We need to understand what’s happening right now, because it matters more than most people realize.
Third Way is a centrist Democratic think tank that was created in 2005 by former Clinton administration staffers. It’s funded by billionaires and corporate interests that include, pharmaceutical giant PhRMA, ExxonMobil, Deutsche Bank, Mastercard, health insurer Humana, and Wall Street lobbying firms. As a 501(c)(4) “social welfare” nonprofit, it is not required to disclose its donors and it doesn’t do so voluntarily, according to the tea on Sludge. But, an article from the Boston Globe found that two-thirds of its 31 trustees have held senior leadership positions in investment funds or big banks, or served in some other capacity on Wall Street. The Boston Globe
And right now, these assholes are running a coordinated campaign to destroy progressive influence in the Democratic Party. Not just for 2026, but for 2028 and beyond.
Their president, Jonathan Cowan, has pledged openly that “We will be the chief opponent of the left in the 2028 Democratic presidential primary.” He told the New York Times that Third Way will “probably spend $30 million to $50 million” toward this campaign over the next few years. Zeteo
Not to fight Trump. Not to fight MAGA. Not to protect immigrants, or trans kids, or workers, or anyone who actually needs protecting right now. But the progressive movement sweeping this country.
They are going to spend up to fifty million dollars to crush progressive candidates. To make sure Medicare for All never happens. To make sure the Green New Deal stays dead. To make sure no one gets elected who supports abolishing ICE or open borders. To make sure the Democratic Party remains safe. Safe for corporate donors, safe for billionaires, safe for the people who are already winning.
The part that pisses me off the most is that after Trump’s reelection, Third Way released a memo telling Democrats that small donors’ preferences “may not align with the broader electorate” and urged the party to reduce its dependence on grassroots funding. That means less money from you. More money from them. That’s their vision for your party. InfluenceWatch
Their current target is Hasan Piker, a left-wing streamer gaining popularity by the day, with massive reach among young voters — exactly the voters these idiot Democrats keep losing. On April 1, 2026, Cowan sent a letter to Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed, threatening him not to appear at campus rallies alongside Piker and demanding he answer a list of loaded questions about the streamer’s past statements. What the fuck? Who do these assholes think they are? Up North Progressive
When asked whether the Democratic big tent should include people like Piker, Cowan said with his whole fucking chest: “If people really are arguing that the price of winning is becoming like a bigoted misogynist like Hasan Piker, then I’ll take not winning.”
He would rather lose to Republicans than allow progressives a seat at the table.
What the hell. Read that again.
I’m not excusing Hasan Piker. He’s said and done things that are abhorrently stupid, sexist, and made me want to reach through the screen. But he’s pulling young men away from the Joe Rogan’s and the Nick Fuentes’ and toward the progressive left. And after the shitshow in 2024, we need every win we can get.
Democrats don’t get to keep losing a generation of young men to the right and then torch the one guy actually doing something about it. Work with him. Figure it out. This isn’t how you build a coalition. This isn’t how you win.
This is not a party that has lost its way. This has always been the Democratic Party. This is a party doing exactly what it was built to do — protect the interests of the donor class while giving the rest of us just enough breadcrumbs to keep showing up at the polls. Investigative journalist Lee Fang at The Nation described Third Way as existing to serve as “a vehicle for corporate and right-wing interests to shape the economic policies of the party.” That’s not a conspiracy theory. That’s just what the money says.
The Republican Party is a weapon pointed at working people. The Democratic Party is the hand that keeps telling you to calm down while the trigger gets pulled.
I grew up opposing everything MAGA stands for. That didn’t need to radicalize me. MAGA is probably the most honest faction in this country when it comes to showing who they are and that is also the saddest thing about this country. The Democrats and the Republicans are our opponents. The Progressive movement belongs to the people. They both want the people to suffer. In-fucking-sanity.
What’s radicalizing me is watching Democrats respond to Trump’s first term with thoughts and prayers, respond to his second term with fundraising emails, and now spend fifty million dollars making sure the people fighting hardest for healthcare, climate, and economic justice can’t get a foothold. Fuck the Democratic Party. They are just as slimy as the Republicans. They are not on the people’s side. They are on the side of whoever is cutting the checks — both parties.
So here’s where we are. The Republican Party wants to take us backward. The Democratic establishment wants to keep us exactly where we are, which, for most Americans, is not good enough. Progressives are the only caucus actually trying to move this country forward. And the people with the money know it, which is exactly why they’re spending fifty million dollars to stop it. That’s not an oopsie. That shit was planned.
So find your progressive candidates — local, state, federal — and support them. Walter Rhein, here on Substack, is interviewing as many candidates publicly as he can. Here is the link to contact him: https://substack.com/@walterrhein Send them his way and we can get to know them together. The people need to take the people’s country back from these oligarch pukes. Fight Third Way and every corporate Democrat who takes their money and does their bidding. And if someone in your life is still defending the Democratic Party as the lesser evil, hand them this article.
We are not waiting for the party to save us. We are building something that will outlast all of them.
DON’T LET THE BASTARDS GRIND YOU DOWN.
We need to find an FDR for today!
I'm so happy you wrote this!