The Wild Reed: Signs and Wonders

Showing posts with label Signs and Wonders. Show all posts

Monday, August 03, 2026

Abdul El-Sayed: The Disruptor Michigan (and the Country) Needs

I’m going to write something here that we all know is true but few are willing to just say out loud: There is a non-zero chance that the national Democratic Party, its donors and its media will decide to abandon/sabotage populist anti-establishment Democratic nominees in the upcoming general election.

Many in this corporate faction would rather such nominees lose – even if that means Democrats losing the Senate and governorships – than see these candidates win.

Why? Because if these candidates win, they threaten to change the Democratic Party and make the corporate faction irrelevant.

– David Sirota
via social media
August 2, 2026

The outcome of Michigan’s Senate race will have major implications for the balance of power in Washington, DC, and for the future of the Democratic Party. With primaries taking place tomorrow, August 4, many are paying close attention to the contest between progressive candidate Dr. Abdul El-Sayed and establishment candidate (and AIPAC darling) Haley Stephens to see who will represent Democrats in November’s general election.

The Michagan race is at the heart of what’s being described as a “civil war” within the Democratic Party. Here’s how Astead Herndon of Vox outlines this longstanding intra-party conflict and explains why Abdul El-Sayed is the current central figure in it.

I’m supporting Abdul, as he’s the type of “threatening” politician we need. He threatens the corporate capture of our politics, and of the Democratic Party in particular. It’s a capture that has had a corrosive, corrupting influence on our politics for the past 40+ years.

Former Democratic presidential candidate Marianne Williamson once said we need to “disrupt the corrupt” in order to return the U.S. to the democratic and humanitarian ideals of its founding.

I agree 100%; which is why I supported Williamson’s 2020 and 2024 presidential campaigns, and why I’m currently supporting non-establishment Democrats Abdul El-Sayed in Michigan, Cori Bush in Missouri, Elijah Manley in Florida, and Francesca Hong in Wisconsin. In addition, I’m also supporting independent socialist Kshama Sawant in Washington state as well as a number of Green Party candidates around the country, including Justin Flip in Oregon, Tony Dastra in Pennsylvania, Anthony Aguiler in North Carolina, Griselda Romero in Illinois, Andy Ellis in Maryland, Greg Stoker in Texas, and Steve Young, Jane Kirby, Seth Kuhl-Stennes, and Ngone Niang right here in Minnesota.

In introducing the following interview with Abdul El-Sayed on its YouTube page, The Lever notes the following.

Why have Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and Sens. Chuck Schumer and Gary Peters endorsed Haley Stevens in Michigan’s Democratic Senate primary?

At a rally in Grand Rapids, The Lever’s David Sirota put that question to progressive Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed. El-Sayed argues that party leaders aren’t worried he’s unelectable – they’re worried he’ll win and challenge a political system fueled by corporate money.

El-Sayed says AIPAC, Big Tech, Big Pharma, DTE, Blue Cross Blue Shield, and other powerful interests have helped drive nearly $70 million in spending against him.

“I’m not going there to make friends,” El-Sayed told Sirota. “I’m going there to get stuff done.”

8/5/2026 UPDATE

Abdul El-Sayed Wins Michigan Senate Primary in
Major Victory for Democrats’ Progressive Wing
– Associated Press
August 5, 2026

Related Off-site Links:
El-Sayed and Stevens Close Michigan Senate Primary Is Offering Different Visions for Democrats – Joey Cappelletti and Jacqueline Ganun (AP News, August 3, 2026).
Contentious Michigan Senate Primary Divides Democrats Over Direction of Party – Lisa Desjardins and Sam Weber (PBS Newshour, August 3, 2026)
Centrists Are Not More “Electable” – Nathan J. Robinson (Current Affairs, August 3, 2026).
Two Big Races: Leaked GOP Memo Admits Leftwing Candidates Frighten Them – David Doel (The Rationale National, August 3, 2026).
Abdul El-Sayed vs AIPAC: Michigan’s Real Primary – Al Jazeera (August 2, 2026).
Democratic Establishment Intensifies Attacks on El-Sayed as New Poll Shows Him Leading by Double Digits – Julia Conley (Common Dreams, July 30, 2026)
Why Is AIPAC Spending $30 million on the Michigan Senate Primary? – Michael Arria (Mondoweiss, July 30, 2026).
Sen. Ed Markey Backs “Bold Progressive Leader” El-Sayed as Pivotal Michigan Primary Nears – Stephen Prager (Common Dreams, July 29, 2026).
Why Billionaires Fear This Candidate the Most – More Perfect Union (July 29, 2026).
Can Abdul El-Sayed Reshape the Democratic Party? – The Real News Network (July 28, 2026).
Democrats Need Michigan. They Can Win with Abdul El-Sayed – Sara Pequeño (USA Today, July 28, 2026).
El-Sayed and Stevens Clash Over AIPAC Funding in Final Debate Before Michigan Senate Primary – Democracy Now! (July 28, 2026).
$60 Million “Crutch” From Super PACs Is Proof That Stevens Isn’t Actually “Electable,” Says El-Sayed – Stephen Prager (Common Dreams, July 28, 2026).
We’re the Ones We’ve Been Waiting For – Jill Stein (Green Party Videos, July 27, 2026).
Establishment Democrats Threaten to Abandon Abdul El-Sayed in General Election – Status Coup News (July 24, 2026).
“Underhanded” Stevens Sends Out Fake El-Sayed Press Release Claiming He’s Endorsed by Their GOP Opponent – Stephen Prager (Common Dreams, July 23, 2026)
“The Fighter Michigan Needs”: Sen. Elizabeth Warren Endorses El-Sayed as AIPAC Spends $30 Million Against Him – Stephen Prager (Common Dreams, July 20, 2026)
Rallying in Michigan, Sen. Bernie Sanders Says Primary Race Is Between Abdul El-Sayed “and the Billionaire Class” – Julia Conley (Common Dreams, July 19, 2026)
Progressive Abdul El-Sayed Faces Centrist Haley Stevens as Challenger Exits Michigan Senate Race – Democracy Now! (July 7, 2026).
Political Fault Line Over Israel Comes Into Full View During Michigan Democrats’ Convention – Andrew Roth (Michigan Advance, April 20, 2026)>
Socialist Kshama Sawant Says AOC’s and Progressives’ Strategy Isn’t Working – Jason Lemon (Newsweek, August 3, 2026).

