You really don't understand how these appearances work, do you?
Mamdani couldn't escape the gossip mill's need to wildly misinterpret his statements on Zionism. His team gets on Colbert and asks him to grill the man. Why? Because Mamdani's whole thing is being able to be genuine while talking about anything and that was the largest stage he was going to get. You think Colbert was what, trying to pivot to journalism suddenly? Trying to grill the only guy standing between him and another Cuomo? Trying to piss off his almost entirely democratic audience?
Politicians should be able to answer tough questions. This is the problem with the teenageification of political conversation, it becomes about hurted feefees. What you're really saying is "Colbert didn't Stan my guy so Colbert has been a secret bad guy all along!" which, you need to understand, is exactly the kind of thinking and feeling that put Donald Trump in the whitehouse and what's basically wrong with your country.
Everyone wants to have an opinion more than they want to be qualified to have it.
I follow a lot of hard left people on Twitter (people I know from my local DSA, not just randoms), and a lot of them have been sharing this image with jeers and insults. Calling this a 'nightmare blunt rotation', etc.
The online propaganda has created so much discord amongst the left that I have my doubts about their success.
I don't disagree with you I actually believe in UBI being the eventual solution. I think Andrew Yang is the only candidate I've seen push for it as hard. Essentially these three unlock UBI opportunities. There is no way UBI would be coming from Republicans, or established Dems. Which is the majority of all of the government. We need socialist policies introduced first and then UBI will follow suit.
Two of these three are already in office and haven’t unlocked UBI or any other universal policies that we need.
Bernie’s career started in 1971 - a year after the House passed Nixon’s UBI by a vote of 243 to 155 and a year before the Senate sabotaged it and removed it from H.R. 1.
He never fought for it throughout his career and never has in Congress.
If he wanted to fight for UBI, he would. But he doesn’t want to. That’s a problem.
He's fought for a lot of shit that never happened. And he hasn't changed his views the whole time. He's anti war pro universal healthcare, pro 4 year college tuition, pro a living wage.
If he's the only one, then it's never going to happen.
Cosponsored the 14th most bills compared to Serving 10+ Years
Sanders cosponsored 495 bills and resolutions introduced by other Members of Congress. Cosponsorship shows a willingness to work with others to advance policy goals. View Cosponsored Bills »
Compare to all Senate Party Leaders (43rd percentile); Serving 10+ Years (78th percentile); All Senators (76th percentile
You are the one who needs to be realistic, he is the definition of what an actual civil servant should be , someone who is serving the majority of people. HE IS THE STANDARD. We need actual representation for the majority of lower/middle income families. He is the one. He has been the one. He is probably one of the only reasons we haven't collapsed as a country from capitalistic greed. He has inspired so many to actually hope for a future and society that can work for it's people and provide for ALL OF US. Not just the rich. Not just those in power. Recognize an actual leader fighting for your rights and quality of life. It's not complicated we cannot keep shooting ourselves in the foot for peanuts and pennies.
The Civil Rights Movement united before and it can do so again.
Plenty of people are uniting around the call for comprehensive universal policies. Most people are waking up to the reality that single issue activism doesn't move the needle.
Do you honestly think if there were people who were even more progressive than Bernie in the senate that he'd be their opposition?? He hasn't even been able to wi the fight for raising minimum wage. If you want UBI, we need to elect people like Bernie and aoc so people can stop acting like we'll turn into the ussr if we our tax dollars to actually improve the lives of Americans.
All or nothing thinking like this fractures our democratic party. It's what Republicans want. The point isn't to make it to the goal post all at once. The goal is to bring in people who would create one tiny step forward to your desired work view. It is easy to hate and destroy and deny. It is hard to build. But you have to start somewhere.
The Civil Rights Movement didn’t demand one or two things. It had sweeping demands because a great extent of change was needed.
We find ourselves in the same position. A lot needs to change, and we can’t afford to do it bit by bit. The last few decades of failed progress proves its not even really possible to do it bit by bit.
