The Democrat Trojan Horses
I’ve often thought that one of the defining characteristics of many Democrats these days, particularly since 2008, is that they often hide their true intentions in order to get elected. I don’t just mean simple things such as keeping their associations with NGOs or lobbyists a secret. I mean their basic intentions regarding policy and their attitudes towards the philosophical pillars of this country.
I first noticed this with Obama, and I wrote about it at the time (for example see this). Bernie Sanders’ problem – aside from the fact that he didn’t have Obama’s smoothness and charisma – was that he was more upfront about his far-leftist goals. That’s why in 2016 and 2020 the Democrat establishment decided he had to go, even though he was doing well in the primaries. Their fear was that he would become the nominee because he appealed to the Democrats’ far-left base, but that he would lose soundly in the general election because he was too extreme for the country as a whole. So they called on the superdelegates in the case of Hillary in 2016, and forced some of the challengers to Biden out in 2020, to try to engineer Sanders’ downfall.
Sanders dropped out of the race against Biden in April of 2020, but he was already significantly behind in the primary voting. Was he promised a loud voice in the Biden administration in return? That is pure speculation on my part. But there is little question that the Obama and Sanders wings did have a say in the Biden administration, perhaps more of a say than the elderly doddering Biden had. Although the Party used Biden’s earlier reputation as a moderate to help him gain victory (let’s leave out for now the question of fraud), he did not govern as a moderate.
How aware was Biden of all of this? I believe he was fairly aware, at least for the first couple of years, and faded more later. I’m not saying he was sharp as a tack at the outset; he clearly was not. But I think he got the drift of things, and was okay with it. Why? One reason is that, when he was of relatively sound mind and body from 2009 to 2017, he served as Obama’s VP and seemed perfectly fine with what Obama was doing. So I think that in his 2020 campaign, Biden was somewhat of a conscious dissembler, although he had a lot of assistance.
I’ll leave out Kamala Harris. Her campaign was so ditsy and so disjointed it’s hard to say what she was presenting as or whether it was authentic. Nothing she did or said seemed authentic.
Now we have a proliferation of far-leftists, and they run the gamut as far as how transparent they’re being about their plans. Mamdani occupies a kind of middle ground; he wasn’t really lying about his far-left affiliation although he may have been silent about his ultimate goals. But he was running in a deep blue city and primary turnout was low and mostly consisted of the more extreme elements. Once Mamdani had won the primary in a deep deep blue place like NYC, it was highly probable he would win the election, because his opponents simply weren’t popular (Cuomo and Sliwa). And so Mamdani didn’t need to be especially mendacious about his leftism in order to win; just a little bit mendacious.
Contrast that to Abigail Spanberger of Virginia in 2025. That state is not as deep blue as NYC, and it was coming off a Republican governor. So Spanberger pretended to be someone utterly different than who she is, in the political sense; she posed as a moderate. Once elected, she pivoted to far-leftism.
This is the template for some of the contenders in 2026 races: pretense. But like a Trojan Horse, once inside the gates they can use their power to destroy.
But there’s a dilemma. Someone like El-Sayed, the Democrat Senate nominee from Michigan, has a history that screams leftist extremism and Islamist tendencies. He is trying to backtrack from that history (something like Platner did with a different history, unsuccessfully), by saying that his views have evolved or by pivoting when asked pointed questions. But for El-Sayed, it may be too late to pull off the switch convincingly.
The failed candidacy of Francesca Hong for the governorship of Wisconsin has alerted other far leftists and told them they must dissemble, and that their past can haunt them. But that’s only in purple-ish states or cities. In far blue ones it won’t matter and they can be somewhat more honest.
The Democrat nominee in Wisconsin, Crowley (who beat Hong only by a hair), has learned the lesson. He’s a leftist, too, although described as a “center-leftist” (whatever that is). He is avoiding any association with Hasan Piker:
Wisconsin Democratic gubernatorial nominee David Crowley said he will not campaign with controversial left-wing streamer Hasan Piker — who previously backed his rival, Francesca Hong, in the primary. …
“I don’t want to lend credibility to platforms, if you will, that I believe further divides us as a community, further divides Democrats,” Crowley told WISN when asked about the prospect of campaigning with Piker.
Whatever he may actually think of Piker, he doesn’t want to be seen with him.
In Michigan, however, El-Sayed won the primary while still associating heavily with Piker. Now that he’s in the general, he’s avoiding having to answer any questions about Piker. For example:
Michigan and Wisconsin are both purple states, so these candidates have to be careful. But once in, all bets are off.
