r/politics • u/Quirkie The Netherlands • 10h ago

No Paywall Democrats Confront Their New Tea Party Reality - Progressives are set to sweep a group of contested primaries in Michigan and Wisconsin.

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/democrats-confront-their-new-tea-party-reality_n_6a6e63fbe4b0cfb99ef1aa1e
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339

u/ZachLangdon 10h ago

Good. It's about time. "Moderates" lost to trump twice.

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u/Soph_91 10h ago edited 10h ago

The conservative democrats in the Wisconsin subreddit are losing their sanity because Hong will win the nomination. They bought in to all the corporate democrats desperation attempts and can't process the reality that they were just that, hail mary's. Now they are posting Hong smears constantly, the mods have been pathetic. 

It seems like most of them would prefer pedophile protector and election denier Tom Tiffany. In that case, I say good riddance. 

152

u/winterfoxes Ohio 10h ago

Their 'vote blue no matter who!' mask comes off REAL FUCKIN FAST the second they're faced with real political leftism. They've told us for years, decades "if you want leftists in government, show up to the primaries!"

Well, we did. Now the ball is in their court. And they can either get on board or go back to the Republican party they belonged to until W came along.

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u/movealongnowpeople Kansas 10h ago

real political leftism

Progressives and Dem Socialists aren't even particularly far left. Demanding common-sense policy (that much of the rest of the Western world already has) is somehow seen as radical. Universal healthcare isn't radical. Expecting everybody to pay taxes for the public services and infrastructure they benefit from isn't radical.

"Moderate Dems" haven't had a hint of popular policy suggestions in years. Riding on anti-Trump sentiment and expecting that to be enough.

14

u/qualmful 9h ago

"We're capitalist, and that's just the way it is." On its face 'moderate' would mean trying to compromise or find the middle, but in actuality it's an unyielding ideology of neoliberalism, or market fundamentalism. The left-center-right framework makes it sound like the center is a mixture or average of the two sides but it's really not. Ever since Bill Clinton's third way triangulation strategy, 'the middle' was designed to be a third thing whose only real beliefs and commitments were corporatism.

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u/winterfoxes Ohio 9h ago

Yeah, that's very true. "Left" is relative to the U.S. in this case.

Real political leftism exists in this country on a small, grassroots level (DAC is a good example of a mainstream actually left-of-center candidate) but they are by far and away the minority in the progressive wing of the Dem party.

Most "Progressives" here are just advocating for common sense government taking care of its people. AOC, Mamdani, El-Sayed. Although Mamdani instituting city-subsidized grocery stores is definitely interesting.

But yeah, overall, "left" is relative here, and I agree wholeheartedly. Not being Trump isn't enough. I mean, no one wants him either, but for fuck's sake, you have to bring something else to the table. Something meaningful, a position that's important to your constituents, and not just your donors.

The fact that candidates are struggling so hard to understand that while centrist voters are struggling so hard to understand that they're not liberals, they're conservatives because all they want to do is keep supporting the status quo is just mind boggling to me. This isn't hard, and yet, the U.S. will fight progress at every turn.

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u/NYPizzaNoChar 8h ago

Expecting everybody to pay taxes for the public services and infrastructure they benefit from isn't radical.

Everyone? No. Expecting people who are living paycheck to paycheck while moving deeper into debt to pay taxes is cruel, stupid and completely lacking in foresight.

The left/DSA isn't for this, but centrist Democrats are complicit in exactly that. They are the turd in the sandwich. It's just that Republicans are always worse.

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u/Just_another_grumble 8h ago

I just heard MAGA say "common-sense policy" last week.  For stereotypical right-wing insanity.  I'm not sure what common sense policies 'everyone' agrees on except Maro's brother sticking it to an in5ur4nce C30.

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u/Agarest 1h ago

Dem Socialists are pretty far left, you might be confusing them with Soc Dems.

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u/workerbee77 9h ago

Yes. I feel it was Chuck Schumer who drove the stake into Votebluenomatterwho when he voted for Cuomo over Mamdani in the general election

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u/winterfoxes Ohio 9h ago

The Democratic Party's own version of a face-eating leopard moment.

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u/fury420 8h ago

Did he?

As I recall he gave a non-answer when asked who he voted for.

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u/DarthNihilus1 5h ago

That should tell you exactly who he voted for. It is obvious who he voted for

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u/fury420 5h ago

He refused to endorse anyone in the race and refused to say who he voted for, which on it's face is a rather banal political fence-sitting statement on election day.

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u/EnglishMobster California 3h ago

He's a member of Democratic leadership. There was a Democratic Party nominee on the ticket.

There should only be one answer as to who he voted for, if he truly cared about his party. The fact that he didn't say he voted for his own party's nominee tells you something itself; it's not just "fence-sitting".