UPDATES: What to Watch in the August 4 Primaries: Michigan Senate Race Tests Democrats’ Path Forward – Mike Catalini and Nicholas Riccardi (AP News, August 4, 2026).
Dr. Abdul El-Sayed Faces Off Against Haley Stevens in Michigan’s Democratic Senate Primary – Democracy Now! (August 4, 2026).
Michigan Democrats Pick Between Moderate and Progressive in High-Profile Senate Primary – Joey Cappelletti (AP News, August 4, 2026).
AIPAC’s 2026 Spending Tops $100 Million – Including $30 Million Against El-Sayed in Michigan – Jake Johnson (Common Dreams, August 4, 2026).
Michigan Democratic Senate Primary Is the Latest Test Between Progressives and the Establishment – Curtis Yee (AP News, August 4, 2026).
Progressives Aim to Defeat Both AIPAC Cash and Democratic Establishment in Michigan and Missouri Primaries – Julia Conley (Common Dreams, August 4, 2026).

See also the previous Wild Reed posts:

THE STATE OF THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY
• “Our Country Right Now Is At a Crossroads”
• Scotty T. Reid on James Clyburn as a “Defender of the Political Establishment and Its Policies of Oppression”
• Jeff Waldorf: Quote of the Day – July 3, 2026
• Mike Figueredo on the “Political Malpractice” of the Democratic Party
• The Time for Illusions Is Over: Henry Giroux on the Democratic Party
• David Norton: “The Democratic Party Serves Capital, Not You”
• Mike Figueredo: “Elected Democrats Have No Real Interest in Doing What the Base Wants”
• Ted Rall: Democrats Are Not “the Left”
• Exposing the Dark Money Network Secretly Funding Establishment Democratic Influencers
• Why the Democratic Party Is Not Going to Save Us From Fascism
• Howie Hawkins: “The Democrats Are Not the Answer to the Trump/Fascism Problem”
• The Longstanding Fault Lines Within the Democratic Party Have Surfaced Again in Minnesota
• Jeff Cohen on How Obama’s “Corporate Liberalism” Led to the Rise of Trump
• Progressive Perspectives on Bernie Sanders’ “Fighting Oligarchy” Tour
• Eric Fernández: Quote of the Day – May 14, 2025
• Marianne Williamson: Quote of the Day – July 26, 2025
• Democrat Talk on the Eve of Trump’s Return
• When Democrats Undermine Democracy
• A Deeper Perspective on What’s Really Attacking American Democracy
• “We Must Challenge the Entire System”
• Marianne Williamson: “‘Vote Blue No Matter Who’ Is Not Enough to Win”
• Nick Cruse: “‘Vote Blue No Matter Who’ Is the Privileged Position”
• Oliver Kornetzke’s Epic Takedown of the Liberal Tactic of Blaming and Shaming Leftists
• Damned If You Do, Damned If You Don’t

THE GREEN PARTY
• Campaigning With the Green Party
• With the Green Party at Twin Cities Pride
• Butch Ware on Why Third Parties Are Crucial
• Meet Some of the “People-Powered” Green Party Candidates for 2026
• “Green Wave 2026 is Global”
• “It Is Our Responsibility to Make a Third Party Viable”
• Something to Think About – December 8, 2024
• The Green Party’s Jill Stein and Butch Ware Give Their First Post-Election Interview
• “We Give Reasons for People to Come Out and Vote”
• We’re Witnessing a Liberal Meltdown Over Jill Stein
• The “Green Smoothie” Option
• Green Party Vice Presidential Candidate Butch Ware in Minneapolis
• Butch Ware: “I’m Not Here as a Spoiler”
• Jill Stein: “Americans Deserve Choices”
• Elise Labott on How Third Parties Can Revitalize Democracy
• Third Parties and the Historical Record
• Something to Think About – August 15, 2024
• Howie Hawkins: “The Democrats Are Not the Answer to the Trump/Fascism Problem”
• Demolishing the False Narrative About Jill Stein and the 2016 Election
• Cornel West: “The Next Step Is a Green Step, a Progressive Step”
• Bernie Sanders and Jill Stein: Is a “Historic Collaboration” in the Making? (2016)
• Voting Green: Hope Over Fear

Opening image: Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Michigan Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed, and Sen. Bernie Sanders at a campaign rally on July 18, 2026, in Detroit. (Photo: AP Photo/Jose Juarez)

Sunday, November 16, 2025

Butch Ware on “Red & Blue vs Green Politics”

Following is a great 10-minute interview with Butch Ware, Green Party candidate for California Governor.

