I didn’t really start paying attention to politics until 2016. At the time, Donald Trump’s political upset was causing a lot of fear and confusion among well-intentioned but politically ignorant liberals like myself. Under the right leadership, that energy could have been funneled into support for world-changing progressive policy.

But after Biden took the presidency in 2020, I noticed the liberal angst settle quickly into a sort of cautious apathy. By treating MAGA as an anomaly, the Democratic Party establishment reinforced the idea that things were “back to normal” (despite “normal” being what propelled Trump to power in the first place).

In the years since Biden was elected, that cautious, “don’t rock the boat” political apathy has continued to fail Americans.

The more I observe our political landscape, the more I realize that shamelessly rocking the boat is actually a prerequisite to any sort of sustained political success.

When people are motivated by fear, they tend to embrace a more conservative mindset. When institutions are organized around fear, the systems that they uphold reinforce hegemonic conservative attitudes. And when those institutions are political parties, fearful conservatism becomes an ideological cancer that threatens the well-being of everyone.

Let’s consider the Democratic Party in 2024. The Harris campaign’s failure to galvanize the electorate was negatively influenced by lots of forces—dark monied interests, bad political strategy, a lack of unique vision, and a morally bankrupt commitment to enabling genocide in Gaza… to name a few.

But perhaps its most painfully obvious shortcoming was its constant disposition of fear. Over and over, the Harris campaign went out of its way to remind the American people what it was afraid to do. And repeatedly, liberal pundits framed the campaign’s insecurity as pragmatism.

The campaign refused to break from Biden’s least popular policies... for fear of looking divided. It refused to acknowledge the economic struggles faced by working people... for fear of being blamed. Harris refused to give interviews... for fear of difficult questions.

Rather than address the needs of working class Americans across the political spectrum, the Harris campaign specifically groveled for Republican approval, for fear of a resurgent Donald Trump.

Along the way, Harris gleefully sacrificed core values of the Democratic base in favor of a dark mimicry of MAGA politics. It took Kamala less than 100 days on the campaign trail to center military supremacy and advocate for the construction of Donald Trump’s border wall, even while (gingerly, very carefully) calling him a fascist.

Harris campaigned with Liz Cheney (the least popular Republican in America) in a stunning demonstration of cultural and political ignorance. She duplicated the Biden campaign’s policies verbatim, in an impressive show of disregard for his legendary unpopularity. Anything to avoid criticism from the right (which came anyway) and nothing to appease growing frustration from the left.

Time and time again, the Harris campaign validated the Trump campaign by framing itself as having much in common with the MAGA movement. Harris called Trump a dangerous fascist in one breath, and urged unity with fascists in the next. Her campaign dared not fight too hard against rising fascism, for fear of setting democratic standards too high to appease the interests of her own corporate benefactors.

Share

Fear plays no part in a winning strategy. Watching the Harris campaign (and supporting it, through gritted teeth) taught me that you don’t beat fascists through appeasement. And you don’t win hearts and minds without first earning their respect.

Now more than ever, the Democratic Party needs fighters. It’s out with the old guard—in with the new, fighting progressives. No more fascist collaborators, no more fascist appeasement.

To fight is to be pragmatic—creatively, consistently, and with a fucking moral backbone.

Subscribe now

In March of 2024, I watched President Joe Biden deliver the annual State of the Union address. It was uncomfortable.

Since that speech feels like a decade ago, let me refresh your memory… it sucked. The speech was underwhelming and at times incoherent. Many establishment liberals claimed that Biden “outperformed expectations.” In doing so, they further lowered the bar for a deeply disappointing administration.

For months leading up to the speech, my faith in the Democratic Party had been cracking, but I didn’t quite understand why I felt that way.

Watching the speech, the puzzle pieces started to connect. The more Biden spoke, the more I felt like I was watching a speech delivered by a 2010s-era Republican...

Biden brushed past the economic pain felt by struggling Americans amid rampant inflation. He focused on making his case for a second term in office. He used the fall of Roe as a messaging platform—issuing platitudes about the “power of women” at the ballot box, despite having done very little to meaningfully defend them.

And then there was immigration. Most administrations (including the Democratic ones) haven’t exactly prioritized the well-being of our immigrant neighbors... Obama famously deported millions of people. But the Biden admin was unique because it had specifically campaigned on the importance of human dignity to distinguish itself from the politics of Donald Trump.

And yet here were establishment Dems, using the most important speech of the year to argue for a “bipartisan border bill” which contained “the toughest set of border security reforms we’ve ever seen.”

The bill would have done massive harm to immigrant communities, setting a foundation for further abuse by future administrations. It took less than one term in power for establishment Democrats to drop their facade of empathy and push for legislation that would have made Donald Trump proud.

Share

On this issue and several others, the Democratic establishment had leaned into the politics of Donald Trump—a complete betrayal of the immigrant communities that gave Biden the presidency.

Biden’s admin wasn’t quite as callous as Donald Trump’s in its bigotry toward immigrant communities—because establishment Dems love to hide behind niceties.

