Republican strategist Lindy Li on Friday told the 42 million Americans expected to lose food assistance starting Saturday that they should be “making better choices” so that they don’t have to rely on the federal program that provides meals to more than 12% of the U.S. population, including 16 milli...
  • idiomaddict@lemmy.world
    15·
    1 day ago

    Li previously ran as a Democratic candidate for Congress, describing herself as a “tree-hugging progressive,” and sought the endorsement of the Democratic Socialists of America. She lost her Congressional bid, and years later, shifted to the Republican Party and to becoming a strong supporter of Trump.

    Does anyone know of any examples of politicians swinging hard in the opposite direction? I’m not talking about things like the Lincoln project or changes made up to age 25 or so, but actual significant leftward movement from adult politicians.

    • qarbone@lemmy.worldEnglish
      171·
      24 hours ago

      You can never trust her again. She doesn’t believe in ideology, she just wants power and is willing to go to any side and any length to get what she feels entitled to.

      • idiomaddict@lemmy.world
        2·
        22 hours ago

        Don’t worry, that’s not why I’m asking. No, she’s a rat forever.

        I just wonder if it’s always in this direction. My suspicion is that it tends to flow from more discerning parties to less discerning parties, and in the US right now, the republicans are the least discerning of the national parties. I could see people moving from actual leftist parties to the greens (in the places where the greens are either liberal or controlled opposition) in other countries, I’m not sure if they’re leftist in some countries), but that’s still a rightward move.

        • Sconrad122@lemmy.world
          2·
          19 hours ago

          I think Graham Platner, if you take his word for what is in his past and present political mindsets, would be an example of a right-to-left swing, but not done as a politician. Shaun on YouTube is another one that comes to mind potentially, depending on how old he is for whether that qualifies as an under age 25. In the US at least, we don’t really have a strong left wing to draw in people looking for a change, so most of those conversions are happening less in the public sphere and more in corners of the internet, where it hasn’t been enshittified to ensure even those spaces are dominated by tight wing narratives

          • idiomaddict@lemmy.world
            1·
            15 hours ago

            That’s part of why I’m asking- the vast majority of leftists I know grew up in right wing or centrist circles and moved left on their own, but I don’t know if there are politicians who really reflect that.

            Actually, Graham Platner is very relevant and I’m interested in whether people trust him enough to elect him and whether he stays true to the principles he ran on.

    • khannie@lemmy.worldEnglish
      2·
      19 hours ago

      Does anyone know of any examples of politicians swinging hard in the opposite direction?

      I just learned today that Hitler was a lefty in his early days. True story.

      He was always anti-Semitic though. That wasn’t unusual for the times however.

      Someone describing themselves as a tree hugging progressive railing against supporting society’s most vulnerable can go and fuck themselves with a fishing rod though.

      • ZombiFrancis@sh.itjust.works
        2·
        5 hours ago

        You’d be looking at some early 20th century interpretations of leftism though, which is an important nuance. Lenin was a member of the Russian Social Democrats, but most people probably wouldn’t attribute his legacy to Social Democracy.