In this interview, Butch explains his political ideology and Green Party candidacy for California Governor to replace Gavin Newsom. He also discusses Bernie Sanders’ “sheep-dogging” of voters, populism, and duopoly politics, including the corporate capture of the two-party system.

The interview above is from September. More recently, Butch shared the following on social media about the Democratic Party’s capitulation to Republicans in the government shutdown fight.

The Dems are losing on purpose.

They could win their "fight" with the Repubs but what it takes to do so would cost them their multi-trillion $ corporate donor base.

They would rather LOSE, watch you suffer, and KEEP their POWER, than WIN and give it to you.

Hope this helps.

Tuesday, November 11, 2025

“The Answer, Actually, Is Hope”

Writes Riann Phillip in British Vogue:

The last few years have felt like end times. . . . [A]voidance is not the answer. Sorry to be cringe, but it seems the answer, actually, is hope. And right now it is most prominently represented by two politicians whose profiles we’ve seen go stratospheric. Here [in the U.K.], in Zack Polanski – the gay, Jewish, northern leader of the Green Party – and there [in the U.S.], in Zohran Mamdani – the young Muslim mayor elect of New York City. Both outspoken socialists, unafraid to shake things up or to actually get involved in the communities they purport to represent.

What won me over with Mamdani, aside from his no-brainer manifesto (affordable housing, free public buses, rent freezes, universal childcare for children under five), is how his campaign actually embraced people, rather than treating them as merely a bunch of demographics to placate. He spoke to young people the way we actually talk to one another. He went on podcasts, made memes, turned up at club nights (I’m still obsessed with him appearing at the club two nights before the election), and generally met people where they were instead of expecting them to come to him. He made the act of politics – and voting – feel exciting, accessible, unmissable. Bear in mind, I spent the night of New York’s mayoral election waiting with bated breath for the results, and I live in Hackney.

Now, with Andrew Cuomo defeated and Trump rattled, Mamdani is set to assume real power in the biggest city in the US. To me, the 34-year-old’s win feels like a fresh chapter: proof that there is an alternative to a status quo that increasingly only works for the few. It can be challenged – more than that, it can be toppled.

On this side of the pond, Zack Polanski is ruffling feathers with a smile, too. He took over from Carla Denyer as leader of the Greens only two months ago, and membership has already skyrocketed, surpassing 100,000 for the first time. This groundswell of support from voters desperate for an alternative to the main parties that is not Reform, means that what was once viewed as a well-meaning but inconsequential party of moral conscience and green fingers now has to be taken seriously. Hearing Polanksi’s voice cut through a news cycle that has come to be defined by division and hatred warms my heart.

– Riann Phillip
Excerpted from “A Disillusioned Gen-Z Asks:
Is Hope Back?”
British Vogue
November 6, 2025

Related Off-site Links:
Mamdani’s Win Proves That Hope Is Power – Frances Moore Lappé and Corinna Rhum (Common Dreams, November 8, 2025.)
The Right Can Mock My Teeth All It Wants – It Shows the Greens Have Struck a Nerve – Zack Polanski (The Guardian, November 10, 2025).
Mamdani and Polanski: Can a New Left Undo Trump’s Climate Reversal? – Channel 4 News (November 6, 2025).
Zack Polanski Humiliates Andrew Marr Live on Air – Antony Jones (via YouTube, November 6, 2025).
We Need to Make Hope Normal Again": Zack Polanski on How a Zohran Mamdani Win Will Send Shockwaves Around the World – Bold Politics (October 31, 2025).
The British Mamdani? Meet Political Star Zack Polanski – Mehdi Hasan (Zeteo (October 23, 2025).
Zack Polanski and the Reform Party’s Zia Yusuf Go Head-to-Head on Question Time – Novara Media (October 10, 2025).
Just Zack Polanski Being a Legend – PoliticsJOE (September 3, 2025).
Zack Polanski Interview – The News Agents (July 19, 2025).

See also the previous Wild Reed posts:
• Progressive Perspectives on Zohran Mamdani’s Win in New York City
• “Hopeful and Grounded”: Omar Fateh’s Vision of Democratic Socialism
• Active Hope
• Why “Revolutionary Love” Gives Michelle Alexander Hope
• The Choice Before Us
• Hope and Courage – Christmas 2024
• Something We Dare Call Hope
• “I Came Alive With Hope”
• Resilience and Hope

Monday, July 21, 2025

In His Efforts to “Build a City That Works for All,” Omar Fateh Secures a Key Endorsement

This past Saturday I volunteered with the Omar Fateh for Mayor campaign at the Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party (DFL) endorsing convention in downtown Minneapolis. (NOTE: The DFL is affiliated with the national Democratic Party and is one of two state Democratic Party affiliates with a different name from that of the national party, the other being the neighboring North Dakota Democratic–Nonpartisan League Party.)

