Our extremes dictate “too much policy” on immigration, crime and “radical identity politics”

In an interview with C-SPAN on Friday, Rep. Adam Smith (D-WA) said that “the far left of our Democratic coalition has come to dictate too many policies that are out of touch with the American people when it comes to immigration, crime”. justice, on drugs, on the homeless, on radical identity politics. And sometimes the rest of the group shares their ideas.

Smith said (relevant remarks begin around 9:45) that one of the reasons Democrats lost in 2024 “is that the far left of our Democratic coalition has come to dictate policy that is too disconnected from the American people on matters immigration and criminal justice. , on drugs, on homelessness, on radical identity politics. These are ideas championed by the far left, who insist that the rest of the coalition follow them. Sometimes we do, sometimes we don’t. In doing so, we alienate a large part of the country. If we don’t do that, we alienate this coalition. We have to manage this.

He added: “We have lost our ability to be competitive, and I think a lot of that is due to a far-left agenda that has really poisoned the image of the Democratic Party. »

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