NY Times: The Pied Pipers of the Dirtbag Left Want to Lead Everyone to Bernie Sanders

[wyldwolf]

Who/what do these assclowns remind you of?

The people in the crowd were angry, and “Chapo Trap House” wanted them to stay that way. The five hosts of the popular socialist podcast wanted everyone to know they had all been lied to. About everything. The media they consumed was fake news aimed to distract them from the only war worth fighting: the class war. Politesse, civility, even pleasure — those were tools of the neoliberal oppressor. The right answer is rage.

“That joy,” the Chapo co-host Will Menaker said to the crowd gathered in Iowa City on the eve of the Iowa caucus. “That’s good but it’s not as good a motivator when you’re really going to war as spite.”

“Let the hate feed you,” the co-host Amber A’Lee Frost added as the audience roared. And it does. Especially toward Democrats.

When Senator Elizabeth Warren’s name came up, the crowd made the sound of a snake hissing. She had accused Senator Bernie Sanders of saying that a woman could not win against Donald Trump, and so she is a snake.

Supporters of former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. are “gelatinous 100 year olds.” Former Mayor Pete Buttigieg is “a bloodless asexual.”

“The gayest thing about him is he descends from an ethnic group that’s like a little toy dog,” Ms. A’Lee Frost said.

Former Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg’s run appalls them. “Beat him so badly that this midget gremlin won’t even have a shot even with a trillion dollars,” Mr. Menaker said.

“Kill him,” someone shouted from the audience. These were jokes, of course. Everyone was laughing.

As Mr. Sanders rises in the polls and claims strong showings in early states, a new set of media stars is on the rise, too. Leading the pack are the hosts of “Chapo Trap House,” the Pied Pipers of the candidate’s online movement.

In their rowdy, vulgar weekly podcast, they are stoking the fires of a political insurgency led by their 78-year-old idol. The man stands for the movement, the movement is the man.

“Our boy Bernie” they call him.

They are known collectively as the Dirtbag Left, a shorthand they embrace...

Most of the podcast fans would never say out loud what they are listening to onstage or through their AirPods on the commute. It’s offensive, even as a joke. So why do so many progressives want to hear it?

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/29/us/politics/bernie-sanders-chapo-trap-house.html?referringSource=articleShare&fbclid=IwAR0Vbpou5EEwMMkLH7nl9KUiP3JtWoTxYjVvKanAtMzze8ZxRYkrAa1i74o

[Sloumeau]

1. Yet, people wonder where some of Sanders' supporters got their bad reputation.

These people seem like neither Russian trolls nor internet bots to me.

[deurbano]

18. I wish they were Russian trolls. This is all so depressing.

[grossproffit]

2. Deplorables.

[musette_sf]

3. + 1

just read it earlier this morning

[Codeine]

4. JFC.

These are the motherfuckers who want us to #bendtheknee.

[squirecam]

5. Proudly not a member of the dirtbag left.

Any candidate should repudiate their support.

[PatSeg]

6. That is appalling

I guess one political party doesn't have a monopoly on extremists.

[SWBTATTReg]

7. Eh, YIKES! This is turning me off supporting BS

Where does such hate come from? Dirtbag Left? I think I can come up w/ a more appropriate and more fitting name for this group than one that they probably coined up on their own while smoking crap behind the barn. But, my own rules and DU's rules prevent me from publishing my suggested name out loud here.

[R B Garr]

8. Ugh, the banal nastiness.

“neoliberal oppressors”. What a joke.

[Laelth]

15. Aw, come on. We're not defending neoliberals on DU now, are we?

I know nothing about the "dirtbag left" described in the OP, but I am pretty certain that neoliberals are not really welcome in the Democratic Party.



-Laelth

[wyldwolf]

20. According to some on the left, Clinton, Obama, and even Pete Buttigieg are neoliberals.

Welcome in my party any time.

[deurbano]

21. They call all Dem candidates who are not their Chosen One "neoliberals."

That's not us "defending" neoliberals, that's them lying.