I’m happy to report that Omar, a 35-year-old Minnesota State Senator, won the DFL’s endorsement for mayor of Minneapolis. Indeed, without any major organizational backing, he defeated the two-term incumbent Jacob Frey, who has the backing of Senator Amy Klobuchar, Governor Tim Walz, former Minneapolis Mayor Sharon Sayles Belton, and a number of other DFL party officials.

Over the last couple of days I’ve received a number of extremely negative responses to some positive comments I’ve made online about Omar’s recent endorsements (above) for Minneapolis mayor, including most recently the apple cart upsetting DFL endorsement.

Of course, these comments are nothing compared to the sickeningly racist (and at times threatening) comments that are being hurled at Omar. For more about this “racist and factless meltdown” by the right over Omar and his candidacy, see this previous Wild Reed post.

But I want to keep things positive this evening, and so share the following sampling of media coverage of Omar Fateh’s endorsement by the DFL. This coverage is accompanied by some of the photos I took at the July 19 DFL endorsement convention in downtown Minneapolis.

Omar Fateh won the Minneapolis DFL endorsement for city mayor over incumbent Jacob Frey at a convention at Target Center on Saturday.

The 35-year-old, who has been the senator for Senate District 62 – covering south Minneapolis – since his election in 2020, received more than 60% of the vote from delegates late Saturday evening, despite complaints from the Frey campaign about convention procedure and attempts to deny the party a quorum.

Fateh, a democratic socialist, is running on a platform including rent stabilization, boosting affordable housing, introducing a local income tax for the wealthy, and adopting a “compassionate approach” to homeless encampments.

“I am incredibly honored to be the DFL endorsed candidate for Minneapolis Mayor,” Fateh said following the announcement. “This endorsement is a message that Minneapolis residents are done with broken promises, vetoes, and politics as usual. It’s a mandate to build a city that works for all of us, [one based on] our vision for a Minneapolis where housing is a human right, public safety means sending the right responders, and city government stands for working people, not corporate donors.”

. . . The first round of voting saw Fateh get the support of around 43% of convention delegates, with Frey getting 31%, sending them both through to the second round of voting.

Rev. DeWayne Davis fell just short of getting the 20% of delegates needed to advance, while Jazz Hampton gained 4% and Brenda Short 0.35%.

None of the other candidates have indicated they would drop out in the event they didn't get the endorsement, but Fateh and Frey are expected to be the leading names in the mayoral race this November, which will pit the progressive branch of the DFL against the moderates.

– Adam Uren
Excerpted from Minneapolis DFL Endorses Omar Fateh
for City Mayor Over Jacob Frey
Bring Me the News
July 20, 2025

Minnesota state Senator Omar Fateh has won the endorsement of the Minneapolis Democratic Party for the city’s upcoming mayoral election, becoming the latest progressive candidate to gain traction within the party.

Fateh has drawn comparisons to New York Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani, a democratic socialist who won the party’s nomination for New York City mayor last month.

Fateh’s campaign shared a statement with Newsweek via email on his behalf: “I am excited to further grow our coalition of Democratic voters who share a vision for a Minneapolis where housing is a human right, public safety means sending the right responders, and city government stands for working people, not corporate donors.”

Fateh has become the latest candidate to the left of the Democratic Party’s mainstream to rise within the party’s ranks, which could be seen as a growing willingness among Democrats to support more progressive viewpoints. . . . Fateh, a self-described democratic socialist and the son of Somali immigrants, is running on a platform that includes introducing rent stabilization, raising the minimum wage and combating police violence. Fateh’s platform is considered left of the party’s mainstream, similarly to Mamdani’s. The latter won the New York mayoral primary in a decisive win over former Governor Andrew Cuomo.

– Alia Shoaib
Excerpted from Minneapolis Democrats
Follow Mamdani Trend With Left-Wing Pick
Newsweek
July 21, 2025

A Democratic socialist member of the Minnesota state senate won his party’s endorsement for the Minneapolis mayoral race over the incumbent, giving momentum to the progressive left’s political rise.

Omar Fateh, a state senator from Minneapolis’s southside, beat Minneapolis mayor Jacob Frey, who served as mayor during the George Floyd protests and through the pandemic. Fateh gained momentum after Zohran Mamdani, also a democratic socialist and state lawmaker, won the primary for New York City mayor.

Fateh was first elected to the state senate in 2020 and won re-election in 2022. He was the first Somali American and Muslim elected to the chamber. He chaired the higher education committee and advanced a plan for free college for families who make less than $80,000.

. . . Like Mamdani, Fateh focused on affordability and has emphasized that he is a renter throughout his campaign – topics he has been committed to as state senator as well. There are some Minnesota twists: “We’ll shovel sidewalks, build shelters, and finally reopen public spaces,” he wrote on X about his platform. “I’m here to fight for the people this city’s left behind.”

