It behooves us to pause for a moment to consider that barely any actual radical leftists exist in the United States. Radical leftists would be calling for the execution of oil executives and the bombing of fossil fuel producing sites. They would go full communist and demand the seizure and redistribution of wealth, as well as state or worker takeover of industries, depending on which flavor of commie they are. It would be an army of Luigi Mangiones or people who believe similar things about the failure of capitalism to address the needs of humanity. That's extremism.
You know what's not extremist? New York's Brad Lander's platform. Lander defeated incumbent Congressman Dan Goldman, with Goldman's support for Israel being a major factor in his loss. Lander wants to pass a bill ending support for Israel as long as the country is violating international law, which, sorry, sure doesn't seem out-there unless you don't give a shit about such things. On other issues, Lander proposes sane, left-of-center policies that enjoy majority support in the country, like implementing Medicare for All, raising taxes on the wealthy and corporations, and abolishing ICE.
If you look at the supposedly most radical of the trio of Mamdani-backed candidates, Darializa Avila Chevalier, who defeated incumbent Rep. Adriano Espaillat, you get...someone who pretty much backs the same everyday liberal policies that Lander (and Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren and AOC and many others) backs. Wanna know some of her crazy ideas? "Raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour" and "Establish free universal childcare and Pre-K" and "Prohibit Congress members from trading stocks." Wacky, no? She has some things that are pie-in-the-sky policies to shoot for, like guaranteed minimum income and "Create a four-day 32-hour work week with no loss in pay." But, again, none of this is outside of left-wing of the Democratic Party conversation. If Chevalier had said, "Nationalize the auto companies" and "take away children and raise them in communes," then maybe it would have been justified for carbuncle of doom James Carville to go on Fox "news," for fuck's sake, and say that Democrats should not "seat her as a member of the Democratic Party."
As for her old tweets that have considerably more actually far left viewpoints, who the fuck cares? Man, it's Twitter. Everyone shits the bed on Twitter. Everyone says fucked up things to piss people off. And even if they really believe it, it doesn't mean a candidate is gonna run on the wildest things they believe (even if, truth be told, I agree with Chevalier on a bunch of it). She shit on Democrats as much as she shit on the right. Jesus fuck, Trump is executing people without charge, arrest, or trial, and we're wasting time talking about if a candidate still believes her grad school political theory or if she meant it when she said, "Defund the police." Fuck off, John Fetterman.
You know what's not real, though? The freakout I mentioned at the top. Even in the Politico article I linked to titled, "Centrist Democrats are freaking out about progressives’ winning streak," the actual freak out is less screaming and running through the streets naked except for a stuffed Care Bear stuck on your dick (we've all been there, right?), and more, "Oh, I guess we need to adjust our perspective for the next election." The article has quotes from "centrists" who say things like, "Yeah, those Democratic socialists sure have been getting well-organized. We should do that more." It's also got quotes from progressives saying that centrism hasn't been working and that's why voters want people who, as I said, believe what they believe. (And the article notes all the establishment Democrats who did win their primaries, which also makes a shit fit over progressive wins seem dumb.)
At the end of the day, Democratic voters (or, you know, all voters) need to do what's right, and that's shut the fuck up and vote for the Democratic nominee. That's all you have. Democratic nominee or more destruction. If you're a "moderate" (which I think just means you support Israel and don't want to tax rich people quite as much), shut the fuck up and vote for the progressive nominee, even if it's a Democratic socialist, because you have no other choice, you simpering genocide-enablers. If you're a Democratic socialist or liberal populist, shut the fuck up and vote for the moderate nominee. And, yeah, that might mean you have to suck it up on Israel because you have no other fucking choice, you fucking smug nihilists.
As for centrist elected Democrats, stop giving fuel to the right-wing fire about supposedly "communist" candidates. Welcome the left and let them drag the party back to what it's supposed to be: a place that seeks to make sure everyone gets a shot and treats people with compassion and care, not Republican-lite, not trying to compromise with crazed fascists or doing Stephen Miller's work for him. And stop being assholes who act all cozy with the same Republicans who cheer on the torture of migrants and the denial of rights to women and LGBTQ+ people. Maybe these alleged wild and woolly leftists can lead the party to its soul again.
