250 On The Left

| published June 28, 2026 |

By Bob Armstrong
Thursday Review contributor

In the film Annie Hall Woody Allen famously quips "I heard Commentary and Dissent had merged and formed Dysentery." A few generations back these two leading intellectual magazines both discharged their loose stool from the bowels of Karl Marx, although over time Commentary went anal retentive Right. For example, in the latest issue, even with the torrent of accusations from the Left claiming Israel is a genocidal nation, the magazine's editor, John Podhoretz, says "The 250th anniversary of the most important political event in history is a moment to reflect on the fact that this is a golden land not only for the sliver of Americans who follow the ancient faith of the Hebrews but for every one of the 331 million whom God granted the inestimable good fortune of being—or becoming—an American."

Dissent remained on the Left, thus "at 250, the state of the union is not good," according to co-editor Patrick Iber in the current Summer issue. However, a glimmer of hope remains in this dark time: "Some modest structural reforms are already part of the discussion in liberal circles," he writes, notably on three fronts—statehood for DC and Puerto Rico, returning the talking filibuster, and packing the Supreme Court. "Taken on their own, these might be fine. But they are also insufficient."

This progressive triple wish list is radical to the extent its only purpose is to give the Democratic Party more power. And even then, not enough—merely insufficient. What more do the democratic socialists want? What they won't quite say outright, but come close: smash capitalism. Iber and his friends in the Dissent circle know the pig capitalist in this country will continue to oink into eternity. So what we get from the Left are grievances up the gazoo.

"America at 250" in this issue of Dissent features four takeaways, beginning with Aziz Rana's "The American Revolution in Global Retreat." The Trump administration "authorize extrajudicial killings in the Pacific and the Caribbean, wage illegal wars of aggression, commit political assassinations" along with whipped cream on the authoritarian cake by facilitating "what legal experts widely conclude is a genocide in Gaza." The legal experts perhaps include Rana since he teaches law at Boston College.

Next up among the four contributions is an interview with David Bateman and Julie Suk, professors of law and government, respectively, who diagnose the state of the nation at 250 unhealthy. "Rot at the top," according to Bateman. "Donald Trump is violating the Constitution every day," adds Suk.

The third entry from political science professor Adom Getachew dwells on the New Left's favorite bedtime story on the barricades in the sixties. On September 2, 1945, Ho Chi Minh opened a conference in Hanoi by quoting from our Declaration of Independence. This tribute to Thomas Jefferson is nothing but a con. Ho was a Stalinist thug from the get-go. Getachew adds that against the current "backdrop of white supremacy" there is a counter offensive from the "internal other," that is "Haitians in Ohio, Somalis in Minnesota. Arab Americans in Michigan, Venezuelans in New York, and countless more." Might Cubans and Asian-Americans be among the countless others? I doubt it. They tend to gratefully melt into the pot instead of jumping into the Left's ridiculous image of a salad bowl.

For the fourth entry imagine the countless number of Americans going to work and raising a family and thinking that actually this is a pretty damn nice country who, along with the democratic socialists, ponder the meaning of July 4 by asking this question: "What to Eugene Debs was the Fourth of July?"

Not much.

"I am not of those who worship the flag," said Debs on July 4, 1901. He did run for president four times as the Socialist Party of America candidate, picking up six percent of the vote in 1912. Over a century later, Debs's dream of sweeping away "trusts, corporations, monopolies and every other abnormal development of monopoly power" has gained traction as we approach the 2026 midterm election. Dissent editors, writers, academics, subscribers and donors have been the driving force making democratic socialism legitimate. Hopefully, like the New Left in the sixties and the Popular Front in the thirties, this movement will drown in its own diarrhea.




Bob Armstrong is a journalist and writer, and the author of a new memoir, No Exit From Vietnam, available on Amazon. Related Thursday Review articles:

Paul Rivera's Midnight Ride: A Closer Look at the DNC's Postmortem; By Bob Armstrong; Thursday Review; June 5, 2026.

"A Pile of Regrets; A Pile of Promises; By Bob Armstong, Thursday Review contributor; May 28, 2026.