You’re not going to believe this, but other than your point on genocide, Hasan agrees with you. But I don’t want to get bogged down on an individual. He’s a big boy, he can defend himself.

You’re right the purity testing can be counterproductive. For example the way the democrats pushed away Joe Rogan’s endorsement of Bernie Sanders in 2020. Though, I think that was mainly an excuse from centrists so they wouldn’t have to deal with Bernie.

As for the part about genocide. I gotta say that’s a red line for me. I cannot support a candidate that supports a genocide. It’s as black-and-white as slavery was in the 1850s or the Nazi genocide against the Jews in the 1940s. The political center must grapple with the moral gravity of the situation.

If the moral argument against genocide isn’t enough for you, then perhaps you can be swayed by an electoral one. Even if the democrats had managed to win the other swing-states they could not have won this election without Michigan. There is a fairly sizable Arab community in Michigan that can swing the state. You cannot expect the Arab community of Michigan to vote for the democrats when they had many family members living in Gaza. The centrists in the Democratic Party chose to kill their own collation, the left saying they wouldn’t vote for democrats in solidarity with those Arabs were trying to stop them from destroying their own coalition.

I’m not sure I buy that leftism in Europe is currently working well. Yes, after fascism was defeated in the early 20th century —largely by Soviet and US forces— the European left had many more successes than the US left did. But in the last decade or so the European left has not been in a particularly better position than the democrats in the US.

In France, Macron sided with a Conservative Party to push out the left even though the left had a bigger mandate, all while LePenn remains a growing threat. In England, Labour pushed out Jeremy Corbin, the Reform party remains a growing threat. In Germany, the AfD is a growing threat. In Italy, Meloni is currently in power. The left in Europe does not seem to be doing well.

At the risk of pushing the scope of this conversation too far. There is also growing militarism in Europe that I am quite concerned about. In response to Russian aggression and the US abandonment of that conflict, there is a growing desire for Europe to build its own military industrial complex. That’s something I’ve seen little resistance to from the European left thus far. Of course I do understand the desire to defend yourselves from Russia. But the economic forces that you’re unleashing when you do are something that has the potential to play into the hands of the rising tide of fascism within Europe. There is a great risk that if you create a European military industrial complex that it will eat all the social safety nets that the European left won in the middle of the 20th century. To me as an outside observer it seems like this is where the compromises of the European left are headed.

I do agree you’re right about Bernie though. That is the direction the democrats should have taken. I just hope that wasn’t the last off-ramp from fascism.

Why do you think the democrats lost the election?

He’s literally the largest leftist streamer so he’s literally one of the most successful people at moving people left currently.

The Houthis are resisting the genocide in Gaza. The interview had as much journalistic value as interviewing John Brown (or at least one of his followers) would have. You’re engaging in some George Bush level shit. Don’t turn your brain off just because the state labels a group a terrorist organization.

Right. But you can’t have unity/be in coalition with someone who is actively committing a genocide against your family.

Which is part of why democrats lost, especially in Michigan. With its fairly sizable Arab population. Even if they’d managed to win the other swing-states that would have lost the democrats this election.

Why should we not have unity with the Arab People of Michigan?

Please try to keep in mind pointing out the fact that Trump also isn’t in unity with them is not an answer to this question.