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Wednesday, August 04, 2021

DWT author Howie Klein wrote of the Nina Turner defeat.

Link, in part -

 One of Nina's early backers, Marianne Williamson, told me this morning that "Turner’s defeat feels like it might be the final nail in the coffin, an end to any illusion that corporatist Democratic leadership will allow a progressive to get anywhere near the seat of power. It’s like they feel they were out-maeuvered by the squad getting past the gates and they’re going to make sure it doesn’t happen again. They used every trick in the book, every cheap and nasty and corrupt tool in their toolbox, to defeat Nina's extraordinary American voice for the people and instead bring in a party pol who will presumably do as she is told. Where we go with that I’m not sure. But after two elections in which Bernie’s candidacies were suppressed, my own experience as a presidential candidate, and now Nina’s defeat at the hands of their shenanigans, I’m at the point you come to in any relationship when you realize the other person isn’t going to change and it’s ridiculous to think they will."


She said that she'll "continue to work hard for grassroots Democratic candidates. But we need to start thinking about 2024 and this makes it clear that all Democrats will be willing to offer is a Biden, Harris, Amy, Pete, or some facsimile thereof; any progressive running for the nomination will be on a fool’s errand. Once again, I don’t know the answer. But according to the poet Rilke, when you don’t know the answer you simply live the question. The answer will come. In the meantime, my heart is with Nina today. She fought the good fight. She didn’t win the political war but she won the moral one. She stood up for the people, she stood up for justice and she stood up for love." Please consider helping Marianne support progressive candidates by clicking on the thermometer above and contributing what you can.

" I’m at the point you come to in any relationship when you realize the other person isn’t going to change and it’s ridiculous to think they will," reads as if Rilke's resolution might be third party. Likely the contemplation of the rift would be greater than the rift itself, if the gumption develops to do it. Resuming -

One of those candidates is Alexandra Hunt, running against a garden variety status quo Democratic incumbent. Today Hunt told me that "Nina’s race demonstrates the corruption of the establishment and just how far they’ll go to maintain power with a spread of lies and manipulative tactics. Progressive power comes from hope & our relentless belief in a better world (and certainly not from a lack of integrity). Nina Turner’s run is inspirational. More of us need to run and run hard. Winning an election is a stepping stone-- the mission is to bring down the machine. My takeaway from Nina’s race is how important it is for progressives to work together as a team and just how concerned the establishment is of the left gaining power. It means we’re close."

Saying, "the mission is to bring down the machine" is reminiscent of Leonard Cohen's, "They sentenced me to twenty years of boredom, for trying to change the system from within," as opening lines of First We Take Manhattan, And Then We Take Berlin. And - we do not need to take Berlin, whether Rilke would want it or not.

Continuing - 

Alan Grayson has a strong sense of history. This morning he suggested we ask "these right-wing Democrats-- who take such pride in beating a progressive-- what plan they have for avoiding the Great New Dem Apocalypse next year. They have no plan." Yeah... but at least they beat Nina, a powerful advocate for working families.

Another strong progressive is Mayor Bryan Osorio, who is taking on David Valadao in the Central Valley of California. "As we continue to hear and read about Ohio’s Democratic primary results, I hope we don’t forget about the significance of Nina Turner’s exceptional ability to energize young voters and volunteers. She represents a growing base of progressive candidates that stand up to corporate interests and understand Americans’ frustration with status quo politics. And, as we ask ourselves, how are we going to win in 2022? It means reflecting on how Democrats can acknowledge the significance of progressive politics and candidates. Young people simply don’t represent 2022 voters. They represent voters of future elections where environmental disasters, the student debt crisis, the housing crisis, and other issues will continue dominating political rhetoric if bold policies aren’t supported now. Yesterday’s results might seem like a loss to the progressive movement, but we know it’s far from over. In districts all across the country, we will continue fighting and advocating until more of us are in Congress fighting for working-class families and our futures."

Jason Call, who is flying back to Washington state and his own congressional campaign today, after spending a week canvassing with Nina, noted that "The establishment has corporate money and character assassination, and apparently that’s good enough to muddy the waters and sway public opinion. Ohio’s 11th passed on the opportunity to have a real champion for the working class, the poor, and marginalized communities. We will have to pause and do some deep analysis on what happened and why. Being on the ground here for over a week, I truly believed this was a winnable seat. My concern now is that whatever we do to rebound from this includes some solidarity building on the left, and to not let a loss like this further divide us."

As to the thinking in there of the young as the future, facing the sellouts of today and effect of the selling, there is on the Trump side a simmering rage to face, as troublesome, tending toward dangerousness.