[ramen]

26. exactly nt

[PatrickforO]

9. Interesting. I read the article.

Here's a quote from a kid that seems to capture the sentiment:

“We do everything our parents say, and it doesn’t work,” said Brayson Cope, 18, a college student from Altoona and a Sanders volunteer.

His reason for listening to “Chapo" is simple, he said.

“They’re angry. I like it because they’re angry.”

Is that scary? Yes, because it is the seed of bloody revolution instead of the political revolution Bernie wants.

In undergraduate school I had a professor who told us one day that the arguments from radical right and radical left don't really go anywhere because most actual progress is in the middle two-thirds of the Bell curve. However, he said, it is good because it stimulates dialog.

If you have read any of my posts, and perhaps argued with me, you know I'm firmly in the progressive wing of the party. And to my mind these Chapo people are telling all of us that there needs to be some serious and rapid progress on healthcare, global warming, student debt and so on.

I'm 61 and can remember the old Pink Floyd song, "Welcome to the Machine." The Who's "Don't get Fooled Again." Even many of the old folk songs.

Those older than me spoke their truth to power in the old Vietnam protests and earlier in the Civil Rights movement. Even earlier than that, the Suffragettes and the Wobblies.

Somehow, though, wealth and power always seem to prevail. But what's happening now is absolutely unsustainable. It is. This unrestrained capitalism, deregulation, privatization of everything in sight, giant tax cuts that endanger social safety nets - all this is designed haphazard.

It's probably not some 'star chamber' kind of deal. It is just individual greed here, corporate greed there, billionaires wanting just a little more, and forcing tweaks in the system that give them that.

It's called corruption.

And, wyld, at this point, the corruption is so pervasive that it has made the entire world unstable, ripe for violence and revolution. That really is a sad truth. There are a heck of a lot of people out there suffering, who feel they have no power, no say in what happens to them, and they are angry about it.

I'm angry because I've lived to see the degeneration of a society, a republic in which I strongly believe. Never, never did I think we'd fall so far so fast. But we have. This is a coup. It isn't a right-wing coup. It is a coup by oligarchs. They want just a little more, you see.

Now Putin, he DOES have a strategy to undermine this republic. He ran Trump thinking he'd lose and Clinton would win. He (Putin) wanted Trump out there in the peanut gallery with Rush Limbaugh and rest of the capitalist shills saying, "Oh, the election was RIGGED," repeating it constantly, making it a mantra until finally the people believed that and Clinton wouldn't be able to get anything done except by executive order.

During those years, the plan was to refuse advice and consent, and thus allow more and more positions in the courts to go unfilled, and key positions in the bureaucracies to go unfilled. The idea was to undermine our institutions, get people not to believe in them, and above all keep lying.

In the end, Putin and his oligarchs believed, they could impose an eastern oligarchy on us and steal money from our treasury to continue enriching themselves, much like a glutton eating far past the time his stomach tells him he's no longer hungry.

Eventually though, the stomach bursts, and that's what this Chapo Crap House thing seems to be - the cracking of a corrupt system at its seams.

So can we, on the strength of the next election, kill the American empire and reimpose the Republic of the United States? Or has the corruption created a fatal cancer?

See, the problem is that I don't think the center wing of the Democratic party, exemplified by Biden, Klobuchar and Buttigieg, realizes this growing mood. Trump capitalized on it, calling it 'populism' and we ended up running Clinton, who, for better or worse, was perceived as an establishment candidate, and we lost the electoral vote. The oligarchs have been cheating like this since the 2000 election when they didn't allow Florida to finish counting the votes.

Now, four years later, no one is any better off, in fact we're worse off. The anger is still there, and the mood is for a populist.

Oh, Biden's got the right idea. We DEFINITELY need to recapture the soul of America. We do. Problem is, he isn't inspiring the people who are most angry because he isn't a populist. (and I'm not talking about the 'new' right-wing libertarian populism, but genuine 'let's make everyone's life better with a few reforms' populism).

Well, we'll see how it goes. I am afraid though, that Bernie will get to the convention with a plurality of delegates, and his nomination will be overturned by the center, the 'super delegates.'

