The Democrats do not have a ‘young voter problem.’ Nor do they have a ‘Latino voter problem,’ a ‘working-class voter problem,’ or a ‘male voter problem.’ The Democratic Party’s poor performances with various demographics can be traced to an underlying cause: The Democrats have a Democrat problem. With exceptions, the party is composed of officials, staffers, pundits, donors, and politicians who do not believe in politics, at least not in the literal sense of the word. While most parties try to build support by turning their constituents’ wishes into policy, the Democrats take the opposite approach. The political objective is determined by wealthy party and media insiders, who then try to convince their constituents that the elite-decreed platform is in their best interest. This was best illustrated in the concluding chapter of Abundance, which outlined a top-down political theory: the policies are decided by the donor class, and the job of Democrat-aligned media and politicians is to sell those policies to American voters.
‘It requires deep-pocketed donors (and political action committees) to invest in promising candidates over the long term; the establishment of think tanks and policy networks to turn political ideas into actionable programs; a rising political party able to consistently win over multiple electoral constituencies; a capacity to shape political opinion both at the highest levels (the Supreme Court) and across popular print and broadcast media; and a moral perspective able to inspire voters with visions of the good life. Political orders, in other words, are complex projects that require advances across a broad front.’ — Abundance, by Derek Thompson and Ezra Klein
Putting aside the undemocratic and elitist nature of this philosophy, it creates a self-sustaining, destructive cycle. Not only are donors’ interests different than working-class interests, but it also turns the relationship between the Democratic Party and its supporters into one of lecturer and lectee. That would be bad enough on its own, but when you add in that many of these lectures are naked attempts to sell unpopular, grotesque policies that benefit the elite and sacrifice basic morality, we can see why the Democratic brand is underwater, even with its most loyal supporters.
Two recent episodes show the poisonous nature of the Democrats’ top-down thinking.
Earlier this week, two competing Palestine resolutions were introduced to the resolution panel at the Democratic National Committee’s annual summer meeting. The first, put forth by 26-year-old progressive Allison Minnerly, called for an arms embargo on Israel and immediate recognition of a Palestinian state. Both these positions reflect the will of not only Democratic voters, but also Americans. A recent Quinnipiac poll found that 75% of Democratic voters, 66% of Independents, and 60% of Americans oppose sending military aid to Israel. It also found that half of all American voters think Israel is committing genocide (77% of Democrats and 51% of Independents).1 By all available evidence, Minnerly’s resolution matches the will of Democratic voters, the sentiment of most Americans, and, most important of all, reality. Even the Israel-based observers B’Tselem and Physicians for Human Rights have called Israel’s actions a genocide, joining the global consensus.2 Recognizing reality is often good politics, as is being proven by Zohran Mamdani’s healthy lead over pro-Israel centrists, and the growing number of former AIPAC donees who are now refusing the group’s money in the 2026 midterms.3
Knowing Minnerly’s arms embargo resolution would antagonize the Zionists in his party, DNC chair Ken Martin worked with Democratic Majority for Israel (think AIPAC, but only 97% as racist) to introduce a competing resolution. Martin’s motion was typical Washington gobbledygook about regional peace and a two-state solution, the type of say-nothingism best articulated by VEEP:
Amy: We have to issue a statement.
Dan: All right, well, standard-issue pro-Israeli, pro-Palestinian, but subtly more pro-Israeli statement. I mean, hit F9 and print that fucker out.
Amy: No, this needs to be top-notch. This needs to be the Gettysburg Address of tightrope-walking, say-nothing bullshit.
The DNC chair working with a lobbying group to undermine the democratic will of his party members is low, but what Martin did next was reprehensible.
Martin’s resolution was put to a vote first and easily passed the forty-seven-member panel. Minnerly’s proposal followed and was voted down, even after the authors offered to limit the ban to ‘offensive’ weapons, mirroring the language the majority of Senate Democrats voted for in July.4 Once Minnerly’s resolution was off the table, Ken Martin withdrew his own resolution. It wasn’t enough to simply kill the motion that was in line with the wishes of his constituents. The DNC chair had to ensure that no resolution regarding the Gaza crisis would be put forth to the whole voting body. Knowing full well the party’s constituents would like to end the slaughter of innocent lives, the DNC chair chose to deceive and dupe them with the help of big-money, Zionist donors.
