Politics

Progressives say they’re done re-litigating old posts. Are their opponents?

Published

2 hours ago

July 11, 2026

Progressive Democratic candidates have one thing to say to their establishment amid a wave of primary victories poised to dramatically alter the ideological makeup of their party: Enough with the old posts.

Attacks that dredge up calls to defund the police, full-throated embraces of identity politics and more, born from the leftward lurch Democrats took during President Donald Trump’s first term, won’t be what voters are thinking about come November, they say.

Rather, candidates say a populist economic message that addresses affordability concerns will buoy them to victory.

“You can talk about my tweets if you want to, but you can’t afford your health care, you can’t afford your groceries, you can’t afford your housing,” Michigan Senate hopeful Abdul El-Sayed said in an interview. “And it’s because of Donald Trump’s absurd policies.”

The defensive tactic popular among progressive candidates represents a new path being forged by Democrats still haunted by a disastrous presidential election, which some blame on the party’s unwillingness to distance itself from progressive positions on trans rights, policing and other issues that alienated moderate voters.

They’ve largely leaned into their outspokenness, past and present, in the hopes that voters will appreciate their authenticity. But their moderate opponents are less convinced, fearing potential losses if primary voters give Republicans a candidate with obvious weaknesses.

The border between which past comments must be acknowledged — or fully apologized for — and which can be cleanly pivoted away from remains fuzzy. Broadly, however, progressive candidates are dismissing attacks on their past.

“I’ve been to 400-plus public events, and nobody’s ever asked me about my tweets,” El-Sayed said.

However, Roxie Richner, spokesperson for the campaign, said El-Sayed deleted all posts older than July of 2023 “to prevent any old posts from being taken out of context” and that the deletion did not target any specific topic.

Which former comments must be atoned for differs by primary. Texas Democratic Senate nominee James Talarico, for one, has walked back some of his most outspoken comments calling God nonbinary and lamenting the privilege his whiteness affords him, admitting in interviews that those comments were “cringey.”

But in a Democratic stronghold in New York City, Darializa Avila Chevalier was able to pivot around attacks on her calls to abolish prisons on the way to ousting longtime Rep. Adriano Espaillat (D-N.Y.).

She did, however, express regret for some old posts, including ones in which she wrote “fuck Kamala Harris” and called Joe Biden a “rapist.”

Bill Neidhardt, a Democratic strategist at the progressive consulting firm Middle Seat, said that while it’s not like “there’s never room to apologize,” a candidate refusing to entertain attacks on their progressive past can work remarkably well among voters itching for an outsider candidate.

“Whenever I see an incumbent focusing on tweets and not about the economy, I feel like my campaign is in the place where I want it to be,” said Neidhardt, whose firm has worked for progressives including Avila Chevalier, El-Sayed and Melat Kiros — a democratic socialist who recently toppled 15-term incumbent Rep. Diana DeGette in Colorado.

El-Sayed, for one, has repeatedly emphasized that he isn’t interested in litigating the past — which opponents have sought to do over his since-deleted 2020 posts lamenting that police departments are overfunded relative to other social services and referring to them as “standing armies.”

He told Blue Light News that “the idea that you stand by everything you ever said, out of context, is an insane thing to assume about anybody.”

But El-Sayed’s shifting recollection of the past has put him in bind. After telling the Detroit News that he “actually never, never called for defunding,” CNN reported that he said “we do need to defund the police” in a June 2020 interview with Detroit Public Radio. In that interview, the former health official said that he considered defunding to mean reducing funding for prisons and police while investing more in “the means of educating and empowering, engaging communities with the means of being able to take on systemic poverty.”

El-Sayed has characterized such reporting as superfluous to the actual issues present in the campaign.

In an interview with BLN, El-Sayed was skeptical of the newsworthiness of the coverage: “I think this debate about 2020 and the ways that tweets are going to play are really nice on BLN if you want to get clicks.” And after BLN reported that he did in fact say “defund the police,” a campaign spokesperson told the outlet that El-Sayed’s “perspective has become more nuanced” since 2020.

When opponents and media dig up past comments, Neidhardt says he tells his candidates to keep their eyes on the ball, “and the ball is pocketbook politics, it’s not whoever is looking most proper for the Washington set.”

