I am glad the workers are angry. The only time I ever made a fucking dime was when I was serving gallons of cocktails to the Okie oilies who brought down Penn Square Bank in the 80s. I chose not to go to college because I did not want to pay or enter a profession. I only wanted a job. I expected to be able to meet 100% of my basic needs but fuck no that was not to be. My next job after the bank failure was at a men’s store at ten bucks an hour. My last job was as a piece of veal in a veal pen staring at a computer screen all day with overseers with whips dropping by to see how much I had gotten done. It paid a measly 13 dollars in 2022. 43 long hard years, boys and girls, of working for rice. One reason we need to fight like devils on bath salts for Social Security is all the workers are really going to want it by the time they reach 66 beings that the workplace unless you are union is pure D shit and people get tired of earn and spend. Some of us want to smell some roses too before our short life span ends. I’ll be marching with you to the death, labor! We are the majority. All categories of us folks who used to differentiate ourselves from one another will come together right here because we have to. love, granny
Your story is so much like most of the people I grew up with and my family's as well. For myself I had one odd job after another making shit wages, tried to go to college but couldn't afford it so had to do it part time while working two jobs and ultimately ended up with $40k of student debt and no degree to show for it. I ended up teaching myself to code late in life but my prospects were impossibly dim before that and now they're coming for the jobs in my sector too. We merely need to start to come together as workers and realize that we are getting screwed but that there are so many more of us than them and that we deserve to live dignified lives. Solidarity
You make me cry. Yes, it’s about labor. Do folks really think all of us want to drive five billion dollar cars? That it’s only a home if it is a 38 billion dollar real estate sale? In a pig’s eye. The world has tried to tell us that it is somehow our fault for as long as I can remember. I knew that was horse shit. No. It is the fucking employers. And the shitty work. I got your hoops of fire swinging, motherfucker. And what kills me is look at all of the brilliantly talented people who have been stomped into the earth for no intelligent reason. Keep the faith. I mean that. This is just like Dune all of a sudden. I am glad to be joining forces with you, Scarlet. 100% solidarity. It’s tsunami time.
Having challenged Pelosi in a general election poisoned by racist disinformation orchestrated by Democrats, I see your analysis as spot on, although perhaps too generous to the Democratic Party leadership.
I have been toying with writing my own history of the recent Democratic party but you have beaten me to it. This is outstanding.
This point in particular...
"a pandemic lockdown that allowed Biden campaign from home (shielding the public from his mental decline)"
...is one that I think is underappreciated. The Democrats were so determined to stop populism they circled the wagons around someone in obvious cognitive decline. Only the miraculous timing of COVID, which let him campaign from his basement, saved them.
The article is absolutely correct in its assessment of the Democratic Party’s structural failures, but it’s also important to recognize that Kamala Harris ran the best campaign possible under the DNC’s current paradigms. She adhered to the party’s donor-driven, consultant-class-approved, elite-favored strategy flawlessly. Meanwhile, Trump’s campaign was an incoherent, mismanaged disaster, riddled with internal chaos and criminal proceedings. And yet, despite the sheer dysfunction on the Republican side, the Democrats still lost ground. This isn’t just a failure of messaging or strategy—it’s proof that the mindset and culture driving the Democratic Party are fundamentally unsustainable. They are incapable of responding to real political and economic conditions, and that should terrify anyone who hoped they could serve as a bulwark against rising fascism.
For those outside U.S. borders, this reality is even more dire. Americans at least have the illusion of choice, even if both parties serve capital over the people. But the rest of the world has no say in the policies the U.S. imposes internationally—whether through economic coercion, military intervention, or corporate monopolization. When the American political system collapses under the weight of its own contradictions, the ripple effects will be devastating for those who have been subjected to its hegemony for decades.
And now, AI-driven automation is accelerating that collapse. White-collar work is being hollowed out in real time, following the same trajectory that robotics took with blue-collar labor. The next phase will hit the service sector—restaurant workers, retail employees, logistics personnel—all replaced by automation. This is not speculation; it’s already happening. The Democrats will do nothing to stop it, just as they did nothing when manufacturing jobs were offshored or when wages stagnated for an entire generation. The party does not see this as a crisis to be solved. It sees it as an inevitability to be managed, with corporate interests calling the shots.
There are no allies in Washington. There are only victims, those who prey on them, and those who hide from the truth. The institutions that exist today are incapable of navigating the world that is coming, and their failures will not be gentle.
