Discussing Elon Musk starting a third party, and Andrew Yang supporting him

 So, Elon Musk is starting a third party. Obviously, I am not supportive of this endeavor, other than the infighting it creates on the right. Which we should stay out of. Let them fight and destroy each other. But, for some reason, Andrew Yang seems to be pivoting toward supporting Musk. 

Look, Andrew. I liked your 2020 run. You basically ran on my ideas more or less. I liked your mayoral run. I thought the forward party started out right, but then you went full on compromise mode with appealing to centrists at the expense of your OG base. You gave up on UBI, at least insofar as the party's activism goes, because you believed we needed to go all in with ending the duopoly. I get the temptation, but have long since criticized this move, believing we need to stand firm in our humanist principles in advocating for ideas like UBI. RCV and the like are a means to an end. They are not the end. We shouldnt lose sight on the end, but you have lost sight of that end.

And now you seem to be pivoting toward getting in bed with Musk. NO! Andrew, NO! BAD!

Look, I know once upon a time, Musk was a UBI stan too. He even talked about it recently as being inevitable, although he doesn't seem happy about it. And let's go into that. 

Musk....is a capitalist. And I dont mean just ideologically. I mean, in terms of class. He's part of the elite, the employer class, the bourgeoisie. And yes, I think it's good to speak in marxist terms here because I believe we need class analysis here. UBI, for me, is about liberating the working class. But...Musk is of the employer class. And he's a bit of a butthole in that regard. He has this insane work ethic and expects his employees to work like 80 hours a week. And let me tell you this, people like this are not REALLY pro UBI. This is because they want a desperate and subservient workforce that they can push around. THey dont want an empowered workforce with the ability to say no to jobs. And look at musk's actions in the trump administration. His goal was to cut government. He wanted to cut medicaid. He even was trying to undermine social security, which is currently the closest thing to UBI in this country. It's only for seniors and only if they worked over their lives, but still, he was pushing this myth of 150 year olds on social security to undercut social security. Let's not forget this stuff. 

He's not our ally. He's not our friend. He's our enemy. He speaks out of one side of his mouth on UBI and then he goes on and acts like every other right wing jerk ever when it counts. 

And let's be honest, lets look at his exact recent statements. he isn't pro UBI really. he just sees it as an inevitability because AI will revolutionize the workforce. He doesnt think that abolishing jobs is a good thing. He is repeating protestant work ethic nonsense in his argumentation for why it's a bad thing. 

So this guy is not ideologically our friend. Again, at best, he virtue signals in the direction of a UBI and even then it's a really half baked virtue signal full of "i dont really want this." And you know what? He doesnt. He's a workaholic who expects his employees to be workaholics. And again, DOGE. You cant trust the DOGE guy to give you a UBI.

So...wtf Yang is thinking trying to fluff up elon is just....wtf. No. HELL NO! He's not an ally to the movement. We shouldn't support him. Screw him. He made his bed with trump, let him sleep in it, and given he stabbed trump in the back too, well, he can live with that. Aint up to us to bail him out or back him up. Again, he made his bed, let him sleep in it. 

Here's the thing there are a lot of people like this who speak of UBI like this. Joe Rogan is one. And Kyle Kulinski talked about this today on his program. pre 2020 he seemed open and receptive to Yang, but then he basically went full chud after covid going full on board with the "nobody wants to work any more" people. Again, these people arent allies. When it actually matters, they'll stab you in the back. 

And thats the thing about musk. He's not a serious guy on UBI. When push comes to shove, he will betray you. Hes not a serious person. We shouldn't take him seriously. Scre Elon Musk. 

No, fiscal conservatives didn't betray their principles, they never had them in the first place

 ...first time?

 So yeah, the "big beautiful bill" passed the house and the left is riling themselves up in a frenzy about how the house freedom caucus and tea party conservatives who care about the deficit and fiscal responsibility betrayed their principles by voting for this horrible bill.

*sigh*

 Let me try to reframe this. They never had principles. While many voters have principles, the people in power do not. The republican party exists at the behest of big business. Modern conservatism is a sham ideology created to justify the will of this business class. What this business class wants is more for them and less for everything else. They want to pay no taxes. They dont want any regulations on them. They dont want unions. They dont want welfare. In their worldview, the end justifies the means. 

