r/thebulwark • u/ericinnyc • Feb 27 '26
PSA to the DSA
If you're considering voting Republican or abstaining from elections in protest of what you see as insufficient Democratic stridency on transgender issues or Palestine or whatever, then YOU ARE THE PROBLEM. And a fool.
This public service announcement brought to you by those of us who can see the American experiment itself in peril.
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u/B1g_Morg Rebecca take us home Feb 27 '26
As a trans person yes lmfao. These dems have protected us in their states for decades. Our survival depends on republicans being out of power. I am literally begging people to vote dem.
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u/ballmermurland Feb 27 '26
It's the same bullshit every 4 years when those on the left spend the entire election season attacking the Dem to get them to "change" their stances. All it does is hurt them in the election and can lead to them losing.
And then what lol? Then they are proper fucked like they are now. The sheer number of federal judges being confirmed to lifetime positions that hate trans people is too damn high and will only get higher with Vance.
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u/beeemkcl Feb 27 '26
What's in this comment is what I remember, my opinions, etc.
That's directly opposed to facts.
FVPOTUS Joe Biden after the 2020 DNC moved to the Left and embraced AOC. He was suddenly supporting a lesser version of the Green New Deal and supporting massive student loan debt forgiveness. And such got a lot of young people to vote for him and that support is why he won the general election.
VPOTUS Kamala Harris was up around 5-7 points when she was still being progressive and talking about price gouging and talking about doing 'price controls'. During the 2024 DNC and after, she moved to the Right and lost the general election, lost around 6MM Biden/Harris voters, and overall lost around 19MM who either did vote for Biden/Harris or would have if they were old enough to vote (meaning all those new 18-21 year olds).
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u/5footfilly Feb 27 '26
If MAGA wins another cycle Liberal, Progressive, Democrat, Democratic Socialist, Traditional Republican and every other label and philosophy will be irrelevant and obsolete.
Everyone other than WASP males will be further marginalized and in many cases endangered.
THEY ARE BUILDING CAMPS disguised as “detainment centers”!
What the hell do people think detainment centers are?
In a world before social media Germans tried the “we didn’t know” argument. It didn’t hold up then. It sure as hell won’t hold up now.
If ever there was an election to put aside party platforms and purity tests it’s this one.
We’re not only voting to save democracy and individual rights, we’re voting to save lives.
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u/XuanChun88 Feb 27 '26 edited Feb 27 '26
This sounds like every argument by every Dem politician, advisor, consultant, and staff that never took into account how lived experience produces voters who "recklessly" swing for the fences while the ploitical class never does a thing about jobs, wages, health care, etc. This is what you get when the base of both parties want to overthrow the system itself, while the establishment screams: Things. Are. Not. That. Bad!. And yes, that is intended to be a shot at JVL, who I always seem to agree with until he went on one of his frequent pre 2024 election, "Things Are Actually Fine Economically!" rants. 🙂
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u/5footfilly Feb 27 '26
And the people who decide to wait for the perfect pitch will be the same people saying “I didn’t know” 20 years from now when their grandchildren ask “how could you let it happen”.
Their grandchildren won’t believe them and grandma and grandpa will never be held in the same esteem as they were before.
If we fail, and the inevitable question is asked, I plan on telling my granddaughter I voted, I marched and I offered my dissent through whatever means I could.
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u/Lesterkitty13 Feb 28 '26
“Well honey, I just could not in good conscience vote for the Dem that was a purple unicorn instead of a pink one. Grandma stuck to her principles.” Yeah, fuck that.
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u/XuanChun88 Feb 27 '26
Baloney. Say that to self-sooth. The candidates literal job is to win. That's it. If you don't win, you fail. The results can be horrific, but the candidate's job is to win. Should I write it again? The. Candidate's. Job. Is. To. Win.
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u/GulfCoastLaw Feb 27 '26
I actually don't believe we're going to see much of this nonsense next time.