If that happens, I believe we can expect to lose the election, and I believe we can expect to lose the republic and usher in a bloody revolution. And I'm not joking. At 61, I'm too old for this shit. ALL I want to do is my last five years in my job, and then retire in peace, collect Social Security and have Medicare.

If we have a populist uprising because the Democratic party doesn't recognize the mood of the people and runs an uninspiring candidate who will very likely go into office expecting to do business as usual, my apple cart will be upset. I know that is a selfish attitude, but this is my prognostication.

Those who read this might think I'm full of you-know-what, but we'll see what history brings.

[wyldwolf]

10. Why do you call 'super delegates' the 'center.'

When every Democratic Senator, House member, governor, former President, Chair and Vice-Chair of every state Democratic Party organization, every state Democratic National Committee member... Super delegates.

Bernie Sanders is a Super Delegate.

Is it your contention that anyone to the right of Bernie Sanders is "the center?"

[PatrickforO]

13. Ah, you missed my point. I don't think Bernie will be particularly effective

as president, should be be nominated and win. He might be. I'd wish him the best. Same with Biden.

And................no..................I'm not saying anyone to the right of Sanders is 'the center.' I know we're in primary season and we're supposed to be arguing with each other about the relative merits of our candidates.

I'm simply pointing out that ALL of the candidates are swimming in the current of the times, and that current is increasingly populist - a growing anger on the part of everyday Americans that Washington isn't listening, and that there's corruption, and that they will end up getting screwed anyway, no matter what, just because of the corruption.

I am lamenting the rapid fall of this republic to corporate corruption. I mean, you see the same things I do. How can you deny that our national government has become massively corrupted with the corporate lobbies, the gun nuts, the holy rollers and now super pacs and corporations - thanks to Citizens United a dollar is considered 'free speech.'

If Biden wins and gets the nod, I'll support him and vote for him. All I'm saying is that if he wins and gets the nod because the superdelegates force it at the convention, it will APPEAR to angry young people that they once again are not being listened to.

Remember that radical organizations like this group in the article arise when everyday people don't feel they have much say. These people running it, spouting off in podcast diatribes are demagogues of the same stripe as those on the right wing.

I'm not at all saying this is what I WANT. Shit. I don't want that and would love it if we could do what we've always done since the 50s, and elect someone who would go in there and not do too much damage, think about the people and our welfare and govern with a good heart - make equal progress for both business and people. And I absolutely have confidence that Biden, Klobuchar, Buttigieg, or Bernie would do that. I do.

What I'm saying is that whoever our nominee is, there is a growing and increasingly militant expectation on the part of a whole new generation that the government needs to do massively better in taking care of our entire world and all of its people.

I'm sort of like a guy with an nasal voice singing "The Times They Are a Changin'" somewhere near Greenwich Village way back when. Or, better yet, a fool, like in the TS Eliot poem, good enough to swell a progress, full of high sentence but a bit obtuse. A jester, telling party kings and queens things they don't want to hear but need to.

Do I dare to eat a peach?

[msongs]

12. can you name the most famous dude who had a plurality then burned it down to get his way? nt

[LizBeth]

22. The reality of it is it will be the middle that listens and progressive with that anger. Not those

yelling and refusing to listen, refusing to do the work. The very people they are battling are the very people that are the adult in the room making progress.

[lapucelle]

29. BS is a superdelegate, and Superdelegate BS hired Superdelegate Nina Turner to run his campaign.

Superdelegate Ocasio Cotez has already endorsed BS before she knows the will of the people she represents.

And just this month, Superdelegate Rashida Tlaib (who has also already endorsed BS before the people she represents expressed their will) led a crowd booing our 2016 general election candidate Hillary Clinton, who is not a superdelegate.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_2020_Democratic_Party_automatic_delegates

[LizBeth]

30. Super good post.

[mjvpi]

39. Well said

I am 62. I have lived my life as an idealist based in the spirit of 1960s. The “Reagan Revolution "freaked out the Democratic Party. We have moved to the center in every election since then, the problem being that we keep compromising with a party of ideologues that keeps moving to the right. Compromise should occur during legislation. Obama didn’t run on compromise, he ran on change. Then he legislated (rather to much to my way of thinking) by compromise. Elections are times for big ideas to get the public behind change.

