Reader Request: THE Talking Point
He didn't just say what I think he did, did he?
I got a message from a stunningly attractive middle-aged woman I want to respond to publicly:
“I’m interested in the DSA, what they told their group to do in the last election, and what you alluded to in your last 2 columns.1
If we have people on the city council who told people not to vote for Harris, then this is huge. So just want to confirm all this. Because if this is true, this is THE TALKING POINT. [People I care about] are being screwed over left and right because fuckers couldn’t vote strategically.”
Okay, let me lay out the claims clearly:
The Portland Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) discouraged voting for Joe Biden/Kamala Harris in the 2024 election, promoting the idea there was no meaningful difference between the candidates.
Now they’re crying about living under fascism, oligarchy, genocide, etc. - something they could have (as the reader says) “voted strategically” to avoid.
These “fuckers” don’t truly believe any of this and simply hate Democrats, liberals, and liberal democracy.2
Is this truth or exaggeration?
Part 1 - A Secret Third Thing
“Maybe 1 day under perfect circumstances Dems will vote to protect rights”
-Angelita Morillo
Let’s hope so Angelita, for the children.
As I covered in Metastasis, the DSA and allied groups do not care for the Democratic Party. They support progressives like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Rashida Tlaib, but look forward to either staging a hostile takeover or splitting.
“We’re in a unique moment to radicalize disaffected liberals…” aka Trump won! Now we can recruit!
Going back to the 2020 election season, the DSA Book Club read The Democrats: A Critical History. Now, you can be hyper critical of Democrats, but maybe you should also stop pretending to be allied with them if you think they have a long history of blocking progress and social justice. Run your own damn party.
Oh, right. They’re trying to do that:
In 2026 expect them to split with Democrats and run candidates of their very own. That’s something I’ll be happy to see, because they’ve been a parasite for years.
When I attended Portland City Councilor Mitch Green’s campaign launch party, I saw no Democrats. Jill Stein hats, more than a few communists, but no one repping the Blue Party unless you count Angelita Morillo - which I don’t. That week the DSA hung flyers around our neighborhood, which I’ve shown before.
X’s on the eyes of both party mascots doesn’t really convey a nuanced critique.
Then there was the Presidential Debate Bingo night when they couldn’t really find differences between the “two old guys agreeing on lots.” Here was the DSA tweet when Joe Biden exited the race in 2024:
And the energy when Kamala Harris entered:
Ah yes, the bloodlust messaging from “liberal institutions.” I remember it well. Those damn Liberals strike again! None of this is surprising because the DSA openly hates the Democratic Party and liberals. Crooked Hillary, Genocide Joe, Copmala. I have to imagine they just call Josh Shapiro “The Jew” when no one’s around. They’re getting pretty cold on Bernie, but he did rant about Israel so he’s “one of the good ones.”
Part 2 - Believe Them the First Time
Here’s Lydia Kiesling, doing a little shit-posting. Lydia was Portland City Council Vice President Tiffany Koyama Lane’s campaign manager. She’s a local author and DSA member. She wrote I Guess I’m a Campaign Manager Now for The Cut. It opens with a story about how useless Senator Ron Wyden was on saving Palestinian babies. Fucking Jews! They ruin everything, just like the Democrats.
The article is sweet nonsense, painting her and Tiffany as scrappy moms out to change the world. It skips a bit on the enormous backing from local unions and The Working Families Party.
Look at Lydia’s version:
“And Tiffany was killing it, and she had a great story to tell. She raised more money than anyone else in the city by a mile, all in small donations. Around 200 people of all ages and from all walks of life were inspired to volunteer their time in some way. She got endorsements and support from a ton of labor and community organizations, including the DSA chapter, which made me happy because it was my political home. There was a compelling David and Goliath angle: Everything about the election was set up as though candidates did not have day jobs or kids or both, and Tiffany still had to support her family, teach her class, and be there for her children. She was powering through very long days, and the local Establishment kept her at arm’s length. One newspaper explicitly withheld its endorsement because she had helped organize the teachers’ strike; another declined to interview her at all.”
