Cenk: I love your reporting, but making a decree that there should be a revolution in the Dem Party will not make it come to pass.
The LEGAL OWNERSHIP of that Party is by a collective of corporations; and
they will not hand it back to an angry crowd, even if they have pitchforks and torches.
If you believe the country will not be beyond repair in 4 years (and to be honest: I find it hard to see how that won’t be the case…), the only avenue for a challenge to these two sham parties is an Independent Party balloting effort [by petition] across all States, which would have to begin NOW!
Running Independent was considered fringe (Perot…Larouche…); after Trump inevitably hits external reality in 2-4 years, AND after the present discrediting of the Dem Party having thrown the working class to the wolves, an Independent Party run is going to be looking pretty fine. Feelers need to be sent out right away to people who have served in political office and would not be afraid of being attacked by the Dem corporate media.
This year the MAGAs will be saying: “what’s the point to that? We got our populist candidate!” In 1-2 years, when Trump hits the wall with external reality, they will be most pleased they have recourse from him other than going back to being financially terrorized by the Dems.
If I were doing this in a serious way (and I’m not because I am skeptical surviving the four years of Captain Incompetence…), besides getting a lineup together for the President, Senate, and House, you will need to assemble a legal team to fight the inevitable ballot [by petition] challenges in court. Perhaps a legal scholarship program could be provided for those willing to engage in that fight (paying for tuition will still need donations though…)
I can assure you of one thing though: the Dem siren song of “come to us, we’ll make it right!” will NOT be working in a few years, after Harris’ willful and coldly calculated betrayal in not offering ANY job security policies nor toning down the WWIII…
The only solace that I take is that significantly declining populations around the world combined with the instability that is happening in Russia and China and other places makes the United States attractive to big business in terms of having a bigger potential workforce than other places combined with the natural resources needed to make stuff. In theory, this gives the workers and the general population more potential power and input than ever before to demand an equal part of the pie, so to speak, but such could obviously be suppressed by growing Fascism and even a Military Coup. I seriously doubt that the Trump Administration will be very effective, because they seem to garner their popularity by depending on the illusion that they are Populist, which I would argue only works when you don’t become a member of the so-called Deep State itself – which they now arguably are.
In my experience of working with alternative parties over the years is that it is the Democratic Party that has gone out of their way to undermine and destroy such. Since the Clinton years, the Mantra was the need to vote for the “lesser of Evils,” which, of course, is still Evil itself. However, instead of coming further to the Left (can we please agree that Democrats are Right Leaning Centrists during the best of times), the Democrats kept going further to the Right. Since things are circular in life, the MAGA Right has become so extreme that they are at risk of coming out on the other side with all of their Conspiracy Theories, which, of course, has been a part of the Extreme Left as well for the longest time. I would guess that this means that Trump and his cronies, who are just out to make a profit at the end of the day, are going to have to put their MAGA Cult back in their literal or metaphorical box rather than allowing them to continue to run around and stir up trouble and unrest; after all, such things are bad for business.
The problem here is that Capitalism can exist in a Democratic System, but Democracy can’t exist in a Capitalistic System; therefore, we need to fight to take the money incentive out of politics altogether, though that won’t take away the nature of some to turn to corruption to get their way. This leaves me with the question of whether we, as a human species, are truly capable of doing what is ultimately in the best interest of all of us, or has it just become a dog eat dog grab where morality and empathy for others becomes a threat to one’s very survival. I am hoping that sociopathic individuals are deviant human beings that make up a very small part of society and that there are more decent, empathetic, and respectful people than, for a lack of another word, assholes.
They will laugh at such an effort being started now; but if a lot of signatures are gathered for ballots, they won’t be laughing in about two years.
Bernie should be calling for it. Not just for the office of President, but Senators and House members. He’s too old to be President (frankly, he blew his opportunity when he did not stand up to the deregistration stunts in the 2016 primary…), but if he really wants to change things up he should get the word out on such an effort -as opposed to continue to be ignored by the Party of the Mega Corporations…
As you can see: this would take a multi-year effort. Endorsed by someone like Sanders, it has a shot.
This is a “Civil War” that you can actually put into action, Cenk (as opposed to pulling a lawless J6 move, or continuing to say pretty please with a penny on top to the Dems…) You could have the entire voter populace screaming at the companies who have ownership of the Dem Party, and they will continue to ignore you. This is the only way to change things.
With the anger at the tin ear of the Dem Party fresh on people’s minds, this would at least be a great time to start discussing this!
