I agree it’s possible, but the problem is that it isn’t happening, and there is a reason for that: Imagine Joe Manchin was still in office. Going on an anti-Trump crusade would have killed him in West Virginia.

Now I personally think he should be willing to take the hit in this hypothetical scenario, but that’s not reality.

There is no one set of policies that make a candidate “moderate.” Moderates are moderates because of their eagerness to compromise and work across the aisle. Elissa Slotkin isn’t actually substantially different than AOC, if you were to do a side-by-side of their policy positions. But strategically, she is going for the compromise approach, and it’s the wrong way to go at this time.

I would like to see more moderates wake up and understand what’s at stake, and that they can’t compromise on fascism, but compromising on fascism is unfortunately exactly what I am seeing from them. Cory Booker was great; I was hoping more moderates would follow his example. But it appears to be a one-off, sadly. I don’t expect moderate Dems to budge until trumps popularity takes a nosedive, which is a shame, because if they were smart they would be CAUSING his popularity to nosedive.