Now let’s compare it to the DSA’s account (emphasis mine):
Unions played a crucial role, often helping to a degree with the field work as well as growing our candidates’ reach in finding donors, volunteers, and voters. Our relationships with unions — both from the chapter’s extensive solidarity work and rank-and-file DSA members involved in their own unions — played a role in securing some of Tiffany and Mitch union endorsements and generating labor’s interest in our campaigns. The solidarity work gave us and our candidates credibility. Oregon Health and Science University workers, adjuncts at Portland State University, and Portland public school teachers with Portland Association of Teachers all provided some level of voter outreach. UFCW555 provided in-kind printing. Members from various unions also organically came to the campaigns after seeing their unions’ endorsement. Lastly, a coalition of labor unions formed a political action committee which provided some additional ads and lifted the name recognition for Tiffany.
The campaigns had a variety of allies who helped increase capacity for our volunteer efforts. Environmental activists from Sunrise contributed some field capacity towards the end of the cycle and Mitch ran an anti-Zenith Oil pipeline ad which garnered deserved attention. Both he and Tiffany received major environmental endorsements, like Jane Fonda’s Climate PAC, which boosted both candidates with small donor fundraising. Pro-Palestine activists formed a chunk of support in our campaigns and had an impact on the city council elections broadly. People wanted to support politicians who would stand with Palestine and look for ways to support the BDS movement. One DSA member knocked over 1,000 doors and said that his dedication was because our candidates both called for a ceasefire in Palestine. The Working Families Party was a key provider of technical and professional support, guidance, and consultation, helping our staffers figure out how to use the voter database and carefully follow election rules. The Working Families Party is often a necessary ally in our projects as leaders of large unions view it with less skepticism than they do DSA.
I wonder why large unions have been historically skeptical of a group that hates Democrats and liberals, is obsessed with Israel, and makes jokes about how Dems would never vote for anyone’s rights/only ever get more racist over time…
I know I wouldn’t want to be attached to this sort of messaging:
But they’re shit-posting. It’s all for internet clout. We’ve all gone a little wild on Twitter…
According to Olivia Katbi:
DSA now has members in city council and the state legislature…
The internet shit-posters are coming from inside the house. They have power. What or who does that remind you of?
Part 3 - Collateral Damage
Daniel Lubetzky, the founder of KIND snacks wrote a great little op-ed over at Newsweek right after the election.
To Recover, Democrats Must Disavow Their Own 'Project 2025'
An analysis of the positions American voters held against Vice President Harris this election reveals that the majority of them were not rooted in the Democratic Party's platform. Instead, they stemmed from the policy agenda of the DSA. Since 2015, the once marginal group has become the most prominent "socialist" organization in American politics, though the DSA in its latest manifestation is no longer socialist or democratic. It is a rigidly neo-Marxist organization.
The crazy stuff? The Comrade Kamala, open borders, BDS, decriminalize everything stuff that terrified people? Those are built from DSA platform points, and they’re very unpopular. So while the DSA is trying to convince you that Trump won because the Democrats didn’t swing hard enough left, it was actually a bit of an inside job. Republican ads weren’t making stuff up, they just highlighted the craziest bits.
Here was The Portland DSA’s Emergency Declaration after the election:
An Emergency Election Response for Portland DSA
On November 5, Donald Trump was elected, again. How did this happen? At the heart of the disaster is the failure of the Democratic Party. For decades, Democrats have operated as just another party of big business, corporate policies, and the status quo.
While corporate Democrats fell to crushing defeat, socialists won elections across the country. Portland was a bright spot. We elected two endorsed city councilors after an incredible campaign of door-knocking and organizing — and voted in four democratic socialists to city council. Five of the twelve winners signed our Renters’ Bill of Rights.
Democrats did fail; in part by letting these radicals in, the same radicals who proudly proclaim their disgust for liberal democracy. The kids with guillotine tattoos and AK-47 earrings who scream for “Intifada!” and tag “Kill [imagined enemy of the week]” all over town.
If Luigi Mangione ever drops a collaboration with Clone-A-Willy, these fools won’t know what to do because he’ll be a billionaire overnight on their dime.
I’ll leave you with this:
Also Israel.