The Left Has A Loser Problem
We should simply win.
The thing about politics is that you can't do anything for anyone unless you win. You can talk and write and plan and strategize and rage and rage and rage but if you don't win, you have nothing. Worse still: Your opponents have everything.
It's an annoying thing, and an inconvenient one for folks who would rather feel good about themselves than to empower those with whom they agree on most issues, or those who would do the most good or the least harm in running society.
A warning: I'm going to sound old during this week's Bad Faith Times podcast (check out last week's BFT pod here). On today's podcast I am going to sound cleansed of the idealism that once animated my stance on every major issue. I might sound disillusioned, infected by the kind of pragmatism that drives some folks on the left insane. Maybe I am. It's been a long century for millennials.
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The 22-year-old version of me would have listened to this little 13-minute BFT podcast and scoffed and muttered something about neoliberalism or Republican Light, anything to dismiss the 42-year-old me as a slightly nicer right winger who might actually be worse than a fascist when you really stop and think about it.
How, the younger me might ask, could you ally with people who have no interest in a socialist utopia? Why would you make common cause with people who have not read Marx? Do they even do praxis bro?
Denny Carter
Staying pure and true to oneself is one way to approach politics. It'll make you alternately angry and proud. It'll make you despondent and superior, depending on the day. In the end you will feel good about yourself as you muddle along in a fascist wasteland. I suppose there's something to that.
We already have influential liberal and leftist voices online making lists of every Democratic presidential candidate they will absolutely not support in 2028. That list, coincidentally, happens to include (almost) everyone who has a chance of winning the party's nomination – a happy accident for sure. When presented with the nightmare of a JD Vance-Stephen Miller GOP presidential ticket, these folks say no, I cannot support this or that Democrat for president today or ever, even if it means our fascist era continues and accelerates into a new and terrible phase.
That's loser shit, plain and simple. It just is. There's no arguing about it. Without taking power at the federal level – and importantly, taking away power from those who have plunged us into the chaos of post-constitutional era – we have nothing. No power, no influence, no way of turning around this big fucking fascist boat and reviving stuff like laws. Laws are good. We need them again. Every single influential person on the American right got behind Trump the minute he won the 2016 GOP nomination because the right wants to win. They like winning. They'll do anything to achieve victory.
American conservatives are winners at heart. The right does not have a loser problem. The right's opposition most certainly does. It reminds me of a Bluesky post from a while back – one I can't find for whatever reason – in which someone said living under fascism was better than living under neoliberalism. First: no. Second: you're trying too hard; you're thinking too much; you're doing too much. Third: this effectively makes you a fascist. I'm sorry but it does. Wanting the world to burn because you can't have everything on your left-wing political checklist is loser shit. It just is.
As Adam Serwer – a superb thinker and writer – said online the other day: "Would you rather live in America in 1998 or Germany in 1938?" There is only one honest good-faith answer to that and it involves listening to a lot of Third Eye Blind.
Folks opposed to Trumpism or authoritarianism or fascism or however you'd like to label it should embrace Al Davis Politics. Just win baby.
The American left's loser problem can be seen in the furious left-wing criticism of New York City Mayo Zohran Mamdani, the king of vibes and what many are calling Socialist Leslie Knope. Mamdani is out there talking to folks on the street about their everyday concerns and issues, he's making slick social media videos taunting the ultra-wealthy about raising their taxes, he's establishing universal pre-K for NYC residents, and filling the goddamn potholes, and all I see on Bluesky are critiques. Mamdani has not addressed my pet issue! Mamdani has not fulfilled every one of his campaign promises within his first two months in office! He's a fraud, a shill, a centrist. Mamdani is Just Like Every Other Democrat.
It's nonsense, and again, it's loser shit. Stop being a loser and take some pride in a democratic socialist showing respect for the people he represents and governing like someone who wants to make life a little better for everyone, not just households making over $400,000 a year, or whatever qualifies as middle class in New York. Mamdani is the real fucking deal. Of course he should be held accountable for the pledges he made on the campaign trail. He should also be celebrated as a living example of what happens when well-meaning folks make common cause and put a winner in power.
Denny Carter
Hungarian voters, after suffering through sixteen years of fascist rule, wanted laws back – just like Americans who are increasingly law-curious – along with constitutional governance and justice, things of that nature. Last week they elected their version of Mitt Romney (more or less) over the authoritarian monster who had ignored constitutional governance for so long and teamed up with leaders of the international fascist movement to kneecap democracy at every turn. Viktor Orban did not lose to a left-wing populist, and you know what? People of (almost) every political affiliation filled the streets when Orban got his shit kicked in last week.
They danced and cried and hugged. They were joyous. Because they had won. It was a victory after so much losing. They were losers no more.
Did every pro-democracy Hungarian agree with everything Hungary's new leader had to say about how he would run the country? Absolutely not. They voted for him because losing is exhausting and eventually you have to beat these fucking guys if you're ever going to reverse the damage they've done. Hungarians decided it was better to win than to lose. That, I think, is a good political strategy.
On today's BFT pod I talked about Barack Obama backing Virginia Democrats' redistricting plan and the reaction to the former president supporting a gerrymander. Obama and the Democrats might be tired of losing. Let's see if it works.
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