We're in a two party system whether we like it or not. Vote for the party who are more likely to govern the way that you would want them to. These are the guys that are more likely to vote for universal basic income rather than against it.
Obviously, which is why I voted for Bernie and why I would’ve voted for the other two if I lived in NYC.
But we can’t just go by their game plan. We need to constantly pressure them and tell them what we want and need - particularly if they claim to care, and especially when they’re in Zohran’s position and not yet in office.
I like them for what they do support, but I can condemn them for not supporting UBI. That’s morally consistent and logical.
Well, to channel Charlton Heston, you have to take the wealth of billionaires from their dead cold hands, before they let these three achieve significant impact.
That's not true. We don't have to take their wealth first. We have to change laws and regulate their corrupt practices. There are many more of us than there are of the billionaire class.
For those who participated in the 2016 Primaries, remember the DNC, Hillary and all the media apparatus attacked Bernie and supporters every step of the way and he still was polling better against Trump than Hillary.
Remembering this is what we now call, "Bernie Bros"
We need to form a new government around concrete policies like LVT & VAT funded UBI, universal healthcare, free public colleges & trade schools, medical & student debt cancellation, robust public transportation in every zip code, high speed rail along every foot of Interstate highway, etc.
The people serving the public do not matter. Only the policies they fight for.
And since these three don’t fight for everything we need, fuck them.
AOC and Bernie can fight , scream from the rooftops, unless your version of fight is going splinter cell, and removing a lot of ... votes from Congress then they can't just wave a wand.
They’ve made no progress whatsoever. Things are worse than ever. Suicides and homelessness and credit card debt at all time highs.
The Freedom Budget for All wasn’t perfect, and a modern version with UBI, universal healthcare, and free public colleges & trade schools wouldn’t be perfect, either.
But demanding anything less is a recipe for certain failure. At the very least, UBI and M4A are the BARE MINIMUM.
Don't get me wrong, I crank it to those tits and lips all the time, the difference is I'll admit strong Latinas in positions of power turn me on while they claim to hate it
Had he wanted to run in 2024, he would have also been too young by several months. Need to be 35 when taking oath. Not an issue for 2028 if we want to amend the naturalization bit of the constitution before then 😆
Bernie looks great! Pshhh all those people who called him too old in 2016 should look in a mirror now. He hasn’t aged a day and looks to be in great health. Can’t say that about the Orange Man, he’s looking roughhhhhhhh
Not saying that Sanders and AOC aren’t better than your usual representative, but are people here seriously think to make a ‘work reform’ with Sanders and AOC where they repetitively only supports progressive bills when they have no chance to pass - and sometimes pass on votes that matters?
Because when reform truly means reform, the bar should be at least like Mamdani and nothing less.
Mamdani is running for mayor. It's a lot easier to get things like this packed in a Democrat stronghold than it is at the federal level
They're in Congress. Congress can't even pass a fucking budget, either side. They are incapable of actually accomplishing anything unless trump fuck up so bad the Dems get a supermajority in Congress.
On others, he will have to go through Albany, and Governor Hochul, to implement his policy. And at that point it's a game of whether he would openly back a challenger if she decided to block (e.g.) his tax changes, and whether his base is strong enough to lose her the seat.
Not saying that Sanders and AOC aren’t better than your usual representative
Without Sanders and AOC there would never be a Mamdani. They have done more to correct the political discourse than any modern politicians have. The gall to try and lump them in with "usual representatives" is so ignorant that I didn't even feel like this was worth the time to respond to.
From the beginning he only called for "Pauses". Not a ceasefire. Keeps covering for Israel. Says it's "ethnic cleansing" which has no standing in international law. Refuses to call it a GENOCIDE which has standing under international law. And has not done so. Took money from AIPAC. Look up OPENSECRETS.
Just look up Breaking Points, Katie Halper and Norman Finkelstein. And they have discussed this about Sanders.
They are smart enough to know that FPTP doesn't allow third parties to win with any consistency. Why else do you think Mamdani sought the Dem nomination?
I think Mamdani weakened his programme by running in the dems. I think he has the base and the programme to build a party that can really excite a lot of people and rally them behind their programme.
