It always intrigues me when people see Coates as pessimistic when I see him as a realist. And it also exhausts me that people constantly gloss over the fact that there IS something entrenched when the other side literally doesn’t want you to exist. How DO you actually start a conversation with someone who would strange fruit you? I hate how this fact gets so routinely minimized.
I’m tired.
Edited to add: and we can’t gloss over the fact that more often than not, when we let folks who have been terrible before back into the fold without any kind of reconciliation, they end up just throwing the same marginalized folks under the bus *again*. The breathless complaints about discourse always leave out the routine breakdown of support marginalized groups put up with, only for the perps to ask why we are wary of (specifically but not exclusively) white allyship.
It's interesting that what Klein seems to be arguing for is far closer to the Democrats' actual strategy than he seems to acknowledge. Remember how they brought Liz Cheney into the campaign? There was an explicit strategic decision to write off the "uncommitted" movement and pursue some kind of rightward big tent coalition in the 2024 election.
I just don't understand how one can claim to be a realist and not acknowledge the popularity and electoral viability of left-ish policies and Democrats unconscionable inability to embrace them. Like Coates said, anti-abortion policies are not popular. Establishment Dems refuse to Zohran Mamdani and act like he's outside the tent despite the fact that he literally got the most votes in his primary!
I find a lot of sloppiness in centrist punditry against "the left." Sometimes they're talking about elected politicians or the Democratic party, sometimes they're talking about anonymous posters on social media. Yet the conclusion is to always treat the right as an immoveable force of nature and the left as out-of-touch purists who need to compromise.
Your last paragraphs resonate with me a lot. It’s exciting to see the organizing into a new reality and to be part of it even as just one eager and thoughtful participant/contributor.
yeah such b.s. he's no Einstein of how to prevent fascism in this country but he's favored by the Dem and NYT establishment that have helped get us here..
So terrific! I wish you were in the conversation with them. Your work in the persuaders is so terrific and centers the people I love - the organizers and non profit lobbyists I have worked with in Montana to keep reproductive rights over the last 25 years. Purity is impossible but you should never give away your values. These people will never be famous but have always always been the ones who keep the worst from happening. At this point, I’d rather hear people who have organized and been in the trenches talk about what works since they are the ones who really know. Thank you for this! It’s exactly right.
I agree with Elizabeth Brenneman when she says talking to the organizers on the street, in the nonprofits, who do the work to recruit people. Look at what Bernie Sanders did in West VA in 2016.( a state that went for Trump overwhelmingly in 2024). He WON EVERY SINGLE COUNY!! Now THAT tells you something. He didn’t win by watering down his message, by softening positions. He won by being truthful, talking to people seriously about their lives. By truly loving people. That is Bernie. And it connected to people. It was authentic. If the Democratic Party didn’t work hard to sabotage his campaign in 2016, things could have been very different.
I listened to the entire interview and I agreed with Coates in his response to Klein's column about Charlie Kirk. Silence on Klein's part would have been a better option rather than glorifying the way Kirk did politics. The column exalted Kirk and white-washed all of his hatred and ugliness. To dehumanize people is unacceptable. Debate policy perhaps but not the worthiness of people.
Ahhhhh , now I’m breathing another appreciation for the art form of the essay You, once again reconcile apparent conflicting thoughts and end with a sense of hope and a direction. Your balance of critical thinking, urgency and nurturing strike a perfect tone.
And this is why I subscribe to The Ink! Anand, you've captured here exactly the (admittedly narrow) path between what Klein and Coates are saying that I want to be walking on. It is indeed the organizing project of a generation (if not more). I suspect that is why it is unappealing to those thinking in terms of short term electoral wins.
So easy to advocate to throw people under the bus when you know it won’t be you. When you’re already under the bus why wouldn’t you protest against those that put you there? Easy for Ezra to say let’s include anti-abortionists in our tent as he’ll never bleed to death from a miscarriage. Ta-Nehisi is right. Hold the line. You need to stand for humanity or not.
Thank you for this. I left their conversation feeling as if they were talking at each other instead of with each other. I am heartened to hear your vision of how we move forward. I have long felt that this moment is the dying gasp of an old way of thinking, hopefully opening the door to something better. Again, thank you.
Bravo, Anand! I've read The Persuaders and have come back to it many times to review the various uncomfortable ways the protagonists have devised for including people in their movements. Middle ways are often uncomfortable, as you so beautifully explore in this essay.
