The leftist cultural critic David Masciotra isn’t happy with the state of America in the first half of 2026. His dislike of the MAGA crowd goes without saying. But his anger at the state of progressive politics is more noteworthy. So far, he says, 2026 has been — to borrow from Antonio Gramsci — a time for monsters both on the left and right. With its “Epstein class” vocabulary, knee-jerk Luddism and AIPAC litmus tests, the left, Masciotra argues, is mimicking MAGA in its paranoid bigotry.
The year’s most disturbing story so far is Graham Platner, the erstwhile Maine Senate candidate who, Masciotra suggests, is either an idiot or a Nazi. Equally disturbing were the “progressives” who blindly defended Platner until the most recent rape accusations.
So how to slay these monsters on the left? What’s missing, Masciotra argues, is the kind of positively benevolent Jacksonian (Jesse) vision which seizes the moral high ground of American politics. We are still waiting for the next Bill Clinton, Obama, or even Bernie able to imagine a new dawn for the left in America. Maybe we’ll see the early shoots of a more optimistic progressivism in the second half of the year. In the manner of a football (soccer) match, let’s hope 2026 turns out to be a year of two halves.
Five Takeaways
• The Old Gods Return. Nationalism, male chauvinism, paranoia and conspiracism are back. Bauman's liquid age breeds irrational nostalgia — for manufacturing, the nuclear family, even Catholicism. Life is objectively better; the mood is doom-scrolling.
• The Epstein Class. Criticism of Israel has morphed into paranoia about AIPAC, Zionists, and “the Epstein class” — antisemitic conspiracy-mongering 101, now a litmus test in Democratic primaries.
• Luxury Beliefs and Streamer Politics. Streamers like Hasan Piker mobilize thousands of calls into districts they know nothing about, amplifying beliefs whose consequences never touch the believers.
• Working-Class Drag Doesn't Work. Platner looked like he'd just changed a tire and talked like a pro wrestler — and Susan Collins was beating him before the rape accusations ended it. Working-class voters have real beliefs, not costume preferences.
• Waiting for the Benevolent Vision. Jesse Jackson had it; Bryan Stevenson has it. Masciotra's pitch for the next Obama moment: a self-employment manifesto for the gig economy — and harnessing AI for the precariat, not the moguls.
About Keen On America
Nobody asks more awkward questions than the Anglo-American writer and filmmaker Andrew Keen.
Website: https://keenon.tv/ Substack: https://keenon.substack.com/ YouTube: https://youtube.com/@KeenOnShow
Buy Exurbia Now: penguinrandomhouse.com/books/740832/exurbia-now-by-david-masciotra
Chapters:
00:00:31 Introduction: what time is it in July 2026?
00:01:42 The old gods return: nationalism, chauvinism, paranoia
00:02:34 Zygmunt Bauman: from solid to liquid
00:03:48 Gramsci's interregnum: morbid symptoms or monsters?
00:05:06 The strongman promises stability
00:07:04 Jesse Jackson, Hymietown, and recompense
00:10:18 The Epstein class: antisemitism as world view
00:13:15 Imagine you're a voter in Michigan
00:13:43 Is Gaza the Vietnam of 2026?
00:16:30 Platner, Mamdani, and the activist left
00:17:07 Chevalier, October 8, and defining deviancy down
00:18:45 The Platner story: the left's Trump moment
00:21:13 The collapse of the center left everywhere
00:22:50 Would anyone listen to a benevolent vision?
00:24:22 Bryan Stevenson and the moral center
00:26:34 The luxury belief agenda
00:27:32 Hasan Piker and streamer politics
00:30:29 How does the left win back Trump voters?
00:31:05 Working-class drag: the Platner costume
00:31:38 The Totenkopf tattoo: idiot or Nazi?
00:34:14 Speak to concerns, not consultant nomenclature
00:36:43 The left out left
00:37:25 Colbert and detached establishment liberalism
00:39:47 Waiting for the next Clinton, Obama — or Sanders
00:41:31 A self-employment manifesto
00:43:20 The precariat of the world unite
00:46:08 Data centers, Pritzker, and the AI opportunity
00:48:49 A happy half year