When the right talks about economic freedom, they dont mean freedom for you. That's just the line they sell you to justify that stuff to you. Their right to work laws are about stripping workers of any power or bargaining rights that they have, and stripping the government of their power to regulate, so the businesses can do what they want. When they talk about personal responsibility, they're echoing the protestant work ethic and this idea that if you're not wealthy, it's your fault, git gud scrub. Work harder and make better decisions. But ya know what? They F the economy up? They get bail outs and loans that are then forgiven. When they talk about the national debt and the budget deficit, they're really talking about cutting welfare and social programs while giving tax cuts to the rich. They don't actually care about the deficit. Ronald Reagan tripled the national debt. Bush senior was at least honest in betraying his "no new taxes" pledge and he didn't last long. Bush Jr doubled it by getting us into unnecessary wars and cutting taxes on the rich. Trump raised the national debt in his first term with his tax cuts, and he did it again just now. This bill is more austerity for us, and more tax breaks for the wealthy. Oh, and let's not forget, like $40 billion or something for ICE, because of course the fascist would buff up his gestapo to round people up and put them in literal concentration camps. That's the priorities of this administration.

This has been all conservatism has been for the past hundred years. They opposed Theodore Roosevelt when he used the power for the people. They opposed the New Deal and spent decades working to roll it back. Reagan was their baby, and every administration since these guys scream about the national debt, but at the end of the day, they'll increase it while giving more giveaways for the ultra wealthy because that's what they care about. The end justifies their means. Conservative ideology is just a pretext to give stuff to rich people. They don't actually care about that stuff. The only people who care about it are the chumps who vote republican. 

And yes, if you vote republican and you believe in this stuff, I'm calling you a chump. You are doing their bidding. You're their useful idiot. They love people like you. They love the uneducated. It's why they love religion. All the religious stuff is wedded with the party because it brainwashes people into authoritarianism and it makes them skeptical of educated people and becoming educated. They dont want people to go to college and get degrees. They love stupid and ignorant people. Because they vote for them and do their bidding. 

I know that will ruffle some feathers as I'm being really insulting, but as an educated person, I just want the world to learn. It's why I do this blog. I want people to become educated. To understand logical fallacies. To understand that wealthy and powerful people use tools like religion and conservatism to brainwash the masses to do their bidding. Hell, that's why my blog is named what it's named. That is the nature of the cave. To believe in the illusory reality that THEY want you to believe in. I want you to to actually exercise well educated thought to be able to see through their lies. 

Much like them, I'm very direct and to the point. The end justifies the means. The difference is, because I'm autistic AF, I dont like lying, or using false doctrines or dogmas as pretext. I could frame my views a lot better if I tried to do so in a way that meets a lot of people where they are ideologically. I could speak the language of the cave. But why would I? I want people to leave the cave. And in doing so, I understand that I gotta take on the cave and its logic head on. So I'm not gonna try to use ideas like fiscal conservatism to try to frame my ideas. I'm going to actually challenge those ideas. Because I want to create a new ideology with a new framing, and to be frank, why should you support my ideas? Because for about 80% of you, my ideas would actually HELP you. Everything in politics actually comes down to who benefits. Let's do more conflict theory, more realpolitik, and actually come up with ideas that benefit most Americans. UBI, it benefits people. Universal healthcare benefits people. Free college benefits people. More affordable housing benefits people. The entire system and its ideology is literally constructed to justify all kinds of injustices and inequalities. It exists to justify to the masses why they have so little, while others have so much. That is all. And that's why you shouldn't be surprised when they pass bills like this. And it's why you should wake up and start thinking like me.

Now, people may wonder where democrats fit into all of this. Well, they could be an agent for good, but I see them as controlled opposition. it's quite clear, after witnessing how they behave for the past decade, that they're feckless and useless. And they're so by design. They dont want people to wake up and advocate for real change. So they go on about how we need to be incremental, and focus on electability, and how we can't do anything, and blah blah blah. The right can do whatever they want. They can pass ghoulish bills like this and the party falls in line. Any time Biden tried to do even the tiniest amount of good for the people, you'd have sell outs like Joe Manchin sounding like republicans and going on about "entitlement societies." Why? Because they dont want you to have nice things. They exist at the behest of the billionaires too. They're just a lot softer about it. That's why before Trump went full fascist, I was basically fully on board with going third party. Now, Trump is dangerous on a level we havent seen in this country before, but we've seen how these types act in other countries. And uh....yeah. Regardless what issues I have with the dems, we gotta back them up to stop literal fascism from taking root. Because if that happens we lose any and all hope of ever changing this place for the better. We lost. Forever. So...as cringey as dems are, we gotta tolerate them for now or we're gonna descend into something far darker than what we currently have. 

