Why Are Big-Money Democrats Turning Their Fire on Progressives?

Why Are Big-Money Democrats Turning Their Fire on Progressives?

Why Are Big-Money Democrats Turning Their Fire on Progressives?

The real threats are Trump and the GOP.

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EDITOR’S NOTE: Each week we cross-post an excerpt from Katrina vanden Heuvel’s column at the WashingtonPost.com. Read the full text of Katrina’s column here.

Just when you thought the Democratic presidential field couldn’t get any more crowded, former New York mayor Mike Bloomberg has swooped in with a $37 million ad blitz.

His motives for intervening at this late hour are hardly mysterious. If he were focused on the vital issues he has championed, such as gun safety or climate change legislation, he could just spend those millions in support of the Democratic nominee and/or on helping to take back the Senate. The fact is Bloomberg disdains those on the left in the Democratic primary—and perhaps fears that none of the other moderates in the field can win. With the idea of a wealth tax backed by Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Bernie Sanders (I-VT)—and strikingly popular among Democrats, independents and even many Republicans—Bloomberg has billions of reasons to flex his financial muscle.

It’s like clockwork. When progressives are gaining ground, the big-money wing of the Democratic Party often chooses to turn its fire on the left—as if progressives represented the real threat, and not President Trump, the GOP and their billionaire backers. It’s why the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee has chosen to blacklist vendors who work for progressive primary challengers such as Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) instead of, for example, vendors who also work for corporate polluters or union busters.

Read the full text of Katrina’s column here.

We cannot back down

We now confront a second Trump presidency.

There’s not a moment to lose. We must harness our fears, our grief, and yes, our anger, to resist the dangerous policies Donald Trump will unleash on our country. We rededicate ourselves to our role as journalists and writers of principle and conscience.

Today, we also steel ourselves for the fight ahead. It will demand a fearless spirit, an informed mind, wise analysis, and humane resistance. We face the enactment of Project 2025, a far-right supreme court, political authoritarianism, increasing inequality and record homelessness, a looming climate crisis, and conflicts abroad. The Nation will expose and propose, nurture investigative reporting, and stand together as a community to keep hope and possibility alive. The Nation’s work will continue—as it has in good and not-so-good times—to develop alternative ideas and visions, to deepen our mission of truth-telling and deep reporting, and to further solidarity in a nation divided.

Armed with a remarkable 160 years of bold, independent journalism, our mandate today remains the same as when abolitionists first founded The Nation—to uphold the principles of democracy and freedom, serve as a beacon through the darkest days of resistance, and to envision and struggle for a brighter future.

The day is dark, the forces arrayed are tenacious, but as the late Nation editorial board member Toni Morrison wrote “No! This is precisely the time when artists go to work. There is no time for despair, no place for self-pity, no need for silence, no room for fear. We speak, we write, we do language. That is how civilizations heal.”

I urge you to stand with The Nation and donate today.

Onwards,

Katrina vanden Heuvel
Editorial Director and Publisher, The Nation

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