This seems like a worse own goal than “defund the police” as a slogan, best of intentions but the execution was so bad.
I’d put heavy money on Republicans running chunks of this interview hard during the run up to the midterms.
I have a sinking fear this will be one of those tragicomic moments of earnest, well intentioned progressives inadvertently helping trump, like when many sat out the 2024 election in a misguided attempt to somehow help Palestinians.
DSA as in Democratic Socialists of America, politicians like Mamdani.
Personally, I don’t think Democrats are worried about the DSA in the slightest because DSA candidates run on the DNC ticket.
They quote Schale, a “strategist” working for the DNC, who thinks that the DSA has an unrealistic platform which distracts from the DNC platform.
The democrats just lost an election on inflation and the border.
Romer, DSA co chair, is out there saying the DSA wants to abolish prisons and borders. These are broadly unpopular positions which the Democrats now have to waste time and energy convincing people those aren’t their positions.
And Republicans, for all their faults, are great at tarring opponents. Those questions could be run on ads nonstop until after the midterms.
The democrats lost because 6 Million people who voted for them in 2020 didn’t show up in 2024. GOP tally stayed mostly the same.
Economy was a major issue when polling voters, but more than that we saw the largest youth demographic shift towards conservatives ever recorded, as a result of TikTok and Twitter campaigning for Trump.
Nobody who ever voted democrat wanted Trump’s border plans back in effect, unless they’re brain damaged. It wasn’t a key issue.
A) blaming everything on tiktok and twitter is a little silly. (Though, I’d day the most effective part of that was convincing progressive allies to help trump by not voting.)
B) you should look at the exit polling, the top concern for trump voters was the economy and the border.
https://www.cnn.com/election/2024/exit-polls/national-results/general/president/0
Which is why, going on TV saying your end goal is to abolish borders is mind bogglingly unhelpful. No, people probably don’t like trump’s approach to the border but to then have someone argue their approach is no borders… just, goddamn that is so unhelpful.
Trump voters are the kind of people who would vote for a racist pedophile billionaire. It doesn’t matter what you say on TV, they will never vote for you. That’s why the border is a non-issue.
As much fun as characterizing half the country is, according to exit polls, 7% of Biden voters voted for trump in 2016.
https://www.cnn.com/election/2020/exit-polls/president/national-results
It’s closer to one third of the country, the same third that has consistently voted for unabsolvable evil and corporate interests every 2 years for decades because they mistakenly thought the GOP would lower taxes and that it would make the world better.
As for the exit poll, amounts below 10% are generally considered response bias. There is no way of knowing if that 7% of people voted for Clinton in 2016 and Trump in 2024, but it’s highly unlikely given Trump’s vote total increased 3% while the DNC candidates declined 8%.
I’m not sure if you were paying attention to it at the time but internal and external forces were pushing the protest vote movement to get DNC voters to disengage and self-disenfranchise. Wikipedia overview link here.
Sorry what? Where is this coming from?
I explained my reasoning pretty well in the comment. If you assume the sample accurately maps to the whole population then the numbers don’t add up, meaning some single digit percentage is lying
DNC leadership is terrified they’re still putting on a brave face for the moment. But it’s extremely telling. How the party spends more time and effort attacking DSA than they do the fascists. They tend to get all buddy buddy with the fascists. Keep in mind I am differentiating from the General DNC from the base by talking about leadership positions. They 100% see the DSA as more of an enemy than the GOP.
It just doesn’t make any sense to me. “Oh no! Passionate and popular candidates are running for our party and winning over people who generally don’t vote for us! We might even win back a true senate majority, soon!”
Like, if it were me I’d be cool with it no matter how much Mamdani might give me the heebie jeebies by shaking hands with Trump and pissing off certain large donors. (this is a hypothetical, I actually hate those donors)
Make no mistake, the current leadership and those in charge of the democratic party want nothing to do with you more than getting your vote either.
As to Mamdani shaking hands with trump. This is the problem with elected offices. You’re elected to represent everyone under you. Not just those you agree with. Ironically Zoran has gotten more shit from those on the left since being elected, that he has from anyone else. Just because of the way he’s been diplomatic and strategic about picking his battles. Leaving the NYPD largely intact. And trying to work with them Etc. People who would rather see him seriously provoking the toddler and his minions. Starting another battle on another front. Reducing the chance of Victory on all fronts simultaneously.
Zoron knows if it ever comes to a standoff with ice. He’s going to need the NYPD. Even if they generally don’t see eye to eye. By virtue of them all being new yorkers. They at least have that much in common and might stand with each other over invading fascists.
DSA candidates are 100% a threat to the Democrat Leadership class. Because of that I wish the DSA great success. Because they’re actually in it for the right reasons generally. I may have some issues with aoc. But I will 100% support her in 28 if she runs.
Well, unlike you I actually care about outcomes and opposing the GOP so I will 100% support whoever wins the DNC ticket. I’m sorry to hear that you believe losing to fascism is a risk worth taking to protect your fragile worldview.
What do you mean unlike me? You don’t even know me. Yes when it comes to the general election if it’s a Republican and a Democrat facing off against each other I will always vote against the Republican in the most effective way I can. Which generally means voting for the Democrat. You really need to stop jumping to conclusions about people. It’s a bad habit of yours. And completely non sequitur in this case. Just sort of nutty out of the blue accusations about things that weren’t even being discussed.
I’ve voted for the Democrat in every Nationwide election since the mid-90s. For all the good it’s done anyone.
This interview has likely made that task harder.
Yes, the DSA looked great in a primary against the Left half of the populace in Michigan and Maine. Maine, well, we saw the ungoodness there. In Michigan, the concern is that Sayed may be a weaker general election candidate than the alternatives. (Much like how a large part of the Dems’ chances in Texas is because Paxton won the primary and is considered a much weaker general election candidate.)
More importantly, the folks who might win the Senate for the Dems are coming from generally Red states, Iowa, Ohio and Texas. Which is exactly why this interview is goddamn terrifying! No Dem in the red states which are needed for the Senate wants to fight about abolishing prisons or the border.
He didn’t directly state in the quotes that he disliked the DSA candidates, merely that planning a campaign was becoming more complex when you have to explicitly state policy stances which are divisive and next to impossible to actually be realized during their term, such as police abolition.
Of course, Fox News and The Hill took that and ran with it.