Fateh has been attacked with racist and Islamophobic comments by rightwing commentators in recent weeks. Charlie Kirk, the leader of Turning Point USA, claimed there has been an “Islamic takeover” in the country and shared Fateh’s [campaign] video, saying people need to “commit to stopping all third world immigration.”

Fateh was born in Washington DC.

– Rachel Leingang
Excerpted from Minneapolis Democrats Endorse
Democratic Socialist for Mayor Over Incumbent
The Guardian
July 21, 2025

The Minneapolis DFL on Saturday endorsed state Sen. Omar Fateh to be the next mayor of the state’s largest city.

In a post on X, Fateh says he is incredibly honored to be the candidate endorsed for Minneapolis mayor.

“This endorsement is a message that Minneapolis residents are done with broken promises, vetoes, and politics as usual. It’s a mandate to build a city that works for all of us,” he said. Fateh is currently running as a Democratic Socialist.

Current Mayor Jacob Frey’s campaign manager released a statement following the vote, saying, “This election should be decided by the entire city rather than the small group of people who became delegates.”

The Frey campaign on Monday submitted a challenge to the state DFL. The campaign in a news release said there was an “extraordinarily high” number of uncounted votes produced by the “highly flawed and untested” electronic voting system used at the convention. Frey is asking for the endorsement to be invalidated.

Fateh has represented the South Minneapolis area where George Floyd was killed since 2021. He’s championed the cause of UBER drivers, and has backed an additional tax for affordable housing, rent stabilization and a $20 minimum wage. In 2021, he supported a losing charter amendment that critics say would have defunded the police.

The state senator has had brushes with controversy. Like other political figures, Fateh had to return $11,000 of contributions with links to Feeding Our Future. In 2022, a Senate ethics committee complaint against him was upheld, and a second complaint was dismissed.

Fateh has pulled off a major upset before. In August 2020, he shocked the Minnesota political world when he defeated former Sen. Jeff Hayden in the DFL primary.

– Esme Murphy and Jason Rantala
Excerpted from Minneapolis DFL Backs
State Sen. Omar Fateh for Mayor
CBS News
July 21, 2025

Omar Fateh has won the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party nomination for Mayor of Minneapolis under a socialist platform. This victory follows his fellow socialist’s, Zohran Mamdani, stunning win in New York City, signaling a change in the political landscape among Democratic strongholds in large metropolitan U.S. cities. While Fateh and Mamdani have differing objectives and goals for their uniquely different cities, one thing that they do have in common is their aim to raise tax revenues to pay for their agenda and these tax raises primarily deriving from high-earning tax payers via a progressive local option income tax.

– Nathan Goldman
Excerpted from Three Key Ways Omar Fateh’s
Proposed Tax Hikes Might Impact Minneapolitans
Forbes
July 21, 2025

8/3/25 UPDATE: Earlier today Sen. Omar Fateh was interviewed by Sam Seder of The Majority Report. Following is the full 21-minute interview.

Related Off-site Links:
Minnesota Democrats Endorse Socialist Omar Fateh for Mayor Over Incumbent Democrat Jacob Frey – AllSides (July 21, 2025).
Who Is Omar Fateh? Mamdani of Minneapolis Faces MAGA Abuse – Kate Plummer (Newsweek, July 15, 2025).
CAIR-Minnesota Condemns Anti-Muslim, Racist Hate Targeting Sen. Omar Fateh Amid Rising Political Violence – CAIR-Minnesota (July 15, 2025).
Minneapolis Gets Its Own Mamdani – Kayla Bartsch (National Review, July 15, 2025).
Minneapolis Mayoral Candidate Omar Fateh Faces Racist Trolling: “Go to Mogadishu” – Times of India (July 14, 2025).
Omar Fateh Will Work Across the Aisle If Elected Mayor – Melody Hoffmann (Southwest Voices, April 2, 2025).

UPDATES: Sitting Down with Minneapolis Mayoral Candidate Omar Fateh – KARE 11 News (August 7, 2025).
Minnesota Democrats Stab Omar Fateh in the Back – Concernicus (August 27, 2025).
People “Are Tired of Backroom Decisions”: A Conversation With Minneapolis’s Omar Fateh – Peter Lucas (The Nation, September 5, 2025).
Omar Fateh Has All the Right Enemies – Alex Skopic (Current Affairs, September 5, 2025).

See also the previous Wild Reed posts:
• A “Racist and Factless Meltdown” Over Omar Fateh
• Omar | Jazz | DeWayne
• The Rational National’s Take on Zohran Mamdani
• A Timely and Important Conversation
• Dorothy Lennon: Quote of the Day – June 26, 2025
• What It Means to Be a Leftist in 2025
• Ted Rall: Democrats Are Not “the Left”
• My Summer of Supporting Progressive Down-Ballot Candidates
• Building Solidarity on the Left
• “No Kings”? Absolutely. But Also “No Oligarchy”
• Norman Solomon: Quote of the Day – June 16, 2025
• Peter Bloom: Quote of the Day – June 10, 2025
• Breaking the Mold: Why Progressives Should Push for Marianne Williamson to Lead the DNC

Convention images: Michael J. Bayly.

