376 Vaush’s Self Defeating Biden Derangement Syndrome, Hasan Still a Tankie, Newsom 2.0?
As should be pretty clear if you’ve read this far as there are a lot of things I’m not such a fan of. In chapter No Moving ON in fact I made a list-it was quite long:
🧱 Sidebar: The Illusions We’ve Outgrown
We’ve critiqued:
- The Far Right (Trump, GOP co-conspirators)
- The Deep State (FBI, Secret Service, CIA)
- The Savvy Media (Baquet, Wemple, Isikoff)
- The Dem Old Guard (Biden, Schumer, Coons)
- The Anti-Imperialist Left (Chomsky, Taibbi, Zizek)
Now we turn to:
- The “Independent” illusion
- The “Bipartisan” illusion
- The “Institutions Will Save Us” illusion
The goal isn’t bipartisanship. It’s Democratic victory.
Those who don’t like the idea of the goal being framed as a Democratic victory-because being partisan is supposed to be this nefarious, sordid thing-don’t know history-as every progressive victory in terms of changing policy in the last 111 years of US history-domestic or foreign when you remember NATO, the UN, or USAID. History couldn’t be more clear-the way to pass into law major progressive legislation is to elect Democratic supermajorities.
FN: To be sure, in Chapter No Moving on I also point out that until the Democrats end the filibuster we will never pass progressive legislation again. If you end the filibuster then you can win with Democratic majorities-you won’t need supermajorities which the Republicans have made impossible via all their years of effective gerrymandering.
Those who fetishize “independents” fall into the GOP trap in splitting up the progressive coalition which is larger than the reactionary one.
Regarding the anti imperialist left to be more precise I should say the Tankie Left. Though to be sure Vaush is not a Tankie. But it’s true I despise the Tankie left. That acts of self righteously in calling Gaza a genocide-with which I do agree-while dismissing Ukraine’s fight for national self determination.
Section: Hasan Still Pro Russia After all These Years
Like in Trump’s recent shameful summit with Putin in Alaska-where Trump literally clapped as Putin approached him on the airport tarmac and had US soldiers kneeling before this genocidal dictator-of course Hasan never accuses Russia of genocide-Hasan did admit that it was a disaster and that Trump was completely owned by Vlad. But the real takeaway for him seems to be that it was not so much just a disaster for Trump as for America which fits into his Tankie Weltanschaung (Heiddger) where anything bad that happens to the US in terms of foreign policy is something to celebrate.
He claims that the reason for the summit is because Russia is winning and that any US President would be in the same position as Trump which doesn’t pass the laugh test. Interestingly in one of his recent videos on the meeting he watched a news video clip and following the clip declared US hegemony over. But this was a total misreading of the clip-assuming he was even watching it at all as the news anchor had put up charts which showed that US aid for Ukraine has decreased appreciably since Trump assumed Office. And indeed, the numbers also show that Putin has escalated his attacks on Ukraine since then. Yet Hasan says it’s inevitable because Ukraine lacks manpower.
Trump Putin Summit – HasanAbi’s Take
Actually no, it’s because Trump has cut back on US support-in terms of arms but also intelligence, which Hegseth cut off numerous times-the reporting has made it sound as if Hegseth did this without Trump’s knowledge a premise I’m skeptical of to say the least.
Section: Hasan’s Tankie Rant Heard Around the World: Putin has a Right to Steal Crimea
For years Hasan has been rightly mocked for his Tankie pro Russia takes back in 2022 where he insisted Russia would never invade and that Putin actually had a right to Crimea that he had annexed in 2014. Hasan went so far as saying that what Putin was doing was nothing like Hitler despite the self evident fact that Putin’s rationale for his imperialistic aggression-to protect Russian speakers-was the same as Hitler’s rationale for invading the Sudentenland-to protect German speakers. Hasan then went into a rather astonishing-and quite hilarious-rant that what made Hitler so bad wasn’t that he invaded the Sudentenland but solely because he put Jews in ovens.
