In yesterday's post, Politics of the Next 4 Years – Part 1 (Rise of the ‘Dirtbag Left’), I discussed the fact that a very potent grassroots movement has emerged to the left of corporate, neoliberal Democrats. This self-described "Dirtbag Left" and its allies have the potential to not just drive the Democratic Party into extinction, but also ultimately challenge Trump on the national stage. Although I'm not a Democrat or a leftist (I'm not a Republican or conservative either), I welcome this development for a number of reasons.
First, if economic populism becomes aggressively embraced by those who lean left, it will force Trump to become genuinely populist on at least some issues in order to compete in 2020, as opposed to the fake populism he has enthusiastically embraced since the election. Second, it will present corporate Democrats with a choice, either "bend the knee" as the folks at Chapo suggested, or die. Nobody believes in neoliberal ideology other than donors and their corporate media spokespeople. The entire thing is a discredited failure and isn't coming back. As such, today's post will explain why this is the last chance for the Democratic Party.
The political world was abuzz yesterday with chatter related to Charles "Chucky" Schumer's op-ed in The New York Times in which he suddenly proclaims himself an economic populist, and disingenuously claims the Democratic Party has somehow changed. It consisted of many comforting phrases, but I wouldn't believe a single line of it until I see actual action on the ground. It's easy to talk a big game when you have zero power, but talk is cheap, as we all should have learned from both Barrack Obama and Donald Trump.
Before I get into some specifics about what I think all of this means, let's take a look at some excerpts.
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