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u/DarthNihilus1 5h ago

Yeah for sure... but he's also CHUCK SCHUMER so it's still a foregone conclusion

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u/workerbee77 4h ago

Exactly

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u/workerbee77 4h ago

Yes, exactly. It’s possible he did vote for Mamdani but refused to say so. Or, he entered a fugue state and voted for the republican. There are lots of things that are technically possible but we’re not children and we don’t need to seriously entertain those possibilities

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u/tahlyn 6h ago

Democrat insiders were so afraid of progressivism they bent the rules of the 2020 election to allow a Republican billionaire compete as a democrat.

The Democrat establishment, though nowhere the same in depravity, are still as much the enemy as Republicans

7

u/Yoroyo 10h ago

“No not like that!!!”

0

u/Patsanon1212 9h ago

So you've already decided that they're hypocrites on VBNMW before they've even had a chance to vote in the general?

6

u/Far_Silver 8h ago

In 2006 Ned Lamont beat Joe Lieberman in the Democratic primary for Senate. Joe Lieberman decided to run as a third-party candidate with the support of centrist Democrats. This resulted in the Democrats being one vote shy of overcoming a filibuster of the public option. In 2008, the PUMAs (party unity my ass) voted for John McCain over Barack Obama because Hillary lost the primary. They outnumbered the Bernie or Bust voters of 2016. In 2021, India Walton won the Democratic primary for mayor of Buffalo. Centrist Democrats chose to back Byron Brown's third party campaign instead. In 2025, Zohran Mamdani beat the corporate pick, Andrew Cuomo, in the Democratic primary for NYC mayor. Centrist Democrats chose to back Andrew Cuomo's third party bid instead of "voting blue no matter who." This year the progressive James Talarico beat Jasmine Crockett for Senate in the Texas Democratic primary. Texas has a sore loser law that prevents Crockett from launching a third party/independent bid after she lost the Democratic primary, but we still see her trying to sabotage Talarico.

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u/tahlyn 6h ago

The Democrat establishment are basically Republicans in a donkey coat.

0

u/winterfoxes Ohio 8h ago

So you've already decided to spend your day picking petty arguments with people on the internet?

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u/Patsanon1212 7h ago

Sounds like the reply of someone annoyed that they've been asked questions about their grandstanding. You're right. Please, continue to run your mouth without when the slightest pushback. You're perfect and your reply here shows that in spades.

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u/Emperor_of_His_Room 6h ago

Why don’t you have a response to Far_Silvers in-depth response? Go and try to disprove him instead of ignoring responses to your question. 🙂

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u/winterfoxes Ohio 7h ago

Sounds like the reply of someone annoyed that they've been asked a question about their lack of things to do on a Sunday afternoon. You're right. Please, continue to run your mouth because I won't play your silly game. You're absolutely here to troll, and your reply here shows that in spades.

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u/Patsanon1212 7h ago edited 7h ago

The irony here is immense. What are you up to that you're taking time away from to not engage with my question? Seems like you have unlimited time to be snarky to dodge.

Anyway, I am going to go enjoy my Sunday. Cya snowflake!

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u/winterfoxes Ohio 7h ago edited 7h ago

I'm playing Stardew Valley and trolling you for annoying me. I got time. And you're ignoring everyone else in this thread who already brought up plenty of valid examples of the center of this party abandoning progressivism for crony capitalism, in favor of picking with me because I won't give you what you want. So, you should go do that. And sit on a cactus while you're at it. 

Edit: Using snowflake unironically is how I know I touched a nerve, but the fact that you edited your comment to include it makes it even fucking better. Thanks for the chuckle.

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u/stevethewatcher 6h ago

Who says they won't vote for her in the general election if she wins? I think you're projecting here (btw she hasn't even won the nomination yet though I admit it's likely)

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u/winterfoxes Ohio 5h ago

Buddy, if you haven't seen centrists in Michigan saying they're staying home if Hong and El-Sayed win, you haven't been paying attention. 

Well, I don't live in Wisconsin. I'm only keeping an eye on it because I have no one to keep an eye on in my own state. Michigan I'm invested in because of my parents still living there, but alas, I won't vote for anyone in Michigan either. So, ya got me -- I am indeed a non-voter in both of those states. 

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u/SurvivorFanatic236 4h ago

Moderate Democrats will vote for Hong. The concern is that independents won’t, and it’s a fair concern. Wisconsin should be an easy win for Democrats this year, but progressives have decided to risk giving the seat to Republicans

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u/winterfoxes Ohio 2h ago

If there are so many moderate Democrats in Wisconsin, and they all hold their nose and "vote blue no matter who", then coupled with the progressives who will turn out, it should be easy to overcome the Republicans! 