CODA: Hasan also argues that we have no control over Russia and therefore presumably should not send them weapons? But the idea that what Russia does is none of our business has echos with the arguments of the appeasers before WWII
Sept. 30, 1938 | Hitler Granted the Sudentenland by Britain, France and Italy – The New York Times
Hasan for years insisted he was taken out of context or misinterpreted but what his recent commentary demonstrates is he’s still a Tankie cum Russian apologist after all these years. America imperialism bad but imperialism from other nations is therefore good. Basically if you track Hasan’s position on Russia-Ukraine since 2022 his position is always convenient to Russia though the rationale changes. Now he’s pretending it’s a positive not normative argument-Ukraine simply lacks manpower but at bottom it’s pretty clear it IS a normative issue for him-America bad so if it “loses Ukraine” then this is a salutary thing.
Section: Unlike Hasan I’ve always been a big fan of Vaush.
During the Biden years he was my favorite streamer-despite his being on the Far Left while I’m more like a Center Left liberal. Post But Vaush is quite different from how he was back in 2022-2023 when I first came across his channel. He used to be a fairly prolific “debate bro.”
🔍 Vaush: From Consequentialist to Collapse
2022–2023 Vaush was sharp, strategic, and consequentialist. He defended Biden’s legislative wins, dissected right-wing talking points with surgical clarity, and made the case for harm reduction voting. His debates were electric—he was the Left’s scalpel, not its sledgehammer.
But by 2024–2025, something shifted. The tone hardened. The analysis flattened. Biden Derangement Syndrome crept in, and Vaush began treating Biden as indistinguishable from Trump—not just in rhetoric, but in moral weight. The nuance collapsed. The consequentialism gave way to catharsis.
Section: From Debate Bro to “Debate? Hell no!”
But in late 2023-early 2024 he stopped. While I understand at least some of his arguments for why he stopped-it’s true for instance that people on the Far Right or Tankie Left are totally bad faith and engage in blatant gish galloping-a la Jackson Hinkle-it’s nevertheless true that he was a really good debater back then.
As to what changed him I have some theories. On the debates he did have a point regarding people like Hinkle who blatantly gish galloped and eschewed even the pretense of a good faith debate. Yet Hinkle’s appearance on Vaush would lead to him going viral on the Tankie Left-and on the MAGA Right with Hink;e’s absurdist premise of “MAGA Communism.”
There was also Vaush’s very polarizing debate with Professor Flowers.
Talking With Professor Flowers About Black Nationalism and Her Video Criticizing Me
There had been a whole contingent of Youtubers who were viscerally anti debate and who claimed “debate bros” somehow made YouTube “unsafe” for women, people of color, LGBT people, etc.
Vaush got a lot of criticism of his performance vis a vis Professor Flowers and-naturally-was accused of being sexist and racist amongst other assorted “Debate Bro” sins. Anyway over time perhaps he was just worn down as Vaush was an extremely polarizing figure on the Left despite he himself being a leftist as he struck out against the Tankies. Indeed he has said that he first became a polarizing figure after he-rightly-came out against the Bernie or Busters in the 2020 election. Ironically the leader of the Bernie or Busters back then was Kyle Kulinski.
(34) Is “Bernie or Bust” a Bad Idea? – YouTube
This is ironic when you see how much Kyle changed in the last five years.
Ironically in my humble view, this change has been all to the good-Kyle is now my favorite leftist as he rightly calls for a “left-liberal alliance.”
The Liberal + Leftist Alliance | Kyle Kulinski
He now admits a point liberals had been making for years-that there is a Bernie to Trump pipeline in figures like Jimmy Dore, Max Blumenthal, Brihana Joy Gra and we’re not even going to talk about HA Goodman
BERNIE TO TRUMP PIPELINE | The Kyle Kulinski
But the idea that Kyle has changed so much for the better while Vaush has-relatively-changed for the worse is ironic as it’s long been my perception that a major part of why Kyle changed was through his conversations with Vaush. While Vaush had seen him as an adversary peddling a dangerous idea-Bernie or Bust despite Vaush being a big Bernie Supporter-they later became friends the next few years.
But regarding what changed for Vaush part of it might just be all his haters wore him out a la Bad Empanada, a la the furor over Professor Flowers-at one point he freaked out and went on a long rant against trans people PER SE feeling aggrieved because he was a cis dude who had advocated so strongly for trans rights among his cis dude followers.
Often Vaush’s cause was righteous but he did fall down a rabbit hole when he attacked Trans people AS A GROUP. Then there was the very nasty campaign to accuse him of being a pedophile. All this over time seemed to take it’s toll on Vaush
CODA: It’s interesting-a similar thing has been happening to Destiny at the present moment-including Bad Empanada gleefully joining the pile on. But Destiny’s temperament apparently is more resilient and it’s just water off a duck’s back.
