There are basically two ways you can view Biden’s impending victory from the perspective of the left:

1. That he was a tepid candidate who could barely squeak out razor thin margins despite a global pandemic and racial strife; or

2. That he fought through a fascist and corrupt administration in an uphill battle to pivot a few key states on the backs of intense organizing efforts.

Both have an element of truth. In the former, we assert that Trump isn’t nearly the fascist some claim he was; in the latter, we assert that American federalism has more resilience than we give it credit for.

In either case, none serve as a particularly good argument for evidence of radicalism‘s influence, not nearly as much as some will claim.

Leftism should be rooted in fact, so let’s look at the facts.

We know that intense grassroots organizing to overcome voter suppression of mostly Black votes in Georgia was pivotal in flipping that state, if the margin holds.

We know that legal efforts to protect mail-in voting led to more valid votes being counted in key states, and likely saved lives in the process.

We know that some downballot candidates who under-invested in digital campaigning and who largely ignored the more progressive calls to defund police and push M4A failed.

And we know that corruptible primary practices didn’t give us a fair shake at a Sanders ticket.

So then which argument is correct?

To what end does it matter?

In my opinion, I prefer to look to where grassroots efforts actually paid measurable dividends. In my opinion, the left should be focusing on what made these successful.

We know Biden isn’t a radical enough candidate. What we should be taking away from his likely victory is understanding what *worked* and learning how to build on that to push for more radical ideas.

Whatever led us here, it was a combination of the protests and the riots and the antifascist campaigns and the voter registration drives and the legal battles and so on and so on. Every single bit played a part, and I reject any argument that they helped Trump.

Whatever your politics may be, you still have to convince 140 million Americans. Let’s work on that.