MAGA is not the “source” of all issues right now, they’re just the worst part of a very bad reality. They’re a symptom of unchecked hyper capitalism rather than an external threat. If it weren’t for decades of wage stagnation and rising wealth inequality, many the people who joined MAGA wouldn’t have been so vulnerable to embracing it. Populism thrives on a system that doesn’t work for people, and fascism was just right wing populism. One doesn’t need to reject liberal political philosophy to understand this.

The biggest sin of the liberal establishment was rejecting the alternative left wing populism. It wouldn’t have required the Democrats becoming communists, but they would’ve needed to put liberal democracy over capitalism. Leading up to the 2024 election, the Democrats ignored much of their base on issues like Gaza or TikTok while barely offering any progressive economic policies. They refused to fundamentally change from being representatives of the wealthy over the voters, refused to put democracy abroad over American imperialism, and refused to reign in the companies that got us all this discontent in the first place.

Following the election, rather than showing any resistance to fascism, the fucking ghouls in the Democratic party are becoming worse. Their think thanks took every wrong lesson imaginable, deciding that it was time to throw minorities under the bus, ignore climate change, and simp harder for corporate interests. We see someone like Gavin Newsom, who early on made theatre about gay marriage in California, embrace trans fear mongering followed by Pete Buttigieg and Kamala Harris. We see the Democrats in Congress refusing to even be obstructionists out of fear of a fascist dictator actually delivering consequences on their cushy lives.

All the while, people tell me with a straight face that these spineless fuckheads are our only chance at salvation. However, I think these voters are deluding themselves even harder than the thought leaders amongst the Democrats. The real reason I think Democrats are ignoring sections of their base and dropping any issues that the wealthy NYT readers aren’t on board with, is because liberal democracy died in America. It was buried in November after being on life support for years and it will not come back, even if the Democrats retake power. Their moves to re-gerrymander Democratic states are being sold as a way to “fight dirty” with MAGA, but why can’t the corporate wing of the party now use it to further sideline minorities and the left?

TLDR: The liberal hate is because the Democrats lost to the fascists, are cowards as resistance, and are moving right on policy. Insisting that Democrats are our only hope further twists the knife. Democracy isn’t dying, it’s dead.