Wednesday, July 16, 2025

The Choice Before Us

The following is credited online as the words of a contemporary Hopi leader named White Eagle. The international press agency Pressenza, however, investigated the origins of this text and concluded that its author “remains unknown.” Furthermore, the agency stated that “we now assume that the text is neither based on authentic Hopi traditions nor represents the statements of a Hopi representative.” That all being said, I find it to be a very inspiring and hope-filled text. Perhaps you will too.

This moment that humanity is experiencing now can be considered a door or a hole. The decision to fall into the hole or walk through the door belongs to you.

If you consume the news 24/7 – with negative energy, constantly nervous, and with pessimism – you will fall into the hole. But if you take this opportunity to look at yourself, to rethink life and death, and to take care of yourself and others, then you will go through the portal.

Take care of your home, take care of your body. Connect with your spiritual home. When you take care of yourself in these ways, you take care of everyone at the same time. Do not underestimate the spiritual dimension of this crisis. Take perspective of an eagle who sees everything from above with a wider view.

There is a social demand in this crisis, but also a spiritual demand. Both go hand in hand. Without the social dimension, we fall into fanaticism. Without the spiritual dimension, we fall into pessimism and futility.

You are ready to go through this crisis. Grab your toolbox and use all the tools available.

Learn the resistance of the example of Indian and African peoples: we have been and are still being exterminated. But we never stopped singing, dancing, lighting a fire and having joy.

Don’t feel guilty for feeling lucky during these difficult times. Being sad or angry does not help at all. Resistance is resistance through joy! You have every right to be strong and positive. And there’s no other way to do this but to maintain a beautiful, joyful and bright posture.

This has nothing to do with alienation (ignorance of the world). This is a resistance strategy.

When we walk through the door, we have a new world view because we faced our fears and hardships.

That’s all you can do now:

• Serenity in the storm

• Keep calm, pray daily

• Make the habit of meeting the sacred everyday.

• Show resistance through art, joy, trust and love.

Friday, June 27, 2025

A Timely and Important Conversation

Kshama Sawant is an Indian-American politician and economist who in 2014 as a Socialist Alternative candidate toppled a sixteen year incumbent who was backed by a powerful Democratic Party establishment. As a result of this and future electoral victories, Sawant served on the Seattle City Council from 2014 to 2024 as an out-and-proud socialist. During her tenure she reshaped Seattle’s political culture around demands for economic and social justice, reviving national debate around municipal socialism in the process.

I find Sawant inspiring not only for these achievements (and her work in unionizing workers through Workers Strike Back, the Socialist Alternative campaign that she founded in 2023) but also for the way she knows and shares the history of the ongoing struggle for workers’ rights and social justice in the United States. She keeps it real, in other words. And I find that refreshing and hopeful. Currently, Sawant is a candidate for Washington 9th congressional district, running against incumbent Democrat Adam Smith.

Earlier today Sawant was a guest on the Due Dissidence podcast where she shared her thoughts on Zohran Mamdani’s recent victory in the Democratic primary for New York City mayor. Mamdani identifies as a democratic socialist but, unlike Sawant, works within the Democratic Party, not outside of it.

Related Off-site Links:
Zohran Mamdani Delivers Stunning Blow to “Billionaire-Backed Status Quo” in New York City – Jake Johnson (Common Dreams, June 25, 2025).
“We Fight for Working People with No Apology”: Zohran Mamdani Beats Cuomo in New York City Mayoral Primary – Democracy Now! (June 25, 2025).
Zohran Mamdani’s Win Triggers Colossal Meltdowns from Right-Wingers and Centrists – Mike Figueredo (The Humanist Report, June 25, 2025).
Wall Street Loses It Over Zohran Victory – Breaking Points (June 26, 2025).
Zohran Mamdani’s Primary Win Has Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump Reacting – Hard Lens Media (June 26, 2025).
Zohran Mamdani Is Every Republican’s Worst Nightmare – The Majority Report (June 26, 2025).
“The Economy Is Rigged”: Robert Reich on Zohran Mamdani, the Democratic Party, Inequality, and Trump – Democracy Now! (June 26, 2025).
Instead of Fearing Zohran Mamdani, Mainstream Democrats Should Follow His Lead – Robert Reich (Common Dreams, June 27, 2025).
Watch Epic Takedown of MSNBC’s Zohran Mamdani “Socialist” Propaganda – Jordan Chariton (Status Coup News, June 27, 2025).
Muslim Lawmakers Decry “Vile” Bipartisan Islamophobic Attacks on Zohran Mamdani – Brett Wilkins (Common Dreams, June 27, 2025).
Democratic Senator Gillibrand Goes on Islamophobic Rant Against Mamdani – Sharon Zhang (Truthout, June 27, 2025).
Is Zohran Mamdani “Good for the Left”? – An Interview with Socialist Congressional Candidate Kshama Sawant – Briahna Joy Gray (Bad Faith, June 27, 2025).
The Democrats Actively Expedited Class Dealignment: An Interview with Neal Meyer – Vivek Chibber (Jacobin, May 12, 2025).
How the Oligarchy Keep Us in Chains – Dorothy Lennon (DorothyLennon.substack, May 11, 2025).

