Progressive Democrats Are Winning Primaries: What Will This Mean For the General Election?

Robert Reich: The Real Meaning of El-Sayed's Victory

"With the victory of progressive Abdul El-Sayed over Rep. Haley Stevens in Michigan's Democratic primary yesterday, prepare yourselves to hear enormous quantities of bullsh*t about the Democratic party now being taken over by Democratic Socialists.

Or, as the reliably establishment New York Times described what's at stake, 'Can an insurgent candidate, with unabashedly left-wing positions, win in a moderate state?' 

Oh, p-l-e-a-s-e!

Michigan Democrats didn't chose El-Sayed because he's "unabashedly left wing," or because he's a Democratic Socialist (in fact, he's not).   They chose him because he is a fighter--at a time when America needs fighters willing to stand up to the worst tyrant who has ever occupied the Oval Office." --Robert Reich

Thank you, Robert Reich, for that very clear, honest evaluation of just exactly what did happen in Michigan.  I agree with his assessment 100%.  

Maybe Reich is a little bit hesitant to go out on a limb and predict an El-Sayed victory.  But I'm not a professional pundit or commentator.  So I'll say it.  A majority of Americans are sick to death of the corporate money running our politics and dictating more and more aspects of our lives.  And we are even sicker of seeing the Presidency of this country become the playtoy of a spoiled rotten brat who has no respect for anyone, not even himself, and who is using this office to enrich himself and his children at my expense, and yours.  

And they're going to elect El-Sayed, because they understand that his opponent, Mike Rogers, is a corporate sell-out, and a brown nosing Trump sycophant.  He's going to win for the same reason that Troy Jackson surged ahead of Susan Collins in the Maine Senate race from the moment he was announced as Graham Plattner's replacement.  And for the same reason that James Talarico, in spite of all of the resistance of pollsters who can't seem to get out of their minds that there are more Texas voters with reasonable intelligence than there are ignorant stooges, will become the first Democratic senator from Texas since Bob Krueger.  

And for the same reason that Gina Hinojosa, the Democratic party nominee for Governor of Texas, just pulled even with Greg Abbott in the recent polling in that state. 

Democrats generally talk a good game when it comes to believing that Trump is an existential threat to American Democracy, but the Democratic establishment has done little to stop him, even when they had the power to do so.  That's because they, too, are subject to the whims of the billionaires who are buying the government, representative by representative, senator by senator, and they are protecting Trump at all costs.  So there are a lot of empty words coming from Democrats who are proclaiming the Trump threat, and pointing to the Trump incompetence, moral bankruptcy and dementia, but actually just sitting in their own feathered nest, doing as little as they can get by with and still remain credible. 

I've watched this as the opposition to Trump has grown exponentially and gotten much louder, as No Kings marches and rallies have grown and made a real impact, becoming a genuine threat for a whole phalanx of Republicans in state and federal government.  I'd have expected Democratic politicians to be right in the front, leading the marches and being the loudest voices.  And a few of them have shown up.  But not like one might expect of the opposition party.  The loudest voices in opposition are coming from within the population, and many of them are independent voters.  

It's apparent, with primary victories of candidates like Juliana Stratton, in Illinois, who has been very visible in the No Kings movement, and who is much more progressive than her opponent, Raja Krishnamoorthi, was.  That made the difference in my vote, and it clearly had an effect on many others as Stratton, an underdog, surged to a win in the last days of the primary.  Looks like Michigan voters tend to feel the same way.  

And as reluctant as the pollsters seem to be to admit it, the progressive wing of the Democratic party is energized right now, and their enthusiasm is going to carry a lot of Democratic candidates over the finish line in November.  This is going to be a bigger blue tsunami than most people think it will be.  And it is because of principled progressives like Abdul El-Sayed.  

Of course Republicans are going to push to emphasize the extreme side of Democratic candidates.  But this is an ongoing theme, and people tend to brush most of that aside as nothing more than campaign rhetoric.  Most Americans are clueless when it comes to economic realities, theories and who owns who and what.  El-Sayed had a great response to his opponents ignorance when he pointed out, very simply, that his name was not the reason Americans are now paying high prices for gasoline.  

And that's one of many reasons why he's going to win this election. 

And I can make one more prediction.  If the establishment Democrats fritter away what is shaping up to be a massive victory that will neutralize Trump by all this "party war" talk, and all the false narratives, then they can forget about winning in 2028.  If they can't embrace what is now the most enthusiastic wing of their party, and its voters, then what are they doing that is worth the time, effort and money they are spending?