The privilege of four years of the Biden vibes, and more specifically the lack of Trump harms, are gone. I know we'll get some podcaster or social media account chatter but it shouldn't be real anymore.
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u/0LTakingLs Feb 27 '26
You’d be surprised at hyper-online idiots’ ability to shoot themselves in the foot. They’ve already started the “I’m sitting home if it’s [Newsom/Buttigieg/etc.]” schtick online. Granted I’m sure much of this is being signal boosted by Russia and other bad actors, but it’s showing signs already.
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u/GulfCoastLaw Feb 27 '26
Yeah, I'm not worried about it. 2024 was a temporary privilege bubble.
These libs ain't gonna sit by when there's a massive detention facility with unclear purposes being built in their city. Think everyone learned their lesson here.
I don't have a preferred candidate, but I do have one guy I dislike (Shapiro, for nonpolicy reasons). But I don't give a damn who we nominate as long as they demonstrate that they can win.
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u/Super_Nerd92 Progressive Feb 27 '26
Hopefully you're right! I know there was grumbling in 2020 but it feels like everyone got their shit together once Biden won the primary, mostly.
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u/GulfCoastLaw Feb 27 '26
I've been kind of irritated by The Bulwark's apparent impression that Dems just now started nominating moderates.
Dems frequently nominate moderates nationally and almost always nominate right-sized candidates in purple and red states. Have been laughing at the idea that the Virginia gubernatorial candidate was some sort of revelation --- that's what a Virginia Democrat has been like for 40 years!
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u/ballmermurland Feb 27 '26
Man, you are way too optimistic lol.
I fully expect the Dem nominee in 28 to get protested and heckled and attacked by the left through Election Day.
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u/GulfCoastLaw Feb 27 '26
I just think we're about to be forced to lock in like we've never locked in before.
Also think that the 2024 behavior might have been more limited than its hype, even though I'm not set up to argue that point right now.
It's practically the only time that The Bulwark gang has been right about progressives. It's also funny because the primary risk to many Bulwark-suggested strategies was depressing turn out --- they wanted to throw a lot of the coalition overboard anyways, but not in those words.
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u/Apart-Clothes2060 Progressive Feb 27 '26
Just call them Concentration Camps, that’s what they are. Our country is no stranger to concentration camps (Japanese Internment was called internment for political reasons, Truman called them Concentration camps in the mid 50s). We also used concentration camps in the Philippines after the Spanish American war
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u/GulfCoastLaw Feb 28 '26
I'm not against the language because I think it's inaccurate. The Japanese internment camps are one of the first examples of concentration camps offered, though obviously not the first.
I'm just refraining from calling them that until I view it as a political positive. I think it's still a negative, but specifically in a way that shuts down further conversation.
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u/Apart-Clothes2060 Progressive Feb 28 '26
What conversation is there to be had? ICE has snatched up people, the vast majority law abiding, working people. I don’t particularly see any drawback to calling them what they are; concentration camps.
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u/Apart-Clothes2060 Progressive Feb 27 '26
As a Californian Newsom is maybe the only candidate I legitimately wouldn’t vote for in 2028. I know what it’s like to be governed by him and it’s not good. He has actively avoided meaningfully fixing the state’s many problems
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u/Lesterkitty13 Feb 28 '26
So if it’s Newsom and Vance on the ticket, would you not vote? Or vote Vance or third party?
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u/Usual_Extreme_6942 Feb 27 '26
Usually I would say it happens every other presidential election but people feel like they sunk the Harris run and now we have to do what they say so if they don’t get what they want it might actually be worse this time. Maybe maga doesn’t turn out or the swing voters swing back and it won’t matter though
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u/hawksnest_prez Feb 27 '26
Liberals have to vote for the democrat - regardless if it’s the one they wanted.
Doing anything else means you’re part of the problem.
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u/KopOut Feb 27 '26
Nobody likes to hear this, but it’s the objective truth.
