Criticizing Democrats During The Rise Of Fascism
Whatever criticisms you may have of the party, if they are not put in the correct context there is a real danger of creating a false equivalency.
by Ben Cohen
I started writing about politics in 2007, just three years after graduating from the University of Sussex. Back in those days, if you weren’t militantly anti-Israel, an avowed Marxist, and ready to get yourself expelled protesting the legalization of all recreational drugs, you were regarded on campus as a capitalist, racist, sellout.
While I didn’t buy into all of this, I was pretty far Left and wrote about politics under the heavy influence of thinkers like Noam Chomsky, Edward Said, Howard Zinn, Naomi Klein, and Tariq Ali. I took the perspective that the Western imperialism was the source of all evil in the world, and that all non-Western nations were engaged in a desperate battle for survival against their capitalist oppressors.
This Manichean battle was also playing itself out in America, where malevolent corporatists and white people were working feverishly to oppress the noble working class, and all brown and black people. Democrats were sell outs and appeasers of the neoliberal capitalist agenda, too weak and spineless to really fight the dark forces my intellectual heroes wrote about so powerfully. John Kerry was a puppet. Hillary Clinton was a warmongering corporatist. Dennis Kucinich was a real Left winger, as was Mike Gravel and Ralph Nader.
The Obama effect
In 2008 Barack Obama appeared on the political scene and announced his candidacy for president. I found myself intrigued by this new political phenomenon — a liberal who could speak to all the issues I cared about, but with a highly pragmatic approach. I’d never seen a politician with Obamas ability to find common ground across the political spectrum. His rhetorical talents were matched by his extraordinary intellect too, and I found myself being pulled for the very first time away from hardened ideology. What was the use of being right if nothing ever changed? If hard Left figures had no chance of ever affecting policy, why was I supporting them? Obama was someone who could do something — not everything I wanted — but something. After eight years of grotesque foreign policy, a battered welfare state, and a non existent reputation around the world, I saw Obama as a unique opportunity to push the country in the right direction.
After Obama’s election in 2008, my views on politics began to change more dramatically. I had a hard time letting go of my hard Left roots, but the more abuse Obama took from the hard Left, the more necessary I felt it was to leave them behind.
Obama faced unprecedented obstructionism, racism and hatred from the Right, and still managed to pass one of the most significant health care bill in US history. He brought the US back into the international community after eight years of neocon warmongering and bullying, signed up to the Paris Climate Accord, helped pass the Dodd–Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, and the Don't Ask, Don't Tell Repeal Act of 2010.
The hard Left insisted none of this was good enough and that Obama should have done more. I would often ask friends who opposed him how more could have been done, and their answers were always the same: vote out corporate Dems and replace them with real Left wingers. I would then ask how this would work in purple states like Arizona, Nevada, Ohio, and New Jersey, where any hint of Left wing radicalism would send much of the voting population into the arms of Republicans. According to my friends, this was the DNC’s fault for funding centrist candidates. If only they would fund the radicals! Having done some door to door canvassing in swing districts myself (in New Mexico and Oregon) I knew this made no sense whatsoever. Democrats weren’t funding centrists because of some nefarious scheme to line their pockets with oil donor’s cash, they were doing it so they could win. As Obama would always say, “Don't let the perfect be the enemy of the good.”
The Banter is entirely reader funded, and your membership is vital to our survival as an independent media outlet. Banter Members get access to all Members Only articles, The Emergency Meeting Podcast, and Member chat threads.
When Donald Trump announced his candidacy for president after a highly successful and deeply racist “birther” campaign against Obama, I fully renounced any links I had with the hard Left. Democrats and Republicans were not the same. The GOP was no longer a political party in any meaningful sense of the word, and not supporting a viable candidate to beat Trump was, in my opinion, tantamount to endorsing him. I did not particularly like Hillary Clinton as a candidate, but she was infinitely better than the sociopathic narcissist heading up rapidly growing neo-fascist movement on the right.