"Kamala Harris ran the best campaign possible under the DNC’s current paradigms. She adhered to the party’s donor-driven, consultant-class-approved, elite-favored strategy flawlessly. Meanwhile, Trump’s campaign was an incoherent, mismanaged disaster, riddled with internal chaos and criminal proceedings. And yet, despite the sheer dysfunction on the Republican side, the Democrats still lost ground. " This is such a good point. I think we can attribute much of that to how badly the status quo has failed to meet everyone's needs, that many chose to take a hammer to that via Trump over preserving that, regardless of the chaos that might cause. I've often said Harris lost to the couch, she got around 7 million less votes than Biden in 2020, which goes to show that the play of "we won't make your life better but we are the only thing standing between you and total fascism" is no longer a compelling enough motivator. I think a positive vision for the future, which is something Democrats abandoned long ago, would be the only thing that could counter Trumpism. Trump, for all his faults, pretends to care about people's economic despair. Democrats choose to tell you that despair is imagined. The other factor that I think needs to be taken into account is that Democrats talk out of both sides of their mouth. On one hand Trump is a fascist, on the other, bipartisanship is the highest of ideals. The "extreme MAGA Republicans" schtick really exemplified this. They were trying to thread this impossible needle where it was just a handful of people in Congress plus Trump who were bad, and the rest of the party was reasonable people they could work with. It's totally incoherent and ultimately gives voters the sense that maybe this Trump guy isn't as bad as they say. I think we are seeing a massive acceleration in this collaborationism now because the contradictions present inside of what is called the Democratic Party have become too sharp to manage.
Anytime I go back and reminisce about what it was like to have Rahm Emanuel as my mayor, I always feel like I want to go bash my head against the wall and banshee scream his name into a cursed oblivion. Laquon should still be here today; absolutely maddening Rahm continued to fail upwards as a reward. That on its own should radicalize anyone into understanding who it is the establishment truly is here to "serve" and "protect." You did a fantastic job of illustrating just how monstrous he truly was, still is, and will continue to be, which really did serve as the ultimate representation of the Democratic Party. This quote really hit the nail on the head for me:
"Blind loyalty to institutions and norms over the needs of their voters isn’t just a personality defect, but a feature of their class interests and insight into what the Democratic Party really is."
It feels so obvious - when you take a step back and look at the Democratic Party timeline - that based on how this establishment acts, capital and maintaining iron grips on career-long power are far greater priorities than us people. "A party that truly wanted to deliver for the people would never let some silly Senate rule, a bipartisanship fetish, or a single bureaucrat stand in their way. They would move with the same conviction and clarity of purpose that the Republicans do even when they are in the minority." Even looking at what Chuck Schumer just did with this "clean" "continual resolution" that passed through the Senate tonight demonstrates what you're speaking to here. We're not seeing any fight, but rather a party leadership that is truly rolling over and playing dead. As long as that donor money keeps lining their pockets, they'll never truly act with conviction in service of us people and always in service of the whims of capital and empire.
It feels like we're barreling towards an inevitable fork in the road where neither party will offer us a genuine path towards a better world for us all (which I'd argue is where we currently are) and as always, it'll be up to the people to chart that next course and establish a world that truly works for us all. This series is spot on Scarlet and is truly giving people a sense of what this party is, has been, and likely always will be. The case has never been stronger, and you do a phenomenal job of advocating for it, so thank you again for all the work that you do and are putting into this! The people are better off when they're informed, and you're helping them tremendously with your writing. Always looking forward to what you write next!
Shockingly, this is the first coherent takedown of Dem leadership/party since the election. And I've been looking! It's great and I agree with it. Thank you for bringing this together so well.
But I am also curious about your take on the US Left. I don't know anything about you so far other than you list yourself as a communist, so forgive my ignorance. Personally, I see the US Socialist party itself (and most long standing leftist groups in the US) as deeply flawed by their baggage. What is your take on the Left's institutions in the US? Are you open for the Socialist party to change where needed or advocate for an alternative? As it is, I don't see it as capable of carrying to fight that is needed. I think that is a big part of why the situation feels even more hopeless to me.
I didn't spell out the baggage I see with US Left orgs because it would be far more interesting to hear what you think, than a random commenters gripes.
This piece should be read by anyone who wants to understand why the Democratic Party went from being a shoe-in for this country’s emerging undisputed majority party a couple of decades ago to the wreck it is (temporarily, I’d like to think) at present. The writer’s attempt to write-off Dem policy prescriptions as almost in lockstep with the GOP’s is sad and wildly inaccurate. Rather than write a detailed catalogue of differences here, I’ll just let one obvious —and accurate — generalization do: the Dems promote policies that use social welfare programs to try to counteract the sometimes vicious outcomes of a winner-take-all capitalism (you know, the very thing the historical GOP exists to promote). Also, the writer is absolutely blind to the damage that smug, illiberal identitarian progressives have done to the Democratic Party’s brand.
