A Wired article about dark money funding for left-leaning influencers has once again revealed the growing fissures among leftists. Because I’m very much caught up in this argument, this article probably feels bigger than it is in reality. It’s extremely contentious in online circles but probably hasn’t bled out to the public in a meaningful way. But it does tap into a larger theme that needs to be exhaustively examined.
I’ll let you read the article and draw your own conclusions, but the larger theme I want to unpack is the widening divide on the left. In some ways, this is obviously nothing new and I’m trying to keep that in my thoughts. Division among leftists is so deeply rooted it’s almost a natural characteristic. Moreover, it can be a positive thing as groupthink can be more dangerous than disagreement.
In the mainstream, the “normie” conversation these days is centered around the most limiting aspects of debate. “Who will be the Joe Rogan of the left?” “Why do Democrats play by the rules if Republicans won’t?” I suppose these are fair questions, but they can’t be the central topics of our time.
Without getting into the whole “vote blue no matter who” debate, there can be little doubt that the left is more than suffering from an identity crisis. The Wired article is about an organization attempting to unite online influencers around specific ideals and principles to fight the coordinated efforts of the right. Seems fair on the surface, but the article also reveals that the primary funding source is a dark money PAC. This feels more broadly like the redistricting fight in California where Democrats have decided to fight undemocratic fire with more undemocratic fire.
Gavin Newsom has become the avatar of this fracture as most leftists see him for what he is: a purely political figure with very few ideological principles. (More on this in coming weeks.) But to normies and liberals he’s memeing his way to mainstream prominence by mirroring Trump’s social media tactics and taking on Greg Abbott with his own gerrymandering plan.
The Young Turks network has come under fire with the clear pivot of its main hosts into what they refer to as economic populism in an attempt to appeal to disaffected right-wingers. But in doing so, they’re catching strays for playing footsie with figures like Tucker Carlson and Charlie Kirk while simultaneously excising leftists from their platform for disagreeing with them. It’s all very toxic and symptomatic of the larger problem that we need to platform: The toxic Democratic Party.
I’ve seen public figures like Bernie Sanders speak to the toxic “brand” of the Democratic Party but the reality is the party itself is toxic. It makes my assertion that we need to take over the party seem wholly insufficient, something I’m keenly aware of. But the Democratic Party owns and controls the only apparatus at this moment that is capable of slowing Project 2025 and ultimately dethroning Trump and destroying his agenda.
Trying to align online leftists is fine. Obscuring the funding sources behind the attempt is not.
Trying to appeal to disaffected Republicans is fine. Doing it by cozying up to hatemongers, racists and misogynists while casting aside dissenting figures you traditionally align with is not.
Standing up bureaucratic tyranny like gerrymandering is fine. Doing it by further eroding the democratic rights of anyone is not.
To me, these seem pretty fundamental. The fact that they’re working to convince liberals that this is the path forward shines a light on the fact that the Democratic Party is resigned to countermaneuvers and responses rather than actually standing for something. Anything.
.89 ERA. 21 Ks. 20 Innings. 3 games. Those would be Nolan McLean’s stats as a rookie pitcher just called up for the New York Metropolitans. No biggie. Hasn’t been done since Randy Johnson. Whatevs. It’s cool. Swept the Phillies. It’s fine. Playoff push time. (This team is going to be the death of me.)
I’m as curious as the next person as to whether Donald Trump is dying. But please, please don’t act as though this might happen. Assume he’s going to live forever.
-Max
Killer Left Take of the Week
KLTW goes to Briahna Joy Gray for her interview with Chris Smalls. The subject line of the video is just a fraction of the hard truths dropped in this video. These are the challenging conversations we need to have on the left. BJG is my go-to for discomfort. More often than not I find myself having to check my preconceptions at the door and while I don’t always like what I hear, I always leave with a more open mind and willingness to dig deeper.
Hustle Culture relies on the toxic myth of rugged individualism. Four out of every ten Americans rely on “side-hustles” in the gig economy to make ends meet. For many these side hustles are the only source of income. For decades our political leaders have sold the myth of self-reliance rather than bolstering worker protections. The result is a population that lives in economic precarity and without the benefits and peace of mind associated with steady labor guarantees. There’s nothing inherently wrong with entrepreneurism but our political economy takes advantage of this mindset to strip away safety nets and blame those who cannot fend for themselves.
Here’s a snippet from the pod:
Max: What makes this system so pernicious is how deeply it’s embedded in American psychological and cultural frameworks. The mythology of rugged individualism isn’t just an economic theory—it’s a form of identity that shapes how Americans understand themselves and their relationship to work.
We celebrate entrepreneurs, not workers. Our cultural heroes are the founders and innovators, not the people who actually build and maintain the infrastructure of daily life. This isn’t accidental. It’s a systematic cultural project that serves specific economic interests by making collective action seem unnecessary or even anti-American.
