You know, Sanders is a great example of this, but I was thinking the other day, and this is not a new observation, but it's an important one.

What is happening now is more and more Americans are getting sick of the two-party system, is that there are emerging,

faux populist movements in both parties. So on the right, we understand Trump to be this faux populist leader.

Running within the Republican Party with large, at this point, complete Republican institutional sort of legitimacy, credibility and acceptance.

But rhetorically, acting as a release valve for half of the country, right? For half of the country's working class, those who have been devastated by the two party duopoly, looking for something different,

he appeals to them on a very emotional visceral level and presents himself as a challenger to both parties and as a challenger to the Republican Party from within.

But how does he actually govern? In office, he did just a basic Republican set of policies. He did it with more insane rhetoric, he did it with more insane spectacle, but fundamentally cut taxes by truly what, $2 trillion tax cut for the ultra rich,

maintained US imperialism, you know, bottom-drome bombed general saluminie from Iran, almost causing a huge conflict, and basically just governed like a normal Republican and served his class, the ruling class, just fine.

On the left, we saw the emergence around the same time of the squad. And the squad is supposed to be this faux populist movement from this insurgent movement of people who are in the same position as the president of the Republican Party.

People of marginalized identities, you know, surging through the Democratic Party to take it over and, you know, to move it in a more progressive direction.

And so if you're on the left and you're disaffected with the Democratic Party, at least you have the squad. And by supporting them and working to get them reelected, you can fight from within the Democratic Party to turn the Democratic Party into a real party for working people.

Nothing fucking changes, nothing changes. This is mere control. This is an ideological game. This is giving you the illusion that there are movements within these parties that can be put to the use of real working class politics that can really take on the elite, really challenge the two party duopoly, really challenge capitalism and imperialism. They do not.

They fully and wholeheartedly collapse in it, even the slightest push to full-throated support for Joe Biden, for the Democratic Party, for fucking imperialism and for fucking capitalism.

That's what they do. And you can't be tricked by it. The sad thing is, we live through these cycles over and over again. So if you're my age or older, you've seen this over and over and over again. You can see through the bullshit.

If you're 17th, 18th, 19th, 20th, you're just getting into politics, you're trying to learn things. This seems new. Oh, the squad. Oh, Bernie Sanders. The Democratic Party really can be the vehicle for getting the progressive change that we so desperately want. Right? And then by the time those people are old enough and jaded enough to see how the game has played, there's a new crop of starry-eyed and bushy-tailed young people who are willing to fall all over again for the same old trick.

And they just need to win enough people. Right? They just need to say the other guys' words. They just need to give enough arguments. They just need to talk about harm reduction just enough. And there's enough politically naive people that will fall for it. It's not their fault.

You know, we all fell for it at some point. Like, I'm sure many people listening were, as I was in 2016, fully on board with the Bernie Sanders. Less so in 2020, because I saw what happened the first time.

But still excited. Still willing to support his run. Right? And then we're completely shown over and over again. Oh, this is how this works. This is the game.

This is how they bring people back into the maintenance of the party in the duopoly itself and thus the status quo.

And so I think that's an incredibly important thing to do. And we have to completely jettison any even slight sympathy for Bernie Sanders or for the squad.

You know, even if even if at one point you were really in love with these people, kill your idols. They will do nothing. They are a trick whether they know it or not of the fucking ruling class.

And they will do nothing but bolster instead of challenge the democratic party. And remember the democratic party is not a people's party. It's not a mass party.

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