Unfortunately, extremism is what occurs when paradigm becomes untenable.

[hangaleft]

43. Outstanding, cogent post, Patrick

[msongs]

11. the "dirtbag left" and donald trump have something in common it seems nt

[deurbano]

27. It's scary. They are toxic, and they have been particularly heinous in their treatment of Warren,

who is the closest ideologically to their Chosen One, which proves (to me) there is a hateful, cultish contingent of supporters who are very similar to MAGAts in their aggression, vitriol and desire to "own the libs."

I remember in 2016 that these types of supporters claimed that Warren (unlike that "neoliberal, corporate shill" who was actually our nominee) was a woman they could vote for, and now they swarm Twitter calling her a liar, a snake... mocking her dancing as cringe-inducing (cuz those videos of Bernie dancing make him look so cool?!)... and her voice!!!... and she's too professor-y!!!.... and of course, just another neoliberal shill... So, they are treating her with the same amount of contempt they directed toward Clinton because... old women suck? Yet an even older man who just had a heart attack--and hid that for three days and then lied that he would release more detailed medical records [Pants on fire!!! Snake emoji!!! Snake emoj!!]-- is the answer to civilization's prayer. Cultists-- left and right-- seem to share Mommy issues.

[LizBeth]

31. Yes. They need a woman to beat up for the last five years. One after another.

[lapucelle]

33. No, Bernie Sanders isn't authentic. Just like Trump.

No, Bernie Sanders isn’t authentic. Just like Trump

I’m not contending that the moral character of the two men is comparable. Sanders’s is clearly superior, though this is clearing only an ankle-high bar. But both men have benefited from a certain definition of political authenticity that allows them — no, encourages them — to be unpleasant, ill-mannered loudmouths. The identification of authenticity with incivility and spontaneity is one of my pet peeves. And now my pet peeve has blossomed into a crisis of democratic values.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/the-false-authenticity-of-sanders-and-trump/2020/02/27/4d15c9da-5986-11ea-9b35-def5a027d470_story.html

[octoberlib]

14. They hate Democrats more than they hate Trump and

don't give a crap about how losing the Senate and the House and maybe the Presidency will hurt people. They don't give a shit about our democracy either.

[honest.abe]

16. WTF?

I find this hard to believe. These are not Democrats or Liberals or members of the Left. Just angry assholes like many who support Trump.

[LakeArenal]

32. That's what I thought.

These are just haters that named themselves something.

[betsuni]

17. Punk was more interesting.

[jg10003]

36. Hah. these kids need to be sedated

https://m.

[Hortensis]

19. This is classic populist bad behavior. Ideology is never the dominant

populist motivation, aggressive hostility against whoever "the establishment" is. That means they will usually follow their leaders wherever lead as long as they're "going to war as spite."

And this kind of viciously dirty, dishonest and destructive politics is their method. Anyone who trusts a movement made up of THESE people to create a workers' paradise is a fool. And Sanders has not only surrounded himself with this type but he has to grow them and keep them fed.

(Apparently a lot of us "gelatinous 100 year olds" represent the establishment now that we're not obligingly dying in late middle age. Hope these creeps' own gelatinous grandparents google them and write them out of their wills before they finish dissolving.)

[iluvtennis]

24. well said. nt

[stopdiggin]

45. exactly right!

aggressive hostility against whoever "the establishment" is.

Look at how ill informed (often quite contradictory) the Tea Party people were. It wasn't about an agenda, a movement .. or even a message. It was almost entirely about "how mad I am!!"

I don't discount these people's energy or ability to impact .. because .. social media .. and the ever inherent danger of the mob. What I do discount .. is that there is any there there in terms of a message or a movement.