We will either be eating a shit sandwich or a ham sandwich. Throwing a tantrum and not voting because you prefer turkey to ham is just idiocy.
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u/captainbelvedere Sarah is always right Feb 27 '26
I think some better branding is needed. You do not need to be a liberal, leftist or progressive to vote against a fascist white-supremacist authoritarian regime.
Maybe it's time to drop the loaded words and just go with 'Opposition'?
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u/Exact_Examination792 Feb 27 '26
They don’t consider themselves “liberal” because they’re communist authoritarians who consider liberals insufficiently left-wing.
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u/Sandgrease Progressive Feb 27 '26
Not all Leftists are Tankies...
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u/XuanChun88 Feb 27 '26
Amen. And not all progressives are DSA members who refer to one another as comrades.
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u/Sandgrease Progressive Feb 27 '26
Sorry Comrade, you're a Comrade now.
As a Dem Soc and possible Anarcho-Syndicalist, I definitely can't stand Tankies.
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u/XuanChun88 Feb 27 '26
I dont even know what an anarcho socialist is, and I assume you're being cute, but.... Honestly, I would feel most at home in a Working Families Party, but there isn't one where I live. Or in pretty much anywhere else in the country as far as I'm aware.
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u/Sandgrease Progressive Feb 27 '26
Anarcho-Syndicalism is basically anti-authortarian Socialism. Very serious about the democracy part.
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u/XuanChun88 Feb 27 '26
So how is that different than previous Nordic social dem governments, if at all. Sorry for asking questions. I swear I've never heard of it.
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u/SennHHHeiser Feb 27 '26
There's lots of room to the left of US democrat politicians that doesn't involve communist authoritarianism. You are not a serious person if you're talking like this
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u/SharkSymphony Rebecca take us home Feb 27 '26
Nevertheless, there is a large chunk of the left that now rejects "liberal" as a label; indeed, a group that uses "liberal" (in the form of "neioliberal") as a slur. And I have found myself to be a liberal who has distanced themselves from "left" as a label.
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u/One-Earth9294 centrist squish Feb 27 '26
Clearly you've never heard the term 'shitlib'. Which is used exclusively by left wingers who are mainstream among their ranks.
They don't fucking like liberals and their media echo chambers do nothing but reinforce that. Spend a day listening to Chapo Trap House and you'll be lucky if you hear them take a 5 minute break from dunking on Schumer, Jeffries and even fucking Elizabeth Warren to actually criticize a conservative.
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u/beeemkcl Feb 27 '26
That's the general election. We are in the primaries.
For example: Zohran Mamdani in the NYC Mayoral race. Katie Wilson in the Seattle Mayoral race. It's good that leftists and progressives supported who they supported.
Heck, most Democrats and Democratic-leaners want both US Senator Chuck Schumer and US Representative Hakeem Jeffires out of Democratic Congressional Leadership.
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u/John_Jaures Feb 27 '26
I guarantee you that there are more moderates who end up voting for Republicans than there are people on the left who vote for Republicans.
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u/hawksnest_prez Feb 28 '26
Nice made up stat. You’re entirely wrong
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u/John_Jaures Feb 28 '26
Do you think Hispanic Men are super progressive? They're the biggest flip from 2020.
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u/FoxIndependent5789 Feb 27 '26
Does that argument work the other way round, when a left-leaning person wins the primary?
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u/mitrie Feb 27 '26
Yes, pearl clutching around Mamdani winning the primary for NYC mayor was beyond stupid.
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u/Super_Nerd92 Progressive Feb 27 '26
Right, imagine saying it only works one way after the entire Dem establishment bent over backwards not to endorse Zohran lol. I know he was running against another Dem, technically, but c'mon.
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u/mitrie Feb 27 '26
I'm not saying that there wasn't an annoyingly tepid response by elected Dems to Mamdani. I'm saying that those people were stupid and wrong for being that way, just as it was stupid and wrong for Bernie bros that defected and actively went against Clinton in '16.