Provocatively, I will point out to Ezra Klein that women represent roughly 50% of the US population and therefore of voter rolls, while Jewish men represent roughly 1.25% of people and voters. Numerically, which category is the more strategic choice, if your solution includes throwing a demographic under the bus? And if this language shocks you, good. It should.
There is nothing more attractive or compelling that an individual or a movement that is grounded in its mission. There's no need for "hope" per se, because there is the daily work. There is no need for horse-trading, because you are on a mission, not on a campaign. This is how the GOP continues to win. So, the frame is misguided, still. The question is not big tent vs. despair. Pro-lifers are welcome if they are willing to allow women to choose for themselves. If they insist that women delegate their decision-making to others, then, they are in the wrong tent.
whatever problems Coates political perspectives have he has come along way with his insights into the Palestinian struggle and his take down of Klein's horrible opinion piece on Charlie Kirk was well deserved.... Klein is talking about the same thing the DEM Party majority favors, not talking much if at all about the rights of immigrants, running anti abortion candidates (pro-life), burying support for trans folks, etc etc. It is not the strategy we need and it is very dangerous to Black people and others as Coates brought up time and again and Klein was dismissive. the danger is Klein because he has the ear and respect of the monied powers that be among the top Dems.
You are spot on. I have to say that I gave up on Ezra Klein about a year ago because his arguments usually disappointed me and made me feel like his words were resulting in the continued loss of support that we so desperately need in order to maintain our Democracy. I’m going to give him another chance thanks to this well written overview of his most recent “dust up”. Your point urging all of us to stay engaged is an important one.
Excellent essay, Anand. I think Klein and Coates have thought provoking ideas, even if they both fall short in each of their own ways. What is important is having conversations around these issues. I do think we are in the midst of a huge social and economic transition and transformation that has disrupted all sense of equilibrium. It will take a long time to find even a modicum of balance. But we should not give up. And it is crucial to engage those with whom we don’t agree. Somewhere there is a common humanity among us even when it seems unlikely to appear.
It always intrigues me when people see Coates as pessimistic when I see him as a realist. And it also exhausts me that people constantly gloss over the fact that there IS something entrenched when the other side literally doesn’t want you to exist. How DO you actually start a conversation with someone who would strange fruit you? I hate how this fact gets so routinely minimized.
I’m tired.
Edited to add: and we can’t gloss over the fact that more often than not, when we let folks who have been terrible before back into the fold without any kind of reconciliation, they end up just throwing the same marginalized folks under the bus *again*. The breathless complaints about discourse always leave out the routine breakdown of support marginalized groups put up with, only for the perps to ask why we are wary of (specifically but not exclusively) white allyship.
It's interesting that what Klein seems to be arguing for is far closer to the Democrats' actual strategy than he seems to acknowledge. Remember how they brought Liz Cheney into the campaign? There was an explicit strategic decision to write off the "uncommitted" movement and pursue some kind of rightward big tent coalition in the 2024 election.
I just don't understand how one can claim to be a realist and not acknowledge the popularity and electoral viability of left-ish policies and Democrats unconscionable inability to embrace them. Like Coates said, anti-abortion policies are not popular. Establishment Dems refuse to Zohran Mamdani and act like he's outside the tent despite the fact that he literally got the most votes in his primary!
I find a lot of sloppiness in centrist punditry against "the left." Sometimes they're talking about elected politicians or the Democratic party, sometimes they're talking about anonymous posters on social media. Yet the conclusion is to always treat the right as an immoveable force of nature and the left as out-of-touch purists who need to compromise.
yes could not agree more!!
Your last paragraphs resonate with me a lot. It’s exciting to see the organizing into a new reality and to be part of it even as just one eager and thoughtful participant/contributor.
Ezra Klein is getting waaaay too much attention.
yeah such b.s. he's no Einstein of how to prevent fascism in this country but he's favored by the Dem and NYT establishment that have helped get us here..
I think he's a plant.
So terrific! I wish you were in the conversation with them. Your work in the persuaders is so terrific and centers the people I love - the organizers and non profit lobbyists I have worked with in Montana to keep reproductive rights over the last 25 years. Purity is impossible but you should never give away your values. These people will never be famous but have always always been the ones who keep the worst from happening. At this point, I’d rather hear people who have organized and been in the trenches talk about what works since they are the ones who really know. Thank you for this! It’s exactly right.
Yes!
