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It's not rocket science. What did they expect?

I'm not convinced this is "the moderate wing of the Dem party" in terms of many moderate voters: it's a grift. People who have money to burn (many of whom don't like socialism) are being wheedled that their money can win them the soul of the Democratic party, can keep those social-democrats at bay.

I mean, the story is from one guy

It makes it pretty clear that being in charge of a party is incredibly lucrative, moreso than even holding power in government

Just a reminder that Third Way gets its "polling data" from Blueprint, a polling and public opinion research firm owned by centrist billionaire Reid Hoffman. It's a convenient way to give Dems their marching orders & for the party to very quietly embrace Citizens United.

Counterpoint: I don't think it's a bad thing if a lot of these so-called moderates take themselves out. My worry has been: bsky.app/profile/cv-d...

Oh, Third Way. Yeah, all seven of their members made their beliefs known long ago. The rest of us just want Democrats to win, DSA or not, because the alternative is what we're stuck in now.

But the main person saying this go to war nonsense in this article is Third Way numbskull- Third Way mainly acts as a spoiler operation against Dems as far as I can see We can’t let Carville and Maher and the NYT’s thumb on the scale divide us

This is Third Way tho. NYT calls them "Moderate Dems" because the NYT Times reports to the RNC.

You know in tag-team wrestling where two of them gang up on one in the ring and the ref is for some reason arguing with the victim's partner who's gesticulating to have him see what's behind him? THAT'S what it feels like the 1007th time I hear Dems fighting their left harder than any Republican.

I suspect this is far more about what Peter Baker wants than what any actual Dems want

Come on, Micah, you're better than this

Grass Roots DSA baby🎯🤍💙 Find out what life is like when we actually benefit from our Tax dough💰💰💰💰

Damnit...who should know better 😠

The work across the aisle stuff is obviously bullshit. If they're really willing to work across the aisle, they should be even more willing to work with people on their side as well.

I mean, sure, but this is pretty much just Goldmacher/NYT giving Cowan single-sourced billing to pitch a Third Way fundraising campaign. The frame is straight slop.

I really cannot stress how much elected Ds hate get complaints from the left. I saw it for 20+ years inside campaigns and in congressional and legislative offices. We should be grateful.

Perfectly stated

you see, he’s Muslim and therefore automatically socialist 🫠

But this article is about 2 moderate guys in a trench coat, not any sort of wing in the party with any power. Them not having power is probably explicitly why the Times is trying to prop them up.

When there's such an obvious winning strategy with little/no downside and they repeatedly don't take it - gotta wonder what game they're actually playing...

But, but...big tent. Gotta pull in those right-wing voters that...er...yeah. The big $ donations? I mean, pft, surely that's nothing to do with it, they just give us that b/c they believe in our cause. Ahem...but if you go "too far left" (ie-at all left) we'll lose...for some reason?

Third Way is bankrolled by tycoons. Think of them as Republican undercover agents probing the Democratic Party for weakness.

But also "the coming war" is just like one third way group. You don't actually get the sense from the article that there is any coming epic conflict.

This is the same “leading centrist group” that the NYT always quotes and profiles. It’s just like that one tradwife influencer they keep going back to. The NYT is manufacturing the sense that there’s a crisis in the party because they want to defeat the left wing of the dems.

So easy to see why Dems manage to be their own worst enemy. "How dare progressives have ideas that ring true to the masses! We have Corporations and Israel to think about!"

Good.

like, if you're spending $15MM (which honestly seems like a drop in the bucket these days) between now and 2028 to discredit a growing segment of the Democratic electorate and set of candidates, with many 2026 primaries over now… you're supporting the GOP

Experience has shown to those outside the circle that ceding territory to evil people does not result in peace. It results in slaughter. History does not remember appeasement kindly. Neville "Peace in our time" Chamberlain George "Immediate armistice" McClellan

Primary voters are, by normie standards, weird and extremely invested in politics. Dem primary voters *used to* (and still do in some demos) recognize this ajd were previously quite good at tactical voting with an eye on winning the general. But the current wave of young urban white voters isn't.

You'd think politicians would be good at politics. Alas.

Senate Dems are still regularly voting for Admin judges and nominees. That is the one power Senate Dems actually have and they refuse to use it. If they did across the board opposition, there would at least be something tangible to point to.

LMAO

Attacking the DSA is just doubling down the same mistake HOW DO THEY NOT SEE THIS its insane

Because I think you're right that "will they fight" is the primary consideration in a lot of these primaries. Which is why someone like El-Sayed, who explicitly he says he doesn't really think Trump is the main problem, is winning over those voters so well.

You have to signal something like anger/agency and being angry at Capital, data centers , or Zionism at least gestures in the right emotional direction.

I don't have the right way to articulate this I don't think, but the moderate dems always feel like they're trying to lose because it's easier to raise money when you're "fighting the establishment" than when you're in control.

Exactly where I'm at as a voter. I could vote for the Republican who wants to destroy Democracy today to satisfy their own greed and need for power, or I can vote for the establishment/moderate Dem who is cool with destroying Democracy tomorrow as long as norms are preserved. Same result.

