you fail I will assume you represent everything I hate" thing. No one even knows what "assume good faith" means anymore.

I dumped it too.

Just cancelled Disney+.

The word I would use is "naive—I believe he is well-intentioned. I think we DO need to apply this attitude to typical low-info non-insane GOP voters, but his mistake is applying it to right wing leaders and pols. This will never work.

To be fair, I'm sure the interview took place days prior to the shooting. But everything he's saying sounds right. I've been saying the activist left has abanonded colation building, which is basically what Pete is saying here. If the left won't make a home for young men, they'll go to the right.

YouTube video by Senator Bernie Sanders In Wake of Charlie Kirk Murder, Sen. Bernie Sanders Addresses Rising Political Violence in America

"Political violence...is political cowardice. It means that you cannot convince people of the correctness of your ideas, and you have to impose them through force." youtu.be/HlIvH6ozvv4

"You will never live in a society when you have an armed citizenry and you won't have a single gun death. That is nonsense. It's drivel. But I am—I think it's worth it."

—Charlie Kirk

I'm going out on a limb here—yes call me crazy—but I predict the SCOTUS will say that all of Trump's tariffs are 100% fine and dandy.

Gavin Newsom would not be my first choice for president. Not by a long shot. But right now he's polling at the top of the Dem party and beating both T and Vance. If he's the nom, would anyone on the left work to undermine his campaign, thereby helping the GOP nom? I'm genuinely curious.

Thanks, I read the entire thing. Not surprising, human nature being what it is. It's what happens when a movement is guided by ideology rather than pragmatism. Then it becomes about purity rather than accomplishment. And purity is easily demonstrated by "trashing" the impure. So wasteful.

While trolling is rampant on all sides, I believe that the left is much more likely to focus on swarming those in their own ideological domain; the right tends to swarm their ideological opponents. Basically, everyone loves to pwn the libs.

Agreed on all counts.

You witnessed this with me recently. About 10% of the swarm had conversations about their disagreements with me. The rest wanted to flay me alive and assume the absolute worst of me. It's exhausting, counterproductive, & drives allies away. Not one was open to considering my points on their merits.

It is shocking and disappointing to me that these facts are less disturbing to purity activists than Newsom's rising popularity. No one does circular firing squads better than the left.

Ahem, I lived in the Bay Area for 14 years. It's why I know that CA progressive politics is so skewed and ineffective.

No one does white sanctimony like purity activists. What I'm offering is a path forward to power and advancement or rights. OF COURSE you will never get all you want. Neither will I. Neither will anyone except perhaps the rich. If that's your bar, then you've already ceded the game.

Nope, he has never said, "I'll sign a bill into law that prevents transition care below the age of 26." or even "I agree that there should be no transitional surgery until age 26." So, again, can you give me an anti-trans policy that he has unambiguously supported?

...it is self-defeating to try to stop someone from attacking your enemy. The purity left has long focused their ire on imperfect Dems, leaving a gaping hole for MAGA to slip through. I've yet to have any optimism that they've learned from this.

Not intentionally so, but that's the net effect, at least at this moment. If this were a primary, then sure, point out the flaws and advocate for your choice. But that's not happening right now. Right now, Newsom is simply fighting Trump in a way that's getting under MAGA's skin, and...

This might be a shock to you, but literally every politician who has ever lived cared about winning and power. Indeed, the people who don't care about it never get what they want. And another shocker for you, but Dems are completely out of power at the federal level and in most states.

MAGA thanks you for your pessimism.

Can you give me an example of what Newsom has said he would "do to Trans people"? Not rumors. Not interpretations of vague statements. Actual anti-Trans policies he has said he would sign into law. Anything?

FDR famously said, “I agree with you. I want to do it. Now make me do it.” That sums up how politics actually works. But first we have to get them into power. Working to keep imperfect allies out of power, or undermining them when they are punching a mutual enemy (MAGA), is counterproductive.

The US isn't the UK. Their electoral/representative system is very different than ours, so comparing apples to oranges isn't helpful or instructive. Sticking to US politics, historically, politicians follow the Window, not the other way around. Even the best presidents did this, like Lincoln and FDR

There is a deep ocean of problems we can assign to MAGA. But the damage they can do is very real. So regardless of their patheticness, the priority has to remain defeating them and burying their movement. When someone can help do this, that's a good thing, while it helps MAGA when we undermine them

Slippery slope arguments have always justified unilateral Dem disarmament, and most Dems are sick of it. This is why Newsom's popularity is surging. If there are Dems who can fight even better, then bring it on! But again, throwing a wet blanket on someone causing MAGA to cry is counterproductive.

You're putting the cart before the horse. The way to make politicians better is to get them into power and then move the Overton Window. That requires building large coalitions by pulling more people into your camp. That's how every major social movement has succeeded.

I think you're missing what the bar actually is. It isn't about the tweets; that's incidental. It's about getting Trump's goat and pushing back against the TX gerrymandering. The bar is this: FIGHT! If he's doing it better than anyone else, we should applaud that, not throw water on it.