This article appears in the Oct/Nov issue of The Progressive
Once upon a time in America, Democratic centrists and corporate donors decided that the best way to defeat Donald Trump, Christian nationalists, and techno-fascists was to spend millions of dollars aggressively attacking progressives and anyone else to the left of the Democratic establishment.
As the failed and illegal war on Iran by Israel and the United States raged on, causing food shortages and a spike in gasoline prices, the Trump family and its corrupt cadre of kleptocrats continued raking in billions from cryptocurrency and military-industrial-complex schemes. Thanks to Republicans gutting the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Food and Drug Administration, the country’s food supply, increasingly unaffordable, was infected with salmonella and an infectious parasite that caused explosive diarrhea and even death. Inflation continued to rise, and mortgage rates hit almost 7 percent, as wages remained stagnant for American workers who were losing their jobs while elites made record profits. And for the Epstein class, the Trump Administration continued its brazen cover-up of the Epstein files, deciding to deport Haitian immigrants instead.
With Republicans on their back foot ahead of the midterm elections, Democrats had a remarkable opportunity to go on a nonstop offensive and attack them for their incompetence, corruption, and failed policies. The GOP was hemorrhaging support, losing huge swaths of independent and Latine voters. Compounding their self-inflicted wounds, Trump doubled down on his support of the world’s worst people—including U.S. Representative Randy Fine, Republican of Florida, who said he prefers dogs to Muslims, and Representative Max Miller, Republican of Ohio, who was credibly accused of abusing his ex-wife and daughter. Trump maintained a relationship with anti-Muslim bigot Laura Loomer, who interrupted her near-daily stream of Islamophobic invective to ridicule Angie Nixon, a Black woman who overcame remarkable odds and spending to win the Democratic primary for the U.S. Senate in Florida.
Instead of focusing on all of these easy political layups, many Democrats, supported by corporate media and MAGA, decided to demonize Hasan Piker, a socialist Twitch streamer who made the fatal mistake of criticizing Israel and promoting Medicare for All. The fake crisis began when Mallory McMorrow, a Democratic state senator from Michigan, attacked Abdul El-Sayed, one of her opponents in the state’s primary race for the U.S. Senate, for doing a single campaign rally with Piker. Democrats eventually welcomed more than $60 million of outside money, mainly from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, or AIPAC, to support the other Democratic candidate, U.S. Representative Haley Stevens, and to crush El-Sayed. (They lost.)
What was so scary about El-Sayed and Piker, aside from both of them being brown-skinned, Muslim men with muscles? They both called out Israel’s genocide, supported abolishing U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), proselytized Medicare for All, and criticized elected officials who take money from AIPAC, artificial intelligence (AI) companies, and cryptocurrency interests. Although he isn’t a member of the Democratic Socialists of America, El-Sayed’s positions on these issues were shared by other upstarts who won their races, including Melat Kiros in Colorado, Donavan McKinney in Michigan, Zohran Mamdani, and members of “The Squad.” These allegedly “far left” positions were very popular with the Democratic base and gained traction among a majority of voters.
One would assume the Democratic Party and its leadership, reeling from bad favorability numbers and having previously lost the House, Senate, and the White House to Republicans, would take notice and adapt. Unfortunately for many Democrats who feathered their nest from these sources, that was a bridge too far. Fascism and genocide they could tolerate, but opposing Israel and billionaires? Oh, no. Something would have to be done.
In the first week of September, four Democratic centrists and proud supporters of Israel decided their priority was to introduce a resolution condemning democratic socialists. One of them, U.S. Representative Jared Moskowitz of Florida, a pro-Israel war hawk, had just been appointed to the House Foreign Affairs Committee to oversee the Middle East and North Africa. U.S. Representatives Debbie Wasserman Schultz, of Florida, and Wesley Bell, of Missouri—two Democrats financially supported by AIPAC and out of step with the majority of the party—were also added to the committee. For his part, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, of New York, continued accepting money from AIPAC, even as it was funded by rightwing pro-Trump billionaires. Jeffries also decided to tweet in support of Representative Fine, who was on the receiving end of antisemitic rhetoric from his primary opponent, Dan Bilzerian. Then, Jeffries found time to go on television to 𝕏condemn Piker, reject Medicare for All, and attack democratic socialists. He even decided it was a good idea to have a secret meeting with Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner about “affordability.”
Neera Tanden, the president and chief executive officer of the liberal think tank Center for American Progress, spent all her time on X attacking the left, even going so far as to approvingly repost Loomer’s Islamophobic libel of Piker. Even though Democrats told their base to “vote blue no matter who,” U.S. Representative Hillary Scholten of Michigan, another proud recipient of AIPAC money, refused to endorse El-Sayed for Senate against MAGA Mike Rogers. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer seemed to imply that Democrats were open to losing Michigan if there were other pathways to regaining the Senate. Third Way, the “centrist” Democratic advocacy group, was so committed to this goal that they were ready to spend $15 million against progressive Democrats.
Thanks to Democrats helping make Piker into a household name, Fox News ended up mentioning him more than any other topic in the first week of September, including their favorite boogeyman of transgender athletes competing in women’s sports. Despite talking about him all the time, no major cable news outlet actually invited Piker to discuss or debate his views.
While this was happening, Israel’s leaders openly admitted their plan of ethnic cleansing and greater colonization, and shared horrific AI-generated videos depicting Palestinians in concentration camps. Techno-fascists like Elon Musk pledged hundreds of millions of dollars to help Trump and MAGA win in November. ICE continued to harass Americans, and American soldiers kept being wounded in an unwinnable war in Iran.
Thankfully, a majority of the American people woke up and saw the wizards behind the curtain. They were all part of the same big club, taking money from the same political action committees, and doing the bidding of the same corporate masters. Despite the propaganda, lies, and smears, more people became radicalized against AI data centers, endless wars, Israel’s genocide, and corporate greed. If anything, the desperate attempt by the establishment to crush progressives only galvanized them, forcing them to realize that the Democratic Party had to be culled of its quislings, “centrists,” and corporate hacks, and replaced with fighters willing to take on and dismantle the broligarchy.
***Because I’m a terrible capitalist, here’s a great 25% off discount for new paid subscribers. It’ll only be about $3.75/month or $38/year.
There are no paywalls, and The Left Hook continues depending on the kindness of our readers