But their actions reflected a calcified neoliberal ideology that was quick to betray immigrants rather than actually do the work of defending them. The establishment delights in the idea of simply being the lesser evil—not putting in the work to actually earn votes.

Biden’s speech that night sounded great to those with a vested interest in the military industrial complex. It sounded great to other establishment Democrats. But it sounded downright phenomenal to Republicans.

Because despite claiming disapproval of Biden’s border bill, Republicans understood that it represented an enormous capitulation from Dems. MAGA had successfully yanked establishment Dems to the right on the issue of immigration—and with them, millions of liberal voters who hate Donald Trump but were unquestioningly loyal to the establishment Dems emulating his policies.

I grew up in a community of immigrants, whom Biden slurred in that speech when he called them “illegals.” It’s a word his own admin had designated as a pejorative. It’s a word meant to shrink a person’s humanity... to reduce them to a paperwork status. Biden let it slip accidentally during a shitty ad lib.

Politicians call people “illegals” when they view those people as political pawns rather than humans. That night I learned not to trust Joe Biden. I learned not to trust any politician just because they’re on “my team.”

I learned that we have to demand progress from our elected officials—not settle for their preferred mediocrity. They are not entitled to our votes.

In order to save this country, we must force the Democratic Party to be better—because they’ve proven they won’t defend us without being held to account. After all, what’s more American than a bit of tension between “We the People” and those who represent us?

Subscribe now

Right now in US politics there are some corrections happening among the MAGA base and throughout the broader American public. With near complete capture of the US government, MAGA is experiencing some “what goes up...” syndrome.

Small pockets of the base have begun to publicly question and even disavow Donald Trump. The public’s confidence in the Republican Party to improve the economy for the working class is starting to fall apart—rising inflation is back and probably won’t ease up anytime soon.

Subscribe now

And the admin’s obvious lies about the Epstein files have in small ways started to unite working class Americans from across the ideological spectrum. Everyone wants answers and no one is buying Trump’s attempts to distract from his own Epstein ties.

Meanwhile, a new Gallup poll shows that people’s feelings about immigration are becoming less reactionary, less overtly racist. As Americans come face to face with the dark realities of mass deportation, they’re realizing they don’t like it. This shouldn’t be too surprising—everyday people were never going to like fascist ideology applied to their everyday life. Americans hate that shit.

At least for now, the cruelty and false promises of Trump’s increasingly bold domestic fascism seem to be shocking some people awake.

But progress isn’t inevitable—without the unifying element of class consciousness, Americans are likely to resume the spiral into widespread acceptance of Trump’s racist, fascist ideology.

To make the most of this moment, we have to set aside our differences and realize that every one of us in the working class is on the same team.

Ever since the 2024 Election, I’ve been thinking a lot about how our politics are super organized around party allegiance—we treat politics like team sports.

In 2024, Kamala Harris was emboldened by the Democratic Party’s “vote blue no matter who” sentiment. She bet on undeserved loyalty, with a campaign that failed to center working people—and she doubled down on support for the genocide in Gaza. Obviously, that was a losing strategy.

When politicians believe they deserve votes purely because of which “team” they represent, they start to cozy up to the corrupting influence of big money interests. After all, voters are pledging support no matter what.

Party-based “teams” free politicians from the fundamental responsibility of actually delivering for their voters. Establishment Democrats and Republicans are not exactly the same—but they are becoming more alike every year because they are spoiled by party allegiance and becoming more corrupt as a result.

The disdain that our politicians feel for everyday people reveals that “team” politics do matter—but that the teams aren’t what you think they are….

Forget about Democrats and Republicans. The working class is one team. The billionaire class (and the politicians that serve them) are the other team, including many Democrats and all Republicans.

When we in the working class realize that these class-based teams are the real driving force behind US politics, things start to make a little more sense. It starts to become clear why establishment politicians never deliver on their promises.

So here we are, July 2025—

• The fascist MAGA coalition is dealing with some self-inflicted wounds

• And party-based “team” loyalty threatens to distract us from taking advantage of that weakness

Any MAGA voter who is starting to question Donald Trump’s fascist ideology… is my potential ally. To advance my goal of making a better society for both of us, I’m more than willing to set aside bitterness I once harbored against them based on party allegiance. The truth is, we’re both being screwed by the ultra-wealthy… and we have more power together.

Some in Trump’s base are coming to terms with the reality that their lives won’t improve under MAGA fascism.

The only way we gain ground in this fight is to work with them—to prioritize class unity above party allegiance.

Defeating political corruption, and MAGA fascism, will require millions of working class people setting aside their party loyalty in favor of class-based solidarity. This can actually happen.

Even in America, fascism is not guaranteed failure or success. Fascists would love for you to believe that everyone around you is a fascist at heart—but the truth is that most people are actually decent, but distracted or manipulated.

Regardless of who we voted for, we are all better than MAGA. And our real team—the working class team—is stronger together.