UPDATES: Zohran Mamdani Win: Is It the Beginning of the Democrat Party Taking Over the Campaign? – Kit Cabello (Hard Lens Media, June 28, 2025).
What Every Democrat, Everywhere, Should Take from Zohran Mamdani’s Upset – Dan Pfeiffer (Message Box News, June 29, 2025).
A Roadmap to Beat Trump? How the Rise of Zohran Mamdani Is Dividing Democrats
– Lauren Gambino and Alaina Demopoulos (The Guardian, June 29, 2025).
Do Democrats Mean What They Say? Mamdani’s Primary Win Offers a Test – Masood Haque (Common Dreams, June 29, 2025).
Democrats Are Panicking Over Mamdani’s Win – An Interview with David Sirota – Briahna Joy Gray (Bad Faith, June 30, 2025).
Bernie Sanders Puts Democratic Leaders on Blast for Snubbing Zohran Mamdani: “Get Behind Him” – Mike Figueredo (The Humanist Report, July 1, 2025).
Will Zohran Mamdani Empower or Betray the Working Class? – An Interview with Kshama Sawant – The Chris Hedges Report (July 2, 2025).
Should the Left Abandon the Democratic Party? – Current Affairs (July 21, 2025).
The Corporate Democrats Delivered Donald Trump – Norman Solomon (Common Dreams, October 21, 2025).

See also the previous Wild Reed posts:
• “No Kings”? Absolutely. But Also “No Oligarchy”
• Norman Solomon: Quote of the Day – June 16, 2025
• Peter Bloom: Quote of the Day – June 10, 2025
• Ted Rall on What It Means to Be a Leftist in 2025
• Butch Ware on His Run for California Governor and the Wider Goal of Disrupting the Duopoly
• Eric Fernández: Quote of the Day – May 14, 2025
• Progressive Perspectives on Bernie Sanders’ “Fighting Oligarchy” Tour
• Why the Democratic Party Is Not Going to Save Us From Fascism
• An Opportunity for Organizing Against Duopoly
• Building Solidarity on the Left
• “It Is Our Responsibility to Make a Third Party Viable”
• “The Moment Is Ripe”: Butch Ware on Building a “True Oppositional Alternative” to the Duopoly
• Fighting the Rich and Their Two Parties
• Democrat Talk on the Eve of Trump’s Return
• Breaking the Mold: Why Progressives Should Push for Marianne Williamson to Lead the DNC
• Inauguration Day Thoughts
• The Green Party’s Jill Stein and Butch Ware Give Their First Post-Election Interview
• Progressive Perspectives on Where Democrats Went Wrong in the 2024 Election
• “A New Chapter of the Democratic Party Needs to Begin”
• The Lamentable Legacy of the Biden Administration
• Jill Stein: “We Give Reasons for People to Come Out and Vote”
• We’re Witnessing a Liberal Meltdown Over Jill Stein
• Peter Bloom on the Unmasking of the “Democratic Charade”
• When Democrats Undermine Democracy
• Elise Labott on How Third Parties Can Revitalize Democracy
• Something to Think About – August 15, 2024
• Centrist/Corporatist Democrats Have Just Launched “Left Punching” Season
• “Americans Deserve Choices”: Jill Stein on Breaking Points – 4/30/24
• AOC Falls in Line
• The Cassandra of U.S. Politics on the “True State of the Union”
• Mark Harris: Quote of the Day – August 10, 2023
• Will Democrats Never Learn?
• Heather Cox Richardson on the Origin of the American Obsession with “Socialism”
• Bernie Sanders: Quote of the Day – June 12, 2019
• “The Next Step Is a Green Step”: Cornel West Endorses Jill Stein (2016)
• Terry Eagleton: Quote of the Day – March 28, 2011
• Playwright Tony Kushner on Being a Socialist
• A Socialist Response to the Financial Crisis (2008)
• Capitalism on Trial
• R.I.P. Neoclassical Economics
• Hope Over Fear: Voting Green

Saturday, June 14, 2025

“Protesting Is What Patriotism Looks Like in Public”: The “No Kings” Protests of June 14, 2025

Earlier today my friend Kate and I joined approximately 80,000 others in the “No Kings” march and rally in St. Paul, Minnesota. It was one of thousands of similar events held across the country protesting the increasingly fascist rhetoric and actions of Donald Trump’s presidency. In fact, with an estimated 11-million people participatng in the “No Kings” day of nonviolent civil disobedience, it was the largest protest against a president in U.S. history. This number represents almost 3.5% of the population, a figure that political scientists refer to as the “3.5% rule” and one that should give us hope.

For as the BBC reported in 2019:

Erica Chenoweth, a political scientist at Harvard University, confirms that civil disobedience is not only the moral choice; it is also the most powerful way of shaping world politics – by a long way. Looking at hundreds of campaigns over the last century, Chenoweth found that nonviolent campaigns are twice as likely to achieve their goals as violent campaigns. And although the exact dynamics will depend on many factors, she has shown it takes around 3.5% of the population actively participating in the protests to ensure serious political change.

