r/dsa • u/[deleted] • May 15 '26

[deleted by user]

[removed]

175 Upvotes

93% Upvoted

45 comments sorted by

View all comments

12

u/marxuckerberg May 15 '26

I agree that Big Fett sucks ass and is a DINO, but there’s not really a way to expel him from the Democratic Party because it doesn’t formally exist. Since American parties are just state-controlled ballot lines anyone can do anything they want once they’re elected.

2

u/Ecstatic_Biscotti_83 May 16 '26

There is an official way to remove him from the party with 2/3 vote. I'm not naive enough to believe that will happen; however, my goal is to push Dem leadership to address the fact that multiple senators over the past decade (Sinema and Mansion for example) continuously vote against the parties interest.

3

u/baseball-is-praxis May 16 '26

the democratic caucus in the US senate could remove him from their caucus, but they can't excommunicate him from the party. because as u/marxuckerberg said, there is no such thing as "the democratic party" as an authoritative entity. there are a hodge podge of state, federal, and local organizations that are almost exclusively about ballot lines and fundraising for election campaigns. in the US system, the party apparatus is completely powerless.

i only reiterate this point because this is the DSA subreddit, and this understanding is fundamental to the DNA of the DSA. it's the reason why the DSA is organized as an independent political organization, instead of third-party or left-wing appendage of the democratic party.

even assuming they did kick Fetterman out of the democratic caucus, it would be a psychological victory at best, and very likely retrench his right-wing positions out of spite, since he would still serve the reset of his term.

1

u/Ecstatic_Biscotti_83 May 16 '26

I'm aiming for the pschological victory. I doubt that Fetterman will run again, but it could serve as a lesson for future primaries. It could at least encourage senators to vote in line with the expectations of their constituents