We Can’t Abandon the Building Trades Unions to the Right
Both Richard Nixon and Donald Trump have made cynical but shrewdly strategic appeals to building trades unions and their members. The Left needs a plan to win those workers back.
19616 Articles by: Karl Leffme
Karl Leffme is a socialist in New York CIty.
Why Bernie Won the California Primary
Bernie Sanders didn’t win California because it’s a liberal bastion and he’s “extremely liberal.” He won it because the state’s working class is tired of the bipartisan, pro-corporate agenda that threatens to transform California into a social dystopia — and they’re ready to fight back.
Here Are the Numbers Bernie Needs to Win
The delegate math looks better than the current media narrative suggests. Bernie Sanders and the movement behind him are still very much in the game. Here are the results he needs to win the nomination.
Sergio Adrian Hernandez Guereca Won’t Be the Last to Die
A Border Patrol agent on the US side of the border shot into Mexico territory and killed a fifteen-year-old boy — but last week, the Supreme Court decided that Border Patrol cannot be sued for the boy’s death. It’s a particularly grotesque example of the brutal, unaccountable violence that is the norm along the US-Mexican border.
Our Economic Model Is Making Us More Vulnerable to Coronavirus
Coronavirus is making the argument for antitrust — single sources of supply for all kinds of suddenly essential medical needs are leading to shortages and could cause huge price jumps.
The Insanity of Making Sick People Work
Coronavirus is putting extra burdens on workers, from health professionals to low-paid cleaning staff at the front lines of combating infection. Yet many of these same workers don’t even have the right to sick pay — meaning they’ll feel compelled to work even if it risks spreading the virus.
Joe Biden Has Built a Career on Betraying Black Voters
Joe Biden’s string of primary victories highlights a central paradox of his career: he has secured the loyalty of African American voters while working nonstop to let them down.
Yes, Bernie Sanders Has the Best Shot Against Donald Trump
Bernie Sanders doesn’t just have high favorables among young people — independent voters love him too. And that’s why he would have a better chance than anyone else in November.
Bernie Sanders Is More Electable Than Joe Biden
Do Democrats really want to nominate a man who confuses his wife with his sister, who can’t string together a coherent sentence, and who supported trade deals that would kill him in the Rust Belt? If not, they should go with Bernie Sanders.
It’s Bernie Versus Biden Now
Although last night’s Super Tuesday results were a blow to the Bernie Sanders campaign, the contest has now been radically clarified: it is finally a one-on-one clash between Joe Biden’s corporate centrism and Sanders’s class-conscious populism.
Mike Bloomberg Tried to Buy the Election. It Didn’t Work.
Super Tuesday’s results were disappointing, but there was one bright spot: Michael Bloomberg’s $500 million attempt to buy the election completely and utterly failed. Any time a billionaire enters the national stage and eats shit, we must cherish it.
When Liberals Lose, They Blame the Voters. Leftists Can’t.
Bernie Sanders struggled last night not because voters are stupid, but because he’s proposing a way of doing politics that’s different from anything they’ve ever seen. Convincing them of that alternative is extremely difficult — but it’s not impossible.
Bill Gates Wants Socialist Medicine to Combat Coronavirus — Without the Socialists
Bill Gates says the private sector is ill-prepared to respond to pandemics and that governments need to ratchet up their spending by the billions and take charge. Too bad he’s still opposing the democratic-socialist movements that could do just that.
Bernie Sanders Can Still Win the Nomination and the Presidency
There is no use in sugarcoating the scale of last night’s defeat. But there is still a pathway to victory for Bernie Sanders.
Michael Bloomberg Doesn’t Deserve to Be a Billionaire — No One Does
The wealth that billionaires like Michael Bloomberg hoard and use to try to buy the political system has been stolen from the working class and the planet we all share.
It’s Time to Drop Out, Senator Warren
After her woeful Super Tuesday results, Elizabeth Warren has next to no chance of winning more delegates than Bernie Sanders. But she has a plan for that — only it’s the opposite of everything she once stood for. (And it won’t even work.)
Decent, Responsible Moderates for Bernie Sanders
The United States is the only developed country in the world that does not guarantee all its citizens health insurance, family leave, childcare, and a college education. The Democratic Party elites opposing Bernie Sanders and these measures aren’t “moderates” — they’re conservatives.
The Democratic Establishment Has (Finally) United Against Sanders
It took them awhile, but the Democratic establishment is consolidating around Joe Biden. Now the fight begins.
Pete Buttigieg Just Dealt a Blow to His Father’s Legacy
This week, Pete Buttigieg joined forces with the Democratic establishment to attempt to defeat a democratic-socialist insurgency. In doing so, he attacked the philosophy that his Marxist dad spent his career celebrating.
Bernie Sanders Is the Pro-Union Candidate
Many national unions still haven’t endorsed in the presidential race. But no other candidate has the same history of walking the picket lines, fighting for worker rights, and fostering union organizing that Bernie Sanders does.