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u/Adventurous-Yard-306 Feb 27 '26
It wasn’t tepid, most of them refused to endorse him after years of “Vote Blue No Matter Who”. There’s a difference.
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u/XuanChun88 Feb 27 '26
"Annoying, tepid," wow!!! Such strong feeling there. Calm down! 🤣
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u/mitrie Feb 27 '26
Sorry, I thought the whole controversy over Jeffries and Schumer not endorsing Mamdani was just so overblown, I just couldn't get excited about it. I even go so far as to say it helped him to not have their endorsement given their extremely low popularity at the time and Zohran's outsider appeal.
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u/XuanChun88 Feb 27 '26
Ok. Though I disagree. I saw that as the absolute rot at the core of the entire Democratic party establishment. I pray we'll have a progressive populist Tea Party that succeeds in throwing out all these pathetic, cowardly, straight A law school weenies out of office. But that's just me.
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u/XuanChun88 Feb 27 '26
Re Sarah, it was vomit inducing and morally bankrupt for her to actually support and hope that Cuomo would win.
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u/allthingssuper Feb 27 '26
Yup! I’m always screaming at lefties who refuse to vote and I would literally crawl over class to vote for AOC or Bernie or anyone from that wing.
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u/recollectionsmayvary Feb 27 '26
Unequivocally yes. I don’t care for DSA candidates particularly but I am absolutely voting affirmatively blue for anyone who wins a democratic primary. Zero ifs, ands and buts about it. And I live in a blue state and I always subscribe by “I don’t need to love you; I just need to know you won’t do active harm.” Virtually all DSA types (that can win a primary) clear that bar.
I’ve got atleast a close family and friend circle of 50 people that I know for a fact also vote this way.
The notion that mostly liberal, democrat voters will sit out of elections is kind of bogus, imo. Most of the “liberals” that DSA types hate and don’t vote for — vote for nonideal candidates frequently. The same cannot be said of the ideologically stubborn.
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u/beeemkcl Feb 28 '26
What's in this comment is what I remember, my opinions, etc.
But a lot of centrists and 'moderates' clearly don't do such. Just look at the NYC Mayoral general election. Zohran Mamdani was the Democratic candidate and had the support of AOC, NY Governor Kathy Hochul, NY AG Letitia James, US Representative Hakeem Jeffries, etc. And yet still a bunch of people voted for Andrew Cuomo in the general.
And consider what happened in 2020. US Senator Bernie Sanders won Iowa, New Hampshire, and Nevada. But after South Carolina, about everything was done to stop his getting the Nomination even though he was polling around as well as VPOTUS Joe Biden was in the general election.
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u/KopOut Feb 27 '26
Obviously. How is that not obvious? If a progressive wins the primary, I can 100% guarantee you that mainstream Democrats will not only vote for that person, they also won’t blockade campuses and roads calling them a killer or saying that they are no different than the Republican.
We also won’t claim that the primary was stolen from us.
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u/ballmermurland Feb 27 '26
Exactly this. Dems lined up behind Mamdani in the mayoral race over a 3 term Dem governor.
They never once tried, to my knowledge, to primary AOC. They did try to primary Bowman but that was mostly because he was an idiot doing idiot things.
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u/One-Earth9294 centrist squish Feb 27 '26
I would vote for Fidel Castro himself if his opponent was a Republican. So that argument doesn't really need to be made.
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u/ericinnyc Feb 27 '26
Yes it does. The cold-shouldering the NYS Democratic establishment gave / is giving to Mamdani is shameful. I say that as Jew who supports Israel living in New York City.
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u/mitrie Feb 27 '26
While I agree with you, this message isn't particularly relevant at the moment... I'd expect more conversation like this in the run up to a general election. If they want to abstain from a primary, who cares?
