When you're talking about a compatible left, to what extent are you talking about just the reality, the establishment of the Democratic Party that is, you know, one of two corporate wings that we have in establishment politics today?

And how much are you being critical of folks who identify as leftists, who identify even as Marxists or socialist, but have been co-opted wittingly or unwittingly

into this sort of compatible left project. I would say that the Democratic Party is actually

quite significantly to the right of the form of compatible leftism funded covertly by the CIA

because the form of leftism that they were focused on

was a social democratic left in the post-war European context. And many of these were self-declared,

either Marxists or socialists who thought that we could maintain a kind of softer version

of capitalism with a social safety net. And one of the

operators involved in these covert ops, Thomas Braden, is on record saying, well, we funded

the socialists in Europe because they were the only ones who gave a damn about fighting the

communists, meaning that was the central dividing line, if you will.

The communists being those who identified with criticisms often,

but at least had some critical support for socialism as a real-world state-building project.

And so they defend things like Cuba or the Soviet Union

or other examples that one could point to.

And of course, there's a whole, you know, kind of gradation,

if you will, from levels of support

and levels of critique.

In the case of the Democratic Party of the United States

and even just the history of the United States,

the social welfare state here is, you know, pales in comparison to what was introduced in Europe.

And the Democratic Party is a party of capital.

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