The American political establishment isn’t panicking because the DSA [Democratic Socialists of America] has conquered the country. It hasn’t. They’re panicking because socialists have started proving that corporate money, incumbency and the blessing of professional political parasites do not make anyone invincible.
Zohran Mamdani won New York City. Chris Rabb won in Philadelphia. Claire Valdez won in New York. Donavan McKinney knocked a sitting congressman out of office in Detroit. Across the country, DSA candidates are beating people the party establishment had already selected for power.
Then Abdul El-Sayed [left] defeated the establishment’s chosen candidate for Michigan’s Senate nomination despite being massively outspent.
El-Sayed isn’t a DSA member, but he ran on the same material politics: Medicare for All, free childcare, taxing billionaires and rejecting corporate control. This wasn’t some tiny socialist enclave hidden behind a Brooklyn coffee shop. It was a statewide primary in Michigan.
The right immediately began screeching about “Islamo-communism,” because apparently universal healthcare plus a Muslim candidate equals the Bolshevik caliphate now. Marx is coming for your riding mower and he brought hummus. These people have one terrified little Mad Lib and they just keep changing the nouns.
The Democratic establishment has spent decades telling working people that affordable housing, universal healthcare and taxing billionaires are wonderful ideas that must never actually happen. There’s always some consultant, donor or procedural excuse standing between the public and the policies the public wants.
Then socialists show up with volunteers, knock on thousands of doors and beat candidates with enormous campaign accounts and endorsements from every professional ass warmer in Washington. Suddenly, the machine looks less like an unstoppable force and more like three lobbyists stacked inside a trench coat.
The ruling class understands something it desperately hopes working people never learn: political power comes from organization. Wealth dominates because wealth is organized. Corporations dominate because capital is organized. Workers remain weak when they are isolated, exhausted and convinced nothing can change.
That is the DSA’s real threat. Not one candidate, but the possibility that working people might organize around their shared material interests instead of letting billionaires divide them over bathrooms, immigrants and whatever beer can made conservatives piss their pants this week.
Democrats fear losing control of their primaries. Republicans fear losing socialism as their favorite boogeyman. The donor class fears both.
Different panic. Same underlying terror.
The political establishment just discovered it can bleed.
– Montana Department of Propaganda
via Facebook
August 6, 2026
via Facebook
August 6, 2026
Related Off-site Links:
Abdul El-Sayed Wins Michigan Senate Primary in Defining Race for Democrats – Rachel Leingang and Joseph Gedeon (The Guardian, August 5, 2026).
Michigan Primary Shows Continued Shift to the Left in U.S. – Patrick Martin (World Socialist Web Site, August 6, 2026).
The Real Meaning of Abdul El-Sayed’s Victory in Michigan – Robert Reich (The Guardian, August 6, 2026).
After Abdul El-Sayed’s Win in Michigan, Progressives Are Preparing for the Next Round Against AIPAC – Jake Johnson (In These Times, August 6, 2026).
Corporate-Funded Third Way Plans to Spend $15 Million Waging “War” on Progressives – Brad Reed (Common Dreams, August 6, 2026).
Israel Lobby Takes a Beating in Key U.S. Senate Race – Novara Media (August 5, 2026).
Outspent 9-1: Abdul El-Sayed Wins in Michigan – David Doel (The Rationale National, August 5, 2026).
Insurgent Candidate Victories Highlight Growing Movement Against Corporate and Elite Power: An Interview with John Nichols – Democracy Now! (August 5, 2025).
The Meaning of El-Sayed’s Victory – Nathan J. Robinson (Current Affairs, August 5, 2026).
Yes, the Left Won Big Last Night – Branko Marcetic (Jacobin, August 5, 2026).
Breakdown of the Biggest Wins and Losses for Socialist Candidates (So Far) – Mike Figueredo (The Humanist Report, August 5, 2026).
Abdul El-Sayed Could Be the First Muslim Senator. Here Are 5 Religion Takeaways from His Campaign – Ulaa Kuziez and Yonat Shimron (Religion News Service, August 5, 2026).
Centrists Are Not More “Electable” – Nathan J. Robinson (Current Affairs, August 3, 2026).
UPDATES: “Voters Are Fed Up”: Michigan Primary Forces Democratic Party to Accept Leftwing Shift – David Smith (The Guardian, August 9, 2026).
Abdul El-Sayed Embraces Trump Claim He Represents “Very Different” America – Eric Berger (The Guardian, August 9, 2026).
Francesca Hong, the Progressive Leading a “Messy” Race for Wisconsin’s Governor: “They’re Tired of the Status Quo” – Rachel Leingang (The Guardian, August 10, 2026).
“It’s Not Radical to Believe You Should Have Healthcare”: El-Sayed Hits Back at Trump, GOP Attacks – Jake Johnson (Common Dreams, August 10, 2026).
Centrist Democrats Dismiss Abdul El-Sayed as a Freak Radical. Do They Want to Win in 2028 or Not? – Nesrine Malik (The Guardian, August 10, 2026).
The Dangerous Corporate-Funded Morons of Third Way – Robert Reich (Common Dreams, August 10, 2026).
See also the previous Wild Reed posts:
• “Tonight Michigan Decides”
• Abdul El-Sayed: The Disruptor Michigan (and the Country) Needs
• “Our Country Right Now Is At a Crossroads”
• Jeff Waldorf: Quote of the Day – July 3, 2026
• Matthew Cooke on the Fallacy That Socialism “Doesn't Work”
• Jeff Cohen on How Obama’s “Corporate Liberalism” Led to the Rise of Trump
• A Deeper Perspective on What’s Really Attacking American Democracy
• Marianne Williamson: Quote of the Day – July 26, 2025
• Democrat Talk on the Eve of Trump’s Return
• And So Here We Are
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