... Look, here's the thing: it's not just the courts. Republicans cheat. They cheat in a really fundamental way, and in ways Democrats aren't smart enough to.

Wisconsin last night was a real good example of this. Progressive change will become a lot harder when

Republicans eliminate mail-in voting, close all of the voting places in big cities, gerrymander things so big cities have minimal representation, and (they haven't really yet, but you know they want to) reinstitute poll taxes.

This country has a lot of angry white "christians" and a lot of rich white men. They are not especially moved by the progressive platform, in part because they do not like seeing non-whites elevated.

Put differently, Trump winning will not somehow break things and usher

in a progressive era. A goddamn once-in-a-century plague is upon us and Trump is... more popular than he was before.

There is not going to be some progressive unity. The best you can do is get 51% of the vote and make sure that's *enough*.

Because Republicans will change the rules so that you need 60% of the vote to win, and then 70% of the vote to win, and so-on, and in this dumb county that isn't going to happen, ever.

If you want these policies you support to ever be realised, it is critical that you stop

Republicans from rigging the system against you.

I am not especially progressive. I am not identifying myself as part of the movement. But I do, truly, respect the movement, I do truly think it may eventually succeed and the country will suffer if it never does.

And I truly think it becomes exponentially less likely that the progressive movement succeeds in our lifetime with every election the Republicans win.

So, you know: keep primarying Democrats, keep pushing them to the left. I'm not saying it actually helps Dems win, but frankly, that's on everyone else, not you.

But when the moderate still wins, you've got to vote for them, or all you're really doing is helping the

concerted Republican effort to squash all who oppose them.

For the record: I will vote for any progressive candidate in the general election. I voted for Ilhan Omar in 2018 and will do so again in 2020. I would've voted for Sanders, and I would happily vote for AOC.

Because, in the same vein that moderate Democrats still ultimately safeguard future progressive efforts, so too do progressive Democrats safeguard future liberal efforts.

For one rather simple reason, by the way: we're much closer together politically than we are to the Rs,

and that means that our politicians (for at the very least self-interested reasons) will not try to take away our voices in the general election.

Unlike Republicans, who would love to silence is both.

... Now, yeah, the Democratic establishment have been a little bit unfair in some of these primaries. The leaked debate questions still kinda takes the cake.

And those are battles you should still fight when the time comes again. Now, though, the opponent is different and

much, much more existential.