I am glad the workers are angry. The only time I ever made a fucking dime was when I was serving gallons of cocktails to the Okie oilies who brought down Penn Square Bank in the 80s. I chose not to go to college because I did not want to pay or enter a profession. I only wanted a job. I expected to be able to meet 100% of my basic needs but fuck no that was not to be. My next job after the bank failure was at a men’s store at ten bucks an hour. My last job was as a piece of veal in a veal pen staring at a computer screen all day with overseers with whips dropping by to see how much I had gotten done. It paid a measly 13 dollars in 2022. 43 long hard years, boys and girls, of working for rice. One reason we need to fight like devils on bath salts for Social Security is all the workers are really going to want it by the time they reach 66 beings that the workplace unless you are union is pure D shit and people get tired of earn and spend. Some of us want to smell some roses too before our short life span ends. I’ll be marching with you to the death, labor! We are the majority. All categories of us folks who used to differentiate ourselves from one another will come together right here because we have to. love, granny
Your story is so much like most of the people I grew up with and my family's as well. For myself I had one odd job after another making shit wages, tried to go to college but couldn't afford it so had to do it part time while working two jobs and ultimately ended up with $40k of student debt and no degree to show for it. I ended up teaching myself to code late in life but my prospects were impossibly dim before that and now they're coming for the jobs in my sector too. We merely need to start to come together as workers and realize that we are getting screwed but that there are so many more of us than them and that we deserve to live dignified lives. Solidarity
You make me cry. Yes, it’s about labor. Do folks really think all of us want to drive five billion dollar cars? That it’s only a home if it is a 38 billion dollar real estate sale? In a pig’s eye. The world has tried to tell us that it is somehow our fault for as long as I can remember. I knew that was horse shit. No. It is the fucking employers. And the shitty work. I got your hoops of fire swinging, motherfucker. And what kills me is look at all of the brilliantly talented people who have been stomped into the earth for no intelligent reason. Keep the faith. I mean that. This is just like Dune all of a sudden. I am glad to be joining forces with you, Scarlet. 100% solidarity. It’s tsunami time.
Having challenged Pelosi in a general election poisoned by racist disinformation orchestrated by Democrats, I see your analysis as spot on, although perhaps too generous to the Democratic Party leadership.
This was brilliant! The series should be a "primer" for anyone claiming the DNC just needs new leadership.
I have been toying with writing my own history of the recent Democratic party but you have beaten me to it. This is outstanding.
This point in particular...
"a pandemic lockdown that allowed Biden campaign from home (shielding the public from his mental decline)"
...is one that I think is underappreciated. The Democrats were so determined to stop populism they circled the wagons around someone in obvious cognitive decline. Only the miraculous timing of COVID, which let him campaign from his basement, saved them.
This is very well done. I wish that Democrats knew the history of their own party!
The article is absolutely correct in its assessment of the Democratic Party’s structural failures, but it’s also important to recognize that Kamala Harris ran the best campaign possible under the DNC’s current paradigms. She adhered to the party’s donor-driven, consultant-class-approved, elite-favored strategy flawlessly. Meanwhile, Trump’s campaign was an incoherent, mismanaged disaster, riddled with internal chaos and criminal proceedings. And yet, despite the sheer dysfunction on the Republican side, the Democrats still lost ground. This isn’t just a failure of messaging or strategy—it’s proof that the mindset and culture driving the Democratic Party are fundamentally unsustainable. They are incapable of responding to real political and economic conditions, and that should terrify anyone who hoped they could serve as a bulwark against rising fascism.
For those outside U.S. borders, this reality is even more dire. Americans at least have the illusion of choice, even if both parties serve capital over the people. But the rest of the world has no say in the policies the U.S. imposes internationally—whether through economic coercion, military intervention, or corporate monopolization. When the American political system collapses under the weight of its own contradictions, the ripple effects will be devastating for those who have been subjected to its hegemony for decades.
And now, AI-driven automation is accelerating that collapse. White-collar work is being hollowed out in real time, following the same trajectory that robotics took with blue-collar labor. The next phase will hit the service sector—restaurant workers, retail employees, logistics personnel—all replaced by automation. This is not speculation; it’s already happening. The Democrats will do nothing to stop it, just as they did nothing when manufacturing jobs were offshored or when wages stagnated for an entire generation. The party does not see this as a crisis to be solved. It sees it as an inevitability to be managed, with corporate interests calling the shots.
There are no allies in Washington. There are only victims, those who prey on them, and those who hide from the truth. The institutions that exist today are incapable of navigating the world that is coming, and their failures will not be gentle.