This is increasingly the kind of centrist that makes up the actual electorate, but not the average cable news green room or editorial byline bsky.app/profile/mc-h...

And it certainly just feels like they aren't even slightly trying. I honestly feel like blaming Schumer for a lot of this is very understandable, because his call to action speeches are 'we are sending a letter!' to someone who rather famously doesn't read

It's a total failure of critical thought. If the path to fighting a fascist political party is through bipartisan appeal to try and sway people that might vote for fascism, you don't really have a democracy in the first place.

Left to center spectrum SO much less important than the answer to the question “Are you fight-coded?”

This I do agree with, though. I want MAGAs to suffer and their leaders to go to jail. And I'm behind whoever can make that happen (which, I will acknowledge, folks on the left seem most vocal about working for).

This, 100%. I don't want someone that works across the aisle when the people across the aisle are Nazis.

I have some acquaintances who are proudly ‘moderate Republicans’ and have been open about some Dem Socialist candidate ideas due to how much they hate the Trump admin’s extreme positions. Mind you these are educated people who actually know what Socialism is compared to certain Fox News watchers.

This was one of Biden’s tactics—work with “normal” GOPers, and MAGA will wither. But that failed so catastrophically, that anyone paying even a little attention realizes there is no way to “meet halfway” with the GOP anymore. We need people who recognize we have to fight for every inch.

Party leadership just got old and didn't want to recognize that R's radicalized two entire generations against them who are now going to vote entirely on who undoes all the damage they've caused (and vengeance for the suffering inflicted too)

"We'll be bipartisan to get things done" lasted over a decade past when the GOP all but came out and said "we're not going to give an inch on anything ever again."

“I will be trusted to be steady and keep this ship going” is a great pitch when people like the way the ship is going! “I will punish these motherfuckers with the long dick of the law” is a great pitch when they don’t!

Em effers said electrical

If it had reversed leading up to the Obama admin we wouldn’t have ever gotten Trump, but here we are.

If the fundraising numbers are to be believed almost all the big donors are only giving to the GOP anyway

Unfortunately, many moderates are posting through it rather than figuring out some way to fight back. It is a bad look to post about the bad things happening and the rest of us going..

Any establishment dem voice at this point is just mad on behalf of their lib/centrist donors

agree with pretty much all of this. to extent progs are winning purple primaries this is a "war" agst yr own voters. far more effective than this "war" is getting more policy-mainstream Dems into the "fight" lane where they speak a language that seems relevant to what voters are seeing.

And there are bad actors out here trying to widen that divide for their own purposes as well. A lot of 'em work off the same script, so they're easy enough to spot if you see enough of them.

I think some of the lining up behind him came from repeatedly getting kicked in the teeth. They may be fickle, but they mostly know to follow where the wind is blowing. They can't keep their cushy jobs if they lose.

At some point I think even the donor class will change their tune, they just have to go through all the stages of grief that their “moderates are the adults in the room, go along to get along” attitude towards the Republicans has been wrong for years and is now widely understood to be wrong.

Agree and I would also say, it’s clear that not all folks voting for so called democratic socialists in these primaries agrees with everything they claim to stand for; I would wager that almost none of the people who voted for Chevalier want to abolish prisons or police. They are seeking fighters.

Kinda worried about the media. Every other Atlantic headline at this point. The war with the NYT was an enormous factor in bringing down Biden. The death of any semblance of a "liberal media" has been a crippling blow to the Democratic party, and it's on full display right now.

And the nyt reporter says as much in the comments section of his article

I think this point was illustrated 9 years ago when Gillibrand decided to go on a crusade against Franken and ultimately succeed and getting him to resign. One could argue about the nobility of this but she absolutely destroyed any future political ambition with this move.

Yep, I genuinely think the thing that is that these primaries are actually competitive and that means that yes they will get divisive...but there has been very few where it feels like afterwards there is anger at the winner, the closest is probably Mamdani?

This Evelyn Normielib thought working across the aisle should've died the minute Gingrich wheeled out his "Contract on America" and forced Rs to sign it. I'm just pissed it took over 30 years for everyone else to get mad enough to reject establishment Ds. I'm tired of having to choose a lesser evil.

But reversing course and fighting is beneficial both morally and politically. I’m from Maryland and I like Chris Van Hollen more than I ever have.

Especially when in the same article, all the moderate Dem electeds they talk to said they're gonna back progressives!

El-Sayed isn’t a DSA candidate! He’s just not centrist-moderate

Forget that Abdul El-Sayed is DSA. He has a very impressive resume. They could use in the Senate! And no I don’t identify as Democratic Socialist.

This is story is (A) bullshit (B) targeted at exactly 2 audiences. 1: The soft racist donor class who actually buy subscriptions to the NYT. 2: Online tankies who will rage share the headline. Because I dare you to find more moderate democrats than Chuck Schumer and his Baliey’s.

This headline is incorrect. Democrats are United.