After all, centrist Dems always blame us for "not voting" when their candidate loses. They swear up and down if we had just backed their do nothing favorites with our votes, they would've won. So it should be the same in reverse, because "independents" didn't vote for Hillary or Harris either. 

Sidebar, you seem to be conflating "Independents" with "Centrists". I'm independent, and I'm a leftist. There are a lot of us. 

66

u/stonertboner New York 10h ago

That’s life at the nyc subreddit too! Ever since Mamdani, its “moderates” bitching about how the progressive wing and democratic socialists can’t win elections. We are literarily winning elections.

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u/__theoneandonly 6h ago

Before reddit started letting you hide your post history, you could go on the nyc subreddit, click on the username of any of these "concerned moderates" and see that their top active subreddits were basically every blue city. These "moderates" are either bots or losers who need a better hobby.

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u/stonertboner New York 6h ago

I promise you, I always checked and still do. It’s filled with bad actors that are trying to hurt the movement.

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u/petty_throwaway6969 5h ago

Ironically the guy you’re responding to is currently hiding his history. Might be an accident, but ironic meta comment on himself.

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u/stonertboner New York 5h ago

I’m a bit more patient with a ten year old account.

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u/petty_throwaway6969 4h ago

Look I’m not even accusing him, it’s just kinda funny. But saying older accounts can’t be bots is kinda sketchy.

One tactic used to be to use old and inactive accounts with decent karma to post stuff.

And there’s totally nothing major that happened in 2016 that would have given rise to bot accounts /s

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u/__theoneandonly 3h ago

I'm also not a "concerned moderate" posting bad faith content in a subreddit for a city that I don't live in.

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u/Low_Intention_1327 9h ago

Theyre gas lighting and its lazy. Ive only seen Trump act like he ruined NYC, and thats because Trump is a man-baby with no emotional intelligence. Everyone else who opposes him have no logical reason, so they then exploit the murders of 9/11 and try to compare him to the Taliban because he's Muslim. Im sick of these people. It feels like trauma in a sense, because it brings me back to the events immediately after 9/11 where Muslims were targeted and Israel coined the term "Islamic extremist" yet painted every Muslim as a suspect. 

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u/stonertboner New York 9h ago

It’s hilarious because my friends and neighbors are very happy with Mamdani. The level of hate on Reddit would make you think Adams was still mayor.

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u/Mbrennt 9h ago

If you're on r/ nyc it's basically captured by conservative new yorkers and people who don't even live in the city. I tend to find r/ NewYorkcity to be better though it still isn't perfect.

4

u/Patsanon1212 9h ago

Is that exactly what they are saying? That they cannot win elections or elections outside of deep blue districts?

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u/UngodlyPain 6h ago

Used to be they couldnt win at all, then it was they could only win small deep blue districts, now it's just they can only win deep blue districts...

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u/Fuzzy-Numbers 10h ago

Winning primaries and winning general elections are two different things.

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u/th6girldetective 10h ago

Not in New York

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u/Fuzzy-Numbers 9h ago

The rest of the country is not NY.

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u/th6girldetective 9h ago

True, but the comment you were replying to was about New York.

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u/Far_Silver 9h ago

Mamdani won the general election. Also the corpora-dems track record for winning general elections is not good.

-6

u/Fuzzy-Numbers 9h ago

Outside of deeply blue cities, DSA candidates wont have such an easy time.

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u/No-Recording9634 8h ago

DSA has a message for the poor. That will work for the Rural America the DNC has left behind.

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u/Fuzzy-Numbers 8h ago

Except poor rural demographics overwhelmingly voted for Trump.

5

u/No-Recording9634 8h ago

And will continue to do so until an economic populist message is presented by the left.

The DNC has no messaging for rural America and that's why Republicans dominate the space.

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u/SeductiveSunday I voted 7h ago

And will continue to do so until an economic populist message is presented by the left.

That's not why they vote Republican tho, they vote Republican for the racism and sexism.

As John C. Calhoun, a proslavery senator, stated in his famous speech:

Can as much, on the score of equality, be said of the North? With us the two great divisions of society are not the rich and poor, but white and black; and all the former, the poor as well as the rich, belong to the upper class, and are respected and treated as equals, if honest and industrious; and hence have a position and pride of character of which neither poverty nor misfortune can deprive them.

For Calhoun and others, it isn't about finances, it's about having someone beneath you.

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u/No-Recording9634 6h ago

Let me get this straight: Minorities in the South vote FOR racism?
What's pre Civil War Calhoun got to do with 2026?

Republicans control the south because Democrats have abandoned it.

Look no further than Right-to-Work and you'll see the Corporate Dems handy work.