Criticism of Democrats
There are many issues I have with mainstream Democrats. I think they are too close to corporate power. I don’t like their cosiness with Israel, and much of the party has been far too trigger happy when it comes to foreign policy. In recent times I worry that the party has been captured by identity politics extremists and is adopting rhetoric and policies that I personally dislike and think will harm them electorally.
I’d like to spend more time writing about this, because these are trends that need to be addressed. Sometimes I worry I am censoring myself when I choose not to cover these issues when they arise, so I make sure to speak out when I feel it is necessary.
When it comes to politics in the UK, I am far more liberal with my criticism of the Left. I don’t see a need to filter myself at all given the country is a functioning two party system where both sides have legitimate points of view that are debated properly. But this is not the case in America.
The modern GOP, a review
The MAGA dominated Republican Party views climate change and environmentalism as a liberal/communist hoax. Trump treated the Coronavirus pandemic as an inconvenience, spread huge amounts of disinformation, and likely killed upwards of 400,000 Americans through his brazen incompetence. Trump’s Supreme Court picks has taken away abortion rights for millions of women. Republicans in Congress have blocked every meaningful gun control measure proposed by Democrats for decades. Republicans have consistently voted for Trump and refused to hold him accountable for criminal behavior during two impeachment trials. Trump will almost certainly be the GOP candidate in 2024, and most Republicans will vote for him, as they did in 2020 — even after he tried to steal an election and overthrow the US government.
There is no debate to be had with this movement, no reasoning, no attempts to bridge the divide, and no reason find common ground. Claiming that this incarnation of the GOP is in any way comparable to the Democratic Party is not only absurd, but dangerous. The Democratic Party believes in climate change and taking action on it, and they behaved responsibly during the Coronavirus pandemic and did their best to counter Trump’s suicidally stupid behavior (that included almost taking out the entire White House). Democrats believe in gun control, protecting women’s reproductive rights, the rule of law, and most importantly, democracy itself.
Whatever criticisms you may have of the party, if they are not put in the correct context there is a real danger of creating a false equivalency.
How not to report responsibly
Twitter Files journalists like Matt Taibbi for example, spent months promoting a very tenuous narrative that Big Tech and the Democratic Party were engaged in a systematic campaign to censor free speech online. Leaving aside the fact that the basic tenets of the story were wrong (and brutally debunked), Taibbi’s journalism promoted the notion that Democrats were actually worse than Republicans.
I do believe there was some merit to the Twitter Files censorship stories. Much of Twitter’s content guidelines were often nonsensical and unevenly meted out (although contrary to Taibbi’s reporting, the evidence showed conservatives were actually favored by the company’s algorithm and Republicans demanded censorship of liberals more than the other way around). We do need to be wary of Big Tech’s relationship with government and the public has a right to a greater degree of transparency.
That being said, if you are covering stories like this journalists need to a) get the facts right, and b) put them in proper context. This is especially true when one political party is attempting to rig elections, dismantle democratic institutions, and elect a fascist into power. There were many issues with the Social Democratic Party of Germany in 1930’s Germany for example, but had the German media been more invested in exposing the insidious ideology of the National Socialist German Workers’ Party, one wonders whether history might have turned out differently. If this analogy seems far fetched, then you haven’t been paying attention.
Some on the hard Left are acknowledging the reality of what is going on:
There are obvious logical problems with this statement. It doesn’t seem to have occurred to Uygur that “the establishment” cried fascism because their opponents were fascist, or that the disbelieving half voted for fascism because they are fascists.
Establishment shills like myself recognized this many years ago and decided to act accordingly. So I cried fascism while trying to responsibly report on issues within the Democratic Party.
As a reporter and columnist, I don’t view it as my job or place to shill for any particular party. But I do view it as my job to inform the public that both political parties are not the same, and that treating them as such will only lead to disaster.