"Kamala Harris ran the best campaign possible under the DNC’s current paradigms. She adhered to the party’s donor-driven, consultant-class-approved, elite-favored strategy flawlessly. Meanwhile, Trump’s campaign was an incoherent, mismanaged disaster, riddled with internal chaos and criminal proceedings. And yet, despite the sheer dysfunction on the Republican side, the Democrats still lost ground. " This is such a good point. I think we can attribute much of that to how badly the status quo has failed to meet everyone's needs, that many chose to take a hammer to that via Trump over preserving that, regardless of the chaos that might cause. I've often said Harris lost to the couch, she got around 7 million less votes than Biden in 2020, which goes to show that the play of "we won't make your life better but we are the only thing standing between you and total fascism" is no longer a compelling enough motivator. I think a positive vision for the future, which is something Democrats abandoned long ago, would be the only thing that could counter Trumpism. Trump, for all his faults, pretends to care about people's economic despair. Democrats choose to tell you that despair is imagined. The other factor that I think needs to be taken into account is that Democrats talk out of both sides of their mouth. On one hand Trump is a fascist, on the other, bipartisanship is the highest of ideals. The "extreme MAGA Republicans" schtick really exemplified this. They were trying to thread this impossible needle where it was just a handful of people in Congress plus Trump who were bad, and the rest of the party was reasonable people they could work with. It's totally incoherent and ultimately gives voters the sense that maybe this Trump guy isn't as bad as they say. I think we are seeing a massive acceleration in this collaborationism now because the contradictions present inside of what is called the Democratic Party have become too sharp to manage.
Next installment please. 👍
Anytime I go back and reminisce about what it was like to have Rahm Emanuel as my mayor, I always feel like I want to go bash my head against the wall and banshee scream his name into a cursed oblivion. Laquon should still be here today; absolutely maddening Rahm continued to fail upwards as a reward. That on its own should radicalize anyone into understanding who it is the establishment truly is here to "serve" and "protect." You did a fantastic job of illustrating just how monstrous he truly was, still is, and will continue to be, which really did serve as the ultimate representation of the Democratic Party. This quote really hit the nail on the head for me:
"Blind loyalty to institutions and norms over the needs of their voters isn’t just a personality defect, but a feature of their class interests and insight into what the Democratic Party really is."
It feels so obvious - when you take a step back and look at the Democratic Party timeline - that based on how this establishment acts, capital and maintaining iron grips on career-long power are far greater priorities than us people. "A party that truly wanted to deliver for the people would never let some silly Senate rule, a bipartisanship fetish, or a single bureaucrat stand in their way. They would move with the same conviction and clarity of purpose that the Republicans do even when they are in the minority." Even looking at what Chuck Schumer just did with this "clean" "continual resolution" that passed through the Senate tonight demonstrates what you're speaking to here. We're not seeing any fight, but rather a party leadership that is truly rolling over and playing dead. As long as that donor money keeps lining their pockets, they'll never truly act with conviction in service of us people and always in service of the whims of capital and empire.
It feels like we're barreling towards an inevitable fork in the road where neither party will offer us a genuine path towards a better world for us all (which I'd argue is where we currently are) and as always, it'll be up to the people to chart that next course and establish a world that truly works for us all. This series is spot on Scarlet and is truly giving people a sense of what this party is, has been, and likely always will be. The case has never been stronger, and you do a phenomenal job of advocating for it, so thank you again for all the work that you do and are putting into this! The people are better off when they're informed, and you're helping them tremendously with your writing. Always looking forward to what you write next!
Really enjoying this series. Most of the working class are men so I'm looking forward to how that might be addressed in this analysis series.
Very nice article Scarlet. Thank you for writing it. May I suggest a next one for you - the way forward.
Keep writing and thank you again.
Shockingly, this is the first coherent takedown of Dem leadership/party since the election. And I've been looking! It's great and I agree with it. Thank you for bringing this together so well.
But I am also curious about your take on the US Left. I don't know anything about you so far other than you list yourself as a communist, so forgive my ignorance. Personally, I see the US Socialist party itself (and most long standing leftist groups in the US) as deeply flawed by their baggage. What is your take on the Left's institutions in the US? Are you open for the Socialist party to change where needed or advocate for an alternative? As it is, I don't see it as capable of carrying to fight that is needed. I think that is a big part of why the situation feels even more hopeless to me.
I didn't spell out the baggage I see with US Left orgs because it would be far more interesting to hear what you think, than a random commenters gripes.
Amazing work!! Thank you.
Great post mortem. We have to look backwards and diagnose what has gone wrong with this resistance.
This piece should be read by anyone who wants to understand why the Democratic Party went from being a shoe-in for this country’s emerging undisputed majority party a couple of decades ago to the wreck it is (temporarily, I’d like to think) at present. The writer’s attempt to write-off Dem policy prescriptions as almost in lockstep with the GOP’s is sad and wildly inaccurate. Rather than write a detailed catalogue of differences here, I’ll just let one obvious —and accurate — generalization do: the Dems promote policies that use social welfare programs to try to counteract the sometimes vicious outcomes of a winner-take-all capitalism (you know, the very thing the historical GOP exists to promote). Also, the writer is absolutely blind to the damage that smug, illiberal identitarian progressives have done to the Democratic Party’s brand.