So let me get this right. Some of the same democrats who are pushing against the deportation of migrants to El Salvador on the basic that they are accused without evidence of being gang members voted in favour of migrants being deported because they are accused of a crime. Not convicted, accused.
Could they really not see the coach and horses this allows an authoritarian regime acting in bad faith to drive through the open door they just handed them?
This article is a perfect example of why Harris lost and why new immigrants and working class voters have begun to leave the Democratic Party. Post-election polling make it clear the focus on "woke", trans issues, and being well-intentioned but soft in crime and illegal immigration are significant reasons why Trump won and why maga was able to expand their tent. The impact equivalency between far-right and far-left groups is a historical fact not only for 2024
If the Dems are focused on issues other than the economy, jobs, safety, and constitutional rule of law then they are not going to seriously contend for 2026 and 2028. All other issues are secondary
Apparently the constitution is now “woke,” laws like the civil rights act and the voting rights act are “DEI,” Biden’s hardline anti-immigration bill that Trump scuttled was “well intentioned but soft”…
We're talking two different things, which might be part of your disconnect and why your rants don't resonate outside your outrage bubble. I'm primarily concerned about winning elections and defeating maga in the ballot box. Because the only way to affect the changes you want is to be in charge. As is apparent, can only do that by meeting the electorate (mostly low information, inward directed voters) where they are. It's important and great that you have your beliefs and values, we are aligned in most/all. But historically, elections are about the economy, jobs, and crime. If the Dems are not focused on this foremost, everything else doesn't matter. And social issues should definitely not be the focus especially in times of economic uncertainty as we saw in 2024
We didn’t lose because citizens were alienated by fairness for everyone etc. we lost because they cheated, multiple ways. 70% of vote tabulators are compromised. You can see it in the statistics. I’m following electiontruthalliance.org who are ramping up to sue In Pennsylvania, God bless ‘em. Thanks for the article Evan this is bothering me too.
We lost because high inflation, higher crime, and negative issues from a liberal border policypresented headwinds for the Harris campaign. And that Biden aged out. The rest of the unproven cheating stuff you cite belongs in the same fake "cheating" bucket that maga used in 2020
Kamala was focused on the economy, jobs, and crime, not "social issues" as you claim. You just don't seem able or willing to admit that. Your critique and analysis would be credible if it were rooted in the reality of actual Democratic messaging, rather than the right-wing propaganda about that messaging. Choose to perpetuate a false right-wing narrative if you wish; I root my analysis in an empirical understanding of what actual Democratic leaders do and say.
Harris ran a good campaign imo but the correct messaging on the economy, jobs, crime was way too late and I'd argue she never really got there. And she was never able to develop a cogent messaging on illegal immigration
Most of the campaign was spent talking about how the economy was doing pretty well from a macro level (which was true) and how nationwide crime was down when using FBI/UCR data (not actually true, which the electorate knew). If you have to use macro data to convince people the economy is better than they feel in their pocketbooks or that crime isnt as bad as they see and feel every day, then you lost the election. Didn't work for HW Bush regarding the economy, didn't work for Dinkins regarding crime in NYC
Harris also was weighed down by an ambitious Biden Administration that was overly focused on social issues as per the majority of the electorate. Example: Biden issues an EO his first day in office allowing trans girls to compete in scholastic girls teams. It took him 3 yrs to issue an EO on the immigration problem. He never issued an EO regarding inflation during his term. The electorate saw the disconnect. It's why almost 20% of 2020 Biden voters voted for Trump in 2024
They have to be: "charged with, is arrested for, is convicted of, admits having committed, or admits committing acts which constitute the essential elements of any burglary, theft, larceny, or shoplifting offense," Did you read the act? It does not read "accused". Being charged with an offense is a formal legal proceeding where an individual is formally accused of a crime and brought before the court. That is due process. ICE may not be giving due process but the people "charged" do get due process.
