Top-rated comment over there: "Third Way and some other centrist groups seem far more interested in defeating progressives than defeating MAGA and far more interested in telling Democratic voters they’re wrong than earning their votes. If moderates are losing, then the problem is with those candidates, not the progressives who beat them."
August 6, 2026
"It is deeply troubling to see radical, far-left candidates winning in places that are potentially presidential swing states."
Said Jonathan Cowan, president of Third Way, a centrist Democratic group, quoted in "Moderate Democrats Prepare for ‘War’ Against an Ascendant Left/One moderate group says the progressive wins are 'deeply troubling' and is planning a $15 million effort against democratic socialism" (NYT gift link.)
The article notes that "the next big test is only a week away": "In Wisconsin, Francesca Hong, a democratic socialist and state assemblywoman representing the progressive hotbed of Madison, has emerged as the party’s front-runner for governor in another key battleground race." There's not one word about the candidate/candidates the moderates are pushing.
Posts
91 comments:
$15 million? Wow. Stand back, folks.
Self-important technocrats aren't popular?
Centrist Democrats say their purpose is to make progressives understand the risks of some of the more radical planks of the official D.S.A. platform: defunding the Department of War, taking “steps toward fully abolishing the police and prison system,” enacting “reparations” and establishing a 32-hour workweek.
How clueless can a reporter be?
The DSA charter calls for abolishing the Senate
and the President
and the Supreme Court
literally tossing out our Constitution (after swearing an oath to uphold it!)
Here's their platform. I'm not exaggerating. Your "journalism" is an embarrassment, NYT.
I consider this mildly amusing. Both sides are fighting over an economic system that is about to be completely transformed by the AI/robotics revolution. The conservative Calvinist argument I (you must earn your living) is going to be wiped out by the already in progress Age of Abundance. The liberal redistributionist argument (there is only one pie!) is going to be wiped out by the exponential proliferation of pies.
The DSA candidates are winning with just a plurality, not a majority. One way to prevent that is to have run off elections if no one gets a majority in the first election. The states with jungle primaries and many candidates like California also make it easier for radical candidates to win the top two spots and make the run-off.
Wisconsin.
Be happy in your work,
escape is impossible.
Progressive ≠ DSA
As dangerous and wrong headed as progressives are, the DSA are not progressive. It is anti-semitic and communist to the core. They are not about medicare for all, lowering cost of living, etc., they are about destroying America and our system of government. Any Democrat pretending otherwise and spouting the Big Tent nonsense are fools and should be ashamed of themselves.
"far more interested in telling Democratic voters they’re wrong than earning their votes."
Democratic voters should feel flattered. Instead of just crowning who they intend them to vote for the party has upgraded to just telling them they're wrong.
Progress!
"Deeply" is not as profound as "profoundly."
The DSA promises...
all your debts will be wiped away
free housing
free food
free healthcare
free electricity
free transportation
abolish the police
open the borders to all people
end economic warfare against Cuba, Venezuela and Iran
seize the largest corporations (Nvidia, Apple, Google, Microsoft, Amazon, Broadcom, Facebook, SpaceX, Tesla, Berkshire Hathaway)
The NYT literally cherry-picks the least radical parts of the DSA platform. So dishonest! It's a Communist free for all over there.
The fucking NYT fails to see the horrors of Communism, again.
Excellent observation, Thomas. You not only hit the nail on the head you succinctly and accurately described the opposing viewpoints.
I cannot believe our journalist class is simply ignoring this. Astounding. Reporters should ask anybody running under the DSA banner if they believe these things, one by one.
You want to seize Apple and Amazon and Microsoft and Google?
Too late, Mensheviks.
As moderate and older progressive Dems stick to their 20th century models of "liberalism," they will drift toward the conservative methods of restraint and withdrawal. So, I don't look for fireworks from Bill Maher and similar. Just fewer donations, then no donations, less effort to vote, then no voting.
Those voting for their self interests with take action, and can either join the Republicans or a breakaway faction. Compare them to Anderson's Independent campaign of 1980 and Ross Perot in 1994: Quixotic and either irrelevant or helping a major party win.