 But yeah. I guess I'm just writing this to say that, no, we shouldnt be surprised of this behavior from the republicans. To be a republican in 2025, you must truly be devoid of principles, and you must use raw power to achieve your ends. The end justifies the means. They dont care about fiscal responsibility, or freedom, and blah blah blah. Any arguments they use to that effect are dishonest, and will be discarded as convenient. At the end of the day, these guys see society as their playground, us as their servants, and they lobby to ensure that society works for them, and not for us. We shouldnt be surprised by ANYTHING they do. The mask is slipping, it has been for a while. You best start believing in cyberpunk dystopias, because you're in one. 

Discussing Alligator Alcatraz and Kilmar Abrego Garcia's treatment in El Salvador

 So...yeah. I think it's pretty undeniable that this administration is fascist. And quite frankly, if you actively support what Trump is doing, congrats, you're the people who allowed Nazi Germany to be a thing in the 1930s. 

Seriously. I thought this was a joke when it was floated last week. It's not uncommon for conservative circles to joke about like putting alligator moats on the southern border and crap. but to actually MAKE it? That's psychotic. And they built it in like a week. To be fair it's a bunch of tents, chainlink fences, and beds. It looks like a concentration camp. Like literally. Some people I know have been calling it "Alligator Auschwitz", which i think is more accurate. 

Seriously. Alex Jones types talked about Obama making FEMA death camps or something, and now we got people constructing literal concentration camps, like LITERALLY. Where are these guys? Oh wait, they only attack dems for no reason. But yeah, this is messed up. Again, this is evil. EVIL. The GOP is EVIL.

Speaking of evil, time to discuss the other topic I wanna discuss. Some legal documents of Kilmar Abrego Garcia's case came out and discussed his actual treatment. And it's messed up. This is inhumane. This should not be happening in the united states, and people from the US shouldnt be shipped to these kinds of places. And even if Kilmar isn't from the US, well, he was a legal resident. Heck, even illegal immigrants shouldnt be treated this way. This is F-ed up. Again, if you're okay with this stuff, congrats, youre the kind of people who let the nazis get as bad as they did in the 1930s and 1940s. This is messed up. Why are we doing this to people? THis is EVIL. 

I keep saying it. The modern GOP is evil. And remember, Trump has talked about wanting to do this to US citizens too. So this could escalate where he does this to legal residents, legal citizens, political enemies, even you. You think you're safe? Remember the phrase from nazi germany. First they came for the socialists but because i wasnt a socialist, I didnt speak out blah blah blah, then they came for me and there was no one left to speak for me. These violations of human rights should be taken seriously and nipped in the bud early because otherwise, it will escalate and we will be seeing our fellow citizens deported to literal concentration camps simply because trump doesn't like them. This is messed up. I just wanted to talk about it. 

Dogpiling on the Cuomos

 So, Kyle Kulinski had a segment recently talking about Chris Cuomo melting down over AOC, saying she's not really a democrat because she's a socialist and she should gtfo of the democratic party.

 And...as someone who has been watching this intraparty feud for a decade now, I just have one thing to say. SHUT THE F UP! 

 Like, seriously. There has been a segment of people on the left, in this two party system, who want change. And for a decade, they've been suppressed. Every election, these centrist hacks like Andrew Cuomo win primaries, and then the party tells us that we have to fall in line or we get the republican. They tell us that even a flawed democrat is better than a republican and that we live in a two party system and we have to choose. And god forbid if you dont go along with them like I did. They'll just blame you when they lose and harp on you with all this stupid lesser evilism crap.

But...when Andrew Cuomo loses a primary, all of the sudden, these same people start whining and moaning about how this isn't the democratic party they recognize and how we gotta gtfo and do our own thing. You guys kept telling us we had to work within your party and when we win, suddenly you want us to leave or you guys threaten to take your toys and go home? F U from the bottom of my heart. 

If centrists like Chris and Andrew Cuomo can't accept the direction the party is going in after they spent the past decade running it into the ground because they're a bunch of out of touch oligarchs, then they have no business asking us for votes. I've known all along that all this 'blue no matter who" crap was just propaganda to bully the left into supporting the center, but now when the left wins, suddenly its like they dont recognize the party any more and they're screaming over socialists and losing their minds. 

