Shitting on Democrats is a very lucrative grift on the left and right, and I say that as someone who finds Democrats frustrating and frequently disappointing.

Democrats haven't moved as far left as I would like, nor as much as they like to claim, and there will undoubtedly be broken promises given their history, but this is hardly the same party as it was in the 1990s, even if some elected Democrats haven't gotten the memo yet.

It's unfortunate then that the alternatives are either Republicans, who are actively trying to kill me, or several pretender parties that only exist to further and grift off of people's frustration and disillusionment.

Take politics seriously, organize, do the work, and show up as something other than a spoiler in a presidential election and maybe I'll give you a shot someday, losers.

In the meantime, "not actively trying to kill me" is worth a fucking lot to me.

It's not just about me anyway.

I don't need the threat of Trump going "full fascist" to vote for Democrats. Whatever Trump does, the GOP intend to destroy what's left of our democracy and do irreparable harm to PoC, immigrants, women, disabled people, LGBT+ folks, and everyone not a rich white Christian man.

Mock pragmatism all you want but I was born too old for performative contrarianism and obstinacy from people who think there's a magical solution right around the corner.

Put up or shut up, basically.

The left has been saying there's a better way my entire life while failing to build anything worth voting for outside of the Democratic Party, and I have nothing but contempt for accelerationism and other forms of grift.