"The liberal redistributionist argument (there is only one pie!) is going to be wiped out by the exponential proliferation of pies."
If, as you say, pies will proliferate in the future Mamdani's city-owned grocery stores will somehow be out-of-stock. From Soviet bread lines to DSA pie lines.
Perot was 1992...oops...
Wow, maybe the Republicans have a chance even if Trump unconditionally surrenders to Iran. Whomsoever can win the limbo dance will triumph in November.
It's times like this that I truly miss Drago.
Scratch a Democrat and a communist bleeds.
Who knew that the Socialists would bail out the Republicans in the 2026 elections? Wasn't on my bingo card.
That "top rated comment" is off base. The idea that the problem is MAGA is ludicrous, first of all. MAGA has not gone into the streets to fight cops and vandalize ordinary citizens. But more importantly, the problem is clearly NOT the quality of the moderate candidates, however flawed and mealy-mouthed some of them are. The left's hatreds are not bound by any such rational criteria. They hate Schumer; they hate Fetterman, they hate Josh Shapiro, they even hate poor Madison Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway, as un-moderate a leftie as you could ask for, now that she sent the police to clear out their homeless encampment and its mess.
I listened to NPR yesterday. The story was people complaining about prices; especially food prices. Six dollars for a dozen eggs. Is that the price at Whole Foods.
The unbelievable thing is that these people are all clueless as to how this happened. It was an increase in the money supply to get us through the covid lockdown and then the wild spending by Biden via the so-called Inflation Reduction Act.
The Dems caused the inflation that is now baked into the economy. Don't people realize that?
And electing Dems will not fix the problem.
You’d think even the sort of people who get their political information from The New York Times would realize that the Democrats cannot defeat MAGA UNTIL they’ve first defeated DSA.
It’s an interesting version of “socialism”: impose tariffs that hurt farmers, then send roughly $40 billion in taxpayer-funded aid to offset the damage. If a policy repeatedly requires massive government subsidies to keep an industry afloat, it’s fair to ask whether the policy is working as advertised.
Hong - In your guts you know she's nuts.
Eggs are between $1.50 and $2.50 at Walmart. I imagine the people complaining on NPR would never in a million years go near the place.
Speaking of money ill spent, how little could you actually buy, politically speaking, with $15 million? Consultant fees come first of course. Then designing and printing glossy brochures. Manning, and womaning, and etc, phone banks.
Brochures go right into the trash. Calls are ID'd as Spam and not answered. Ooooh, ooooh, lets post things on Facebook, yes, that will surely tip the balance!
IEE, you forgot The most important socialistic aspects of the Trump administration:
**The federal government has acquired major ownership stakes, equity warrants, or special governance shares in at least 30 private and publicly traded corporations. This shift in industrial policy leverages direct financial positions to secure critical manufacturing supply chains.The list below outlines the major U.S. corporations categorized by sector.**
During Trump’s second term, the federal government didn’t just subsidize industries, it also acquired a 9.9% ownership stake in Intel and negotiated a golden share in U.S. Steel. Combined with roughly $40 billion in tariff-related farm aid, that’s a notable expansion of direct government involvement in private industry.
Nancy Pelosi's party built this hate machine.
Rachel Maddow and Adam Schitt built the radical left/communist hate machine.
Howard ** - do you have a link for that.
Grocery prices spiked during Biden - and we never heard a peep of complaint from the religious adherents.
Howie and Rich will be the last ‘rats on that ship.
Primaries drive polarization. A fringe group of extremely motivated individuals who don’t represent the broader population can end up dominating a primary. They can choose for office extremely liberal bozos and racists like Francesca Hong or Abdul el Sayed. Of course, on the other side, extremely conservative politicians whose values don't represent the broader population also sneak through all the time.
Lately, the liberals have been arguing, persuasively, that more widespread use of mail voting boosts turnouts in primary elections, especially in open primaries, and results in more moderate candidates. But this is not always the case. Ballot harvesting can produce truly odd results like El Sayed knocking out a moderate candidate who took 75% of the Black and Jewish votes in a Democratic primary! You better believe at least 100% of Michigan's Muslim voters participated this time. Maybe 110%, who knows?
