Brian Leeland, a 79-year-old Democratic voter in Detroit, had enough. Frustrated by the way the US media covers this febrile political era, from Donald Trump’s Washington to political campaigns across the country, he contacted the Guardian.
“Your decision to frame the race here as a simple progressive versus establishment choice is overly simplistic verging on lazy,” he wrote to this reporter, after our coverage of progressive Abdul El-Sayed’s campaign in the Democratic US Senate primary in Michigan. “As an electorate, we are not binary for the convenience of the media.”
His was a complaint I heard often as I traveled across the midwest to cover a host of contested Democratic primaries. So I called him up.
Leeland’s list of frustrations is long: grifters, liars, the two-party system, money influencing elections, the US’s standing in the world, the growing national debt and a fixation on cultural issues, not just the larger problems that plague the country.
…
I have no idea how things can or will improve. As an outsider, America is a strange place. Unfortunately, the world seems hell bent on copying everything it does.
There will be executions after the midterms. The only question is whether they will be orderly and for the people, or chaotic and by the people.
We are so far removed from that prospect that it almost depresses me, because that’s what we need to do to the oligarchs.
Such things only occur when it’s an act of desperation. Reasonable people don’t rebel. People who’ve been pushed beyond the point of reason rebel.
Exactly. And while they keep pushing us farther and farther, we are still far too comfortable.
Yes, most Americans are very upset with the establishment. They just can’t agree on who the establishment is.
Obviously Trump is currently the establishment since he’s the one in power right now, but the irony is a lot of the people who voted for him did so because they were angry with the establishment that preceded him. So, many Americans are angry at an establishment that was meant to take on a past establishment that many other Americans had been angry with.
It’s establishments all the way down. And what do they all have in common? Being servile to capital.
Obviously Trump is currently the establishment since he’s the one in power right now, …
Trump and maga are not the establishment. They are extreme radicals with a completely different agenda than the establishment. Their agenda is to do away with the Constitution and replace it with an authoritarian regime centered on christian nationalism and fascism–of that’s not radical, what is? The fact that they managed to take over the government doesn’t make them “the establishment” unless you accept that they will maintain power and thus become a new “establishment”.
I understand what you’re saying, but I don’t entirely agree. Trump did win the presidential nomination of one of only two established major political parties. Many Republican politicians who had been part of the US political establishment for decades are now among Trump’s coalition. Trump also has the support of some established media organizations, like Fox News. I would also argue that the business establishment is largely the same as it was before Trump came into office.
It’s not radical, it’s reactionary
No, it’s radical, dude, totally
<not a serious comment, 100% a joke based on the 80s slang>
“The establishment” is a vague and nebulous term
I like this Leeland person.
When will they will figure out bOtH pArTiEs are “The Establishment”? Don’t hold your breath!
I vote, and you should, too. They are not the same. One party is “pro-LGBT” and the other is “pro-church” and they are bOtH pro-corporate, pro-billionaire, pro-war, anti-union and so on.
The differences are the bait. The commonalities are the establishment.
“bOtH sIdEs” is only true for establishment Dems, and if you pay attention, progressives are gaining in power and prominence. DSA is not the only source, but it’s becoming a lightning rod.
Show me ANY good Republicans. I’ll wait.
The only hope for us is to support the actual progressives instead of lumping them in with the establishmen Democrats, because doing the latter is EXACTLY what the fascists want.
So it’s like you’re mostly right but critically wrong when you write off both parties. And yes, voting is critical, but what is even MOR critical is supporting progressive candidates before the primaries and into the primaries and THEN in the general. Always vote, and when you vote, always take the better - or less shitty - option. That’s where “vote blue no longer who” comes into play - in the general election, an establishment Dem is still less shitty than a fascist Republican.
Jared Golden is a halfway decent Republican
Cute, but for anyone else who had to look him up - he is a Democrat.
Not everyone, that’s why establishment Democrats are fighting progressives in their own party harder than they are fighting Republicans. We need to vote in the progressives to actually represent us.
Yeah, realising your entire lineage’s lifelong earnings for generations amounts to sofa change to megalomaniacs who are also making sure your grandchildren will suffer even more than you are now is bound to make one testy.
e: all the while children are dying by genocide. The wrong people are being listened to.
79 years old.
Leeland’s list of frustrations is long: grifters, liars, the two-party system, money influencing elections, the US’s standing in the world, the growing national debt and a fixation on cultural issues, not just the larger problems that plague the country.
Come gather ‘round people Wherever you roam And admit that the waters Around you have grown And accept it that soon You’ll be drenched to the bone If your time to you is worth savin’ Then you better start swimmin’ Or you’ll sink like a stone For the times they are a-changin’
Come writers and critics Who prophesize with your pen And keep your eyes wide The chance won’t come again And don’t speak too soon For the wheel’s still in spin And there’s no tellin’ who that it’s namin’ For the loser now Will be later to win For the times they are a-changin’
Hopefully it’s channeled productively for ounce.
Or pound
Americans: anything but metric ;-)
Every two or four year the socials are ablaze with the blue wave stuff. And every year it turns out to be a nothing burger.
Reddit, lemmy and other social media are piss poor ways of judging election out comes. Too much of an echo chamber.
And nothing I’ve seen or heard locally is changing maga into democrats. They are still 100% behind the great orange beast.
And every year it turns out to be a nothing burger.
Wait, what? We had a massive blue wave in '18 and '20.
And nothing I’ve seen or heard locally is changing maga into democrats.
More whether they decide to show up or not.
I also don’t like the framing of this being just trump and not the whole republican party and AIPAC dems
In 2020 congressional incumbents won 96% of their races. The “massive blue wave” flipped 2 senators to D and 13 representatives to R.
You’re ignoring that Congress people often resign before they can lose. You always get a wave of resignations preceding a wave year. Politicians see the writing on the wall and quit so they don’t have to suffer the career setback of losing a race. If you think you’re likely to lose, you’re better off resigning before the election to “focus on your family.” Then a few years later, if the political winds shift again, you can run again without the smell of a loser on you.
That’s why I included the seat flip, too. In the supposed “massive blue wave” of 2020, Democrats lost 13 seats in the House.
Something looked kooky about your numbers. I figured it out. You’re trying to analyze 2020 as a blue wave year! That was never a blue wave year. It was just a regular election that Democrats won. Biden was a milquetoast candidate that barely beat Trump, even with the pandemic helping him. It was absolutely not a blue wave year. The grandparent post was just wrong on that point.
For a blue wave year, see 2018. In that year Democrats gained 41 seats in the House. This is more likely to reflect what 2026 will look like. 2020 was not a blue wave year. It was a pretty balanced election. Both parties had unpopular old men at the top of the ticket.
The 2020 presidential election enjoyed the highest turnout rate for any national election since 1900. Democrats turnout out 8% more voters than Republicans overall. But, obviously, this matters less in a segmented wta election system.
Nevertheless, this was historic Dem turnout.
It was also historic GOP turnout.
Had either flagged, it would have been a landslide for the other party.
Exactly, I’ll believe it when I see it, Americans need to feel a hell of a lot more pain before they’ll vote responsibly.