Section: Vaush Cancels Keffals
One sign that Vaush had changed was when he told Keffals he didn’t really want to socialize with her anymore. This kind of pointed to an inward arc. Keffals and Vaush were always similar in that they were highly polarizing streamers-you either loved them or hated them. I tended to love both of them. But both over time notably receded. Of course as a trans woman the attacks against Keffals were always especially brutal though Vaush was accused of pedophilia and having sex with a horse so…
Keffals ultimately left streaming which was a real loss in my opinion as she was so talented and fascinating. She said that she now has a life outside streaming-what drew her to it was the Covid lockdown. So if that’s better for her then obviously you have to respect that but it was a loss for the YouTube world. She had come back a few times since but each time she left-presumably due to the same toxicity against her continuing to swirl.
Still it strikes me that some folks can handle the incoming of being a high profile YouTuber. It pushed Keffals out and led to Vaush receding into his own bubble while others like Destiny and Foodshops don’t let it derail them. Foodshops is a decent analogy for Keffals as both are trans women who have faced brutal unrelenting hatred-also for a period Keffals was bullying Foodshops. Foodshops like Vaush and Destiny was accused of pedophilia-is that a rite of passage amongst top streamers? Nothing can destroy someone’s entire reputation like being “pedo jacketed.”
THE SOLO DESTINY EXPERIENCE (absolute cinema)
It also is fitting that Foodshops is clearly a fan of Destiny.
Section: What Happened to Vaush? Gaza, Gaza, Gaza
In one of his many epic debates he’d ripped The Amazing Atheist and Paul’s Ego apart for their “Bernie or Bustism” or “the lesser of two evils is still evil”ism.
“YOU ARE A CHILD!” — Surprisingly Heated 3V1 Debate On Voting For Biden
He extolled Biden’s accomplishments point by point and gave an impassioned argument for consequentialism and harm reduction. While he acknowledged Israel’s brutal slaughter in Gaza and said he wasn’t in a mood to praise Biden too much the facts were the facts and still you had to vote for him based on consequentialism and harm reduction. He never gave up that position in principle but he became so down Biden in 2024 that seemed like a detail. Then he totally went down the rabbit hole of Biden Deragenment Syndrome after the disastrous debate of June 27, 2024.
But what happened to harm reduction and consequentialism? Because even if Biden’s mind was a cooked as some people-like Vaush himself-said it was still an easy choice-after all even Biden’s corpse would be a better President than Trump-and that’s what the Vice President app is for.
As for Kamala, Vaush post election has been acting like she too was a “terrible candidate” which is not reality. She certainly could and should have won. Many have gotten into the Jake Tapper cum Biden Acuity Trutherism stuff-thankfully Tapper’s book was a total bust. It gives me hope that maybe there is a God!-Vaush certainly has but in truth Kamala lost because she listened to terrible consulting advice. As we discussed in Chapter Huey Long she backed off corporate price gouging though it was both the right policy AND very popular.
Her consultants also told her to stop saying weird which underscores just how bad Democratic consultant advice is-Ken Martin had vowed that “they’ll be gone” when he was running for DNC Chair but it’s not clear they are “gone.” The first thing any Democratic candidate needs to do is to fire any Democratic consultants on their team!
But it does seem that Gaza scrambled Vaush’s calculus which it should not have if you are a genuine consequentialist. This is why I hate the Left-like the Left salivated over Krystall Ball’s relentless attacks on Democratic Congresswoman Elissa Slotkin-IT”S GLORIOUS!
Krystal Ball of Breaking Points Cooks Sen Elissa Slotkin, It’s Glorious!!!
But from a consequentialist perspective what did it achieve? I for my part actually came away feeling a little sorry for Slotkin as it seemed like a sandbag. I have no problem with her calling her out on Slotkin’s support of Israel and I agree it’s a genocide.
CODA:: This is the irony: in many cases I actually agree with the Left-not on the Tankie stuff-but certainly on Israel. Still even then there tactics are so obnoxious and self defeating I can’t see them as reliable allies as so often on a consequentialist basis they do more harm than good.
But what I thought was rather absurd was Ball-who btw is Kyle Kulinski’s wife-focused solely on Gaza. She piously declared that she’d love to debate healthcare with Slotkin-pointing out that the Congresswoman supports the public option while Ball herself is for single payer-but that as there’s a genocide in Gaza she considered it somehow unseemly to discuss anything but Gaza.
