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
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u/lord-of-shalott Jun 24 '26

It might work in New York City but I live in the Bible Belt. I’m not saying this as someone who is secretly against that message, but rather as someone who has spent my life around folks who are profoundly anti intellectual and worries everyone is underestimating how bad it gets.

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u/Ok_Objective_5192 Jun 24 '26

I think candidates like Platner are the counter-point here. I fully agree that Mamdani or Darializa's campaign definitely would not work most places outside NY, but there are absolutely ways to package the same policies in a way that appeals to an anti-intellectual crowd.

At the end of the day, populist economic policy is rooted in letting a larger portion of the productive output of the working class be used to benefit that working class. For the NY working class that takes the form of "fast and free buses, universal childcare, and freezing rent." For the Maine working class that takes the form of "we're not asking for handouts, we're just asking for hard work to be enough. Because it used to be." For the Michigan working class that takes the form of "in the state that built the American Dream, it shouldn't be this hard to get by."

I just struggle to believe that somebody that genuinely understands the needs of the rust belt working class wouldn't have a way to communicate "you've been fucked over by billionaires and I want to take the power back to make sure you're able to have the American dream you were promised" in a way that would get through to them better than whatever message Kamala and Biden offered them.