Talking Strategy, Making History
May 17, 2026 · 44 min · 10 segments
The current primary campaign for California governor appears messy--too many candidates on the Democratic side, who are at once qualified and flawed, and primary rules that could result in two…
Dick FlacksHostWell, it's just like a plea for realism and against the tendency that we have in all primary fights, you know, when factional differences and philosophical differences and then also agendas for representation from the various groups that make up the Democratic coalition, like all of those things get... subsumed into bullshit arguments that people feel like they have to make, or that are really cynically designed to like tear down a rival and so forth.
So instead of people just coming out and saying like, Hey, I want a Latino governor.
That's who I trust right now with everything going on or with just the history of anti Latino racism and segregation and repression in California.
So I'm willing to overlook or or even, you know, a responsible thing to say is like.
And so there's positions that Becerra has taken that are that I don't like.
So instead, what we have is like a lot of gaslighting and people sort of making really disingenuous and hypocritical arguments.
You know, a lot of focus, for example, focused on the fact that Tom Steyer's, you know, job, life job up until fairly recently was that he was a hedge fund finance guy.
So did all kinds of evil shit to make money and has amassed more money than any human being has any right to.
And he's also like running the most left wing campaign and explicitly progressive policy commitments, not just rhetoric on a whole range of issues, you know, of the leading Democrats.
And Capital sees that and is like, if you look at, you know, corporate spending in this election, a lot of it at this point is geared towards electing Becerra and attacking Steyer.
And then there's like the super speculative tech baron money that's behind Mahan, the mayor of San Jose, who's only a spoiler at this point.
So anyway, point is, The, you know, a bunch of environmental groups, a lot of unions, a lot of left wing membership organizations, progressive groups and and so forth are consolidating, have consolidated around Tom Steyer.
And they're not dummies and they're not naive and they don't think that billionaires should be able to buy elections and so forth.
But they've made a calculation that him running on a really strong progressive reform platform is a better place to start with.
with someone who doesn't have an electoral record than someone whose electoral record is really spotty and mediocre and who's getting a lot of support from oil and real estate and other really reactionary vested interests in California.
Well, it's just like a plea for realism and against the tendency that we have in all primary fights, you know, when factional differences and philosophical differences and then also agendas for representation from the various groups that make up the Democratic coalition, like all of those things get... subsumed into bullshit arguments that people feel like they have to make, or that are really cynically designed to like tear down a rival and so forth.
So instead of people just coming out and saying like, Hey, I want a Latino governor.
That's who I trust right now with everything going on or with just the history of anti Latino racism and segregation and repression in California.
So I'm willing to overlook or or even, you know, a responsible thing to say is like.
And so there's positions that Becerra has taken that are that I don't like.
So instead, what we have is like a lot of gaslighting and people sort of making really disingenuous and hypocritical arguments.
You know, a lot of focus, for example, focused on the fact that Tom Steyer's, you know, job, life job up until fairly recently was that he was a hedge fund finance guy.
So did all kinds of evil shit to make money and has amassed more money than any human being has any right to.
And he's also like running the most left wing campaign and explicitly progressive policy commitments, not just rhetoric on a whole range of issues, you know, of the leading Democrats.
And Capital sees that and is like, if you look at, you know, corporate spending in this election, a lot of it at this point is geared towards electing Becerra and attacking Steyer.
And then there's like the super speculative tech baron money that's behind Mahan, the mayor of San Jose, who's only a spoiler at this point.
So anyway, point is, The, you know, a bunch of environmental groups, a lot of unions, a lot of left wing membership organizations, progressive groups and and so forth are consolidating, have consolidated around Tom Steyer.
And they're not dummies and they're not naive and they don't think that billionaires should be able to buy elections and so forth.
But they've made a calculation that him running on a really strong progressive reform platform is a better place to start with.
with someone who doesn't have an electoral record than someone whose electoral record is really spotty and mediocre and who's getting a lot of support from oil and real estate and other really reactionary vested interests in California.
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