The Party of Lesser Evils— And Lesser Convictions… You Can’t Beat Fascism With Corporate Liberalism

Corruption Is Bipartisan— And Voters Know It

About a third of the public is more or less all bought in on Trump. So why isn’t 60% or more of the public embracing the Democratic Party? In fact, the Democrats’ approval is as miserable as the Republicans’. On Fox Wednesday Bret Baier asked Bernie why the Democrats are so unloved by the voters. “I’ll tell you why,” he shot back. “People understand that the political system in this country is largely corrupt, both parties. Why is that? You know the answer. The answer is that you have billionaires in both political parties [who] determine what legislation gets to the floor and who is the candidate. You’re in the Republican Party and you say, ‘You know what? I don’t like this Trump idea of giving massive tax breaks to the rich and cutting Medicaid and education.’ You get up and say that, what happens to you? The next day, Elon Musk says, ‘I’ve got unlimited amounts of money; we’re going to run a candidate in a primary against you.’... Democratic Party side, what happens if somebody says, ‘You know what? Maybe it’s not a good idea to fund Netanyahu’s war machine, which is creating starvation for children in Gaza, I’m going to vote against that’ Next day, AIPAC is going to be running against you… We have a corrupt campaign finance system. Billionaires in both political parties are calling the tunes. The American people understand that.”

About a month ago, when I read about David Hogg’s plans to help support— in his capacity as an activist— primaries against incumbents, the title of my post was I Think David Hogg's Tenure As A DNC Vice Chair Is Likelier To Be Measured In Hours Than In Months. He hasn’t been fired yet… but the threat is like a sword of Damocles hanging over his head.

Yesterday, Ben Johansen reported that DNC chair Ken Martin “doubled down on his ultimatum for rogue Vice Chair David Hogg: Take a neutrality pledge or step down. ‘Party officers have one job: to be fair stewards of a process that invites every Democrat to the table— regardless of personal views or allegiances,’ Martin said.”

What a joke considering the DNC’s sordid, corrupt history with chairs like Debbie Wasserman Schultz blatantly trying to steal elections from reformers, not to mention the whole never-ending, reeking, super-delegate scandal.

The DNC establishment has Martin doing the dirty work against Hogg for hi bid to come off as a reformer, demanding he remain neutral in primaries, something Democratic Party organizations are not exactly well-known for. Now Martin is sullied, whining on Twitter that ““Some critics have wrongly framed this as an effort to shut people out of the party or to discourage contested primaries. Let me be unequivocally clear: That’s not only false, it’s the opposite of what I stand for… When I ran for DNC Chair, I ran on a platform of democratizing the party. Those reforms weren’t about any one person, and they certainly aren’t about me versus David Hogg… Long before David was ever involved in politics, I was pushing reforms within our Democratic Party… I am more committed than ever to introduce the slate of structural reforms that enshrine these values into the official rules of the Democratic Party. These reforms will require all party officers— including myself— to remain neutral in primaries.”

The Democratic Party is so utterly worthless that it would have no chance to accomplish anything at all— think the moribund Florida or Ohio parties but across the whole country— except for what it’s up against. Like my New Dealer/socialist grandfather used to tell me before I was even a teenager: “The only thing worse than the Democrats are the Republicans.” Take Trump, the head of the GOP cult, for example.

David Rothkopf: “Is Donald Trump just three fries short of a happy meal, or is he full-on howling-at-the-moon mad?… Each day we are forced to ask anew, and with more urgency, whether Trump is just an ignorant buffoon not up to the job or whether he is what they might have in the old days called catawampus, past-it, mentally unwell or even broken. How would you categorize the assertion that he doesn’t know whether he is obligated to uphold the Constitution? Has he gone completely Mad King? Do his top advisors slather him with praise in ways that would make Kim Jong Un blush because Trump is just an egomaniac who needs to be surrounded by fluffers? Or is it something worse than that? Is he so fragile they fear the consequences if they don’t slide on the knee pads and polish his balls until they shine like the rest of his cheeseball throne room? … But there is also a more chilling possibility that we should not rule out. It is also possible that every bad hire, every profoundly destructive policy initiative, every toxic choice made by Trump is not in fact due to mental defect but, on the contrary, is intentional. That it is consciously thought out and well-executed, part of a plan with the clear intent of destroying our systems as we have known them and further empowering our enemies at home and abroad. That’s not as funny as the late-night comedian jokes about our slumped, spray-tanned, reality TV windbag president. But it— the possibility that Trump is just the goofy, greedy, generally reprehensible superannuated hand puppet of others whose agenda he is being used to advance— is also, of all the possibilities we may consider for the off-the-rails performance of this government, by far the most likely.”

Now imagine if the Democratic Party was up against something competent! Like Bernie said, billionaires and corporate interests have hijacked our democracy. That’s the truth voters can feel in their bones, even if they can’t always articulate it. It’s why so many Americans tune out, why trust in institutions keeps cratering, and why even in the face of Trump’s authoritarian threat, millions still can’t bring themselves to vote Democratic. Until the party can break free from the grip of big money— or at the very least, show it’s willing to fight like hell against it— it will keep hemorrhaging support. People don’t want managed decline with better manners. They want someone who will stand up to the oligarchy, not just make deals with it.