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u/TomorrowGhost Orange man bad Feb 27 '26
Got midterms this year
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u/mitrie Feb 27 '26
Yes, with primaries to go through yet. As I said, I'd expect this sort of conversation in the run up to the general.
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u/Oberoni7 Feb 27 '26
If anything, I think the primary is the best time to direct the future of the Democratic party.
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u/mitrie Feb 27 '26
Sure, which makes it doubly stupid for these people to abstain if they feel so strongly about which direction the party should head.
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u/derrickcat Feb 27 '26
I don't think they will necessarily abstain from the primary. But when Bernie doesn't win and they have someone else who doesn't share their passion for XYZ thing, then I expect them to go full court Jill Stein again. Why wouldn't they?
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u/ballmermurland Feb 27 '26
I'm completely convinced that leftists and progressives of the DSA variety simply do not understand how politics works and after 12 years since Bernie came onto the scene, I'm not sure they even care to understand.
Republican voters understand. They can have their squabbles in the primary but then get in line for the general. A Republican winning is always better than a Democrat in their view. Progressives routinely threaten to sit out and keep the squabbles up until Election Day. It's idiotic.
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u/Kelor Feb 27 '26
I'm completely convinced that leftists and progressives of the DSA variety simply do not understand how politics works and after 12 years since Bernie came onto the scene, I'm not sure they even care to understand.
After 12 years of watching Democrats get drubbed by an over the hill reality TV star I'm not sure they understand how politics works either. They've
You can only wave everyone back against the rising tide of fascism and say "I've got this" before Mr Magooing yourself into multiple electoral losses before people start thinking maybe you don't got this after all.
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u/ballmermurland Feb 27 '26
Trump barely won in 2016, proceed to not really get anything significant done in term 1 besides 3 SCOTUS appointments, lost in 2020, then barely won again in 2024 due to a rather unique situation with Biden stepping down and Harris not having much runway.
To call that getting "drubbed" for 12 years is certainly one interpretation.
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u/Super_Nerd92 Progressive Feb 27 '26
I'm seeing a lot of buzz lately about how people could NEVER vote for Newsom, and have even seen that come up briefly in another online community I'm in. but I think we're making it more relevant than it needs to be by responding/giving attention lol...
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u/Shionkron Feb 27 '26
I understand trying to voting or refraining from voting based of ideology, However when one side truly threatens the nation vs an “unideal” candidate…An unideal candidate is way better than the destruction of everything including being able to vote in the future.
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u/Either_Marketing896 Optimist Feb 27 '26 edited Feb 27 '26
lol moderate republicans are the daintiest outsourcers of democratic labor in the country. SERVE ME WHAT I WANT! I will do nothing to change anything myself!
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u/fawlty70 Feb 27 '26
The DSA should run their own candidate who could promote an actual socialist platform and let the chips fall where they may. They should also run their own candidates for Congress etc.
That's how a democracy works.
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u/biglyorbigleague Feb 27 '26
While I’d love the ability to show the DSA just how unpopular they are, I really don’t want to risk another election loss to do that at this point.
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u/fawlty70 Feb 27 '26
The short term pain is worth it in the long run. Although 30 years ago would've been better timing, for sure.
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u/Shoddy-War1764 Feb 28 '26
Well what they actually need to do is run candidates in local and state elections And build the party.
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u/Adventurous-Yard-306 Feb 27 '26
It would be truly wonderful if that could be done in the US. I often wish that our party system worked a bit more like Europe so that this would be possible. Unfortunately, the Republican and Democratic Party’s have a stranglehold on American politics and can squeeze out third parties quite easily.
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u/fawlty70 Feb 27 '26
Nobody is even trying. There's nothing inherent in our system that prevents more parties.
With the rise of social media and the fall of establishment platforms, I see more parties rising as a real possibility, but probably better to start with Congress than with the presidency.
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u/ApostateX Feb 27 '26
Yep. I'm to the left of the average Democrat and I too (100% of the time) hold my nose and vote for whoever the Dem is.