Yet in the midst of this hope there is also today in Minnesota horror and grief as in the early hours of the morning, Minnesota state Rep. Melissa Hortman and her husband Mark were fatally shot at their home in Brooklyn Park by a man impersonating a police officer. Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz has called their deaths “a politically motivated assassination.” Hortman was the top Democrat in the Minnesota House and a former House speaker. Walz said another prominent Democrat, state Sen. John Hoffman, and his wife Yvette were also shot and wounded at their home in Champlin. Officials have named 57-year-old Vance Boelter of Green Isle, Minn., as a suspect in the shootings and are asking for the public’s help in finding him. Boelter remains at large and is considered armed and dangerous.

Because of this, the majority of “No Kings” events were cancelled across Minnesota, not only because Boelter remains at large but bcause flyers for the St. Paul event at the State Capitol were found by police in his car. Despite this, 80,000 people, including Kate and I, chose to attend the St. Paul “No Kings” march and rally. We would not let fear silence us, choosing instead to embody the words of one of the event’s speakers: “Protesting is what patriotism looks like in public.”

Last night I shared with friends on Facebook images of the two-sided sign I made for today’s “No King” event, along with the following:

It’s a big day tomorrow, what with “No Kings” marches and rallies taking place in thousands of locations across the country. I’ll be attending the one in St. Paul, MN, and for the occasion I’ve made a two-sided sign, the message of which seeks to acknowledge and convey a deeper awareness of what’s being protested.

Yes, Donald Trump has clear authoritarian tendencies and is taking actions that are undermining and dismantling the democratic and humanitarian institutions of the U.S. This needs to be highlighted, resisted, and stopped. For the vast majority of people, this will be their message tomorrow. I support this message. Yet at the same time, many of us don’t see Trump himself as the sole or even primary problem; we see him as a symptom – an undeniably extreme and terrible one – of a deeper reality which for decades has undermined and made a mockery of democracy in this country.

I’m referring to the corrupting influence of corporate money, of special profit-obsessed interests. I’m talking about the corporate capture of our political system; the rise and devastating influence of a corporate aristocracy, an oligarchy to which both major parties bow.

Although such subservience benefits these parties’ coffers, it has proven profoundly detrimental to the well-being of their constituents, the environment, and democracy.

In choosing to appease their corporate donors at the expense of the needs of the people, both parties can be said to be oligarchic; both parties comprise a corporatist/oligarchic duopoly, the policies of which created the economic conditions of profound inequality that make the authoritarian populism of Trump so appealing to so many.

The oligarchy we’re up against is every bit as anti-democratic and thus un-American as any king. Indeed, it’s sadly accurate to say that in the U.S. “money rules,” that “money is king.”

“King” Trump could keel over tomorrow, but the kingship of the oligarchy would remain. It’s this “money is king” reality that I’ll be highlighting and protesting at the “No Kings” rally in St. Paul tomorrow. . . . I look forward to seeing many of my Minnesota friends there!

About the other side of my sign, one friend wondered if I’d get pushback from any “salty Democrats” in attendance; from the “vote blue no matter who” crowd (sometimes referred to as “Blue MAGA”).

I was kinda curious too. After all, the other side of my sign says: “How about next time we dump the duopoly by all agreeing to vote Green.” Yet as my concerned friend pointed out, “Whether offended or not, people gotta wake up.” As it turned out, I received no negative feedback, only the occasional knowing nod of recognition and agreement to the messages of my two-sided sign.

At least one person who shares my perspective opted to skip altogether any “No Kings” events. Dorothy Lennon, who describes herself as a “revolutionary intellectual trying to make the world a better place,” shared the following earlier today on Facebook.

Today there will be dozens of [“No Kings”] rallies organized across the nation. . . . Most of them are centered on President Trump’s flagrant violation of the constitution and his deportation of peaceful immigrants.

I won’t be attending any of them.

Most of these rallies are organized by organizations or people who are “vote blue no matter who” propagandists. They are a covert attempt to grow the ranks of the Democratic Party. That, and the hypocrisy of these rallies is overwhelming.

I didn’t see any of these rallies spring up when Barack Obama was treating the rule of law as a doormat. I didn’t see any of these rallies when both Obama and Joe Biden were deporting millions of undocumented immigrants.

They don’t care about the rule of law or our immigrant brothers and sisters. They care their version of fascism and xenophobia is implemented. The oligarchy isn’t afraid of these rallies. I wouldn’t be surprised if some of them are financing them.

Lennon makes a number of valid points. Yet it felt important for me to be part of the “No Kings” movement today, and to convey the deeper message regarding the "kingship" of the oligarchy that I wanted to convey.

Following are some photos I took at today’s “No Kings” march and rally in St. Paul, Minnesota.

Above: My friend Kate, holding the sign I originally made for the inaugural Women’s March in January 2017.

As I noted at the time:

I had decided about a week before the march that I wanted to carry a sign that shared a positive message from an inspiring woman. I therefore decided on words of hope and encouragement from legendary singer-songwriter Buffy Sainte-Marie. They’re actually lyrics from her song “Getting Started” (from her phenomenal 1992 album Coincidence and Likely Stories). The image incorporated in my sign is one I took of Buffy when I saw her in concert last summer [2016] in Bayfield, WI.

Kate was more than happy to march with my sign from 8 years ago, and it was great to have Buffy be a part of today’s important and inspiring event.

Following are some of my photos from today’s “No Kings” march and rally in St. Paul, Minnesota.