DEAL WITH IT! And remember, you gotta vote blue no matter who, right? RIGHT?! Yeah, if you dont do it for people like AOC or Zohran Mamdani, you have no business EVER asking people like me for my vote again.

And btw, as someone who isnt a socialist, I dont necessarily like the socialists either. While I agree we need policies and systemic change, I believe their solutions are flawed and inefficient. I'll give the center that one. I do think we should think a bit smarter and that socialists get too obsessed with...well...socialism. But at the same time, the reason these guys start to win is because the system is failing people, and it's failing people because liberals fail to provide solutions to modern problems.

The centrist wing of the democratic party is useless. Beyond useless. They're the personification of weaponized incompetence. They literally exist only to hold back progress and run interference at the behest of the billionaire class. They exist to water us down. And honestly, while a little moderation is fine relative to socialism, when literal socialism starts catching on, it's because the liberals arent doing their jobs of actually proposing useful solutions. We live in a new populist era where what we need is a second new deal and because the dems dont wanna give it, the pitchforks are coming out. We're seeing MAGA threaten to drag the country down into fascism on the right, and we're seeing the left become increasingly LITERALLY socialistic. Obviously, I agree, people like AOC and Mamdani sometimes go too far with the socialism stuff. I'm not a full blown socialist. But I understand how the liberals arent up for the moment. THis is a moment that requires systemic change and the dems just want tweaks around edges that dont do anything. And after losing to donald trump twice, people are tired of hearing how electable you are and how we gotta settle for you. You're not even doing anything. So just get the hell out of the way, and let someone who actually has ideas given instead. And if that means a socialist, well, so be it. better than a worthless centrist craplib like the Cuomos. 

Btw, Kyle is right. Mario Cuomo, their father, he was more aligned with AOC. He was an actual new deal democrat. The sons are basically 90s era third wayers who dont seem to realize that era of politics is over and they need to get out and hand over the reins to people who can actually meet the moment.  

Discussing Asmongold's response to Mandani

 So...Asmongold is someone who....is a bit interesting. He has a really populist streak in him, but then he just turns into a chud for no fricking reason. Or at least, no valid reason, and this is one of them. So, he had a segment tonight where he reacted to Mamdani, and I had to cringe so hard over it. 

First, he starts going on about how the US is capitalist and if you dont like capitalism you should gtfo. Uh....yeah we have historically been capitalist, and even I still support capitalism, but socialists can at least run on their ideas. And honestly? people get too riled up over labels. Even if this guy is an ideological socialist, he's not gonna eliminate all of capitalism. Some of his policies are a bit further left than I would like, like rent control and government owned grocery stores, but he's thinking at least. And I dont think he will be as bad as the right acts like he would be. Like, the derangement syndrome is real. They act like were gonna go USSR because this guy is in power. Like they're full red scare mode. Meh. I mean, I am open to supporting socialists if they support good policies. Im mixed on this guy, but tbqh, i say give him a chance. He isnt doing what I would personally propose, I'd probably be more in the yang 2021 camp all things considered, but eh...he can't be worse than adams. 

I feel like people on both sides of the aisle get too riled up over "socialism." The left tend to get so fixated on it to the point of brain rot where they'll throw perfectly good candidates under the bus because "omg they're not socialists", but then the right will start acting like anyone who calls themselves socialists automatically equals lenin and stalin and mao. Most american socialists are "democratic socialists" or "social democrats", which is far more moderate than that. Again, I do think Mamdani is too far left. I think rent control is bad because economically it just leads to shortages long term, and I think that government owned grocery stores are a socialist virtue signal. Like let's put things in the hands of the government just because. Same energy as the people on the right who want to privatize everything. Is it so hard to admit that sometimes the government does some things better, but other things are best left to the market? I dont feel like this is controversial but people get all ideological over this and it's dumb. 

