The Establishment VS The Left

A party divided over how to win, what to say, and who to listen to.

Yesterday, Politico published Why some Democrats want to shut off Hasan Piker’s ‘megaphone,’ highlighting the latest drama with the leftist Twitch streamer. It was followed up today with a piece from Zeteo titled “The Campaign Against Hasan Piker Is About Crushing the Left.”

There are serious dark-money efforts to cancel Hasan Piker at the moment. It isn’t the first time the establishment has tried to cancel him. And it revolves around one of the few races outside of Texas I’ve ever talked about, the Michigan Senate primary.

But if you’re thinking, what does this have to do with Texas or Texas Democrats? Literally, everything.

The Democratic Party (nationally) is divided between those who believe it must manage a fragile coalition to prevent worse outcomes and those who believe that the same approach is why the crisis exists in the first place.

It isn’t about Hasan Piker. It’s about how we’re seeing these fights play out in the Democratic Party primaries across the country. In the El Syed vs. McMorrow race in Michigan. In the Abughazaleh vs. Biss fight in Illinois. And the Talarico vs. Crockett battle in Texas.

Yes, there’s infighting happening within the party. And it’s ideological, it’s about strategy, it’s about fundamentally who we are and what we believe in.

Why does this resonate with me so much?

Before the Texas Senate primary, several political influencers told me they didn’t always agree with me (because I was further to their left), but they always respected me. Of course, that changed in the Senate primary. And as you’re aware, I made endorsements in many of the primary races, only endorsing the most progressive candidates. The same political influencers were often endorsing the opposite primary candidates, the Conservative Democrats and establishment-aligned folks.

But unlike many of these influencers, I’ve spent many years watching all 140 days of the Legislative Session, from sun-up to sun-down. I have seen repeatedly, session over session, how much damage establishment, centrists, and Conservative Democrats have done to Texas by capitulating with fascist Republicans on policies that harm working-class Texans.

This is where I align with Hasan Piker, because he’s openly stated, plenty of times, that the Democratic Party should be the leftist party, a truly progressive party. His goal is to push the party left and elect hundreds of Mamdanis across America.

I don’t make a secret of where I stand. It’s in the name: Lone Star Left. I believe in progressive policies. That means investing in public education, expanding healthcare access, protecting workers, and confronting corporate power. These are how we actually move Texas and this country forward. Not by managing decline, not by trimming around the edges, but by addressing the material conditions people are living through every day.

What are the battles that are happening right now?

There are several.

Strategy.

The establishment wants to hold the base together and win over moderates and the middle, while avoiding all risk. The party’s left flank wants to mobilize non-voters, go hard on economic issues (anti-corporate, anti-establishment), and energize the base.

Messaging.

This is one of the biggest fights we saw play out in the Texas Senate primary. Is it identity or class? The conflict Democrats are having is whether to message class-first populism or intersectional coalition politics. In Texas, in recent years, Democrats have been accused of over-focusing on identity, and Talarico won on a class-fist message.

Who helps? Who hurts?

One side says that left voices are being suppressed, and donor-backed forces want control. The other side accuses Hasan and others on the left of driving apathy by criticizing Democrats. They say leftists hurt turnout and fracture the coalition.

The blame game.

Of course, we’re still fighting over 2024. Voters didn’t show up or understand the stakes. The party didn’t inspire or meet the moment. The left is too divisive or too critical. There’s too much money in politics. Mainstream media is all owned by right-wing billionaires. There’s too much voter suppression.

And all of these things are leading to the centrist and the progressive wings of the Democratic Party to have this conversation:

Progressives: “This is an emergency.”
Centrists: “We need to be careful.”
Progressives: “We need bold change.”
Centrists: “We can’t take any risks.”
Progressives = Distrust of Party
Centrists = Trust of Party
Progressives = Challenge it
Centrists = Work within it

There are Democrats who genuinely believe that internal criticism is dangerous.

Constantly attacking Democratic leaders, messaging, and strategy weakens the party. It creates confusion, depresses turnout, and ultimately helps Republicans win. Because now it’s not just about strategy. It’s about loyalty.

For a growing number of people on the left, loyalty to the party is no longer the priority. Change is.

But to others inside the party, that kind of thinking is reckless. It’s what they believe leads to disengagement, lower turnout, and losses that hand power to the very forces everyone claims to be fighting.

This is what primary elections are for. This is why we talk about harm reduction. And that part keeps getting lost.

We (I) criticize Democrats during the legislative or congressional session, so that when the primary election comes up, voters are aware of the Democrats’ bad record and can vote accordingly, replacing them with someone more progressive.

Harm reduction applies in the general election, when the stakes are binary and the choices are limited. But primaries are where we expand those choices, where we push for better candidates, better messaging, and a better vision for the future.

Kamala Harris’ loss/Jasmine Crockett’s loss.

There are still active campaigns being pushed to Black Texans to either not vote in November or undervote for Talarico. Honestly, I don’t know if these campaigns are coming from Russia, Republicans, or other places. My instincts tell me they’re Republican-led. But some of the justifications include how Kamala Harris lost the white vote, and Jasmine Crockett lost the white vote, so undervoting for Talarico would be somehow teaching Democrats a lesson.

But this is exactly what I’m talking about.

Because the conversation isn’t about policy now, it isn’t about strategy. It’s about blame.

Is the lesson that Democrats need to change? Or is the lesson that voters need to fall in line? And this is where the tension inside the Democratic Party becomes real.

Another part of this argument that makes me believe it’s coming from Republicans is that Kamala Harris lost to a Republican. Jasmine Crockett lost to a Democrat to her left. Those are not the same thing.

A primary loss isn’t a rejection of Democratic values. It’s a debate over which version of those values should lead.

But after 2024, the conversation wasn’t about what the party needed to change. It was about who to blame.

Voters didn’t show up. People didn’t understand the stakes. Disinformation was too strong. The left was too critical. Too divisive. Too unwilling to fall in line.

But for many of us, that explanation misses the point entirely.

If people aren’t showing up, that’s not just a voter problem. That’s a party problem. That’s a failure to inspire, to connect, to give people something worth showing up for.

And if the response to that is to demand more loyalty, more discipline, more silence, then we’re not fixing anything. We’re repeating the same strategy and expecting a different result.

Class versus identity.

You hear it in the messaging arguments. You see it in the candidates people choose. You feel it in how people talk about what Democrats should prioritize.

Some argue that Democrats have leaned too heavily into identity without doing enough to address the economic realities people are living through. Rising costs, stagnant wages, housing, and healthcare. The things that cut across every community.

Others push back hard on that, because they know those identities aren’t separate from economic struggle, that you can’t talk about class in this country without talking about race. Or gender. Or immigration. Or who has historically been excluded from opportunity in the first place.

And instead of those two ideas working together, they’re often treated like they compete.

Like you have to pick one.

But that’s part of the problem.

Because when class is used to dismiss identity, people get left out. And when identity is used without a strong economic vision, people feel like their material reality isn’t being addressed.

Beneath all of this is an even deeper question.

What kind of coalition are Democrats trying to build?

One that can hold class and identity together?

Or one where those things keep getting pulled apart and used against each other?

Because until that question is answered, this fight isn’t going anywhere.

And as for the Texas Democratic Party?

Listen to what The Conscious Lee had to say about their Convention’s keynote speaker:

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