So, I have no argument with the scenario you present. But where is the Action Plan???? What, then, shall we do? Please, dear God, someone address this question!!!
We have power, we have agency. A lot is wrong right now, but everything can be addressed. I wrote this piece because I was angry about harmful nonsense in the narrative. The more informed we are, the better equipped we can be to fix the narrative. Knowledge is power. We will get there!
"the obvious first target would be AIPAC and its allies. But they never go there, because this isn’t about strengthening Democrats, and it’s not about beating back Trumpism. It’s about punching down at marginalized groups" - IMO it's less about punching down at marginalized groups than it is defending everything - no matter how vile - that Israel does. These people are so invested in defending Israel that they show time and again that it is more important to them than protecting the principles and democratic norms this country was founded on.
Take a minute and reread this piece. Not so much as a word about the traditional, historic base of the Democratic Party, the working class. The working class, the reason why there is a "Left". There is no Left politics without a base in the working class and without an agenda that meets working class needs. Everybody else is here, immigrants, immigrant criminals, trans people, including Laverne Cox!, people who use "latinx", LGBTQ, women (!!!), woke, me too, Palestine, Palestine protestors, oh, yeah I don't see indigenous 2S, or queer vegans for Palestine, or queer vegans AGAINST climate action (remember them, sitting down in front of your climate action march because "trans people will bear the brunt of climate change disproportionately!") Um, what?. Anyway, yeah, everybody else. It's true that the Dems veer Right after every election, whether they win or lose. It's also, true that their undead, unaccountable zombie "professional leadership" of hacks, operatives, lawyers, fixers and errand boys trots out an entirely predictable, auto-pilot "blame the Left" narrative every time anybody questions anything about the hopeless, long extinct dinosaur DNC. Sure, all true. But look at this piece. It could have been written, ironically, by some Right wing snark meister, like Charlie Kirk or Chris Rufo. Jesus, dude, you sound like a parody of yourself! Look up from your Judith Butler. The world has moved on. Nobody outside of academia and a few "collective houses" in Seattle, Portland and Brooklyn even talks like this anymore. Well, oddly enough, except for the tepid Democratic leadership you are at pains to critique. Did you catch the video from the recent party meeting, with Jaime Harrison, the chair, trying gamely to explain the "gender balance" rules, getting hopelessly lost and handing it off to some nameless party insider who didn't do any better? All this so they could guarantee of a few participation slots for trans-identified men, but with the caveat that they had to be called "women". And since you are looking at AOC, note that her position re trans is exactly the same as Biden and Harris's. Not even a ray of daylight between them. And you wonder why the country collectively said, "um WTF is this?".
You bet your arse, my dude, that the Republican "they/them" ad, that saturated swing state PA on Musk's $200M donation, made a difference. Of course it did. And trans athletes a "non-issue"? Maybe, unless you are a girl athlete cheated out of sports scholarship $$$ by a confused man with lipstick and long hair, who is a mediocre athlete when he competes vs other men. The male pubertal advantage is now as well understood, documented and accepted in sports medicine, physiology and you know, common sense, as the idea that the runner with the fastest time wins. And no, a couple of years of doping (I mean, that's what it is) to lower testosterone does not remove the advantage. But why do you need to know that when you have a photo of William "Lia" Thomas towering over Riley Gains. You think height and arm length don't matter in a sport where victory is decided in micro-seconds?
