this post was submitted on 20 Sep 2026
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Brian Leeland, a 79-year-old Democratic voter in Detroit, had enough. Frustrated by the way the US media covers this febrile political era, from Donald Trump’s Washington to political campaigns across the country, he contacted the Guardian.

“Your decision to frame the race here as a simple progressive versus establishment choice is overly simplistic verging on lazy,” he wrote to this reporter, after our coverage of progressive Abdul El-Sayed’s campaign in the Democratic US Senate primary in Michigan. “As an electorate, we are not binary for the convenience of the media.”

His was a complaint I heard often as I traveled across the midwest to cover a host of contested Democratic primaries. So I called him up.

Leeland’s list of frustrations is long: grifters, liars, the two-party system, money influencing elections, the US’s standing in the world, the growing national debt and a fixation on cultural issues, not just the larger problems that plague the country.

...

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[–] kingkong@lemmy.world 9 points 7 hours ago (1 children)

Billionaires and big tech rig the game with government money and tax loopholes. Sites use AI filters to actively block posts calling out the elite. Scrap income tax; tax wealth and land instead.

[–] JackFrostNCola@aussie.zone 1 points 48 minutes ago

"Tax wealth not work"

[–] ZMoney@lemmy.world 13 points 9 hours ago (1 children)

I'd love to find a news article about an election that says "All is well, people head to polls to show their support for two excellent candidates. Either would be a fantastic choice for the nation."

[–] wry@sh.itjust.works 3 points 8 hours ago (1 children)

For real. I'm sick of having to choose between the less shitty of two shitty candidates.

[–] Gaslov@lemmy.world 0 points 7 hours ago (1 children)

That's what happens when everything you hear about someone is from the slant of people who profit off making you angry. No one will ever be good enough, and everyone is always maximum evil.

[–] wry@sh.itjust.works 1 points 5 hours ago

I live in the grey and don't take everything to heart like that. You can believe someone is the best candidate and vote for them but still wish they could be better.

[–] Gaslov@lemmy.world 3 points 7 hours ago

I only read the headline, but I think that's fueled all of the elections.

[–] pamparana@lemmy.world 27 points 22 hours ago (3 children)

I have no idea how things can or will improve. As an outsider, America is a strange place. Unfortunately, the world seems hell bent on copying everything it does.

[–] Quexotic@infosec.pub 7 points 9 hours ago

It becomes less strange when you constantly ask "who benefits financially" because that is the prime mover here. Beyond that, there is little to consider given current evidence increasingly points to lack of meaningful representation regardless of vote.

[–] abigscaryhobo@lemmy.world 13 points 13 hours ago (2 children)

Nah they're definitely less insistent on copying us after this year. A huge chunk of the world has looked at Trump and went "that's not an ally. We need to diversify our allegiances in case the US goes nuts again"

It's part of the reason China is becoming so popular on the international stage. They want to trade, and they're stable. Trump's foot stamping and attempted "dick waving" power trips have absolutely buried our reputation and bargaining power in the global community.

Turns out, electing a corrupt man-child who ruins everyone's economy and messes with the global oil supply tends to make a lot of people not like you.

[–] Quexotic@infosec.pub 2 points 7 hours ago

I agree with all this except "in case..".

Our allies know that authoritarians that get voted in, most of the time don't get voted out. I'm confident they're worried about when, not if.

I'm convinced that those in power put trump in the whitehouse so that they could basically pull a private equity buy-and-bankrupt on the entire country

[–] bitjunkie@lemmy.world 2 points 9 hours ago* (last edited 9 hours ago)

I think the long-term damage is worse this time around, because the fact that he could lose and then win again signaled that it wasn't a fluke.

[–] hoppeduponcoffee@lemmy.zip 8 points 13 hours ago* (last edited 13 hours ago)

As soon as the world cuts off the US currency as a reserve, we’re done. Stop trading with us. That’s what needs to happen. Pop the balloon.

[–] TheDemonBuer@lemmy.world 75 points 1 day ago (12 children)

Yes, most Americans are very upset with the establishment. They just can't agree on who the establishment is.

Obviously Trump is currently the establishment since he's the one in power right now, but the irony is a lot of the people who voted for him did so because they were angry with the establishment that preceded him. So, many Americans are angry at an establishment that was meant to take on a past establishment that many other Americans had been angry with.

[–] Yuccagnocchiyaki@lemmy.world 4 points 6 hours ago

Trump has always been a part of the establishment.

MAGA was made up of three establishments. Evangelical Christians, Generational Wealth, and Corporate Oligarchy. These are the only three groups that are INHERENTLY fascist. There could have never been a single thing that a SANE person would see or hear from this group that would make anyone think that the working class would get anything but more work and more taxes.

The main problem is actually that about half the country are either illiterate morons, and/or sadistic psychopaths. They all WANTED this

[–] adarza@lemmy.ca 2 points 9 hours ago* (last edited 9 hours ago)

my fear is that this trend will splinter only the 'left half' of the vote as a significant number vote third-party from 'lack of options' or as 'punishment'; and that the 'right' will remain mostly united (as they usually do) in their hate and stupidity and greed, allowing republicants to actually gain as a result.