I agree with Elizabeth Brenneman when she says talking to the organizers on the street, in the nonprofits, who do the work to recruit people. Look at what Bernie Sanders did in West VA in 2016.( a state that went for Trump overwhelmingly in 2024). He WON EVERY SINGLE COUNY!! Now THAT tells you something. He didn’t win by watering down his message, by softening positions. He won by being truthful, talking to people seriously about their lives. By truly loving people. That is Bernie. And it connected to people. It was authentic. If the Democratic Party didn’t work hard to sabotage his campaign in 2016, things could have been very different.
I listened to the entire interview and I agreed with Coates in his response to Klein's column about Charlie Kirk. Silence on Klein's part would have been a better option rather than glorifying the way Kirk did politics. The column exalted Kirk and white-washed all of his hatred and ugliness. To dehumanize people is unacceptable. Debate policy perhaps but not the worthiness of people.
Ahhhhh , now I’m breathing another appreciation for the art form of the essay You, once again reconcile apparent conflicting thoughts and end with a sense of hope and a direction. Your balance of critical thinking, urgency and nurturing strike a perfect tone.
Now the question is, when will Arand run for congress? Just saying. How cool would that be?
No. Anand is most valuable right where he is.
And this is why I subscribe to The Ink! Anand, you've captured here exactly the (admittedly narrow) path between what Klein and Coates are saying that I want to be walking on. It is indeed the organizing project of a generation (if not more). I suspect that is why it is unappealing to those thinking in terms of short term electoral wins.
So easy to advocate to throw people under the bus when you know it won’t be you. When you’re already under the bus why wouldn’t you protest against those that put you there? Easy for Ezra to say let’s include anti-abortionists in our tent as he’ll never bleed to death from a miscarriage. Ta-Nehisi is right. Hold the line. You need to stand for humanity or not.
Thank you for this. I left their conversation feeling as if they were talking at each other instead of with each other. I am heartened to hear your vision of how we move forward. I have long felt that this moment is the dying gasp of an old way of thinking, hopefully opening the door to something better. Again, thank you.
Bravo, Anand! I've read The Persuaders and have come back to it many times to review the various uncomfortable ways the protagonists have devised for including people in their movements. Middle ways are often uncomfortable, as you so beautifully explore in this essay.
Provocatively, I will point out to Ezra Klein that women represent roughly 50% of the US population and therefore of voter rolls, while Jewish men represent roughly 1.25% of people and voters. Numerically, which category is the more strategic choice, if your solution includes throwing a demographic under the bus? And if this language shocks you, good. It should.
There is nothing more attractive or compelling that an individual or a movement that is grounded in its mission. There's no need for "hope" per se, because there is the daily work. There is no need for horse-trading, because you are on a mission, not on a campaign. This is how the GOP continues to win. So, the frame is misguided, still. The question is not big tent vs. despair. Pro-lifers are welcome if they are willing to allow women to choose for themselves. If they insist that women delegate their decision-making to others, then, they are in the wrong tent.
whatever problems Coates political perspectives have he has come along way with his insights into the Palestinian struggle and his take down of Klein's horrible opinion piece on Charlie Kirk was well deserved.... Klein is talking about the same thing the DEM Party majority favors, not talking much if at all about the rights of immigrants, running anti abortion candidates (pro-life), burying support for trans folks, etc etc. It is not the strategy we need and it is very dangerous to Black people and others as Coates brought up time and again and Klein was dismissive. the danger is Klein because he has the ear and respect of the monied powers that be among the top Dems.
You are spot on. I have to say that I gave up on Ezra Klein about a year ago because his arguments usually disappointed me and made me feel like his words were resulting in the continued loss of support that we so desperately need in order to maintain our Democracy. I’m going to give him another chance thanks to this well written overview of his most recent “dust up”. Your point urging all of us to stay engaged is an important one.
Anand: This is why I read your writing religiously. Thank you for the bigger picture, the nuances, and the hope of what can be possible.
AND why I subscribe to The Ink
Excellent essay, Anand. I think Klein and Coates have thought provoking ideas, even if they both fall short in each of their own ways. What is important is having conversations around these issues. I do think we are in the midst of a huge social and economic transition and transformation that has disrupted all sense of equilibrium. It will take a long time to find even a modicum of balance. But we should not give up. And it is crucial to engage those with whom we don’t agree. Somewhere there is a common humanity among us even when it seems unlikely to appear.