This is the kind of self righteous litmus tests of the Left that must be totally opposed. And while Ball has done some very good spots to when she goes on Kyle’s show and she seems open to his idea of a “liberal-leftist” alliance I will never forget how in 2020 she was dismissing liberals who were rightly freaking out over Trump’s refusal to concede after the election-and who rightly feared he’d refuse to leave. Vaush had very forcefully called her out at the time.
Krystal Ball is STILL Downplaying the Trump Coup
Again her husband Kyle has it exactly right-progressives win if the Left and Center Left unite as we have the larger coalition. The Right only wins if progressives split over sectarian food fights or litmus tests. By all means call out the Democratic party on its willingness to give a blank check to Netanyahu’s Israel. But litmus tests only hurt the right. And for the record while I agree with Ball in her criticism of Slotkin’s position on Israel, I agree with Slotkin on the pubilic option.
The whole furor over “Single Payer Now” on the Left is another example of their self defeating litmus test politics. It’s not possible in the way they frame it to ever have an honest difference of opinion in terms of tactics because any disagreement with their allegedly morally superior line reveals evil-the positions of the Left are all just in their view so any deviation is not just a difference of opinion but shows those who disagree are evil. And the furor over single payer is so short sighted. What the Bernie Bros never got was even Bernie’s arguably overly optimistic plan there would be a few years where you’d effectively have a public option. Any single payer plan would necessarily have a transitional period of the public option.
My argument was always so the public option first it necessarily has to come first even logistically. Offer a Medicare for All plan but allow it to be voluntary and see how the American people respond. People may well vote with their feet and you could see many who initially didn’t opt for MOA come over when they see how well it works.
Note that the Right always treats the public option as if it will necessarily turn into single payer. I’m personally not sure what will happen it will make it a very interesting natural experiment but it’s certainly plausible that it will become a kind of de facto single payer plan.
Section: Biden Derangement Syndrome is an intellectual rabbit hole
Assuming the goal is to defeat Trumpism in 2026 and 2028. In what way does running against Joe Biden-who isn’t in Office-going to increase our chances of defeating Trump?
Tara Palmieri-who has done excellent reporting on Epstein to sa the least-had insisted that the Democrats “can’t just sweep” what happened with Biden “under the rug.”
How Kamala Harris BEGGED for Biden endorsement
The obvious answer is-why not? I mean the GOP was able to do that with January 6-is the fact that Biden was old a bigger scandal than the attempt to do a coup against the US government? Based on how she frames it you would think so.
With all the terrible attacks by Trump on our democracy on a daily basis during Trump 2.0 The Absolute Immunity Edition the idea that the way to win is to run against Joe Biden doesn’t pass the laugh test.
Section: Gavin Newsom 2028?
I’ve gone back and forth on this issue a few times myself. Initially I was fine with him. I’m a Center Left Democrat and I think he’s roughly the same? The main positive fact I knew about him is that he proved the always insufferable Nate Silver wrong.
Oh but no! Silver of course has been insufferable over Biden for over a year but at least Newsom proved him wrong.
However after watching the first few episodes of Newson’s podcast it seemed that he hadn’t ever heard of the Hippocratic Oath which warns to first do no harm. Because Newsom did a lot of harm to his chances after seeing his weekly Coffee With Fascists routine. He glazed not only Charlie Kirk, Steve Bannon, but Michael Savage?! I mean-who?
In his show with Kirk he’d thrown trans people under the bus in an apparent bid to ingratiate himself to Kirk.
Newsom’s Weltanschauung seemed to be that the Democrats lost because they were too nice to trans people and had gone “too far Left.” During the standoff with Trump kidnapping people and sending them to Costa Rica, Newson’s contribution was to warn the Democrats “this was a distraction.”
So what happened? Well then Trump sent federal troops to California and Gavin Newsom became more sympathetic and perhaps he realized that the wind was blowing in the other direction-that the Dem base is not interested in someone who’s going to break bread with fascists and find some mythical “middle ground” but in a fighter.
With the start of Trump’s Epstein Files scandal, Newsom truly found his voice. Now he’s come to mock Trump’s laughable style on Twitter. And a lot of people are feeling differently about Newsom now.