Read the latest for Banter Members and get a 50% discount on a Banter Membership:
The Democratic Primaries Are Not Going Well (For People Not Named Joe Biden)
The Democratic Primaries Are Not Going Well (For People Not Named Joe Biden)
by Justin Rosario
The Democratic primaries are in full swing! Candidates are waging a brutal war to decide who will be the 2024 nominee and it’s getting ugly! Insults are being flung! Shade is being cast! Corn dogs are being eaten at county fairs! Everyone is pounding the pavement to prove they are the most in tune with the average American voter in *looks at map* Iowa and New Hampshire.
Oh wait, those are the Republican primaries. Really ugly stuff going on over there as everyone is looking to dethrone Donald Trump. But what about the Democratic primaries? Weren’t they supposed to be a contentious slog with multiple challengers to the allegedly super unpopular President Joe Biden?
Well…the Democratic primaries are going poorly. For people not named Joe Biden.
Your aura says you are…a fraud
Marianne Williamson declared her candidacy back in the distant past of...March. She was immediately heralded as The Mighty Biden Slayer by the Alt-Left and the press, both of who desperately want to weaken Joe Biden ahead of the 2024 election.
She was a Very Serious Person and you better take her seriously. Except for a single Fox News poll, she never got out of the single digits — so maybe not that seriously. Outlets like Politico actually reported on Williamson being, well, an asshole:
Interviews with 12 people who worked for Williamson during her 2020 presidential campaign paint a picture of a boss who can be verbally and emotionally abusive.
Those interviewed say the best-selling author and spiritual adviser subjected her employees to unpredictable, explosive episodes of anger. They said Williamson could be cruel and demeaning to her staff and that her behavior went far beyond the typical stress of a grueling presidential cycle.
I say, “surprisingly” because this kind of reporting is usually reserved for candidates, usually women, who the press wants to torpedo. It was very clear that as the first challenger to Biden out of the gate, the press was invested in Williamson doing some damage. Maybe the reporting was too solid to ignore or maybe Williamson’s flaky performance in 2020 was still fresh in the minds of journalists. Either way, the story got traction and Marianne Williamson…didn’t.
Last week was the coup de grâce as her former national field director spilled the tea:
After her book launches in September, we can expect her campaign to quietly fold up and disappear. She did the same thing in 2020 when she released her last book in the middle of her previous Very Serious bid for president. I suspect she’ll blame it on the neo-liberal establishment so she can run again in 2028. Just in time for her next book.
It’s galling that Williamson is wasting people’s time and money on the Left, particularly when the Democrats have a genuine fascist in Donald Trump to beat in 2024. At least she is not inflicting real world damage on people’s lives, though. For that, we have RFK Jr.
Ask not what your country can do for you but what harm you can do to your country
In April, RFK Jr. declared that he was running for the Democratic nomination and a renewed frenzy was unleashed. A Kennedy?! Sleepy Joe Biden was in trouble now! RFK Jr. was definitely going to be the Very Serious Person to take down Biden. He’s polling at 20% on name recognition alone, and just wait until people hear his incredible progressive message!
They heard it, alright. Turns out that RFK Jr. was not, in fact, a progressive but a conspiratorial mental case. The misogynistic anti-vaxxer garbage may not be a dealbreaker for some people. But then he reminded everyone that he thinks WiFi and 5G melts your brain and gives you cancer:….
This is an excerpt from today’s Members Only article. To continue reading, go here and get a 50% discount!:
There are always people who paint all politicians with the same brush. While many individuals in the Democratic party are not “perfect” who is? However, only one party attacks groups of people who are easy targets and lack the ability to fight back. There is only one party whose only policies are to stay in office at all costs. There is only one party trying to enhance the wealth of people whose pockets are already full to overflowing. There is only one policy that displays total indifference to the well being of our country and all its citizens. There is only one party headed at breakneck speed down the road to Facism. Guess which one.
In 2024 we will find out how many voters care about democracy itself. I expect reasonable adults from both parties to re-elect Biden in a landslide victory that will include blue majorities in the House and Senate. Many of us, like you, recognize the Democrats support democracy and the Republicans support fascism in hopes it will grant them Permanent GOP Minority Rule. Fascism will bring the collapse of law and order, then chaos.