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Is DailyKos now an anti-Democrat Russian troll farm? [1]

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Date: 2025-01-12

I’m frankly disgusted with the Democratic Party-bashing front page article that appeared today, not that it’s a unique or new sentiment on here. Bashing Democrats for joining the House DOGE Caucus & pledging to meet Trump at Mar-a-Lago? That’s called Political Optics 101, completely surface-level it doesn’t make them sellouts JFC! Is branding Dems as the “Sellout Party” DailyKos’ strategy for winning back progressive power? What happened to “more & better Democrats”? I genuinely thought, has DailyKos been targeted by a Russian campaign to stoke divisions on the left & further depress our base? This has already happened with the Genocide Joe-ers, who voted against their (alleged) interests last election & likely depressed turnout in our base.

Now we’re going to start turning all the progressives reading DailyKos against the Democratic Party just in time for Trump 2.0 to begin? And then what, Republicans steamroll us even more? Many commenters on this site have already been spouting anti-Democrat nonsense which just honestly seems designed to depress everyone reading them by repeating how much “Democrats suck, always will and let us count the ways”. Will progressives continue down the path of their MAGA counterparts in voting against their interests like this over nonsense? Because that’s going to keep happening if all we do is talk about how Democrats never can do anything right, ever.

For anyone in the future contemplating writing an entire story centered on bashing the Democratic Party’s actions, “messaging”, reactions, etc. to the events to come in Trump 2.0 — instead of focusing on the true root of the problem at hand — please consider the following:

1) There is/will be NO leftist alternative to the Democratic Party for 2026 & 2028

I know many people are angry at the election loss, as am I, but there is simply NO alternative to the Democratic Party to gain power back to finally achieve the progressive vision of what this country can be. The steps are not easy but are at least simple & clear: Win back the House in 2026 & win back the Senate & Presidency in 2028. No matter where you are on the spectrum of center left to far left, not a single one of your goals can be accomplished without Democrats gaining congressional & executive control at the federal level by 2028.

There will not be a “revolution” (inspired by Luigi Mangione & others) to somehow unleash a progressive utopia without Democrats, as I've frighteningly heard from a few far-left friends. There will not be a 3rd party created in less than 2 years that can knock Republicans from their congressional majorities & win the presidency 2 years later. There will be Democrats, and the sooner all of us progressives accept we need to rally behind them & the Dem brand, the better.

2) Dem-bashing now equals supporting fascism

Due to this reality, every Dem-bashing story on DailyKos, post on BlueSky, conversation in real-life that turns a potential voter away from the Democrats is a gift to MAGA Republicans for 2026 & 2028 . That means you are supporting fascists, full stop, every time you bash Democrats & tarnish the Democratic brand in conversations with friends & family, social media conversations, etc. Some gleeful Dem-bashers don’t want to take accountability for the consequences of their words, but they are simply in denial about the role they play when they bash Dems & constantly crap on them no matter what progressive goals they accomplish.

Case in point: Dearborn, Michigan voting 69-30 Biden in 2020 to 60-36 Trump/Stein in 2024. No, Genocide Joe-er’s don’t get to pretend their yearlong campaign against Biden (while literally not making an effort to protest Republican events AT ALL) made no difference in the election. You could argue the constant, never-ending Dem-bashing over a **relatively** insignificant issue (at least according to polls of the American people’s top issues of concern) cost us the election on its own. We can’t afford to make that mistake again in 2026 over that or any other issue. The No. 1 goal is to gain Democratic majorities, no matter what it takes. Four years of Dem-bashing is NOT going to get us to our goals.

Now there’s a distinction between mindless, harmful Dem-bashing versus genuine activism, engagement, etc. as nominees & bills are voted on, etc. I’m not saying Dems cannot be criticized, engaged with, pressured from the left, etc. in the coming 4 years. They may well do some problematic things as they grapple with Trump 2.0 like the rest of us. But Democrats voting for Trump’s nominees, meeting with him & voting for the Laken Riley Act? This is Politics 101 & showing the American people — who just gave Republicans full control of government — that we’re not just sabotaging the will of the people from Day 1. I’m sure there will be time & opportunities for more show-y, maximalist Resistance 1.0-type moments, but this is all just beginning and congressional Dems do need to choose their battles.

And that’s to say nothing of the value of “playing nice” to potentially manipulate Trump into adopting some Dem priorities where they can — like the original Covid stimulus checks, which was a Dem idea/priority that Rs wouldn’t have supported if Trump didn’t love the idea.

Deceptive, provocative Dem-bashing stories like those linked above only serve to feed the false narrative that Democrats are completely capitulating to Trump — doing nothing but misinforming & depressing our base. This misinformation & depression can have catastrophic consequences in future elections if people just automatically rule out voting for Democrats because they “suck” so badly that even Dems hate their own party.

3) “Messaging” is NOT the problem — it’s a tired, worn-out cop-out to blame Dems for larger issues

We also need to permanently dispense with the idea that if only Democratic Party knew how to “message” “better” they would have won. Just going to copy from a recent comment which partly inspired me to write this story:

Everyone thinks their own personal favorite message or pet issue would have won. If a Democrat conveys the perfect message in a forest, but everyone around who can hear it has their heads in the sand…. The far more critical issue is corporate/billionaire media/social media corruption & anti-Democrat bias which NEVER gives Democrats credit for the good things accomplished, and ALWAYS blames them even when Republicans are at fault. Media balkanization — and misinformation resulting from vast right-wing propaganda media & social media networks — has created a literal Idiocracy (2006) society. The majority of this country has believed we were in a recession the entire Biden presidency, when the opposite was true. THAT is the challenge we need to find a solution for.

Any discussion about “messaging” is a waste of time & distraction at this point in 2025.

4) Democrats are awesome & our only hope — Quit bashing & spread the word!

With all that said, while you may be angry or disappointed with the Democratic Party leadership, certain members/groups, etc. the fact is Democrats at large have moved far to the left from the Obama era & accomplished a great deal the past 4 years to make America & the world a better place. They are also, as mentioned above, our only hope to move progressive goals forward. We can continue pushing them in that direction, but nothing else matters unless Dems gain control of the federal government in 2026-2028.

Just some examples: The Inflation Reduction Act is an environmentalist dream come true, and is also lowering drug prices & the deficit (through higher taxes on corporations & enforcement against wealthy tax cheats). If you can’t find dozens of provisions in that law to be ecstatic about as a progressive, then you’re just a Scrooge. Tens of thousands of critical, innovative projects ranging from infrastructure to cultural development have been funding by the America Rescue Plan Act, Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, CHIPS & Science Act, IRA, etc.

If immigration is more your concern, President Biden has taken a once-obscure law provision called “parole” to single-handedly create programs from whole cloth that have admitted more than 1 million immigrants (who otherwise would have tried to enter illegally). Biden & Dems learned a ton of lessons on how to take advantage of those authorities, starting with Afghanistan & Ukraine then scaling up massively. For progressives like myself, I can still hardly believe it happened on such a huge scale, it’s a wonderful thing. I could go on and on with other issues.

There are seriously things to be proud of & build upon, no matter where on the leftist ideological spectrum you fall & which specific issues you may have disagreements on. Focus on those positive foundations, as we need to win back Congress & the presidency in 2026-2028. With a Manchinema-less Senate, the sky will be the limit for the next Democratic federal governing trifecta. If we don’t destroy ourselves in the current circular firing squad.

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[1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2025/1/12/2296531/-Is-DailyKos-now-an-anti-Democrat-Russian-troll-farm?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_source=trending&pm_medium=web

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