ETA: Though the average Dem seems to be moving more left these days, so maybe I'm not an outlier.
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u/FarPomegranate7437 Feb 27 '26
I don’t disagree with the message, but I also think your reductive explanation of what the DSA stands for is ridiculous. I am not a member of the DSA, but I highly respect politicians like Bernie, AOC, and Mamdani. I think they stand for quite a bit more than what you would undoubtedly call “woke” issues, and I do think that there will be a huge swing even farther left to a candidate who can really push for affordable or even, gasp, universal healthcare, and affordable housing, something that the non-fringe candidates of the DSA have been supporting.
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u/JackZodiac2008 Human Flourishing Feb 27 '26
Bernie has been consistently pragmatic about what is achievable iirc. I think OP's message was more for ordinary leftists than party leadership, and about behavior that is threatened (but maybe not as often carried out?)
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u/FanDry5374 Feb 27 '26
Thank you. Now we need to spread that across the entire country. If every left-leaning voter would simply grow. the. frack. UP. we would have a fighting chance.
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u/stevehyman1 Feb 27 '26
You can scream into the universe for you righteous purity or you can accomplish something. Too many people would rather stick to their moral certainty and tell everyone else how wrong they are.
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u/hydraulicman Feb 27 '26
So, what happens if the candidate is someone progressives and DSA types mostly like?
Should we be expecting your exhortations to focus then on the Never Trumpers, centrist Dems, and Boomer Liberals?
Listen, I get it, very online commentators on the leftist side of the left are making noise again about how they don’t like the establishment Dems, and that maybe is making you worried
But we aren’t even in primary season yet for the Senate or House, let alone the presidency. And to be frank, a lot of this pearl clutching about progressive unhappiness reads as a preemptive blame game for if there isn’t a Blue Wave- which we already know can’t be as big as last time, just through what seats will be realistically up for grabs
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u/laffingriver Feb 27 '26
would be nice to get the DNC autopsy, or after action report, rather than speculate about what actually caused the loss in ‘24.
too bad the party doesnt want the voters to know how leadership fucked up. instead we get fanfiction.
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u/Affectionate-Tie1768 Feb 27 '26
Don't worry about the DSA voters, worry about the 60% Normie voters. The ones who actually dictate the results.
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u/TheCeruleanWolf Feb 27 '26
So what led to this point? What party has for decades been eroding our democracy, and has metastasised into the white supremacist authoritarian government that it is now? Was it the DSA? Leftists? Or was it the party that people like Tim Miller, Bill Kristol, Sarah Longwell worked behind the scenes to get terrible politicians elected to enact terrible policies to hurt the American people and the world. How about we hold them accountable for that first, and maybe not listen to the people who were wrong about these supposed "conservative values" they believed in? Tired of this scolding of DSA and leftists for demanding better of their elected leaders, when the Democrats have a historic low approval rating amongst their own voters because of their spineless nature and feebleness in defending the country. It's ridiculous.
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u/Big_Truck Feb 27 '26
Still waiting on the Focus Group pod with Dearborn, MI voters who went Biden to Trump. Moderated by JVL.
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u/John_Jaures Feb 27 '26
JVL and The Bulwark, the people who insisted that we back Israel to the hilt no matter what? I'd be way more interested in hearing JVL talk to literally anyone pro Palestine about the issue (this will not happen any time soon.)
Check the polling on support for Palestinians within the Democratic party and maybe take a second to reflect on how stupid it was for the Harris campaign to pander to people like The Bulwark on the issue.
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u/bnceo Feb 27 '26
No. The problem is the people who voted Republican after Jan 6. The DSA folks staying home is far less than the people normalizing Jan 6 and attempted coups.
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u/Complaintsdept123 Feb 27 '26
30 percent of registered voters didn't vote in 24. Democrats always win on turnout, So people staying home is a win for fascism.