Even Vaush and Hasan have offered up grudging respect.
Section: Hasan offers up grudging respect with consternation
He admits that it’s working
But also frets as he thinks Newsom is terrible. Where is AOC he asks?
I mean AOC has been sh*tted on by leftists who bought into the disinformation that AOC had “gone Zionist.”
AOC heckled by anti-Israel protester at town hall #foxnews #news #politics #usa #aoc #shorts #us
AOC is one of the most pro Palestinian Reps in Congress but sure… Again this is yet another reason why I hate the Left.
But Hasan makes a fair point-there was polling a few months ago there were very good for AOC but lately Newsom has stolen her thunder.
Section: Vaush Admits He’s Starting to Like What Newsom is doing
Vaush who’s from Cali also hates Newsom-best I can tell has always hated him. If anything post November, 2024 Vaush has had more derangement syndrome for the Democratic party than even Hasan-who unlike Vaush is a Tankie after all
But Vaush has had this mindset where he has been dismissing everything the Democrats do as “weak and feckless.” In many cases this has been true. It should be clear that while I AM a #shitlib-more I’m the #shitlib’s #shitlib-I have no problem criticizing the Establishment of the Democratic party assuming you’ve read other chapters…
In Chapter President Joe’s First Mistake I listed no less than seven different things Biden was, indeed, weak and feckless on. But Vaush’s criticism of the Dems has been so broad and all encompassing that it becomes meaningless.
Even Hasan acknowledged that Schumer-as is clear from Chapter Work the Refs I’m NOT a fan of Schumer quite the opposite-did a good job along with the rest of the party in weaponizing the Epstein Files fiasco.
However finally Vaush has admitted that he is coming to like Newsom’s style.
(34) Gavin Newsom’s Bulls#!t Is Starting To Win Me Over – YouTube
Conclusion: I’m Coming to Like Gavin Newsom Too
The way I framed this conclusion should make it clear I’m far from entirely sold on Newsom myself. While he gains points for reading the room and figuring out which way the wind blows that underscores the point that he follows the political winds rather than framing the political narrative which is what-as I disccussed in Chapter Huey Long-the Democrats need to learn-to not just react in terms of tactics but have an actual strategy or game plan.
Newsom has realized that the road to the WH which he’s so desperate to complete runs not by dismissing the #Resistance and extolling the Sensible Center but by embracing the #Resistance and getting himself made into its titular leader. Give him credit for being smart and effectively reading the tea leaves but how much faith can the #Resistance have in him? That remains to be seen but his trajectory Circa 2025 suggests he could change on a dime at any moment if he sees eschewing the resistance again as being the more profitable course?
Nevertheless it has been nice to see someone punching back in an effective way that goes beyond “going high while they go low” and talking about good government policy but willing to get into the trenches to defeat fascism.
A few months ago-back when Newsom seemed like a nonstarter-the problem hadn’t been that he was having these authortarian hacks on his show per se but that he wasn’t pushing back he was getting CUCKED-I had listed my preferred candidates. At the time I realized that Kamala Harris was still my number one-that will no doubt shock Vaush/Hasan but that just shows how little they understand the actual Democratic base-with AOC second and probablyJB Prtizker third.
After that maybe someone like Pete Buttigieg who is fine and does nothing I really don’t like but just was never one of my top tier candidates.
Since then though we’ve seen the rise of Newsom while my top three candidates as of like June, 2025 all kind of falling by the wayside.
The biggest problem with all three in terms of what they’re doing is they haven’t actually been doing anything. I haven’t heard from any of them. Kamala ruled out running for Governor of California in principle keeping the Presidency open but she’s taken no steps that would suggest she’s running and has not engaged publicly. If she IS seriously considering running she seems not to realize that every day the #Resistance doesn’t hear from her the less they think about her-out of sight out of mind.
AOC got knocked around a bit over the phony claim about going Israel hawk but did this furor cause her to recede into herself? If so that doesn’t augur well for her being a successful candidate for President-and indeed we have no idea wether she’s even considering it the entire conversation is based on assumptions at this point.
And while Pritzker too has done nothing wrong he’s done nothing right either-ie like Kamala and AOC he’s done nothing. At this point Newsom is leading in the fight to be the titular leader of the #Resistance. By default as no one else seems to want it. Until someone comes forward who actually seems to want it, it might just be Gavin’s by default.