A statement of focused values is the first thing needed: living wages, attacking monopoly manipulation of housing markets (and mega-monopolies in general…), anti-ecocide (green energy, cut down on poillutants…), not enabling nation-state actors who are found to be criminals… ANY OTHER ISSUE THAN SUCH A SHORTLIST OF ESSENTIALS HAS CAN TAKE A NUMBER. An Indie candidate can pursue pet projects of their own so long as they do not contradict such essential objectives, but a shortlist such as this should serve as a litmus test for branding such an effort…
Right now my Governor Beshear would be my pick. But if he doesn’t hopefully he will go for senate and knock Rand Paul out in '28 after Charles Booker takes Mitch’s open seat in '26
I love this! Your post and the replies made me think of mock-primary debates with a moderator and timed-answers. Instead of panels, one-on-one interviews and heightened arguments between those on the left; we could have themed mock-debates. The first could be about how to move forward, independent candidate or third party or Democratic Party overhaul. The next about healthcare, etc. Maybe just like Cenk got the discussion rolling with Elon Musk, these debates will draw attention to the issues. If we set the right tone, we can be in on the joke that others will make of it. After all, if Trump is taking over so damn early, why can’t we run our own type of primary now? It can get arguments out of the way and push the right to address its populist hypocrisy. It will be for us but knowing it will draw mockery from the right and outrage from the Democratic Party. I keep thinking of what Nina Turner said: this was not a robbery. The dems left the door unlocked and the windows open.
I could see the Greens would argue THEY’RE the Independent option; but the problem with them is they have almost never championed worker issues, just ecological and war ones. Yes, those are important issues, but if you can’t help workers to get out of an exploitation hole in the first place, what will your green issues matter to them??
I think it’s a BIG mistake to go with a celebrity just because it worked for Trump. Celebrities only work for Republicans. Also, a celebrity candidate will make us more of a joke than we already have become. Plus, I don’t like the idea of someone completely lacking experience governing our country–and I can’t be the minority in this. This includes Stein, West, and other third-party candidates because they lack experience, and people in our and other governments don’t take them or celebrities seriously. It’s not just the money; nothing will get done because they don’t know how and haven’t had to play the game, and nobody will play nice. I like Raskin and Walz, or Raskin and Turner, or maybe Walz and Turner. The reason I would put Turner as Vice President is because she has less experience and other politicians seem like they might be less willing to work with her as President. Also, Raskin and Walz have great CVs in terms of what the jobs require. Besides, we need Turner and others like her back in the Senate. I think 2028 will be an even greater blue wave than 2022. Shawn Fain is another idea, but I think he makes a great surrogate rather than a candidate or running mate. To the point of keeping the party or becoming a third party option, while I would love to see a viable third party emerge, it’s not going to happen and we’d be shooting ourselves in the foot yet again. There’s a big problem in the lack of representation in down ballots, and there will be an even bigger issue with competing third parties. In two years, we will not be able to get enough Populists voted in these lower seats, all while either merging with or competing with other smaller parties. Let’s be real, they’re all too full of egos to merge or step aside. Let’s not throw the baby out with the bathwater, and let’s rebuild the party to what it really is at its roots, a true Populist movement. Besides, if a Trump presidency has taught us anything, it has taught us that he is chaos, and after another taste of him, the people will not want chaos. They will want familiar, but a familiar that now legitimately does represent the everyday, hardworking, red-blooded American regardless of sex, race, orientation, etc. We don’t need a revolution, we need an overhaul that people can believe in after the shit show Trump will give us. I know it’s tempting to want to throw the pendulum in the opposite direction of Trump and Project 2025, but this mentality is one of the reasons we’re in this mess. Extremes might catch peoples’ eyes, but rollercoasters get old quick. We need to cool our heels, act rationally, and recognize that stability and moderation are the path to real progress. The arc is long but it is curved, so let’s not get ahead of ourselves or what is genuinely possible and beneficial. And Cenk and Ana need to realize people stop listening once you start yelling. People love what they have to say when they’re speaking to them. For the best of all of us, please quit the yelling.
Oh, yeah! We’re done with celebrities!! (and MAGA WILL BE once he hits external reality in a couple of years…)
I mentioned candidates with [a modicum of] political experience. The problem for candidates is pointed to in that Cenk interview at the top: on the Dem side, it’s a list of huge corporations who have access to lots of corporate media (if not outright owning them…) Whoever runs on such an Independent ticket will clearly have their characters assaulted…