So many takeaways from the inflation figures for July that were just released. Energy continues to drag down the overall figure because oil and gas prices continue to slump due to a decline in global demand. If we were to experience an oil shock of some kind, these figures would be pushed into the stratosphere because oil inflation impacts both the manufacturing and consumer sectors. Irrespective of energy, however, the impact of increased spending is being felt in areas that are brutal for the consumer. Inflation is showing up all over the place in essentials like insurance, housing and utilities, food prices and health care. With personal income flat for the month it means these are taking a larger chunk of wealth and income from the bottom percentiles of the population. Overall, core inflation rose (YoY) 2.9% in July and it has been rising for several months in a row. With more inflation on the way (producer price numbers are increasing even faster) the consumer is going to cry uncle sooner than later.
Headlines
Haul Culture
I’ve experienced this firsthand in my household. Deals too good to be true on fast fashion items marketed by influencers. Beyond the economic and climate destroying reality of fast fashion, the online influencer marketed shopping trend is disrupting the online sales environment with stunning speed.
From the article:
“It’s not just the cluttered graphics and $5 price tags that hook people. The real sales pitch comes through influencers. ‘Haul culture,’ the crown jewel of fast-fashion marketing, has become impossible to avoid online. One in two college-aged individuals watch fast-fashion haul videos at least once a week. On TikTok alone, #Shein has garnered over a million posts in the last three years. These videos follow a familiar formula: A grinning influencer hoists an oversized plastic bag overhead, then pulls out item after item, each shrink-wrapped in more plastic, until the floor practically disappears under the drifts of packaging waste.”
The focus on cuts to Medicaid and pending increases to health insurance coverage as a result of the GOP’s de facto murder of the Affordable Care Act has obscured the merger trend in the nation’s hospital system that has led to increased costs and worsening care.
From the article:
“The notion that mergers promote better quality of care is disputed by an ever-growing body of research. A report by Massachusetts Medical Society found that hospital acquisitions were linked to ‘moderately worse patient experiences.’ Perhaps more startlingly, evidence suggests that serious health complications tend to creep up as competition among hospitals declines. As Martin Gaynor, an economist at Carnegie Mellon University and vocal proponent of federal price controls, told The New York Times in 2019: ‘When prices are set by the government, hospitals don’t compete on price; they compete on quality.’ Without such regulation, he argued, the incentive to maintain or improve quality diminishes.”
The flood of economic movement has kept me otherwise buried so I haven’t been able to dig into Kennedy’s tenure as the nation’s leading health official as much as I would have liked. But he appears to be on a tear of late and moving quickly to dismantle the scientific underpinnings of our public health infrastructure.
From the article:
“Kennedy announced new restrictions that fundamentally alter COVID-19 vaccine access, requiring that all Americans receive a doctor’s recommendation in order to receive a vaccine. For the vast majority of Americans, this effectively means they will lose access to COVID-19 vaccines without taking inordinate and in many cases prohibitive measures. Furthermore, multiple sources report that Kennedy is planning to fully revoke access to mRNA COVID-19 vaccines within months.”
I had the opportunity to interview Rashid Khalidi last year and it was one of my favorite conversations. Brilliant and kind teacher. And since American Prestige is one of the best podcasts, this episode is a bonus find.
“Danny and Derek welcome historian Rashid Khalidi back to the program, this time to talk about Columbia University’s agreement with the Trump administration. They discuss the university equating criticism of Israel with antisemitism, the school bringing in outside monitors, bipartisan U.S. support for Israel despite shifting public opinion, and how donor influence and neoliberal management are both reshaping universities and eroding the humanities.”
“In 1951, a monumental book by a relatively unknown German-Jewish émigré addressed the terrifying new mode of political organization underlying the twin horrors of Stalinism and Nazism. Herself a refugee from Nazi persecution, Hannah Arendt sought, from her exile in New York City, to answer the unfathomable questions raised by the Soviet gulag and the Holocaust: How could there be such barbarism in the midst of civilization? How had governments exerted such absolute control over citizens, terrorizing them and enlisting them to commit atrocities on their behalf?”
Rep. Ro Khanna has emerged as one of the most outspoken progressive voices in Congress, challenging Democrats to be more pro-working class and attacking Trump’s policies favoring the rich.
Progressive Organization of the Week: Know Your IX.
“We affirm and actively support every survivor’s right to seek justice and healing for themselves in the way that they choose. The work we do is always centered in the needs and experiences of survivors themselves. We recognize that sexual and dating violence are manifestations of systemic gender oppression, which cannot be separated from all other forms of oppression, including but not limited to imperialism, racism, classism, homophobia, transphobia, and ableism. The experiences of survivors are shaped by their individual identities and these connected systems of oppression. We also recognize that institutions play a central role in enabling these systems of violence and oppression. We recognize that people of all identities, including but not limited to those based on race, gender, and sexuality, can experience and be impacted by sexual and dating violence. We seek to create regional and national communities of activists who share these values and will work together to address sexual and dating violence on our campuses.”
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