To quote the young man in the article: "They're angry, and I like that .."
In other words .. it's kinda' like "death metal" .. or Quentin Tarantino movies.

[Hortensis]

46. +1000. The biggest difference between most populist types

who gravitate either to the TP/Trump or to Sanders now has been the proportions of their common populist mix of social conservatism with economic progressivism. And perhaps the mood of the moment or who they're dating.

On both sides it's the opportunity to act out that rules most, no need for a genuine "there there," no matter what side or excuses they adopt for their behaviors. These all want to join a big, destructive mob in the streets, and if the only leaders promising to produce one are fascistic or socialist extremists, whatever. One or the other. Or both depending.

[stopdiggin]

23. the problem with mindless anger

is that it is mindless anger.

Using the Tea Party as an example (and the article shares this analogy) .. the Tea Party had an abundance of anger, and a virtually incoherent agenda. An angry slavering beast, with no goals, and no direction. But sooner or later some populist political con will come along to harness that energy .. and turn it toward his own ends ..

And what the Tea Party ends up getting .. is huge corporate tax breaks aimed at the 1%, a reversal of decades of progress on clean air and water, and elections featuring help and coordination with adversarial foreign governments.
(all things doubtlessly near and dear to the Tea Party's heart!)

And .. as perhaps the final sad commentary brought forth in the piece .. the final paragraph --

And finally, with the Chapo hosts leading, they stood and sang “Solidarity Forever,” the old trade union anthem.

Oh .. would that it were so! And the chilling irony invoked here!
But alas .. like the Tea Party ..

[warmfeet]

25. Russian trolls, Russian bots or not,

if we fail to rally around the successful nominee, we face another four years of the most dangerous, least competent person ever to head the executive branch in the history of this country.

I will vote for the successful nominee, not the dirtbag left. It is worth it in any attempt to get the orange shitgibbon out of office.

[dchill]

28. I remember when Obama was gonna...

...move pimps and hoes and drug dealers and rappers into the Terrorist Fist Bump House.

[jg10003]

35. reminds me of Howard Stern, shock for it's own sake.

It appeals to the normal adolescent desire to break free of parents by acting in a way that the older generation finds outrageous. However their immaturity is hardly a reason not to vote for a candidate who offers at least the chance of meaningful change.

Even if as president Sanders doesn't get a single bill passed, he will succeed at changing the national conversation. Obamacare's biggest achievement was changing the status quo. No one talks about returning to the ways things were before. Even Republicans talk about replacing Obamacare with something better. Sanders's election will exorcise the ghost of Ronald Reagan from the Democrat psyche. It will be the end of "the third way" and trickle down econmics. If President Sanders accomplishes nothing else, he will return the democratic party to its' New Deal / Great Society roots.

[Baclava]

37. If there's going to be a war at the convention, these will be the ones lighting fires in the streets

[frazzled]

38. "And the Sanders campaign maintains a close relationship with the podcast"

And the Sanders campaign maintains a close relationship with the podcast. His senior adviser, David Sirota, and his national press secretary, Briahna Joy Gray, have also been on the podcast. At the Iowa show, a Sanders volunteer stood at the door with fliers and pins to hand out and an email list to gather names.

[deurbano]

40. That'd be the press secretary who bragged about voting for Jill Stein in 2016 and who just-- a few

days ago-- said, "And it's important for voters to realize that in a primary election, it's our opportunity to not be stuck with a candidate who is a hold your nose candidate, or a lesser of two evils candidate. We saw what the consequences of that were in 2016."

Of course the Sanders campaign would have a "close relationship" with this vile podcast, given a press secretary willing to kick to the curb those of us who are actual Democrats, those of us who would never in a million years vote for Jill Stein, those of us who proudly voted for Hillary Clinton in 2016, but who will hold our noses (and try not to gag) if forced to vote (in the general) for the guy who hired an idiot who'd brag about voting for Jill Stein...

[Cha]

42. KR

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

44. Very simple

They sound like a certain website where some former DUers went. Those people were gloating after the 2016 election.

[Cha]

47. K