I know what you are thinking. Who TF is this reactionary troll? Nope. Sorry, dude. Leftie for life. I vote with Dems, only because the alternative is a stampede towards fascism. I loath the party insiders and the vacuous pap they think we should content ourselves with. I was 100% with Bernie in 2016 and 2020. And I've been walking precincts, phoning and marching since before your parents met. And I am here to tell you, that this almost religious fixation with "identity" is killing the Left and all hope for the return of a progressive working class. The last election proved that you are right about the party leadership. They are a fkg joke (on us). But you are way off on the solutions. It's not a matter of tilting "Left" or "Right". And it is not a matter of ever more painstaking self-flagellation over "marginalized, othered" identity group "rights" and ever more infinitesimal measures of their representation and participation I would argue in fact that identity politics are reactionary and tribal by definition and fundamentally in opposition to the core values of the Left. We need to shift the commonalities between almost all of us and the drastic differences between us and the corrupt financial elite. We do not need to inventory and stack "oppressions" and identities. We need to share common hopes, a common sense of fairness, common concerns and common needs. Every intersectional identity needs housing, healthcare, education, good wages and salaries, meaningful work and a safe city park where we can let the kids run around. Nobody and I mean, nobody, needs "Drag Queen Reading Hour". We (the Dems and the Left as a whole) need to evolve, now, or go extinct. There is no going back to the comfortable, self-soothing Left, Liberal and Center pieties of the last few decades. That game is over. (not that I have strong feelings about all this...)
I'm hoping the (thin) silver lining here is these bum ass Democrats will get washed in 2026 & 28. With a proper primary, I think it'll be difficult for them to sell these positions to left leaning voters.
Why do people assume, given the declared intent of the faction now in control of the government, and which has been undermining the franchise for decades, and which is working with ALEC and the Koch network to call for an Article V convention to essentially compose a new Constitution, will even bother with elections going forward.
Everyone keeps howling about fascism and authoritarianism, but from where I sit it's mostly just people watching a horror movie and screaming at the parts that scare them while overlooking the more important thematic message it's sending. Trump and his plutocrat cronies aren't just ignoring the Constitution. They no longer believe it's relevant. They're running things the way they see fit; and the "opposition party", which stopped being one when Clinton sold it to Wall Street in '92, is mostly full of Blue Dogs who move happily over to the other side, sometimes by actually switching parties after they're elected.
Wake up, people! You still think you're living in a Constitutional republic that no longer exists in reality and may well end entirely as an official entity--they only need 6 more states to sign on.
There were 12 Democrats in the Senate who voted for this law according to the names listed as voters. I have already contacted five and will contact all even though they are not from my state. We all must speak out.
It’s honestly this simple. People want to pretend it’s not, wake up. I was willing to honor the argument, in good faith, when this happened. But now we see exactly that the warnings were correct, so why is going to stand with ten toes down now and continue to tell us this act isn’t being used to deploy fascism? Get serious.
I would agree that the bill would be better if "charged" was replaced by "convicted". But the bill is largely ok and probably needed imo. There is already some due process in being charged with a crime. Note, AOC's example is misleading since accusing someone of a crime has no bearing. The bill only applies to illegal immigrats charged with a crime
A lot of voters believe there is an immigration crisis (there isn’t, really), and that immigrants are dangerous and violent people (which they’re not) who leech American resources (when just the opposite is true). As a result, certain Dems feel inclined to vote for anything that is portrayed as tough on immigration, even if it doesn’t help anything and only erodes our constitutional rights. The deeper issue is that democrats don’t have a consistent protective vision and message, so they end up reacting to right wing framing. That’s what happened with Dems supporting tariff talk (Whitmer), and it’s what happened over the last 20 years with immigration
So let me get this right. Some of the same democrats who are pushing against the deportation of migrants to El Salvador on the basic that they are accused without evidence of being gang members voted in favour of migrants being deported because they are accused of a crime. Not convicted, accused.
Could they really not see the coach and horses this allows an authoritarian regime acting in bad faith to drive through the open door they just handed them?
