Don’t Pretend Joe Biden Is Actually Moving Left
Joe Biden has named several progressives, including Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Sara Nelson, to newly announced policy “task forces.” This beats him just sneering at leftists — but it’s no great progressive victory that a few good people are on a random list of names for toothless task forces.
Joe Biden at a campaign event. (Phil Roeder / Flickr)
I’ve had this sensation of late that when it comes to politics, we are now all trapped inside of a really dark, badly written Saturday Night Live parody, and yet we all somehow have to pretend that this isn’t parody — to pretend that while our system is flawed, we still have a serious, earnest and authentic democratic process.
Donald Trump pretends the coronavirus situation is being handled, and our politics asks us to take those assertions seriously, even though we know the situation is out of control.
Congressional Democrats pretend they are really putting up an opposition to Trump, even though they keep supporting his corporate bailout bills — and progressive organizations in DC ask us to applaud the bait and switch.
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