Division in the ranks

The American online left is having some battles. After having lost to Trump they are trying to decide how to navigate the two political streams of fighting for cultural progress and economic populism. 

The Luigi Mangione saga found general concensus along all political stripes that for profit health insurance is helping to kill some people. This issue unites most but there are cultural issues which remain wedges and have been used by the right as strawmen to distract from their master plan of maintaining oligarchy. 

Some on the left want economic populism which also includes fairness for all (a la Bernie Sanders) but others on the more moderate left want to concede what they call the more radical positions such as, you guessed, transgender rights petitions which they argue go too far. 

When TYT's Ana Kasparian took issue with the term "birthing person" on Twitter it started a firestorm. Never mind that no one was calling her that but suddenly the right was cheering her on while leftists admonished her. She dug in her heels and the battle lines were drawn. 

Cultural issues have become the kindling used to light fire and this one incident exposed the cracks in what was thought to be a united progressive movement. TYT has now decided to focus on economic populism and risk losing support from the left flank who does not want to compromise their battle for human rights. 

Those on the "progressive middle" are hedging their bets and going for universal health care, paid family leave and fair living wages as they seem to cozy up to a MAGA movement that seems to subsist on cultural hatred as fuel; something which the GOP seeded during the southern strategy.

Stay tuned.