Though most of the Democrats’ insider manipulations are done through tightly controlled committees in hotel backrooms far from the public eye, the top-down culture is so prevalent throughout the Party that state-level Democrats feel empowered to defy voters’ wishes out in the open.
On July 19th, Democratic Socialist Omar Fateh won the Democratic Party's endorsement for Mayor of Minneapolis at the Minneapolis DFL convention, defeating incumbent Mayor Jacob Frey.5 (The Minnesota state Democratic Party is called the Democratic Farm & Labor Party, or DFL for short.) Fateh’s victory was seismic. As a DSA member representing the district in which George Floyd was killed, Fateh is emblematic of the national left-wing surge challenging the corporate-backed Democratic establishment, which is well represented in the current mayor, Jacob Frey.6 An opponent of worker-focused policies, Frey has aggressively fought against Minneapolis’ progressive super-majority city council. He’s used the mayoral veto 19 times since being elected, including a record-breaking eight times in 2024.7 Some of the resolutions he vetoed were a call for a Gaza ceasefire, a labor standards advisory board, amnesty for University of Minnesota anti-genocide protestors, fees on carbon emissions, and a minimum wage for ride share drivers, stating he’d refuse to enact it even if his veto were overridden — which it was.8
Over a month after Fateh won the endorsement, the state DFL’s Constitution, Bylaws & Rules Committee voted to strip it from him. Echoing a line put forth by Frey’s allies, they claimed the ‘highly flawed and untested’ electronic system didn’t properly count the votes and prematurely eliminated candidates in the early voting rounds. It was yet another case of the corporate Democratic Party undemocratically trying to sink a progressive challenger, which was immediately called out and condemned by seventeen Minneapolis DFL elected officials, including Congresswoman Ilhan Omar, who called the move a factional attack in the ‘tension between the progressive democrats who are challenging the status quo and moderate democrats.’
It is inexcusable to overturn the DFL endorsement from Omar Fateh. A small group, a majority living outside Minneapolis, met privately to overturn the will of Minneapolis delegates who volunteered, organized, and participated in a months-long DFL process. Unacceptable. — Ilhan Omar, 8/21/259
Again, the undemocratic wish of the political insiders is on full display. According to local reporter Kyle Stokes, who reported from inside the convention on the day of the event, the Frey campaign knew it couldn’t win the endorsement. Instead, the incumbent campaign spent convention day trying to block Fateh from obtaining the DFL endorsement, which carries a hefty advantage in the general election.
‘The Frey campaign doesn't even believe that the party counted all the ballots in the first round, and the only round of mayoral balloting that actually took place was where actual paper ballots were cast. The party disputes this, saying the campaign’s math is wrong.
But in the end, the endorsement was actually handed out after the Frey campaign had quit the convention. Their supporters walked out. And delegates that remained essentially raised their hands. And the chair, under modified rules at the time, declared that was the endorsement that was valid. So they don't accept the procedure of it. Now, the broader political context is that the Frey campaign never expected to win the endorsement. I think they were hoping to block Fateh from the endorsement. And so this is a setback, in that sense. But I think either way, the reality for the Frey campaign that they're banking on is that a much broader electorate is going to be much more favorable to him than this smaller collection of the most interested people in the party.’ —Kyle Stokes, Minnesota Now with Nina Moini10
The above theory makes sense when we examine the Frey campaigns’ actions during the convention. Earlier in the day, when it became clear Fateh was en route to gaining the endorsement, Freys’ supporters had attempted to get three additional candidates, who had already been eliminated through run-off voting, back onto the ballot. Adding defeated contenders is nonsensical if you’re trying to win, but it’s a great idea if your strategy is obstruction.11 When the delegates saw the Frey campaigns’ shenanigans, they voted it down by ‘a lot,’ according to the reporter quoted above. Their efforts failing, Frey’s supporters walked out before the final vote was cast. After Fateh won, the DFL state party chair, Richard Carlbom, texted an organizer that he was disheartened with the results and began floating conspiracies that the voting was off.12 Carlbom, who was a partner at the consulting firm employed by Jacob Frey’s campaign, quickly got to work for his ally.13 As head of the state party, Carlbom oversaw the process that stripped Fateh of the endorsement. But the committee didn’t just de-endorse Fateh: it barred the Minnesota DFL from holding another endorsement vote. It’s one thing to claim the voting was off and demand a recount. But stripping Fateh and prohibiting a corrected vote is as corrupt as it gets, especially when it ‘coincidentally’ lines up with the Frey campaign’s convention day objective of blocking Fateh’s endorsement.
