Yes, an excellent book. newrepublic.com/article/2086...

Bari Weiss did not force CNN to turn its 10 pm hour from Don Lemon defends democracy to Scott Jennings defends authoritarianism. The network did that all on its own.

The issue is that nonpartisan, independent, and fact-based (good goals for journalism) have been replaced by centrist and equally critical of both parties, neither of which are journalistic principles. So confronted with a radical wing of the GOP, legacy media invents equally radical Dems.

If Bari Weiss/the Ellisons take over CNN, some of the journalists there will be looking to slam the left to keep their jobs. But others there won’t need the prodding. They have already been punching left for years.

Great thread.

Almost none of the senators and governors who spend years/decades positioning themselves for presidential runs have a real chance at the Oval Office. But having no chance frees things up for Zohran and means his supporters don’t have to worry he is always thinking 10 years ahead.

He preempted the,”What about Saudi Arabia” rejoinder that the governor of Pennsylvania in particular thinks is the world’s most brilliant argument.

“Objective” political journalists can’t apply the, “How will this play in Wisconsin” test they use to police any non-centrist pol if that person is not running for president. I wish Zohran could run, but an excellent politician who isn’t positioning themselves for president is very useful.

I wonder how much of centrist Dem anger over DSA/leftist pols is repressed shame. Didn’t they all start off as idealists with dreams of a more just world? Life happens and now you need a story for why yours was the right way — the only way. Mamdani as narcissistic wound.

one thing ive noticed when talking to most centrists and moderates is that if you can get them to stop playing pretend political consultant and focusing on what hypothetical voters want, and instead get them to articulate policy they support, they are far more progressive than they realize

Never forget. One of the dumbest remarks ever made by a political commentator. The last nine years have shown this remark wasn't an outlier. www.cnn.com/2017/03/01/p...

"AOC is willing to speak truth to power and be a firebrand on behalf of working people. But in her DNC speech, she weakened that connection by carrying water for the people committing the most severe crime of the 21st century," writes Kareem Elrefai. www.thenation.com/article/poli...

p.s. This is good news! Now if only mainstream outlets could stop quoting him like it's 1999.

@daveweigel.bsky.social is right. The big pitch of the establishment, NYT, Yglesias, etc is that they need the keys to the car because they know how to win (and in the Trump era, winning is existential). But nobody really believes that anymore after 10 years of Trumpism

⚡❤️

Well said.

as a committed centrist, it saddens me that both parties are falling captive to their extremes - the right to insurrectionist cultists who want to invade american cities, and the left to socialists who want better bus service

"If you believe that every situation requires more fascist appeasement, then it makes sense to identify you not as a misguided foe of fascism, but as a fascist with, perhaps, some minor reservations," writes @nberlat.bsky.social. www.everythingishorrible.net/p/keir-starm...

Congratulations to the young multi-racial coalition of New Yorkers who are demanding better.

“One of the many failings of reactionary centrism is its utter unfalsifiability: if you lose an election you have to move to the right on social issues to win next time. If you win an election you have to move to the right to govern.” www.liberalcurrents.com/starmer-out/

Excellent @polphilpod.bsky.social piece. www.liberalcurrents.com/starmer-out/

This is excellent. Worth looking past the electoralism headline since this is really a moral argument drawing on civil rights history.

Maybe if I start making provocative claims with no evidence to support them I can get lots of hate clicks and Silicon Valley will back my substack and I can finally pay off my student loans.

"the left has ceded all notions of patriotism to the right" is a real [citation needed] claim

I’m honestly confused. Progressives just staged three of the largest protest in American history under an explicitly patriotic frame rooted in American history. Who exactly is ceding all notions of patriotism to the right?

Hesitation about patriotism right now is happening for entirely understandable reasons, and yet tons of lefties and Dems are embracing the flag anyway. If someone is constantly creating a version of reality clearly meant to advance their project or status, when do you stop listening to them?

If you’re going to comment on the future of the left, I’m going to be a lot more interested if you’re part of the left.

NYT is always "progressives should abandon their principles! Sell out! Sell out! SELL OUT!" This is something you will constantly find at the NYT, a piece dressed up as a news article that is editorializing frantically for a political position, not neutrally presenting the facts.

It’s funny because the 1619 Project is the ostensible source of much of this backlash and it was a fundamentally patriotic project in placing and tracing the Black experience within the larger American project/self-conception

The left ceded all notions of patriotism to the right? I saw that and didn't get it. Then I remembered the same person's assertion scolding everyone that they have to be on X because that's where persuading regular people happens, and it made more sense. Sometimes the timeline delivers.

I expect to see this re-circulating every time Spanberger even thinks about higher office. Bookmark it now, #Virginia.

Well said.

"Spanberger and Sherrill decided to provide material help for Trump’s fascist movement because opposing seemed hard. That doesn’t make them tough and pragmatic. It doesn’t make them normies. It makes them betrayers," writes @nberlat.bsky.social. www.everythingishorrible.net/p/centrism-m...

I say this with all sincerity and no objectivity. Sarah’s new book Second Sight is THE perfect book to read this holiday weekend. And if you’re in DC, this conversation is going to be 🔥🔥🔥❣️

Can we stop taking the Atlantic seriously now?

Almost all of the Black touchstones uplifted in the US were avowed socialists and Communists and I always find this so funny. So many people including some Black people elide this fact.

Bernie Sanders endorses Melat Kiros!!! Melat and Denver DSA have built a true bottom-up political movement. We're bringing it to Congress to abolish ICE, end the genocide, and deliver Medicare for All.

Right. And Obama is pandering to your desire for normalcy. But real leaders don’t do that. Real leaders would tell the truth about who George W Bush is and was and bring people like you and me along with them. Obama is a great man. But he is not a leader for these times.

Islamophobic Gillibrand does not get the smoke that Schumer does but she's equally terrible. Hope she gets a good primary challenge when she's up for re-election.

the dirty secret of the popularists is they got exactly what they wanted with Starmer and it was such a catastrophe they've pretended it was something else

Cannot tell you how much I'd prefer having Dem party messaging revolve around emotionally unstable podcasters than laying down in front of CNN, Bari Weiss, The Atlantic and The NYT begging them to like us like we did during the Biden years

Every Dem that has enriched themselves in THIS moment of crisis should be driven from office.

America has an extremely well funded, powerful, *minority* contingent that thirsts for an apartheid state. Its interests are represented by Republicans. Your support for Republicans is support for apartheid. Those are the stakes (always have been).

A strong showing by DSA candidates in this election cycle will produce the most substantial and hopeful electoral moment for the left in many, many decades, going into 2028. Time to think big. www.hamiltonnolan.com/p/embrace-le...

The national Dem leaders' nostalgia—for a return to the conditions under which Obama ascended to and held the highest public office—is perilous for the nation. @perrybaconjr.bsky.social's latest piece leads the way in providing the very sort of rooted-in-reality assessments we need to escape peril.

Excellent, illuminating convo between Coates and @chrislhayes.bsky.social Connects well to @perrybaconjr.bsky.social’s New Republic piece today: newrepublic.com/article/2120...

More reminders for me to crack this open when I’m back home next week