Serious point: Please do not accept a media frame that contrasts Sean McElwee, the smug kid who still "gets stuff done" through "coalition politics," and a feckless Bernie Left, which is honorable but only knows how to lose.

That's exactly backward, as the last 5 years show:

It wasn't "coalition politics" that mobilized millions behind Medicare For All, Free College, etc.

It was Bernie Sanders, who made them popular by loudly and publicly confronting the Democratic leaders, not bragging about private meetings with them

It wasn't "coalition politics" that brought AOC, Jamaal Bowman, or Cori Bush into political life, or let them beat Democratic incumbents.

It was the chance to fight for those same bold demands, which only gained national relevance through Bernie's confrontational class politics

Everything the Left has gained in the last five years has come through confrontation, not "coalition."

We are still a long way from power, but thanks to Bernie our vision is more popular than ever, and stands a good chance of shaping national politics in the next generation

This is exactly why it would be idiotic either to abandon/demote core demands like Medicare For All —that's the advice of a careerist, not a strategist — or to abandon the fight altogether because we lost a few primaries. Hate to say it, folks, but the struggle continues

Everyone reading the Mc*lwee profile and thinking openly about the strategic choices facing the Left should read this essay instead, which offers a scrupulously fair breakdown of the arguments between "coalition" and "confrontation" https://www.jacobinmag.com/2020/08/the-two-paths-of-democratic-socialism-coalition-and-confrontation