As an aside, why are conservatives okay with mail in ballots at all? And why isn't the secret ballot a part of the constitution (the "living" kind not the bogus look up words in 18th century dictionaries kind)?
Saint Croix said:
"How clueless can a reporter be?
The DSA charter calls for abolishing the Senate
and the President
and the Supreme Court
literally tossing out our Constitution (after swearing an oath to uphold it!)
Saint Croix - Yes indeed. That is accurate & correct.
The corrupt DSA want to tear down our Constitution, and destroy our way of life - installing their leftwing KINGS and QUENNS. forevermore.
Yet these same leftists have the nerve to call Trump a fascist.
“Centrist Democrat?” These days that is someone to the right of Nancy Pelosi.
Spiros - I'm no OK with mail in ballots. and yes - I get sick and tired of hearing local so-called conservatives say " Mail in ballots are just fine"
No they are not.
Ballot harvesting should be illegal. Mail in ballots should be out-lawed. If we get back to one person one vote - with ID - perhaps we can trust vote outcomes again.
The Dem Party leaders got old and stayed old and would not let a new generation work in gradually. So gradually change will be all of a sudden.
The DSA is essentially the political version of “shut up boomer.”
“During Trump’s second term, the federal government didn’t just subsidize industries, it also acquired a 9.9% ownership stake in Intel and negotiated a golden share in U.S. Steel. Combined with roughly $40 billion in tariff-related farm aid, that’s a notable expansion of direct government involvement in private industry.”
In each case, the reason for this is that both industries are considered absolutely essential to national defense and security. This is a long standing tradition. The first major computer dev project I worked on was the ILLIAC IV at the Center for Advanced Computation at the University of Illinois. The ILLIAC IV was a landmark computer in the history of parallel processing and 3D display, and it was funded by DARPA, because it was considered absolutely essential to national defense and security. Chip manufacturing and steel production within the U.S. are defense and security issues.
It’s August 6, 2026.
Economic growth is sluggish. Prices are still high. Housing and health care remain unaffordable. The national debt is approaching $39 trillion. We’re in a war Trump chose to enter.
And MAGA’s message today? “Socialism.”
When your record includes tariffs that required roughly $40 billion in farm bailouts, a federal equity stake in Intel, and a government “golden share” in U.S. Steel, accusing everyone else of socialism is less a governing philosophy than a distraction.
When you don’t have many accomplishments to campaign on, it’s often easier to change the subject than defend the record.
via X:
"extremely funny how every dem primary now is quirk chungus HR lady vs mohammed atta’s cousin"
yep.
Hong was the only candidate in the primary putting in the work.
The other candidates have run really bad and passive campaigns.
No mention that democrats destroyed our nations steel industry - long ago.
Trump wants to bring back USA manufacturing.
leftists - whine and lie.
We are definitely winning the highest budget deficit competition.
The press has already chosen the form of your destructor.
The only sustainable way to lower the price of common items is reduced regulations and increase competition. The way to pay lower prices is to shop around. Places known for low prices still have them, but if where you shop is a status symbol those places know you are a sucker and charge you for your stupidity, while also taking advantage of your TDS covering for them. Stop blaming everybody else. This is between you and your stylist. I can afford to shop anywhere, but I have always shopped mostly Walmart and Amazon, and that's why I can now afford to shop anywhere, but I'm not trying to impress anybody with my lunch meat.
I think we should all just agree that there are now too many moving parts* in the Middle East for Donald Trump to handle.
* more than zero.
Hey Madmanni (D) - why bother with a 30% savings on groceries - when you can save 100% by just stealing them?!
(gutfeld joke)
btw- In NYC - the Madmanni(D) democratics are set to destroy bodegas. How pathetic is that?
The corrupt left have already destroyed the shopping experience in their big blue cities.
In CA - the dems allow anyone to steal up to $999.00 in goods, each time . It's as if the destruction in on purpose.
Democrats are crooks themselves - so they encourage the same bad behavior in others. .
Walgreens and other grocery stores leave city centers in blue cites - because they are unable to make a profit. This is harmful to honest law abiding citizens.