Anyway, Asmongold had other cringe moments like turning it into a race and gender thing because Mamdani wanted to lower property taxes for lower income people but raise them for higher income ones. Except he framed it from a racial perspective. Now, the racial is dumb. I admit that. I hate the dems for leaning into the race and gender stuff too much. I believe ideas should be color blind, but if that has certain effects on different races and genders in practice simply due to privilege existing, so be it. Asmongold, he went all "I WILL NEVER VOTE FOR DEMOCRATS BECAUSE THEY WANNA DISADVANTAGE ME." Like, I kinda get it. i HATE when democrats do that stuff, but again, I dont think mamdani's ideas will have a purely racial outcome. Like, I live in a minority majority neighborhood. Im white. If this city were NYC, mamdani's plans would lower my family's property taxes, despite being white. Ya know? So why would i vote against that? Again, sometimes class oriented policies are gonna intersect with race and gender, simply because privilege is a fact of life. And that's okay. I just despise leaning into the racial and gender based framing over the class framing. But here, I can understand what mamdani is saying and i can also compensate for that framing and understand what is being proposed. It's actually a class thing. Rich neighborhoods pay more, poor ones pay less. Boom. Good idea. Asmongold falls into the trap I WOULD NEVER VOTE FOR THESE RACE OBSESSED DEMOCRATS. Again, kinda get it, but try to read between the lines a bit. He's falling for the typical right wing trap. Again, look at the details proposed. Unless he explicitly only gives tax breaks to home owners of color, like explicitly, which would be racist and probably violate several laws and constitutional stuff itself, it's not a big deal. 

To be fair, asmongold kinda understands the appeal to mamdani. He understands that when people feel their security is threatened, they become more reactionary and vote for strong men. In a sense this is the populist era. People are becoming desperate because capitalism isnt working for them, so they're voting for extremists on the left and right. Right wing ones categorically have awful ideas, and yet Asmongold is a trump cheerleader. Again, he's kind of this populist demographic, but then goes full on in the chud direction. The left offers far more productive solutions. Again, I'm mixed on this guy in particular. I dont think mamdani is some democratic party savior, but nor do i think he's some communist devil. He's just some young guy with these socialist ideas, some of them are good, some not so good, and eh...I dont think he would be bad as mayor, but i also dont think he's necessarily a model for the party. I am cut from a different ideological cloth, and am more in that "human centered capitalist" direction, after all. I am leftist in my rhetoric, but a bit more moderate in my solutions than leftists are. I'm ultimately a liberal with some leftist flair. And that's what we need. We dont need literal leftists as their solutions are flawed and inefficient, like this guy's. But we do need someone who can speak like a leftist and then offer intelligent solutions. And again, im not full centrist either. I cant stand the centrist wing of the party. Again, we need something in between those two extremes. Not quite government owned grocery stores, but more than just tax breaks for people who have 7 kids and 2 jobs and only if you apply on a tuesday after the full moon. Ya know? Again, think more yang 2020-2021. And he ran for mayor of NYC too so...look at what he proposed. I'd probably be closer to that. 

Discussing the NYC mayoral debate

 So I know I'm very late to the show here with this, I wanted to watch it before the primary, but due to burnout and other stuff going on lately I just never got around to it. Well, I watched it last night. And honestly...I'm just going to say...I can see why Mamdani won. He was very charismatic, I mean, the more he talks the more he has like 2008 Obama style charisma, and quite frankly, the other candidates were boring. They all argued over why we couldnt do anything and how we need someone experienced, and Mamdani is like "yeah my plans are practical, I'll just tax the rich." I hope he can deliver on that, because if he can't, it's gonna do more harm in the long term to the left, but yeah. The whole debate felt like it was between Cuomo and Mamdani, with the other 5 or so candidates being boring AF and attacking Cuomo for being a sex pest. Most of them had no ideas, no charisma, they just all dogpiled on Cuomo and criticized Mamdani for being too young and radical. And in a race between the establishment sex pest (following the last guy being corrupt AF) and the guy who promised to make peoples' lives better, it's no wonder Mamdani won. And yeah, the more I listen to Mamdani and understand the race in general, the more I understand why he won. 

Is this a sign that progressives are universally popular now? I think they're gaining popularity, but I still think that old habits will die hard and nationally the establishment will still be viable. There are just too many old people who will buy whatever slop the DNC sells them. However, it does appear that maybe the tides are turning. I'd just hold our horses on the whole "this is our moment" thing because i dont wanna be too premature.  

Either way, i will say I'm enjoying the monied interests LOSING THEIR FREAKING CRAP. They're all freaking out and acting like the end is near, and it's glorious. Also, to any centrists losing their crap, keep in mind, you HAVE to vote for the democrat...or you're helping the republican. Gee, doesn't feel so great when the shoe is on the other foot, does it? 

Discussing the liberal vs leftist divide on recent issues

 So, there are three issues where I wanna discuss the liberal vs leftist divide in modern politics. First, let's talk NYC. Zohran Mamdani beat out Andrew Cuomo in a surprise upset. I did plan on watching the debate between the two, but sadly I never got around to it. But yeah. I dont like Cuomo. He's an establishment centrist who has been in power for forever and comes off to me as everything wrong with the modern democratic party. 