“. . . the Obama and Biden wings did have a say in the Biden administration . . .”? Typo? Did you mean the Obama and Sanders wings?
bof:
Yes, thanks for the typo alert. Will fix.
You’re welcome. Instead of leaving my previous (now obsolete) comment and this one as permanent clutter, could you just delete them?
In a recent conversation, I mentioned to our youngest adult son that Obama ran as opposed to same-sex marriage. He was astounded.
bof:
I could delete them if you really really want me to. But I usually leave up alerts to typos or other errors because I think it’s best not to stealth-edit things like that, but to acknowledge them.
The inverse of Lincoln’s dictum applies; “You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you cannot fool all of the people all of the time”
Lie to people often and long enough and you can’t fool enough of the people to get reelected… that’s a likely outcome for Spanberger who now has revealed herself.
Lying has an end date as many elected RINOs are finding out.
“This Man Defeated Hundreds of Bad Republicans”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=igf8ZTQ2Yqg
My read of Biden is that he lacked integrity and was motivated by power and popularity.
Also he resented Obama. Not without reason. Obama seemed to have little respect for Joe.
So when Biden became President, I think he had the idea to out-Obama Obama. As he did in 2012 when Biden jumped the gun to come out for gay marriage before Obama and Hillary were ready to.
The Left has proven they’ll do anything ANYTHING to win.
My read of Biden is that he was a figurehead who lacked both integrity and ambition and was motivated by anonymous but powerful superiors who chose him. I have a sense that Biden is not the only figurehead such superiors have chosen to be a high-level candidate; Kamala Harris is almost certainly another. I do not expect this formation to decrease or disappear anytime soon.
Has anyone noticed they’ve all gr I wn beards……….. neatly.trimmed of course!
I was talking about the men.
Re: Biden as figurehead
betsybounds:
Generally I agree, though I would note that Biden’s disastrous Afghan evacuation apparently was his plan that he enforced over competent advice.
Also, I hold that Biden’s immediate elevation of Harris to the Prez candidate after Biden drooled out of the debate was his mighty FU to Obama and the rest of the party.
There are good looking beards, …. and scraggly looking beards.
I am seeing too many of the latter among our public candidates for my taste/preference.
Not every adult male has the genes* for a robust beard, … or the discipline to maintain it at a length that is not too short nor too long.
*Although if it is true that humans and chimpanzees have the same number of hair folicles, just some more fur like vs. hair like, then most men probably have the same number of beard follicles, too. However, some men have a 5 o’clock shadow by 2pm, really noticeable hair on the arms and legs (and chests), vs. others where this look is largely absent, for whatever reason (chemicals, harmones, etc. ??)
@ Huxley: “Also, I hold that Biden’s immediate elevation of Harris to the Prez candidate after Biden drooled out of the debate was his mighty FU to Obama and the rest of the party.”
I suppose it could have been Jill’s or Hunter’s doing instead? Or some other player like Blinken or some unknown Nod (Klein?). And in hindsight, it looks like the Dem party bigs should have called that bluff and run a quickie convention, finding a way to push Harris aside, given her 2020 performance. Now they still have her as a potential candidate/ contender in 2028.
R2L :
What documentation we have, such as it is, is that Harris was Biden’s choice, while Obama was caught flat-footed, pondering a quick convention.
And I can imagine the emotions fueling Biden’s choice of Harris — the only person who could at least try to preserve Biden’s legacy.
Lastly, we are talking about Democrats, are we not? We’re talking Livia from “I Claudius” and “The Sopranos.” 🙂
I wasn’t surprised that Hong lost. If you’re against Thanksgiving, you’re against one of the few things that Reds and Blues agree on.
Bernie never had a real chance at the Dem nomination in 2016. He was a flash in the pan, and the only reason he got even that far was because the primary system was front loaded with New Hampshire, near his neighboring Vermont. After NH, he only did well in caucuses, where college age Dems crowd out the elderly, working class, etc.
If Newsom wins the Dem nomination, Gretchen Whitmer will likely be VP.
Yeah, these DSA wins have likely reduced AOC’s chances in 2028—as DEM party tries to distant themselves from it. Both parties are so bad that I still have the GOP shakily-holding in midterms…
Newsom & Whitmer—and a horrid bench behind them!?!
The DSA’s biggest supporters will be old line Demos, if they don’t win the.old Dem’s will.be they’re loudest enemies!