This article is a perfect example of why Harris lost and why new immigrants and working class voters have begun to leave the Democratic Party. Post-election polling make it clear the focus on "woke", trans issues, and being well-intentioned but soft in crime and illegal immigration are significant reasons why Trump won and why maga was able to expand their tent. The impact equivalency between far-right and far-left groups is a historical fact not only for 2024
If the Dems are focused on issues other than the economy, jobs, safety, and constitutional rule of law then they are not going to seriously contend for 2026 and 2028. All other issues are secondary
Apparently the constitution is now “woke,” laws like the civil rights act and the voting rights act are “DEI,” Biden’s hardline anti-immigration bill that Trump scuttled was “well intentioned but soft”…
Give me a break.
We're talking two different things, which might be part of your disconnect and why your rants don't resonate outside your outrage bubble. I'm primarily concerned about winning elections and defeating maga in the ballot box. Because the only way to affect the changes you want is to be in charge. As is apparent, can only do that by meeting the electorate (mostly low information, inward directed voters) where they are. It's important and great that you have your beliefs and values, we are aligned in most/all. But historically, elections are about the economy, jobs, and crime. If the Dems are not focused on this foremost, everything else doesn't matter. And social issues should definitely not be the focus especially in times of economic uncertainty as we saw in 2024
We didn’t lose because citizens were alienated by fairness for everyone etc. we lost because they cheated, multiple ways. 70% of vote tabulators are compromised. You can see it in the statistics. I’m following electiontruthalliance.org who are ramping up to sue In Pennsylvania, God bless ‘em. Thanks for the article Evan this is bothering me too.
We lost because high inflation, higher crime, and negative issues from a liberal border policypresented headwinds for the Harris campaign. And that Biden aged out. The rest of the unproven cheating stuff you cite belongs in the same fake "cheating" bucket that maga used in 2020
Kamala was focused on the economy, jobs, and crime, not "social issues" as you claim. You just don't seem able or willing to admit that. Your critique and analysis would be credible if it were rooted in the reality of actual Democratic messaging, rather than the right-wing propaganda about that messaging. Choose to perpetuate a false right-wing narrative if you wish; I root my analysis in an empirical understanding of what actual Democratic leaders do and say.
Harris ran a good campaign imo but the correct messaging on the economy, jobs, crime was way too late and I'd argue she never really got there. And she was never able to develop a cogent messaging on illegal immigration
Most of the campaign was spent talking about how the economy was doing pretty well from a macro level (which was true) and how nationwide crime was down when using FBI/UCR data (not actually true, which the electorate knew). If you have to use macro data to convince people the economy is better than they feel in their pocketbooks or that crime isnt as bad as they see and feel every day, then you lost the election. Didn't work for HW Bush regarding the economy, didn't work for Dinkins regarding crime in NYC
Harris also was weighed down by an ambitious Biden Administration that was overly focused on social issues as per the majority of the electorate. Example: Biden issues an EO his first day in office allowing trans girls to compete in scholastic girls teams. It took him 3 yrs to issue an EO on the immigration problem. He never issued an EO regarding inflation during his term. The electorate saw the disconnect. It's why almost 20% of 2020 Biden voters voted for Trump in 2024
They have to be: "charged with, is arrested for, is convicted of, admits having committed, or admits committing acts which constitute the essential elements of any burglary, theft, larceny, or shoplifting offense," Did you read the act? It does not read "accused". Being charged with an offense is a formal legal proceeding where an individual is formally accused of a crime and brought before the court. That is due process. ICE may not be giving due process but the people "charged" do get due process.
https://youtu.be/aH_gWH68glA?si=3QVucH-r5OXNK1xa
So, I have no argument with the scenario you present. But where is the Action Plan???? What, then, shall we do? Please, dear God, someone address this question!!!
Again, thank you. You and Pritzker are my dynamic duo.
Bless you for actually answering! I was completely NOT expecting a coherent and complete response like this! Thank you!!!
We have power, we have agency. A lot is wrong right now, but everything can be addressed. I wrote this piece because I was angry about harmful nonsense in the narrative. The more informed we are, the better equipped we can be to fix the narrative. Knowledge is power. We will get there!
