Are we really going to accept the conceit that the central issue in politics is whether DEMOCRATS are too extreme?
͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­
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Exploit The GOP's Nazi Meltdown

Are we really going to accept the conceit that the central issue in politics is whether DEMOCRATS are too extreme?

Brian Beutler
Nov 3
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(Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

It’s likely though not certain that Abigail Spanberger, Mikie Sherrill, and Zohran Mamdani will all be elected to important offices on Tuesday.

As long as we’re all knocking on wood together, this should serve to improve Democratic Party morale. Donald Trump has grown significantly more unpopular since the federal government shut down a month ago. Republicans badly underestimated Democratic resolve—at long last—to wield power. And recent survey data suggests Dems might finally be building a real lead in the generic ballot for control of Congress.

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Whatever the margins of Democratic victories this week, though, the fact of them will drive predictable and insipid discourse aimed at fanning the party’s insecurities.

  • Is Mamdani the future of the Democratic Party, or are Spanberger and Sherrill?

  • Does the Democratic Party have a socialism problem?

  • Isn’t Mamdani’s rise yet another indication that Democrats have Decided Not To Win nationally?

For our collective sanity, we should anticipate and head off all of these sources of self-doubt, then contemplate why, after a Democratic electoral sweep, amid a huge national backlash to Republican extremism, political professionals will be inclined to muse over why Democrats winning might create problems…for Democrats.

Why do elites assume hinterland swing voters are carefully attuned to the voting decisions of progressives in New York City, but uninterested in genuinely disturbing trends unfolding on the right?

This is a big and complicated problem, but an important aspect of it is self-inflicted.

TUCK SOUP

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