[–] whoisearth@lemmy.ca 2 points 13 hours ago

A large chunk of the population would rather throw out the baby with the bathwater and any attempt to tell them they're insane for thinking so is an exercise in futility.

In fairness to them, even the best of our leaders are still operating in the framework that got us here.

[–] BooBees@fedinsfw.app 28 points 1 day ago

It’s establishments all the way down. And what do they all have in common? Being servile to capital.

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[–] Fishnoodle@lemmy.world 20 points 1 day ago (2 children)

There will be executions after the midterms. The only question is whether they will be orderly and for the people, or chaotic and by the people.

[–] NewSocialWhoDis@lemmy.zip 6 points 11 hours ago

I mean, I'll be optimistic with you, but there's still a nonzero chance that it will be executions of the people.

[–] daychilde@lemmy.world 22 points 1 day ago (1 children)

We are so far removed from that prospect that it almost depresses me, because that's what we need to do to the oligarchs.

[–] GreenBeard@lemmy.ca 15 points 1 day ago (2 children)

Such things only occur when it's an act of desperation. Reasonable people don't rebel. People who've been pushed beyond the point of reason rebel.

[–] Lushed_Lungfish@lemmy.ca 4 points 12 hours ago

Unfortunately, reason has never found a stable home in America.

[–] daychilde@lemmy.world 8 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Exactly. And while they keep pushing us farther and farther, we are still far too comfortable.

[–] vaultdweller013@sh.itjust.works 8 points 14 hours ago

A population is three meals away from revolution and with the current straining of supply lines due to diesel prices that threat is quite a bit close than most would assume.

[–] Mulligrubs@lemmy.world 28 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (3 children)

When will they will figure out bOtH pArTiEs are "The Establishment"? Don't hold your breath!

I vote, and you should, too. They are not the same. One party is "pro-LGBT" and the other is "pro-church" and they are bOtH pro-corporate, pro-billionaire, pro-war, anti-union and so on.

The differences are the bait. The commonalities are the establishment.

[–] Natanael@infosec.pub 2 points 7 hours ago

No, THIS is the people you need to be fighting

https://san.com/cc/why-super-pacs-with-gop-ties-are-donating-to-democratic-candidates/

The super PAC Lead Left has donated more than $1 million to at least three Democratic congressional primaries, according to The New York Times, which reported that the donations were an attempt by Republicans to keep control of the House of Representatives

“They’re going into Democratic primaries and literally trying to boost the most extreme candidates and oppose the Blue Dog-endorsed candidates that, if they win, are going to beat the Republicans in the general,” Gray told The Times.

[–] femtek@lemmy.blahaj.zone 32 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Not everyone, that's why establishment Democrats are fighting progressives in their own party harder than they are fighting Republicans. We need to vote in the progressives to actually represent us.

[–] hoppeduponcoffee@lemmy.zip 5 points 12 hours ago* (last edited 12 hours ago)

We need to stop even labeling them “progressive” or leftists, as is that is some kind of aberration from the norm. It needs to be the default. The establishment and the fascists are the weirdos who perpetuate evil in the name of money and private property.

“Leftists” just sane, moral folks who want their elected officials to serve the people, for capital to be subordinated to the will of the workers. For the workers to be the ruling class.

[–] daychilde@lemmy.world 14 points 1 day ago (5 children)

"bOtH sIdEs" is only true for establishment Dems, and if you pay attention, progressives are gaining in power and prominence. DSA is not the only source, but it's becoming a lightning rod.

Show me ANY good Republicans. I'll wait.

The only hope for us is to support the actual progressives instead of lumping them in with the establishmen Democrats, because doing the latter is EXACTLY what the fascists want.

So it's like you're mostly right but critically wrong when you write off both parties. And yes, voting is critical, but what is even MOR critical is supporting progressive candidates before the primaries and into the primaries and THEN in the general. Always vote, and when you vote, always take the better - or less shitty - option. That's where "vote blue no longer who" comes into play - in the general election, an establishment Dem is still less shitty than a fascist Republican.

[–] Maeve@kbin.earth 0 points 5 hours ago

Do they still want to genocide people and prop up genocidal states? Then they ain't good.

[–] kestrel7_7@lemmy.world 1 points 11 hours ago (1 children)

an establishment Dem is still less shitty than a fascist Republican.

I would have agreed with you before Biden neglected to properly go after Trump for J6 for reasons I still don’t understand. The establishment Dems don’t take the threat of fascist Republicans seriously, and still want to compromise with them.

[–] adjectivenoun@lemmy.world 5 points 8 hours ago

The president isn't supposed to go after anyone. His DOJ is supposed to enforce the law, and they had indicted thousands of J6ers in what seemed to be the lead-up to The Big One, where charges are brought against the ringleaders. You can say they did this too slowly, but it was literally the biggest case the FBI had ever prosecuted. Spare us this both sides crap.

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[–] anon_8675309@lemmy.world 21 points 1 day ago

I like this Leeland person.

[–] LillyPip@lemmy.ca 17 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

Yeah, realising your entire lineage’s lifelong earnings for generations amounts to sofa change to megalomaniacs who are also making sure your grandchildren will suffer even more than you are now is bound to make one testy.

e: all the while children are dying by genocide. The wrong people are being listened to.

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