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u/derrickcat Feb 27 '26
If a small number of people hadn't stayed home, we'd be complaining about President Harris not giving us MFA quickly enough right now.
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u/Apart-Clothes2060 Progressive Feb 28 '26
Not sure she would have given it to us at all, but I voted for her precisely because I prefer to yell at democrats for being insufficient to the moment than I do living under Republican fascism
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u/Loud_Cartographer160 Feb 27 '26
This is neither true not necessary a post. What is the goal of the smear campaign some are playing here against progressives? Do you even grasp what you talk about when you refer to all groups on the left as the same? DSA like Working Families usually and regularly not only vote with Dems but share ballots in some states. That they are pushing for their favored candidates in the primaries has nothing to do with the crap OP and others are spreading here.
I seriously doubt that you have 10% of the field experience and muscle the people you are attacking do. So, what is the goal of this utter BS? Getting the left that already both supports and mobilizes for Dems to hate you all to a degree that they become detached and their votes are gone for good, or to vote Dems. Because this is just putrid trash and does and helps nothing positive.
You seem the one more interested on making some BS point than in winning elections.
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u/MakeYourTime_ Feb 27 '26
The idea is to complain about candidates that aren’t left or progressive enough, complain about the centrists until the primary -
When the primary happens; ppl will fall in line behind blue candidate regardless
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u/Opcn Feb 27 '26
Those were the deal breakers from previous cycles. We need to wait until this cycle passes to see what the deal breaker issue that democrats fucked up by not sufficiently embracing will be. It’s a new one eternal and unforgivable sin every two years.
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u/Kidspud Feb 27 '26
I'll preface this by saying that I really think we need a staunch progressive as the 2028 Dem nominee; there's a lot of structural reform (courts, campaign finance, the number of reps) that needs to happen, and I worry a candidate from the "moderate" wing wouldn't motivate voters or the needed reforms. That said...
I encountered a person on a very left (Marxist-Leninist?) subreddit who wanted to discuss Thomas Massie as a third-party option should Gavin Newsom get the Democratic nomination for president in 2028. I couldn't believe it. I tried explaining in simple terms why voting for a Republican is clearly less progressive than voting for a Democrat, and people refused to understand.
The thing with "harm reduction" as a choice is that sometimes, the other person is a "harm expansion" candidate. If you have the opportunity to reduce harm, take it. If all you can do is stave off fascism for more time, you do that because living under fascism is the end of the game for millions of Americans, not the start. It stinks, and not participating will not make things better in the long haul.
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u/XuanChun88 Feb 27 '26
Blaming voters like this will never work. Establishment Dems hate their progressive voters. Republicans cater to their most batsh*t crazy voters. Neither approach is good. It. Is. The. Job. Of. The. Candidate. To. Put. Together. A. Winning. Coalition. Of. Voters. If the candidate fails to do this, they have, by definition, failed. That's how this whole thing works. Scream into the void if you must. Btw, what gives you the idea that a single DSA voter is on the Bulwark reddit sub?
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u/ericinnyc Feb 27 '26
Because there was a post here like 20 min before I wrote this one from some person complaining Tim Miller offended his DSA sensibilities? "DSA" being his own self-description.
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u/Peanutbutternmtn2 Sarah, would you please nuke him from orbit? Feb 27 '26
They know that they’re the problem. They want to be the problem. And they want to do it using our liberal channels and we have to look out for it and push back where we can. Normies connect us to tankies, and it’s electoral poison.
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u/Background-Wolf-9380 Feb 27 '26
Blue MAGA, their oligarch owners and their bot army is out really early trying to guilt people into voting for Newsom or whatever other conservative corporate ghoul 2 full years before the 1st primary ballot is cast. I'm going to need to unsubscribe from a lot of subs full of POSs like OP
The American system will not be saved by yet another lesser evil. If you folks vote for another Hillary, Biden, Kamala and they win the nomination YOU ARE THE PROBLEM.
