But less than 15 years ago we had TV hosts like Jon Stewart and bands like Green Day who were able to make progressivism feel just as relevant and countercultural as Trumpism feels to young American men now.
The problem is, we killed progressivism. The left hates Stewart now because he speaks about trans rights and criticizes Dems. We don’t want a lib Joe Rogan. We want Joe Rogan as he is, minus the Trump endorsement.
In killing progressivism, we killed populism. In killing populism, we created a counterculture vacuum that the right was all to eager to fill.
We trotted out the Cheneys and Taylor Swift (no offense) and the most “lethal military in the world” and we called it Brat.
The people rightfully desperate for change, made a poor choice and either stayed home or voted Trump. We can blame voters, sure. Do that if it makes us feel good. But we can’t expect anything to change as a result.
We can’t have it both ways. We can’t dress up centristism with a funky 808 and hope no one notices. We have to stand up to the well-to-do who behind closed doors asked democrats to ditch the progressive movement. That, or we die as the establishment.
