The collapse of American progressivism

In the early hours of Wednesday, with Joe Biden appearing to trail Donald Trump in the key states of Michigan and Pennsylvania, the continuity-Corbyn campaign group Momentum sent out an email on the other side of the pond declaring that ‘today, it is clearer than ever that moving to the political centre is not a winning strategy.’ It’s easy to imagine their sheer delight that a moderate, centrist Democrat – with a platform similar to that famed reactionary Barack Obama – seemed doomed to go down in flames for the second election in a row. Like almost all of the organisation’s prognostications, however, it has not aged well.

Had it not been for the polls predicting a landslide, Joe Biden’s victory would look very respectable – both in terms of the popular vote and electoral college margin. At the start of the year, when the economy was strong and Trump’s favourability was rising, most Democratic strategists would have bitten their hand off for such a result.