Government and policy writer. Views are my own. pbacon@tnr.com
Exactly.
Rachel Cohenwant to be clear there are absolutely big differences b/t Dems & GOP, don’t ascribe to all-the-same, and that said, it’s awfully telling how many high profile Dems now profess to prefer a Republican in office than a progressive and how that appears to be driven by who is closer to their values
"The left is winning over Americans, changing the political landscape, and steering the country in a more progressive direction. As a result, the center and right are forced to respond," says @joewrote.bsky.social. Great essay. www.joewrote.com/p/the-left-w...
The Left Wins In The Marketplace of Ideas™️Socialists changed Americans' minds. Our opponents are freaking out about it.www.joewrote.com"What does it matter that Sullivan or Blinken claim that they were sad or upset when they went to bed every night — it doesn’t matter to the person being bombed. It is irrelevant. So, as a journalist, why does it matter to you? It’s not verifiable." citationsneeded.medium.com/news-brief-v...
News Brief: Very Serious New Yorker Article Launders Biden Officials’ Responsibility for Gaza…Citations Needed | July 29, 2026 | Transcriptcitationsneeded.medium.com"Are they fearful of the socialists’ plans to ensure all Americans have health care and stop genocide, or are they not horrified by what Trump has done. Here’s what scares me: that Allen and VandeHei would say “yes” to both," writes @alexshephard.bsky.social. newrepublic.com/article/2136...
The New Red Scare Is Here—and It’s Dumber Than EverThese Beltway pundits desperately want us to believe that there’s an equivalent of Trumpism on the left.newrepublic.com"Hong and El-Sayed (and other progressives such as Ocasio-Cortez) these days are running more on fighting high costs and billionaires than on the broader ideology of socialism. They are winning voters who probably don’t really fully support socialism’s tenets." newrepublic.com/article/2136...
Can Progressive Candidates Win in Swing States? They Already Have.In 2004, not many people imagined Senators Brown and Baldwin and President Obama. America’s voters often progress more quickly than we expect.newrepublic.com"Free-riding off of earnest politics by having others do it and then, as if floating above it all, putting your finger on the median and going "there" can be very psychologically satisfying. But what it really does is turn yourself into a non-factor." mattbruenig.com/2026/07/29/y...
Yglesias, Israel, and Moderation — Matt Bruenigmattbruenig.com"But moderates and progressives win at similar rates, according to Adam Bonica’s research. What really matters is incumbency—progressive and moderate Democratic candidates tend to lose to Republicans in office but win open seats or when they are the incumbents." newrepublic.com/article/2136...
Can Progressive Candidates Win in Swing States? They Already Have.In 2004, not many people imagined Senators Brown and Baldwin and President Obama. America’s voters often progress more quickly than we expect.newrepublic.com"Numerous progressives have won in swing states and districts in the past. Neither El-Sayed nor Hong would be the first progressive candidate to win in the Midwest. Ocasio-Cortez wouldn’t be the first president with a left-wing background." newrepublic.com/article/2136...
Can Progressive Candidates Win in Swing States? They Already Have.In 2004, not many people imagined Senators Brown and Baldwin and President Obama. America’s voters often progress more quickly than we expect.newrepublic.comGreat conversation with Jonathan Guyer. He explained his recent piece on AOC's foreign policy vision and how it might fit into a presidential campaign. We also discussed the growing role of foreign policy in progressive/insurgent politics. newrepublic.com/article/2136...
Transcript: Inside AOC’s Foreign Policy VisionWriter Jonathan Guyer says that Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is presenting a different foreign policy vision than previous Democrats who have ran for president.newrepublic.com"Policymaking and governing strategy still matter, but everybody to the left of Mitt Romney should lower their expectations of what the next Democratic president can achieve unless the court’s ideological makeup is changed." Excellent @mford.bsky.social piece. newrepublic.com/article/2135...
Why Elena Kagan is Defending the Roberts CourtThe justice recently contended against the notion that the court has become a rubber stamp for Trump. She’s not wrong—but that’s just part of the story.newrepublic.comYes. Great thread.
Jonathan BernsteinGood column. Key additional point: Party actors from *every* state (not just donors!) do a lot to set candidates up as viable or not, and to amplify (or not) results from early states, e.g. it mattered a lot that Mayor Pete gained (basically) no national endorsements after doing well in Iowa/NH.
Having an early primary in a state won't necessarily help Dems there in the general election. (See SC and Iowa in past cycles.) The winners of early primaries often don't win the nomination. This calendar debate seems like much ado about little. newrepublic.com/article/2134...
Why Democrats Should Stop Obsessing About the 2028 Primary CalendarThe winners of the first primaries often don’t win the nomination. And having an early primary in a state doesn’t help in the general election.newrepublic.comWorth reading.
Omar WasowWhy has DSA grown? One argument from this research: not just ideology, but organization. Strong membership plus ongoing and continuous participation in social movements creates credibility, committed volunteers, political skills, and durable electoral capacity. www.niskanencenter.org/inside-the-d...
"I have good news for the Jonathan Chaits and Matthew Yglesias’ of this world because there’s a quaint little kingdom across the ocean in which their favoured political model has been put to the test. The bad news is that it sucks and everyone hates it." www.lukewsavage.com/p/is-this-th...
Is this the future liberals want?Starmerism, the wet dream of every centrist pundit and strategist, is a morally bankrupt political train wreckwww.lukewsavage.com@juliaazari.bsky.social, @smotus.bsky.social, and I debated what's driving the progressive/socialist surge in the Democratic Party. Is this about voters moving left, particularly on the economy and Israel-Palestine? The DSA? The leadership of Bernie, AOC, and Zohran? newrepublic.com/article/2130...
Transcript: What’s Really Driving the Progressive SurgePolitical scientists Julia Azari and Seth Masket say a more organized progressive faction is one of the reasons leftist candidates are increasingly winning Dem primaries .newrepublic.comIn other words, keep complaining when the coverage is bad! It's working. Even the Bari Weiss network acted nervous about airing the speech and buying into Trump's bullshit narrative.
Perry BaconThe big news outlets (NYT, ABC, etc.) often dismiss their critics, particularly people who use social media. But the coverage of last night's speech was actually pretty honest---and therefore scathing. People on here and other places demanding less false equivalence/both sides are getting results.
Also worth noting CBC members have said little about Debbie Wasserman-Schultz switching districts to run in a plurality-black one, against several black candidates. Wasserman-Schultz, like Stevens, of course is in the center-left/establishment too.
Perry BaconThe Congressional Black Caucus PAC and Clyburn endorsing Haley Stevens is the latest illustration that many prominent Black Dem politicians are more invested in defending the center-left/establishment wing of the party than any other cause. Remember that Clyburn endorsed Cuomo in NYC last year.
@jakemgrumbach.bsky.social and I wrote recently about the need for better black political leadership. newrepublic.com/article/2106...
The Voting Rights Act Is Dead. Here’s a New Model for Black Politics.After Callais, the old civil rights politics is moot. And more recent strategies have limited reach. Here’s how we can build something more transformative.newrepublic.comPerry BaconThe Congressional Black Caucus PAC and Clyburn endorsing Haley Stevens is the latest illustration that many prominent Black Dem politicians are more invested in defending the center-left/establishment wing of the party than any other cause. Remember that Clyburn endorsed Cuomo in NYC last year.