Are Democratic Socialists Reaching Their Limits?

Steve Hayes is joined by Jonah Goldberg, Megan McArdle, and Kevin Williamson to discuss the results of this month’s Democratic primaries in Wisconsin and Michigan and the left’s shift away from the radical social justice positions of 2020. The Agenda: —The limits of the far left —The woke reckoning Show notes: Steve Hayes is CEO and editor of The Dispatch, based in Annapolis, Maryland. Prior to co-founding the company in 2019, he worked at The Weekly Standard for 18 years, covering Washington, politics, and national security. Steve is the author of two New York Times bestsellers. He also worked as a contributor at CNN and Fox News, and currently serves as a political analyst at NBC News. When Steve is not focused on The Dispatch, he’s probably traveling with his family, grilling, or riding his mountain bike. Megan McArdle is a Washington Post columnist, host of the Reasonably Optimistic podcast, and the author of The Up Side of Down: Why Failing Well Is the Key to Success. Jonah Goldberg is editor-in-chief and co-founder of The Dispatch, based in Washington, D.C. Prior to that, enormous lizards roamed the Earth. More immediately prior to that, Jonah spent two decades at National Review, where he was a senior editor, among other things. He is also a bestselling author, longtime columnist for the Los Angeles Times, commentator for CNN, and a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute. When he is not writing the G-File or hosting The Remnant podcast, he finds real joy in family time, attending to his dogs and cat, and blaming Steve Hayes for various things. Kevin D. Williamson is national correspondent at The Dispatch and is based in Virginia. Prior to joining the company in 2022, he spent 15 years as a writer and editor at National Review, worked as the theater critic at the New Criterion, and had a long career in local newspapers. He is also a writer in residence at the Competitive Enterprise Institute. When Kevin is not reporting on the world outside Washington for his Wanderland newsletter, you can find him at the rifle range or reading a book about literally almost anything other than politics. The podcast transcription below was generated using artificial intelligence and may include occasional errors or misspellings. Steve Hayes 0:00 [intro music] Welcome to the Dispatch Podcast. I'm Steve Hayes. On today's roundtable, we discuss the results of recent Democratic primaries in the Upper Midwest. A DSA darling goes down in the Wisconsin Democratic gubernatorial primary after polls showed her with a commanding lead. And next door in Michigan, Abdul El-Sayed's slim victory over Haley Stevens. Are hard left candidates viable outside of deep blue districts? Why did the polling overestimate these candidates? Then, what is woke 1.0? Has the left properly reckoned with the wokeness of 2020? Is it enough to shrug off the damage the woke moment did with a chuckle and a shrug of the shoulders? And finally, something truly not worth your time, a People Magazine exclusive on Lori Massaro's visit to her son's fraternity. Let's dive right in. [instrumental music] Okay, I want to start today on politics. There's been a lot happening over the past few days, really over the past few weeks. Let's start as we always should in Wisconsin. Jonah, I wanna ask you about Francesca Hong. She was the Democratic Socialist of America candidate who began the month with a massive lead, if polls were to be believed, over the rest of field in the Democratic gubernatorial primary, where she went on to lose by Steve Hayes 1:42 4,000 votes out of more than 700,000 cast. The beginning of the month in the Marquette University Law School poll, which is generally regarded as one of the best polls in the country, Steve Hayes 1:54 she was shown with a lead of 38%, or polling lead of 38%. The eventual victor, David Crowley, who's the Milwaukee County executive, was polling 2 weeks ago, [chuckles] less than 2 weeks before the vote, at 7%. Jonah, what happened in Wisconsin? Jonah Goldberg 2:13 Let the history books record that Steve Hayes is asking me what happened in Wisconsin. Steve Hayes 2:20 [laughs] Interactive transcripts are available to Premium members. Join to follow along with the audio. Join Now More We Think You’d Like