Primary challenges for status quo liberal democrats
Massive protests to pressure Congress to act
Ultimately impeach the President, that is necessary.
Push back forcefully when arguments like this—like Mona’s—are made.
Check out governor JB Pritzker’s speech this week to the HRC. He exemplifies leadership and doesn’t needlessly punch left.
"the obvious first target would be AIPAC and its allies. But they never go there, because this isn’t about strengthening Democrats, and it’s not about beating back Trumpism. It’s about punching down at marginalized groups" - IMO it's less about punching down at marginalized groups than it is defending everything - no matter how vile - that Israel does. These people are so invested in defending Israel that they show time and again that it is more important to them than protecting the principles and democratic norms this country was founded on.
Take a minute and reread this piece. Not so much as a word about the traditional, historic base of the Democratic Party, the working class. The working class, the reason why there is a "Left". There is no Left politics without a base in the working class and without an agenda that meets working class needs. Everybody else is here, immigrants, immigrant criminals, trans people, including Laverne Cox!, people who use "latinx", LGBTQ, women (!!!), woke, me too, Palestine, Palestine protestors, oh, yeah I don't see indigenous 2S, or queer vegans for Palestine, or queer vegans AGAINST climate action (remember them, sitting down in front of your climate action march because "trans people will bear the brunt of climate change disproportionately!") Um, what?. Anyway, yeah, everybody else. It's true that the Dems veer Right after every election, whether they win or lose. It's also, true that their undead, unaccountable zombie "professional leadership" of hacks, operatives, lawyers, fixers and errand boys trots out an entirely predictable, auto-pilot "blame the Left" narrative every time anybody questions anything about the hopeless, long extinct dinosaur DNC. Sure, all true. But look at this piece. It could have been written, ironically, by some Right wing snark meister, like Charlie Kirk or Chris Rufo. Jesus, dude, you sound like a parody of yourself! Look up from your Judith Butler. The world has moved on. Nobody outside of academia and a few "collective houses" in Seattle, Portland and Brooklyn even talks like this anymore. Well, oddly enough, except for the tepid Democratic leadership you are at pains to critique. Did you catch the video from the recent party meeting, with Jaime Harrison, the chair, trying gamely to explain the "gender balance" rules, getting hopelessly lost and handing it off to some nameless party insider who didn't do any better? All this so they could guarantee of a few participation slots for trans-identified men, but with the caveat that they had to be called "women". And since you are looking at AOC, note that her position re trans is exactly the same as Biden and Harris's. Not even a ray of daylight between them. And you wonder why the country collectively said, "um WTF is this?".
You bet your arse, my dude, that the Republican "they/them" ad, that saturated swing state PA on Musk's $200M donation, made a difference. Of course it did. And trans athletes a "non-issue"? Maybe, unless you are a girl athlete cheated out of sports scholarship $$$ by a confused man with lipstick and long hair, who is a mediocre athlete when he competes vs other men. The male pubertal advantage is now as well understood, documented and accepted in sports medicine, physiology and you know, common sense, as the idea that the runner with the fastest time wins. And no, a couple of years of doping (I mean, that's what it is) to lower testosterone does not remove the advantage. But why do you need to know that when you have a photo of William "Lia" Thomas towering over Riley Gains. You think height and arm length don't matter in a sport where victory is decided in micro-seconds?
