Related to that…
The “useful parts” of the Democratic Party are, in rough order of importance:
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Mayors and Governors. They have the power to restrain the police and National Guard, resist ICE and provide emergency support to communities like Houston, St Louis and Puerto Rico.
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The bank account. Protest is expensive, and the working class are broke. If you want working class people to stay in the streets for weeks, somebody has to pay to feed their kids.
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The media. Much of the mainstream US media is functionally controlled by the establishment Dems. MSNBC, Slate, Vox, Huffington Post, etc.
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Congress. They don’t have the numbers to do anything legislatively, but the public profile is useful for rousing the troops. See Bernie’s M4A push as the best example of this in action.
