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There was a lot of anxiety going into the World Cup about the expected influx of foreign tourists, both among progressive Americans not wanting them to be miserable, and with the travelers themselves, who were worried about entering a country run by a wannabe fascist. But the tournament has largely been a feel-good story, with visitors having a great time and Americans having a blast entertaining these fresh faces. 

That’s in no small part because the international fans are coming into cities that are mostly blue and diverse. (They are also where most Americans live.) Meanwhile, the MAGA movement is openly pushing the idea of forcing a pregnancy test on every woman coming into the country, which would, of course, mostly work to keep people from vacationing in the U.S. at all. Just one more way the right impulsively crushes other people’s joy. 

Dr. Abdul El-Sayed, who is running in Michigan’s Democratic U.S. Senate primary, recently described the issue of Gaza as a “moral Rorschach test” that voters, especially younger ones, are using to determine the trustworthiness of candidates. The thinking goes that if you are too cowardly — or cowed by donors — to tiptoe around the word “genocide” to describe Israel’s behavior toward Palestine, then they don’t think you can be trusted to fight corporate interests or Donald Trump either. 

Progressives love nothing more than a nitpick, so I’ve seen criticism of El-Sayed’s imperfect metaphor. Yes, he avoided the more precise $5 word “heuristic,” but his point still stands. I know a lot of people are frustrated that Gaza has become such a litmus test, which they fear is distracting some voters from issues that are closer to home. Worse, many bad faith actors use it as cover to defend bigoted politics. 

But it’s important to understand why good faith voters don’t see it that way. For them, the ability of a Democratic politician to speak frankly about Gaza is a shortcut, a way to answer a larger question: “Is this person honest?” They believe that if you’ll gaslight them on Gaza, you’ll also do things like say you’ll fight for universal health care or against Trump, but renege the second you have power. 

Frankly, we all have heuristics like that. Almost no one actually reads a candidate’s policy platform and then votes for the one that aligns most closely to their preferences. Since most Democrats promise roughly the same things, this is especially true. We look for evidence that a politician keeps their word because. ultimately, that matters more. 

El-Sayed is still in the race, while his primary opponent, Mallory McMorrow, dropped out. It’s a shame, because I do like her and she was willing to call the Israeli war a “genocide.” But she wasn’t willing to pull support from Israel, and that is what likely made her defeat inevitable. Other Democrats should take note.

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Because Trump hasn’t updated his references since “Cats” first premiered in 1981, he’s decided that the way to win the midterms is yelling about the communist takeover. His July Fourth speech claimed that communism “is the greatest threat to our country, including World War I, World War II, Pearl Harbor or even 9/11.” This went over well with the crowd, most of whom, like Trump, haven’t completed a full book since 1955, when they read “Dick and Jane.” But for anyone else, it’s bizarre. 

This strategy feels like it will backfire. Boomers are pretty much the last generation to live with the Cold War paranoia about communism. To give some context, I am nearly 50, and I was a freshman in high school when the Soviet Union fell. Old people being scared of imaginary communists was a running joke on “King of the Hill” in the form of Hank’s dad. That show premiered when Bill Clinton was president.  

If you scream “communist threat!” and point at New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, which is what Trump is basically doing, you’re just telling people that whatever this “communism” thing is, it’s great. If being a “communist” means making government work for people while also looking sexy and cool, then people will ask where they can sign up. 

Jokes aside, the voting public is anti-establishment and disgruntled. Hearing the failing, aging president yelling about the commie bastards will just make them more curious about who these alleged “communists” are and why he’s so scared of them. It could create real incentives for people to learn more about democratic socialism, which is just FDR-style progressivism in a 21st century context. 

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