The Atlantic has an interesting piece by James Kirchick arguing that the DSA currently operates like a parasite inside the Democratic Party. Kirchick points out this isn’t really a new phenomenon. Something very similar happened in the UK a few decades ago.
After Margaret Thatcher’s Conservatives surged into power in 1979, Labour responded by moving left. Its 1983 election platform—promising centralized economic planning, unilateral nuclear disarmament, and the introduction of a price-control commission—was so extreme that critics dubbed it “the longest suicide note in history.” After the party lost in a historic landslide to the Conservatives, major factions within Labour still insisted that the party wasn’t left-wing enough. The Labour politician Edward “Red Ted” Knight famously declared that “there can be no compromise with the electorate.”
One small but loud faction on Labour’s left was the Militant Tendency, a highly disciplined group that took its name from the socialist newspaper around which its members gathered. Giant banners showing the faces of Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels, Vladimir Lenin, and Leon Trotsky adorned its rallies. Unlike the Labour mainstream, which sought to alleviate inequality through democratic reform, Militant believed in the overthrow of British capitalism, by force if necessary. With its own manifestos, conferences, leadership structures, and funding, Militant resembled a traditional political party in every respect but one: It didn’t run candidates on a ballot line of its own. In a ploy that might sound familiar to Democrats in the United States today, Militant instructed its members to join Labour, ascend its ranks, and advance the group’s cause from the inside.
But in 1985 a Labour leader named Neil Kinnock went on the attack against Militant Tendency.
He spoke emotionally about how he owed the Labour Party “every life chance that I have had since the time I was a child,” and argued that far-left purists’ “impossible promises” and commitment to theories over results imperiled Labour’s ability to protect the welfare state. He denounced Militant members as “gesture generals” and likened them to privately educated schoolboys who were willing to “play politics with people’s jobs and with people’s services or with their homes.” Militant members and their fellow travelers booed, and a former Labour chairman stormed off the stage in anger. But Kinnock had the courage to say what many in Labour were thinking. Most of the crowd roared their approval.
In a television appearance the following month, Kinnock went further, denouncing Militant as “a maggot in the body of the Labour Party.” Despite fierce internal resistance, Kinnock ended up expelling hundreds of Militant members.
The question is: Where are the Democrats now who are standing up and saying loudly that the DSA is a maggot in the body of the Democratic Party? I can only think of one exception:
To be fair, Fetterman isn’t entirely alone. Van Jones made some news recently for saying something pretty similar. This is from Saturday.
I’m tired of being told that, to be a progressive, I now must swear allegiance to crazy ideas.
I’m a strong Democrat, with a winning bipartisan track record. I’m rooted in progressive ideals and policies: criminal justice reform, Green New Deal, Medicare for All, free education,… pic.twitter.com/foPRXip7fb
— Van Jones (@VanJones68) July 18, 2026
I’m tired of being told that, to be a progressive, I now must swear allegiance to crazy ideas.
I’m a strong Democrat, with a winning bipartisan track record. I’m rooted in progressive ideals and policies: criminal justice reform, Green New Deal, Medicare for All, free education, clean air and water. These are ideas I have fought for my entire adult life.
But some people in groups like the DSA are pushing an agenda FAR outside those ideals. Supporting Hamas is not progressive. “No police, no prisons, no borders” is not progressive. Celebrating the murder of Israeli civilians is not progressive. These ideas are REGRESSIVE.
If there were no police or prisons, if anyone in your neighborhood could do whatever they wanted, while politicians cheered on terror groups — would that represent PROGRESS to you? No, that would be a step back. Those are REGRESSIVE ideas.
On the other hand, if everybody could see a doctor when they got sick, get a good, free education and breathe clean air — would that represent progress? Yes. Those are PROGRESSIVE ideas.
They are NOT the same thing. And the difference matters.
Some defend the far left by claiming they only want Nordic-style social democracy. If that were true, I might applaud them. I want those policies, too! But what does universal healthcare have to do with Hamas? With abolishing all law enforcement? With erasing all borders? With treating every wealthy person as a villain? Ideas matter. And these are terrible ideas.
Right now, extremists are trying to sneak backwards proposals into our party, hoping mainstream Democrats are too frustrated with MAGA and the Democratic Party establishment to notice.
But we see you.
Yes, we want our Democratic Party to be a big tent. But we don’t need “party poopers. So STOP pooping in the punch bowl — and telling us the turds are ice cubes.
He’s on to something and he was applauded for it by one more elected Democrat.
I’m glad to see other Democrats reiterating what I’ve been saying all along: the DSA are not Democrats. They’re socialists, who want to hijack the Democratic Party.
The Democrats have a big tent. That’s our strength. We embrace a range of ideas — but there’s no room for… https://t.co/4egn90PNm0
— Rep Josh Gottheimer (@RepJoshG) July 20, 2026
The Democrats have a big tent. That’s our strength. We embrace a range of ideas — but there’s no room for anti-American bomb-throwers who oppose our ideas, values, & leaders.
Gottheimer was then attacked by Rep. Summer Lee who…well, I’m not sure what she was thinking.
What about Dems who sign bombs and vote to drop them? https://t.co/KTnZ8ZRwrV
— Rep. Summer Lee (@RepSummerLee) July 21, 2026
As you can see, there is a different Democrat named Josh who signed a bomb. He also happens to be Jewish and Gottheimer suggested that was the key to her mistake.
You know that’s the other Jewish guy named Josh, right? https://t.co/dCF0AtT0rY
— Rep Josh Gottheimer (@RepJoshG) July 21, 2026
Rep. Omar tried to jump in to save Rep. Lee but that didn’t go well for her either.
He signed the bombs you voted to be dropped. Hope this helps! https://t.co/zkwiJMa8cN
— Ilhan Omar (@IlhanMN) July 21, 2026
To be clear, Gov. Shapiro signed artillery shells headed to Ukraine, not bombs of any kind. Also, Rep. Lee has expressed support for Ukraine and condemned Russia so I’m not sure what her point was. As for voting for the “bombs” Rep. Gottheimer had a good response there as well.
Ilhan, you know who else voted for it? You. https://t.co/IjIQW4TNwF https://t.co/OwiNHHcXdz pic.twitter.com/m8E8N4g8RD
— Rep Josh Gottheimer (@RepJoshG) July 22, 2026
Incidentally, Rep. Summer Lee also voted for this. So you have two far left congresspeople attacking Gottheimer for something he didn’t do (sign bombs) and which they supported anyway.
This is what you get when you tell the far left to stuff it. You get nonsensical attacks from people who don’t seem to know what they’re talking about. Maybe that’s why so few Democrats volunteer for this duty of shoveling the DSA out of the Democrats’ stables. But at some point they are going to have to do it or a portion of the normie base will conclude the entire party is too extreme.
Editor’s Note: New York City is now facing the consequences of Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s socialist takeover.
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