When I posted Carlbom’s conflict of interest on X/Twitter, the DFL chair responded (apparently he searches his own name) and defended himself by saying his consultancy firm ‘delivered’ marriage equality in Minnesota — a clear admission of the Democrats’ elite-first worldview that change comes from the upper strata of society as opposed to the mass will of the people.
Anyone familiar with the last decade of American politics can attest that this behavior is too often the standard practice for the Democratic Party. Whether it’s the establishment twice trying to sink Bernie Sanders’ presidential campaigns or the ongoing refusal of AIPAC Democrats to endorse Zohran Mamdani, the DNC, prominent Democrats, and party-aligned media figures routinely engage in the practice legendary journalists Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein called ratfucking: shady political sabotage and dirty tricks, especially against popular challenges to establishment interests. Apologies for the crudeness, but it’s essential for us to understand that ratfucking is precisely what the Democrats are doing. Ken Martin, Richard Carlbom, and the many other Democratic leaders fighting the left harder than Trump are not making mistakes, nor are they confused about the best way to win elections. They’re well aware that an arms embargo on Israel and the pro-worker policies encouraged by Fateh are electorally advantageous, at least in the current moment. They also know that’s the direction Democratic voters want them to take. Poll after poll has shown a desire for progressive policies and new leadership.14 There’s no question this would benefit the party. The only reason Democrats aren’t taking the leftward path is that it runs contrary to their top-down theory of power. As Abundance articulated, the Democratic establishment believes think tanks and donors should determine the party's direction, not voters. Those forces are ideologically committed to Israel, neoliberalism, and the existing social order, so they see their primary goal as stopping anti-Zionists, socialists, and progressives from having a seat at the table. As Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said, his job is to ‘keep the left pro-Israel’ — not fight Donald Trump, not protect Social Security and Medicare, and not even represent his voters. The most powerful elected Democrat’s number one priority is maintaining ideological obedience to a genocidal apartheid state.15
Recognizing that the Democratic Party establishment has a vastly different goal than the rest of us is a difficult but crucial step in overcoming our current political troubles.
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In Solidarity — Joe
https://poll.qu.edu/poll-release?releaseid=3929
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/jul/28/israel-committing-genocide-in-gaza-say-israel-based-human-rights-groups
https://theintercept.com/2025/08/29/aipac-israel-gaza-democrats-deborah-ross/
https://niacouncil.org/majority-of-democratic-caucus-votes-to-restrict-offensive-weapons-for-israel/
https://www.mprnews.org/episode/2025/07/21/inside-the-minneapolis-dfl-convention-that-endorsed-state-sen-omar-fateh-for-mayor
https://www.dsausa.org/blog/dsa-specialty-toppling-incumbents/
MPLs For The Many, April 3rd, 2025
https://www.minnpost.com/metro/2025/01/looking-back-at-minneapolis-mayor-jacob-freys-2024-vetoes/
https://www.mprnews.org/episode/2025/07/21/inside-the-minneapolis-dfl-convention-that-endorsed-state-sen-omar-fateh-for-mayor
https://www.axios.com/local/twin-cities/2025/08/27/dfl-carlblom-text-fateh-endorsement
https://minnesotareformer.com/2025/08/22/dems-in-disarray-dfl-revocation-of-fateh-endorsement-polarizes-party/
https://www.reuters.com/world/us/democrats-want-new-leaders-focus-pocketbook-issues-reutersipsos-poll-finds-2025-06-19/
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/18/opinion/schumer-trump-antisemitism.html
And of course how the DNC fucked over David Hogg nullifying his vice-chair election. I was surprised at how Malcolm Kenyatta the other vice-chair electee fell right into line with that shit. Kenyatta was a progressive who was in the running for the Pennsylvania Senate seat that ultimately went to Fetterman. I expected better out of Kenyatta.
The Democratic Establishment had one job: to throw their bodies into the gears of the MAGA Machine. Instead, they fundraise on it to keep old pols in safe seats.