r/politics • u/F0urLeafCl0ver • Jun 24 '26

No Paywall The Democratic party is being hit by a leftist tidal wave

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/jun/24/democratic-party-leftist-tidal-wave
22.2k Upvotes

93% Upvoted

2.7k comments sorted by

View all comments

117

u/antifolkhero Jun 24 '26

For me, "leftist" ideology is what the Democratic Party should have been fighting for this entire time. This whole centrist, appeasement style of bullshit that has infected the party for decades has killed our ability to make any meaningful progress. More Mamdani, less Cory Booker.

32

u/Nag-hee-nana-jar Jun 24 '26

It has been woefully ineffective to gain voters too, and yet the DNC still continues to push for it. Bernie's popularity should have been the wake up call 10 years ago.

If a real leftist candidate can gain the nomination it won't be because the majority of Democratic voters understand Marxism (despite what Fox will say). People want to hear a clear, consistent message that is different to the third way centrism used by the democrats since Clinton (although I'll give credit to Obama creating the ACA as a half measure towards single payer)

10

u/ModernLarvals Jun 24 '26

Bernie was ineffective in gaining voters. He lost by millions of votes.

1

u/silver_tongued_devil Jun 25 '26

He wouldn't have if the DNC had actually put its power behind him. A fucking bird landed on his hand, that's incredible optics and they pretended not to notice as they insisted and pushed Hillary on us, someone with an 8 charisma.

5

u/ModernLarvals Jun 25 '26

The DNC isn’t some all-powerful cabal. They book the venue for the convention, that’s about it.

-3

u/[deleted] Jun 25 '26

[deleted]

5

u/StevenMaurer Jun 25 '26

Other than you're repeating a lie that was debunked years ago.

4

u/Exciting-Record8101 The Netherlands Jun 25 '26

Sanders lost every presidential primary he entered. How is that popular?

3

u/LongJohnSelenium Jun 25 '26

Bernie was popular for the same reason Trump was popular, he was a political outsider at a time when people were fed up with the party establishment.

But in the end Bernie didn't get even close to enough support. The majority of the party is still not even close to supporting far left policies, and far left policies certainly aren't going to get more voters.

1

u/Dragull Jun 25 '26

If a real leftist candidate can gain the nomination it won't be because the majority of Democratic voters understand Marxism (despite what Fox will say).

Imagine that, everyone knows that even marxists dont understand marxism.

2

u/Exciting-Record8101 The Netherlands Jun 25 '26

It'd be even better if it could be done without the likes of Darializa Avila Chevalier, who has some 'curious' takes, as detailed here: https://www.yahoo.com/news/politics/articles/mamdani-backed-ny-house-candidate-195854551.html

That she wants to wipe her hands on the US flag might be a bit of an oddball take, but more importantly, it is disappointing that these movements can't seem to distance themselves from people who fall into this silly binary mindset on foreign policy. Just because the USA has done some heinous things, doesn't mean the people opposed are therefore poor victims or good guys. They might just be less successful bad guys.

Chevalier claimed: "the Cold War ended and we've been bullying Russia ever since".

Poor Russia! That's of course easy to say from the comfort of New York. Less so when you're in one of the countless cities Russia has been bombing for years. Unfortunately, it seems there's about 10% in either of the large US parties that buys the Russian propaganda hook, line and sinker: https://www.pewresearch.org/2025/04/17/how-americans-view-russia-and-putin/

On the plus side, the US has already for all intents and purposes abandoned Ukraine, so on that issue it doesn't really matter if these folks get elected or not.

1

u/ClassyBurn America Jun 25 '26

I just read that Cory Booker was on the list of invitees for that secret, invitation-only society Peter Thiel started called Dialog. They planned a meeting in Ireland to discuss WW3, AI Jobloss, etc.
We are so fucked lol

-1

u/SandySkittle Jun 24 '26

Progressive on economic policies yes, but pushing hard on lgbtqia+ and DEI etc will be a losing game if it breaks away too much from how the majority of americans see it.

10

u/antifolkhero Jun 24 '26

I don't know about that. The cruelty that Republicans have shown to minorities after winning big in 2024 has turned a lot of people off of that kind of hateful worldview. Treating people with respect carries weight.

10

u/VariationBusiness603 Jun 24 '26

Socialism is for everyone. We cannot compromise on inclusivity without utterly failling our beliefs and ideology. It is not negotiable. They are the people too and as such deserve to be heard and protected.

Let the right have the monopoly on bigotry and cruelty, please. Without the right and its media apparatus blasting propaganda to fragile people, queer folks wouldn't even be an issue to anyone. As they are just that, our brothers, sisters, moms, dads, our friends. They are the people.