HARM - is the pattern and intent of the corrupt radical leftist democrat party.
Can anyone explain to me why the DSA are not honestly called "Communists"?
The evil Soviet Union is no longer around as the bogeyman, so let's start calling a spade a spade.
Michelle Goldberg has an interesting column about her interview with Abdul El-Sayed.
"Do you really not believe that there are people whose opposition to your ideas, or skepticism of your ideas, is sincere?"
"I think there are really quite few."
The left deceptively used "Russia" for their lies and schemes.
The Democratic left ARE THE NEW SOVIETS.
The Democrats are the neo-fascists and the Kings and queens.
Their words lie - the left's operations are exactly what they accuse others of.
If you don't sincerely embrace radical Islamic Leftism - you will be labeled an "Islamophobe!" zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.
And a Zionist!
LOL - the left and their addiction to calling everyone a racist and a "Phobe" - and now a Zionist!
The only response these assholes deserve is a hearty - go fuck yourselves.
“literally tossing out our Constitution (after swearing an oath to uphold it!)“
Every DSA candidate needs to be challenged on the oath. The treachery needs to be highlighted to voters. How can they take the oath of adherence to the Constitution yet plan on wrecking the system? They should/would be determined to be unacceptable candidates for the very role they seek.
I also believe the candidates need to be challenged on freedom of choice. If everything is “free”, motivation will dry up, innovation will dry up, supplies will dry up, and people’s choices will dry up. That’s what history has taught, and more, Is that their goal? There needs to be ads with simplistic logical threads regarding the proven courses over time of socialism and communism.
Peachy mentions that President Trump "wants to bring back manufacturing. Absolutely right.
But more than that, he IS bringing back manufacturing: I asked my buddy Claude for a top 25 list of new or expanded manufacturing plants started, not promised or planned, but actually under construction since January 2025:
1 Apple $600B AI server plants, supplier program — TX & nationwide
2 TSMC $265B 10 chip fabs + packaging — Arizona
3 Micron $250B Memory fabs — ID, VA, NY
4 IBM $150B Mainframe/quantum computing — nationwide
5 Merck $70B Manufacturing/R&D — U.S.
6 Pfizer $70B Manufacturing/R&D — U.S.
7 Texas Instruments $60B 7 chip fabs — TX & UT
8 Johnson & Johnson $55–58B 4 new plants — NC, PA, FL+
9 AstraZeneca $50–54.5B Drug substance facility — Virginia+
10 Eli Lilly $50B Multiple plants — VA, AL, IN, PA, TX
11 Roche $50B Mfg/distribution — multiple sites
12 Bristol Myers Squibb $40B R&D + radiopharma mfg
13 Gilead Sciences $32B Biologics hub — Foster City, CA
14 GSK $30B New PA plant + upgrades
15 Novartis $23B Multiple sites
16 Hyundai Motor Group $21B 2025–2028 U.S. expansion
17 Sanofi $20B Through 2030
18 Stellantis $13B 5 plants — IL, OH, MI, IN
19 AbbVie $10B U.S. expansion
20 Lockheed Martin $9B Munitions center — Troy, AL + upgrades
21 Novo Nordisk $4.1B U.S. expansion
22 GM $4B MI, KS, TN plants
23 Saronic Technologies $3.2B Autonomous ship shipyard — Brownsville, TX
24 Rockwell Automation $2B Greenfield plant — SE Wisconsin
25 Toyota ~$1.9B Kentucky ($1B) + Texas ($912M) hybrid production
The NY Times has no problem whatsoever with the DSA / Communist takeover of the Democratic Party. Their only qualms are that it might hurt the party’s election chances wrt moderate voters. The reporters and editors who work for the paper of record would have a collective orgasm if Commies won significant power across the country. But their first and only loyalty is to the Democratic Party. Nothing can be allowed to damage the party’s ability to acquire and wield political power.
DSA - they will all now fake it - & move into more centrist positions.
Watch.
