AYATOLLAH SO! The DSA Is on the Way

We told you so. Or, in this case, I Ayatollah so.The wordplay has nothing to do with Abdul El-Sayed's religion or ethnicity. It comes from politics—and from the leaked campaign audio in which El-Sayed said he didn't want to comment on the killing of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei because “a lot of people in Dearborn” were sad.Now El-Sayed has won Michigan's Democratic nomination for the United States Senate, defeating the establishment-backed Haley Stevens and putting one of the country's most closely watched progressive campaigns on the November ballot.Doc G & The Discussants examine the candidate rather than the caricature: El-Sayed's economic agenda, Medicare for All, his position on U.S. aid to Israel, his views on Israel and the Palestinians, the Khamenei recording, and his continuing association with Hasan Piker—even after Piker's infamous 9/11 remark became an issue in the campaign. El-Sayed has called that remark “dumb” and said Piker disavowed it.And then comes the larger question we've been asking since Communism Anyone?El-Sayed does not call himself a democratic socialist; he has described himself as a capitalist. So why are ideas and political forces once associated with the activist left becoming increasingly consequential in Democratic electoral politics? And after Michigan Democrats actually chose El-Sayed, are we still talking about the political fringe—or are we watching the party change?The DSA is on the way. We told you so.The truth is more interesting than fiction and far more valuable than clichés or talking points.