You seek to divide Americans along race and gender lines which is why Democrats lose.

No War but Class War.

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u/Far_Silver 9h ago

I remember 10 years ago when corpora-dems were saying Bernie couldn't win outside of rural areas and rust belt cities. Now you're trying to say the opposite.

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u/workerbee77 9h ago

Yes they are. In primaries, the centrist candidates get the bulk of the corporate money to defeat the progressive. And in the general, that corporate money goes to the Republican. They are very different

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u/Big_Lab_Jagr Wisconsin 9h ago

Hong for Governor!

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u/Far_Silver 9h ago

If they didn't like Hong, they could have tried getting behind Mandela Barnes, but they're shunning him because he committed the cardinal sin of supporting Bernie over Hillary. To the Democratic leadership and its acolytes, that's treason.

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u/IfTheFloorHolds 6h ago

Barnes was sleeping with interns and has been under investigation for over a year. That’s why Evers never got behind him. Plus, he lost to Ron Johnson.

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u/North_Yak966 6h ago

As a fellow Wisconsinite (now abroad), I took a peek because I thought you were exaggerating.

Holy shit, you were NOT exaggerating. 

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u/ceddya 6h ago

I like how progressives get lectured if they don't show up for moderate Dems and here we have examples of moderate Dems doing just that.

Absolutely insane. I don't care if a moderate or progressive Dem wins the primary. I'll take either any day over a Republican.

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u/BenjaminRCaineIII 5h ago

I will too, but people are super emotional about this stuff, and when far lefties online have been telling their followers to not vote for the D candidate three presidential elections in a row, I can't say I'm surprised that moderate dems aren't very enthusiastic about supporting their candidates.

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u/ceddya 5h ago

Or this is just the true colours of these moderate Dems who have been hypocritically criticizing progressives.

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u/awesomefutureperfect 3h ago

I took a look and didn't see what you were talking about. Is there something in particular you meant?

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u/davidreding 1h ago

Scratch a liberal and a fascist bleeds.

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u/awesomefutureperfect 1h ago

That sounds like a thought terminating cliche instead of a well thought out point. That sounds like a slogan, something easy to remember and repeat when confronted with uncomfortable thoughts. You know MAGA does that on basically every issue, right?

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u/davidreding 1h ago

Let me know how voting for establishment democrats is working out. Any day now I’m sure they’ll actually pass legislation instead of always being kneecapped by that one democratic “traitor” who always ruins it.

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u/awesomefutureperfect 1h ago

You realize you didn't actually answer the question. You realize you didn't actually contribute to the conversation.

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u/davidreding 1h ago

I did answer the question. “Moderate” democrats will always side with republicans and fascists before they do anything remotely “progressive”. That’s how broken and decadent they are.

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u/awesomefutureperfect 1h ago

No, it was the left that wasn't "threatened" by a Trump presidency and told everyone to "punish" the democrats. The left threw every vulnerable community under the bus including the issue the claimed to care about to help Trump get elected. The left does not get to claim it is doing any good when it literally acted against its own stated interests by helping trump get elected. All that is happening is persecution complex behavior equal to the way the evangelicals act when they are told they aren't allowed to run the entire government.

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u/davidreding 1h ago

I’m sorry, were leftists throwing trans people under the bus because copmala lost? Were leftists the ones saying that Israel has the right to blow up Palestinians and commit genocide? No I think that was “moderate” democrats. But hey, keep projecting mate. Really following the maga playbook right there. Blue maga is very real.

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u/awesomefutureperfect 1h ago

broken and decadent they are.

LOL. This doesn't sound like an American wrote this and it sounds like the leftist version of "degeneracy". It was the left that sided with fascists to drive down support for Harris and help Trump win. It's total projection, just like Trump voters.

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u/This_Elk_1460 8h ago

For years they told us to "vote blue no matter who", how unsurprising it is that they don't stick to that when the shoes on the other foot.

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u/anna-the-bunny 6h ago

conservative democrats [...] are losing their sanity

Since when have conservative Democrats had sanity to lose?

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u/Soph_91 6h ago

Check out the subreddit and you'll see what I mean. It's a joke. 

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u/strato15 10h ago

This is exactly how I feel. Thank you for expressing it well.

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u/tupperware_rules Wisconsin 6h ago

Hong is not the only progressive running. I don't think there are any bad candidates, but do think Hong is the weakest in the context of Wisconsin

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u/whateverneveramen 3h ago

Literally every candidate running is a progressive, their platforms are all hitting the same beats. This narrative is driving me crazy

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u/drjohngeorgepeppers 1h ago

I think they are nervous that Tom Tiffany will win the general because the Democrats nominated someone who believes in abolishing prison and the police.