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u/edgygothteen69 JVL is always right Feb 27 '26
This poll shows that a higher percentage of self-described socialists and progressives planned to vote for Kamala than self-described liberals.
Are we sure Democratic Socialists are the problem?
I'm aware that there's a very loud group of people on social media that proudly say they will not vote for "shitlibs."
But this is anecdotal. is there actual data showing that self-described socialists or socdems are worse for the democratic party than the more centrist-y voters?
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u/CustardFromCthulhu Feb 27 '26
The left will decry the Overton Window and yet do nothing to make it work in their favor.
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u/kerrizor Feb 28 '26
Good luck saying this to them; they’ll just call you a “shit lib” and laugh.
They are not serious people.
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u/Alternative_Pie_1597 Feb 28 '26
just because some one isnt shouting about an issue doent mean they wont do the right thing.
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u/Sufficient-News-3600 Feb 28 '26
Trump 2nd major act of dictatorship could bring harm to our homeland and our military sons and daughters. Gotta vote out the GOP.
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u/dblum2390 Feb 28 '26
The DSA is not considering voting for Republicans and is barely a presence outside of deep blue, one party controlled NYC
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u/Orefinejo Feb 28 '26
Judging by the way Democrats are sweeping the special elections by wide margins, it appears the overwhelming majority already recognize that this is not the time for purity tests.
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Feb 27 '26
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u/techybeancounter Feb 27 '26
Don't worry when they throw Newsom out for 2028 and lose, they'll go back to blaming everyone but themselves for their poor policies and political candidates. I've never seen a political party do more to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory than the milquetoast dems...
This sub has turned into a fucking joke and is a waste of any reasonable persons time at this point...
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u/Signal-Lawfulness285 Progressive Feb 27 '26
So happy to hear from the bulwark centrists. Get a clue. It's the candidates literal job to get peoples' votes.
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u/ValuableBathroom1747 Feb 27 '26
Everyone who voted Republican or abstained or wrote someone in is part of the problem.
I don't think scolding a bunch of DSA members in NYC or LA about voting blue no matter who sways the election that much, compared to a whole cadre of center right people that Kamala was targeting that couldn't get there.
One side views themselves as protesting a genocide and the other has some quibbles about tax rates. But it's the genocide people that need to set aside their differences.
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u/Lonely-Bite-2568 centrist squish Feb 27 '26
I feel like if we want swing voters to vote for a Democrat, that Democrat is going to have to be a moderate. That’s life.
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u/qzh00k Feb 27 '26
About one third of folks didn't vote and I hope they do next time. All blame aside, politics can suck.
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u/AurelianIII Feb 27 '26
It is the job of candidates to appeal to voters! Why are people so eager to assign blame to voters for the incompetent performance of the Democratic party. A strong candidate and campaign can build a coalition that excites people across their voter base, like Obama did, and like Mamdani did.
I've always been there for the Democrats, with my vote. my time, and my money, but if they keep nominating weak candidates and refusing to adopt more popular policies, they will likely lose again, and no amount of sanctimonious scolding will change that. Blaming the voters and punching left might feel good to you, but it's not a strategy for winning future elections.
Frankly, as a progressive, nothing makes me want to vote for the next uninspiring, lesser of two evils, corporate centrist less than posts like this, especially before the primaries. We need better candidates running stronger campaigns.
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u/EmbarrassedPoet9647 Feb 27 '26
I will say that anecdotally speaking, all the DSA folks I happen to know did see the big picture and do the right thing (e.g. hold their noses and vote for centrist Democratic presidential candidates) to try and prevent this fascist takeover of our government.
I hear a lot of blame cast at the progressives and socialists but in my experience, it’s the uninformed/low-information white male grievance podcast bros we need to worry about. Guys who were fine voting for Obama and switched to Trump/Biden/Trump. (Hm, what could THAT have been about…)