Somewhat ironically, this is a problem that both some leftist and populist-rightist movements share: their ideology *requires* them to believe that they are the authentic voice of The People and so they are ideologically constrained from recognizing that their ideas are not, in fact, popular.
My read is that American leftism specifically has been unwilling to reckon directly with its unpopularity and instead falls into a cargo cult form of Leninism, preoccupied with building a “pure” vanguard to lead the inevitable awakening of the proletariat.
I want to be clear here though with 'some' because of course you have your AOC/Mamdani/(Warren-though-she-doesn't-take-the-label) left-aligned politicians who do recognize this reality and adopt alternate strategies (incrementalism, 'sewer socialism,' etc) to try to shift the public to their side.
Feb 4, 2026 19:13
