Just a reminder that left wing politicians are not as extreme as the online left

 So...what do Andrew Yang, Bernie Sanders, Alexandria Ocasio Cortez, and John Fetterman all have in common?

All of them started out as being left of most democrats in terms of their policy positions. All of them started off as being some progressive gold standard, and over time, all of them have been ripped and criticized by the online left for "selling out" (or in andrew's case, not being left at all) over weird wedge issues of no consequence. 

And it just reminds me of something I've been saying recently, and that's that Bernie is a moderate compared to his fanbase. The same is true of AOC, with the recent comments coming out about Bernie Bros. And John Fetterman, who is being criticized for moderate positions on immigration and Israel. And can we forget how viciously the left went after Yang in his New York mayoral race over Israel? That's where I really started noticing that the online far left is deranged. 

And of course, there's me, a 2016 Bernie Bro who eventually left that designation over time because those guys got too much even for me (also didn't help that I was also yang gang and see UBI as the most progressive economic policy we could possibly implement, sorry not sorry). 

But the fact is, the online left now is not the same online left that existed in 2016. A lot of us at the time were just socdems who felt shafted by the democratic party because hillary didn't wanna give us universal healthcare and student loan forgiveness. But again, post 2016, they got a lot darker and a lot more extreme. I started noticing this as early as 2017 among a lot of SJW type leftists, and it just got worse going into 2020, and now post 2020, these guys are sounding increasingly deranged.

The same thing is happening on the right. My friend was sharing some 2016 era debate stuff trump said and back then he actually had populist rhetoric. he talked about not being bought and fighting the establishment, and honestly, its no surprise he won in retrospect given how bad he got it wrong. But during 2020 his movement got increasingly authoritarian and deranged, and then they committed insurrection over losing the election. And now Trump is openly talking about being a dictator and calling his opponents vermin and crap.

The fact is, the MAGA movement also went to some dark places since 2016. Unlike the left wing politicians like Fetterman, AOC, bernie, etc, Trump seemed to embrace his most extreme followers and he's gone full mask off. On the left, The people I just mentioned are the same, give or take as they've always been, but now their supporters are throwing shade at them for not being more extreme. And that's problematic.

The fact is, the online left has gone insane in recent years. I cant look at them the same way that I used to any more. This doesnt mean I like the dem establishment centrists any better. I read their comments too and they still have this bitter toxic thing going on too. The fact is, both sides of this debate suck these days. Neither are 100% wrong, but they aren't right either. The one side is too toxically moderate, and the other is too extreme. And both suck.

Quite frankly, I think politics in general sucks in 2024. No one understand nuance any more. Everyone is tribalistic AF. Everyone exists in their own little echo chambers, and I'm still in this time warp of the early/mid 2010s wondering wtf is going on. I keep saying it, i didn't sign up for this weirdo modern left that sounds like a literal strawman rush limbaugh used to attack. I also didnt sign up to deal with the centrists' nonsense either, but I digress.

I just felt like I needed to say this again. I feel like I keep saying this, and this is a common theme I keep coming back to all year, but yeah. Bernie, AOC, Fetterman, etc, are MODERATES compared to their fan base these days. They have the right idea, by the way, dont get me wrong. I can actually look at those guys and respect their positions on things. But the online left that keeps screaming into the void about "genocide" and how everyone in politics is a sell out need to fricking chill and get a nice dose of reality.