I know what you are thinking. Who TF is this reactionary troll? Nope. Sorry, dude. Leftie for life. I vote with Dems, only because the alternative is a stampede towards fascism. I loath the party insiders and the vacuous pap they think we should content ourselves with. I was 100% with Bernie in 2016 and 2020. And I've been walking precincts, phoning and marching since before your parents met. And I am here to tell you, that this almost religious fixation with "identity" is killing the Left and all hope for the return of a progressive working class. The last election proved that you are right about the party leadership. They are a fkg joke (on us). But you are way off on the solutions. It's not a matter of tilting "Left" or "Right". And it is not a matter of ever more painstaking self-flagellation over "marginalized, othered" identity group "rights" and ever more infinitesimal measures of their representation and participation I would argue in fact that identity politics are reactionary and tribal by definition and fundamentally in opposition to the core values of the Left. We need to shift the commonalities between almost all of us and the drastic differences between us and the corrupt financial elite. We do not need to inventory and stack "oppressions" and identities. We need to share common hopes, a common sense of fairness, common concerns and common needs. Every intersectional identity needs housing, healthcare, education, good wages and salaries, meaningful work and a safe city park where we can let the kids run around. Nobody and I mean, nobody, needs "Drag Queen Reading Hour". We (the Dems and the Left as a whole) need to evolve, now, or go extinct. There is no going back to the comfortable, self-soothing Left, Liberal and Center pieties of the last few decades. That game is over. (not that I have strong feelings about all this...)
What then is the real goal ..(THE one all along): of The DNC???:
A Clue??:
It ain’t pretty.
I’m sick. Of all the times for democrats to hang tough together, it’s now.
💯 you and me both, Harriet, you and me both.
True, but will the Progressive/Liberal Left stay tough? They didn't in certain key battleground states like MI in 2024
I'm hoping the (thin) silver lining here is these bum ass Democrats will get washed in 2026 & 28. With a proper primary, I think it'll be difficult for them to sell these positions to left leaning voters.
Very well said, Liz
Why do people assume, given the declared intent of the faction now in control of the government, and which has been undermining the franchise for decades, and which is working with ALEC and the Koch network to call for an Article V convention to essentially compose a new Constitution, will even bother with elections going forward.
Everyone keeps howling about fascism and authoritarianism, but from where I sit it's mostly just people watching a horror movie and screaming at the parts that scare them while overlooking the more important thematic message it's sending. Trump and his plutocrat cronies aren't just ignoring the Constitution. They no longer believe it's relevant. They're running things the way they see fit; and the "opposition party", which stopped being one when Clinton sold it to Wall Street in '92, is mostly full of Blue Dogs who move happily over to the other side, sometimes by actually switching parties after they're elected.
Wake up, people! You still think you're living in a Constitutional republic that no longer exists in reality and may well end entirely as an official entity--they only need 6 more states to sign on.
Thank you Liz. You make several salient points and ominously valid arguments.
Straight ON.
There were 12 Democrats in the Senate who voted for this law according to the names listed as voters. I have already contacted five and will contact all even though they are not from my state. We all must speak out.
It truly is our need as USA citizens to vote out all GQP members and the mealy-mouthed Democrats
from the Senate and the House!
It’s honestly this simple. People want to pretend it’s not, wake up. I was willing to honor the argument, in good faith, when this happened. But now we see exactly that the warnings were correct, so why is going to stand with ten toes down now and continue to tell us this act isn’t being used to deploy fascism? Get serious.
Legitimate question. Confused about the negativity over the Laken Riley Act, what is your issue about it. Seems like common sense
Watch this—
https://youtu.be/aH_gWH68glA?si=3QVucH-r5OXNK1xa
Thanks for this
I would agree that the bill would be better if "charged" was replaced by "convicted". But the bill is largely ok and probably needed imo. There is already some due process in being charged with a crime. Note, AOC's example is misleading since accusing someone of a crime has no bearing. The bill only applies to illegal immigrats charged with a crime
A lot of voters believe there is an immigration crisis (there isn’t, really), and that immigrants are dangerous and violent people (which they’re not) who leech American resources (when just the opposite is true). As a result, certain Dems feel inclined to vote for anything that is portrayed as tough on immigration, even if it doesn’t help anything and only erodes our constitutional rights. The deeper issue is that democrats don’t have a consistent protective vision and message, so they end up reacting to right wing framing. That’s what happened with Dems supporting tariff talk (Whitmer), and it’s what happened over the last 20 years with immigration