They remain snakes and liars - and will revert to form IF elected. These are dangerous criminals.
but! but!
the Leopards PROMISED US that they would eat OUR faces LAST
cried supporters of the Leopards Eating Faces party
Do your own f****** homework. The 10% stake in Intel is the tip of the iceberg you f****** morons.
John Henry - Indeed!
the DSA platform is to financially rape and then destroy all of those companies. (unless they obey the religious diktats and demands of the King left)
btw- DSA - get their funding from Soros, China, Russia and Iran.
Watch. Look.
Leftist cultists get their info from corrupt lying liars who lie - or insane lunatics like Tuqr and Candy ass.
I'll believe there are moderate Democrats when they vote with Republicans to block the DSA.
If moderates are losing in Democratic primaries, it's most likely because they are now only a third of Democratic voters while the left is over half.
When moderates leave both parties, they should not be surprised if both parties drift further away from the center.
re: the 'top rated comment'
Perhaps Third Way prioritizes defeating 'progressives' over defeating MAGA because they see 'progressives' as far more dangerous to their party (as they have known it) and the country than MAGA. They would be right in that belief.
I challenge you all to name a person, living or dead, who is so unpalatable that most Democrats would vote for Trump to avoid electing said horrible person. Although they would vote for him anyway, as a non-human, Satan is ineligible.
Judge grants Trump's request to delay handing financial records to BBC ~ BBC
Anyone that holds public office should be required to disclose their financial information, including all investments. They should also be prohibited from making any direct investments, and only should be allowed to invest in index funds. I mean, every company I have ever worked for have required employees to disclose potential conflicts of interest and prohibit investing in clients. The president of an entire country should be held to higher standards. This guy is a fraud from top to bottom.
Our 10% stake purchased in August of 2025 for 9 billion dollars is now worth 43 billion.
Winning.
When did “progressive” become synonymous with radical left. It used to describe someone a bit left of center. No more.
Howard and IEEE are shrieking "Trump bought a ten percent stake in Intel! How dare he! Everyone vote against him and in favor of DSA who will simply seize the company instead! That's the solution!"
bagoh: I think most Democrats would gladly vote for Satan over Trump. Certainly if Jesus and Satan were running in an election, most of today's Democrats would vote Satan. "Jesus wants me to keep rules and commandments and serve other people! Satan says he'll give me free stuff and let me rape kids! Vote Satan!"
"extremely conservative politicians whose values don't represent the broader population also sneak through all the time."
Oh boy, I'd like to see the extremely conservative politicians who sneak through all the time. Please give me an example of one of these extreme conservatives whose extreme conservativeness is too extreme for the general populace. I look around and all I see is squishy, oily GOP liars who defy the will of their conservative voters, and even their more moderate voters.
"Anyone that holds public office should be required to disclose their financial information..."
You can vote for whoever you want. If they are not transparent enough for you, vote for someone else. Any requirements beyond age, citizenship and domicile rob the voters of Constitutional franchise.
" because they see 'progressives' as far more dangerous to their party (as they have known it) and the country than MAGA. "
MAGA needs to murder a 100 million people to even be in the running, and I have not heard any plans for that, but they don't tell me everything.
The people complaining about the U.S. government taking a stake in essential industries would never complain about the CCP doing it. Lets face it, in war with China or anybody else, are they going to support Trump and the U.S?
Rabel- 1:49.
Awesome.
Leftists bitch about winning - they hate winning. Leftist love DESTRUCTION, POWER AND HARM. and lies.
but I should cut leftists slack.
They are uneducated on basic economics.
They are indoctrinated, but no educated.
Popcorn futures are way up!
Conservative: Pro-Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness... without Diversity (e.g. racism), Equivocation (e.g. political congruence), and Inanities (e.g. human rites).
I love that the CommuNazis are winning all these primaries. After the 26/election the parties ideological stands will be starkly clarified. We will also see exactly where the population stands on these issues. Will there be blood in the near or distant future?
“ During Trump’s second term, the federal government didn’t just subsidize industries, it also acquired a 9.9% ownership stake in Intel”
The acquisition of Intel stock happened under Trump, but the subsidy was Biden’s idea. What Trump did was change Biden’s $9 billion grant into a stock buy without voting privileges. What this did was provide a mechanism for the US to recover their investment. The result as noted above is a potential winfall for the American taxpayers. Progressives called it fascism, because that’s the only word they know to describe anything they don’t like.
