Snowflakes. Groomers. Cucks.
For years the MAGA movement has approached politics the way a bully would approach a schoolyard, sparring with labels so nasty, they seemed expressly chosen to appeal to the kind of people who stuffed nerds in lockers in sixth grade. And for years Democrats, abiding by the mantra to go high, not low, have responded by trying to be the adults in the room: defending themselves with facts, with context, with earnest explanations that nobody remembers (if they defend themselves at all).
The problem is that taking the high road only works if politics is a sport played mainly by people who act like grown-ups, which it is not. And also: Facts and context don’t make for particularly sticky messaging.
Enter: Weird.
Over the past two weeks, as “Brat” and coconut memes have taken over the internet and Kamala Harris inches closer to Donald Trump in the polls, the Democrats have finally gone low, deploying a bit of verbal jujitsu so delightfully petty it might just work.
I largely agree with this. That’s different than saying that the two parties as they currently exist are mirror images of one another though.
As far as the content of your post, that’s where the need for extended strategy comes in. Until enough progressives/leftists work their way into the structure of the Democratic party on a state and federal level what you’re describing is unlikely to change. Bemoan the two party duopoly as much as you like, but it’s a reality. The way to change it is to infiltrate it and fundamentally alter the mechanisms that perpetuate it. It’s not going to work to just hope for one progressive/leftist at the top of the ticket, and complaining that the person at the top isn’t progressive/leftist enough can frankly be met with, “well, yeah, not much of a surprise there.” The Tea Party is the template. They completely turned their party to shit (well, more so anyway), but successfully infiltrated the party apparatus to reflect their political preferences. If the left does something similar we can actually make 3rd parties viable and no longer be beholden to the Democratic party, but that’s most probably a decade+ long project if we’re being honest about it. It’s unfortunate that the left is as fractious as it is; it only makes something like this more difficult.