That’s an interesting point.
Look, I cannot stand Warren. I think her policies are mostly stupid and/or completely infeasuble given the current political climate. But what I really can’t stand is I think she is completely fake. And she panders to the crazy, rabble-raising portion of the left. She deepens the divide and destroys whatever remains of rational political discourse. So... we’re agreed on Warren.
But Warren as a mouthpiece for Dems? I have an immediate instinctive reaction to say, “No. using people like this as opposition bogeymen is exactly what pushed the Right towards its current state. Quit trying to blame the left for everything.”
But, I think it is also true that Warren is sort of equivalent to ten years ago on the right someone who would have been Tea Partyish. And all of my conservative friends would have been like, “Yeah, I mean she’s a bit nutty but what do you want me to do, vote Democrat? Relax, she’s a party outlier, it’ll stop before things get out of control. You screaming at conservatives only druves a bigger wedge and pushes people away.” Now ten years later, I’m all “Yeah thanks guys. Now we’re stuck with Trump and you lost your party because ou thought I was being hysterical.”
Now, to be fair, the alternative at that time was like, Obama. The left was moderate as hell. So moderate that the party is now splitting. So I don’t think it’s the same ask as blaming Dems for being mild on Warren when the alternative is Trump.
Still, regardless of the stakes we need to learn from past history. Ten years ago, Warren was the exact sort of person that had me screaming at conservatives like, “Do you not see where this is going?!?” So maybe I should heed the warnings now that the sides are flipped.
OTOH, apparently all my yelling as well as my friends’ assurances they would stop thing before they got out of control amounted to jackshit. So, I’m not sure what you yelling at me and me assuring you that I see your point but you need to ease up is going to accomplish either.
As I have talked to those friends over the last few years, I think they have come to a greater understanding that no, Trump didn’t hijack their party and they could have been more on the ball. But I have also come to a greater understanding that ultimately they likely could not have stopped it anyway.
So it’s like yeah great we see each other’s side, we see a pattern repeating and a bad trend. We’re agreed we need to stop this and we can work together. Now what? We’re like 15% of the country and our philosophical core belief is that you can’t just be dicks and try to force 80% of the country your way. So... we got nothin’.