The Democratic Chicken--or the Hard Left Egg?

RealClear Politics ^ | 10 Sep, 2026 | Victor Davis Hanson

[MtnClimber]

The primaries are over, and the November general election looms.

Suddenly, the Islamo-socialist podcaster Hasan Piker--who is now infamous for blaming America for 9/11 and warning Jews that "someone's going to come around and take action, not against the state of Israel, mind you, but against American Jews"--is persona non grata on the Democratic stump.

Abdul El-Sayed, the Democratic nominee in the Michigan Senate race, once enlisted Piker to jump-start his lethargic candidacy. Now that he is locked in a close general-election race against a strong Republican, El-Sayed dismisses the antisemite, who has suddenly outlived his usefulness, as a mere "social media person in California."

Clinton-era Democratic politicos like Rahm Emanuel and James Carville insist that Democrats have divorced themselves from the hard-left Democratic Socialists.

Really?

If that divorce were real, why would so many Democrats be cheering a potential Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez presidential run in 2028? She is, after all, a proud member of the Democratic Socialists of America's New York chapter.

Did lifelong socialist Bernie Sanders not run twice for president--not as a third-party candidate, but in the Democratic primaries? And did he not nearly capture the nomination in 2016 and 2020 until terrified donors and insiders intervened to abort his candidacies?

Did House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries not endorse Democratic mayoral nominee Zohran Mamdani, also a member of the DSA's New York chapter? And did Jeffries not thereby choose Mamdani over former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo?

---

TOPICS: Society
KEYWORDS: leftism; vdh; victordavishanson

[MtnClimber]

VDH ping

[brownsfan]

I have no idea how the midterms will go, but I can tell you what people I know in a suburban blue area are thinking. First, they pay very little attention to politics, but what little information they get is from tick-tok, instagram, or some other left leaning site, and of course, the evening news.

Those people know very little about the DSA. What little they do know, they regard the DSA as a harmless trend. These people get in their big SUVs and huge Trucks, and go out to dinner most nights. Then they complain about affordability because the media has convince them they are being cheated by the rich.

I hope enough places can offset what I see and hear from the people around me.

[Brian Griffin]

“cheated by the rich”

Why do you buy from Amazon?

Because the prices are lower!

Is Jeff Bezos cheating you?

[texas booster]

Ping! Out to the Victor Davis Hanson list

In sum, the socialists did not swallow the old Clinton Democrats; those Democrats were already gone. A party radicalized over decades instead welcomed younger copycat socialists who proved even more zealous and embittered than their elders--and gave them their first national home.

Excellent Prof Hanson article on the history of democrats in the Democratic party - and how they lost it to the DSA.

FR Index of his articles: Victor Davis Hanson on FR

Town Hall: Victor Davis Hanson on Town Hall

American Greatness: Victor Davis Hanson on American Greatness

His website: Victor Davis Hanson The Sword of Perseus

One of his sponsors' website: The Daily Signal

Please let me know if you want on or off this new VDH ping list.

As a reminder, Professor Hanson has asked that we do not post the full article of his writings. Thank you for following the link to finish his article.

Content created by the Center for American Greatness, Inc. is available without charge to any eligible news publisher that can provide a significant audience.

https://freerepublic.com/tag/victordavishanson/index

[Kudsman]

They can try re-imagining themselves but we know it is fake. A Democrat is a Democrat is a Democrat. Anti-life, Anti-American and Anti-Liberty. It does not matter what candy coating them put on themselves, the core is rotten.

[ek_hornbeck]

Clinton-era Democratic politicos like Rahm Emanuel and James Carville insist that Democrats have divorced themselves from the hard-left Democratic Socialists

Carville is living in a 30 year time warp where "moderate" Democrats who favored semi-sane fiscal policy and law enforcement still existed. In the 1990s, Democrats like Bill Clinton (and even Joe Biden!) still talked about deporting illegal immigrants, locking up repeat felons for life, and were willing to go along with some tax cuts and sensible deregulation. These no longer exist, or in the rare instances when they crop up they become pariahs in their own party.

What you have instead are two forms of the progressive, hard left: those who are open about it, like AOC and her "Squad", and those who cover up the same policies with generic, bland talk of "moderation" and "bipartisanship", as Gavin Newsom has mastered.

[Georgia Girl 2]

Yes, Democrats vote Democrat. Republicans vote Republican. The Independents decide the outcome. I don’t think the Independents want socialism.