However, Im not really a fan of Mamdani. I mean, there's progressive, and then there's LEFT. And a lot of LEFT LEFT people are....not the best on policy. I like to back my own progressivism up with actual logistics, whereas Mamdani comes off to me as part of the "stupid left" in supporting ideas like rent control, which have never been shown to work, and he wants socialized grocery stores for some reason...like what problem does that even solve exactly? And free public transportation, which I'm not opposed to, but I'm also unsure of the logistics of. Promises are nice, but how is he gonna pay for this? I hate to ask this but I wanna know.

And before anyone wonders why i suddenly sound like a centrist, it's this. In order for left candidates to succeed, they have to have an idea wtf they're doing in the first place. You cant just promise a bunch of crap with no ability to deliver on it. I'm sure mamdani means well, but yeah, I'm not sure if he actually has ideas that can be executed properly. And if he doesn't, that could be bad for the left in the long term. Because they won't succeed, they'll be voted out of office, and then the centrists will win again when dems do run. We gotta deliver. If we don't deliver, we bring shame to the movement and it will be set back. Idk, I just would like have had someone more in between these two candidates. Like I did watch at least the opening statements of the above debate, and the candidate that stood out most to me was Adrianne Adams, who had experience, but also wanted change. Idk. I just think we can do better than some socialist who is younger than me and has no idea what he's doing.

So...the second issue. The impeachment articles against Trump. Some progressives brought them over bombing Iran, but then the centrists shut it down. I....have to side with the center here. Mainly because of the context of this impeachment. Dont get me wrong, trump should be impeached for all of his lawless activity, but here, it was over the war powers act and bombing Iran. While congress does have the ultimate power to declare war, executives have been granted limited power to wage it on a short term basis in order to respond quickly to crises. I admit, Trump abused this power. However, holding him accountable for it could actually have negative effects on future executives from being able to exercise power as needed. It could have a chilling effect causing future executives to wait for congress to act while they spend months deliberating over BS. 

A lot of the anti war left gets RABID over this. Like, we had the issues with Bush. 9/11 happened, Bush responded quickly, but he also kinda abused the war powers act in his own ways. I dont think he should have been impeached over it, but the leftist "anti war" people were foaming at the mouth screaming WAR CRIMINAL and calling for him to be called before the hague. Which was...kinda insane. I believe that Bush's actions were largely within the realm of American law, and I would argue the same for Trump, even if I very strongly disagree with Trump on Iran. Like...again, it's not that we shouldnt impeach Trump, it's that we should actually argue for doing so on him actually abusing power in a flagrant way. The war powers act is awfully grey and murky to use as the justification for it. 

And finally, the third issue. I watched Vaush responding to a discussion Ezra Kelin had over trans rights with someone and he kinda went full leftist on it. Okay, so...again, I'm mostly for trans rights. But seriously, can we just...give up a little on the sports issue where we're on the wrong side of an issue like 20-70 in order to make progress? The problem with the "max left" is they wanna be morally pure in all circumstances, when sometimes, the public just isnt there. We can advocate for our own stuff, try to raise consciousness, change opinions, but at the same time, sometimes it's better to have SOME progress over pushing too hard, creating a backlash, and getting NO progress because we end up alienating everyone in the process. And even I have to play this game with my own ambitions with getting rid of work, for example. Sometimes the public isnt there, and attacking those who wanna achieve what progress we CAN make sets back progress altogether. Like, take me vs Andrew Yang, does Yang meet every single purity test I have? No. Neither does Bernie Sanders. But...attacking them too hard is gonna accomplish what? Tanking the people most likely to push things my way? Again, people might wanna look at my previous posts on how to properly purity test. Youre not gonna get 100% of what you want, you get 80% and youre in good shape. 

And btw, despite whatever misgivings I have with Mamdani, I'd support him over Cuomo, just to put my money where my mouth is. But I digress.

Honestly, I dont like the centrist establishment of the democratic party. But at the same time, I dont like the left either. Im somewhere in between the two. I want progress to be made, but we need to do so intelligently and strategically. Going full socialist, or full anti war whackcase, or full SJW is just going to alienate people and create backlash that drives people to literal conservatism. Again, it's a balance. It's hard to do properly, but we gotta manage it or we're just gonna set ourselves up for failure.