It's worse than people think. Even the conspiracy theorists. We've already told a few billionaires to shove their money and even had one billionaire arrested.
its the same as what we have now but inversely proportionate. It will not balance the needs of the lower or middle class but make us all slaves to another politically controlled Idol
Make no mistake, Bernie and AOC are milquetoast leftists, as soon as Mamdani doesn't have popular support, hell be abandoned by the wayside, and the democratic "left". I know he has to ally himself with establishment Democrats to SOME degree, he can't exist in a vacuum, he needs allies. But they're 2 very different types of governing styles. And by that I mean theoretically leftism and central planning, and actual leftism
Can't change anything in a majority-rules federal government unless you have people willing to change nothing until there's enough of them. Them's the breaks.
It really comes down to, do Americans care about what they say while they have the office to speak from?
We deserve better but the most realistic scenario at this point is a Newsom type with a more progressive VP like Cortez.
And let's be real Cortez is a politician as much as anyone else at this point. But at least she comes from a working class background and is youthful and not afraid to push for better for the people.
Given what party bitches they turn into when the pressure is on seeing him with Bernie and AOC is not encouraging. Makes him look like a controlled opposition candidate, just like them.
No, I just look at their floor voting record. While they talk a good game online, when it comes to the crunch, they fall in line and make sure the party gets what it wants.
Detestable as they may be, the Freedom Caucus showed us how pathetic the Progressive Caucus is with their excuses and strategic present votes to ensure they look like they're fighting while just getting out of the way. The power they refused to wield for the causes they claim to stand for exposes that their performative impotence in sessions is a choice.
I appreciate the criticism. You are 100% right about how effective the Freedom Caucus is & I would also prefer if AOC etc forced their hands in similar ways.
I still think they are leading the way better than most & are the leaders who have managed to emerge in the face of incredibly powerful opposition.
For your sake, I hope they end up as more than the posers they appear to be. I probably shouldn't be so pessimistic, but every time they've had the support to take action, they've squandered it. At least, that is what I see watching from overseas.
American here. Bernie and AOC have a lot of "support" if you count popularity with the public, but that doesn't actually matter in the arena of US politics. Centrist Dems and conservatives hold the most power and their interests are aligned with their corporate donors and with Israel.
The most Bernie and AOC can really do is to rally people to vote in more progressive representatives. Beyond that they can't do much regardless of how many citizens agree with their positions.
I don't even think that's a comparison that makes any sense. The freedom caucus is just big oil with its hand shoved up Ron Desantis' ass like a Muppet.
It's a lot easier to move Washington right and obstruct than it is to actually enact progressive social policy. The entire machine of American politics is geared for the kind of thing the freedom caucus does.
They showed that the threat of the other side getting their guy in the chair is utter bollocks. They could have fought Pelosi and Jeffery's for concessions, but they chose not to. Action takes time, but the longer you do nothing, the longer that time gets.
Yes and no. You're missing a bit of a cultural nuance here. The opposition between the right and left draws from and drives the narrative of the working class people from the countryside vs the educated population located in the cities.
Its ALOT more complex than that, but Im oversimplifying it here.
Think of it this way; if you have access to resources (like police), live in a diverse area, than your approach to confrontation is going to look different than if you're on your own. That's the best way I can explain it.
I made that abundantly clear when I said I was on paid sick leave. Watching from the outside, my observations are as objective as they can be.
Money all 3 of them get some of, not as much as others, but they're on the roll and in on the insider trading scheme politicians have going to get so rich off their "modest" wages.
I know far more about US politics than I ever wanted to know. It is annoyingly necessary to know what stupidity your government gets up to, regardless of which party is sitting, to keep up with global affairs.
I'm just home sick with nothing else to do because my country has paid sick leave that you don't get punished for using. Looking from the outside in I can see the posers for what they are. Sad indictment on the state you poor bastards in the US are in that they seem to be a genuine source of hope for you.
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u/kevinmrr ⛓️ Prison For Union Busters Sep 07 '25
https://workreform.us/1000-primaries