The working class are abandoning the Dems.
Working class - as in - people who work.
The young college educated people -( media hacks and dems love to gush and brag about) - Vote D.
Jobless - perhaps living at home, not really interested in working because they want some over-paid government job paid for by tax payers. with their degree in grievance studies, or gender studies.
Is it possible to defame someone who is both a convicted felon and an adjudicated rapist?
"Trump: Your documentary made me lose money...
BBC: How?! Can you show us your financials to see how you lost money...
Trump: No I can't -- cause I do not want to disclose all the stuff I have been up to, but trust me, you ripped me off!?"
When you ask for $10 billion then you need to justify this figure. The defense has every right to ask how that figure was arrived at. When Trump's BS runs into the discovery phase, the fold is inevitable.
Shouting Thomas said...
I consider this mildly amusing. Both sides are fighting over an economic system that is about to be completely transformed by the AI/robotics revolution. The conservative Calvinist argument I (you must earn your living) is going to be wiped out by the already in progress Age of Abundance. The liberal redistributionist argument (there is only one pie!) is going to be wiped out by the exponential proliferation of pies.
You are making a mistake about the goals of these people.
They never cared about the size or number of pies.
They are vicious evil people who only care about making other people kneel to them and hurting people that are not in their tribe.
They have a hole in their souls. No matter how much they take from you it will never be enough until you are under their boot.
Howard said...
IEE, you forgot The most important socialistic aspects of the Trump administration:
**The federal government has acquired major ownership stakes, equity warrants, or special governance shares in at least 30 private and publicly traded corporations. This shift in industrial policy leverages direct financial positions to secure critical manufacturing supply chains.The list below outlines the major U.S. corporations categorized by sector.**
Have you figured out how Trump plans to get the country out of debt yet?
He is following the only plan to get the country out of the debt the Uniparty created that has any reasonable chance of success.
The problem comes when the investments are not universal. Not from the investments themselves.
If the DSA wants to destroy the federal gov't I may have to give them a second look.
"It is deeply troubling to see radical, far-left candidates winning in places that are potentially presidential swing states."
They’re winning Democratic primaries. I support all commies…for the Dem nomination. .
@Shouting Thomas, I also worked on Illiac IV back in the day. Dan Slotnick and David Kuck were amazing. However I need to point out that vector processing is only only one form of parallel prcessng. Later in my career I worked in MPP where different threads executed different processes in parallel. More interesting.
Less well known than Illiac IV was Dan Slotnick’s role as lead investigator for the Illinois part of a thing called ARPANet, which was the seed that eventually became … well, IYKYK.
In the chips industry, it takes a couple of years for results to become visible from a change in strategy. So, wait till 2028 to see how this CEO’s manufacturing strategy works.
The recent success in Intel’s nodes is the result of decisions made by the previous CEO Pat Gelsinger, not the current one.The stock is up mostly due to visible government support and the fact that investors are pricing for a longer term chip shortage along with geopolitical advantage.
Lip-Bu Tan has not tackled any ‘rot’. In fact, his hands are probably tied a lot in terms of company direction because of how interested the US government currently is in domestic chip manufacturing.
In the absence of government coercion, his strategy would have probably been that of the PE industry: to carve out the company and sell its parts for a surplus over the current equity value. He had already outlined much of that plan before Trump intervention.
These are not the actions of a visionary. It is just good for generating short term shareholder value and disastrous for the long term company health and national security.
The "moderates" are concerned about killing the capitalist goose that lays the golden eggs and pays for the party's expenses. Have they exerted themselves to defeat the socialists? It doesn't seem like it. They aren't recruiting candidates in the way that the socialists are.
It sounds like the Times commenter is assuming that "moderate" groups are as driven and organized as the leftists are. The moderates are used to having things their own way and not fighting for what they want. DSA corresponds to Lenin's driven and determined Bolsheviks and the centrists to the other, less totalitarian parties of that time.
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