“They care about whether someone’s gonna fight for them,” Neidhardt said of voters.

That’s a philosophy mirrored in another progressive upstart in Wisconsin: gubernatorial candidate Francesca Hong — a democratic socialist state representative that has faced similar critiques over a slew of social media posts calling to abolish the police. She is leading in most recent primary polls.

Alison Geyer, a spokesperson for Hong’s campaign, characterized the attention her posts have received as distractions from her otherwise popular slate of policies while acknowledging the blowback certain slogans can inspire without additional context.

Geyer said Hong “does not regret speaking out” amid a nationwide reckoning over police violence and racial injustice but acknowledged how slogans are “imperfect tools” that can’t always capture the full nuance of policy positions.

Still, problematic social media posts have bogged down some candidates — particularly when they go beyond far-left policy proposals to more personal controversies. Since-deleted posts authored by Maine Democrat Graham Platner, in which he said victims of sexual assault should “take some responsibility” and that many white rural Americans “actually are” racist and unintelligent, provide a picture of which past comments can severely hurt a political campaign.

Repeated scandals about Platner’s posts, in addition to the Nazi-aligned Totenkopf emblem tattooed to his chest — which he denied knowing the symbolism of — and reports of concerning behavior with former partners, now appear to some Democrats as a warning sign the party should have heeded before Maine’s June primary. Platner ended his campaign this week following Blue Light News’s reporting that an ex-girlfriend said he sexually assaulted her.

Platner has called that allegation false.

Still, progressives’ primary opponents — let alone the Republicans they hope to face in November — believe their outwardly nonchalant attitudes toward their past posts will haunt them. Spokespeople for three of Hong’s opponents in Wisconsin panned her posts, with opponent Joel Brennan saying “I don’t think there are three words that have done more damage to Democrats in the last decade than ‘defund the police.’”

“If we spend this fall defending those words, I’m afraid we lose,” continued the statement from Brennan, who trails Hong and other frontrunners in the polls.

Michigan Republicans, meanwhile, are salivating at the opportunity to run against El-Sayed. Presumptive Republican Senate nominee and former Rep. Mike Rogers said in a statement that “hide and deflect all he wants, Michiganders see Abdul and the Democrats for how out-of-touch they really are.”

And Arik Wolk, spokesperson for primary opponent Rep. Haley Stevens (D-Mich.), said that Republicans know El-Sayed “has real liabilities as a candidate” and accused Republicans of “spending money to ‘boost’ his campaign.”

El-Sayed has gotten a taste of what Republican opposition may look like if he wins the primary. In late June, the National Republican Senatorial Committee unveiled a new attack ad calling El-Sayed “too radical for Michigan.” El-Sayed has coyly responded to such charges that, in his telling, explain exactly why people should vote for him.

But taking that line of defense when it comes to attacks surrounding a candidate’s supposed extremeness can potentially backfire, said Kate deGruyter, the spokesperson for the center-left Third Way.

“Republicans are going to try to weaponize any evidence they have to paint a Democrat as a radical, and it sure helps them out when our candidates are confidently saying those things out loud on camera,” deGruyter said.

Politics

Poll: Politics shapes patriotism, from the US to the UK

Published

6 minutes ago

July 11, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

What does it mean to be patriotic? It depends on a country’s politics.

Pride in one’s country is itself relatively common, according to new results from an international edition of The Blue Light News Poll: Majorities of adults across the United States, United Kingdom, Spain, Canada, France and Germany all say they are proud of their country.

But that pride looks different in each country. Expressions of patriotism are shaped by a nation’s history and politics. And in a complex political moment when voters’ relationship with each other, their political parties and their countries continues to shift — and nationalist populist movements continue to rise, claiming patriotism as their own — what it means to be patriotic is evolving.

In America, the flag has become a defining feature of national pride, a symbol increasingly claimed by Donald Trump’s MAGA movement. In Canada, people find pride in their political leaders as they seek to counter Washington’s influence. And in Germany, the country’s Nazi history continues to loom over current debates about nationalism.

The survey, conducted by the independent London-based firm Public First, underscores how cultural and political debates shape subtle differences in patriotism across six major democracies of the West.

Tensions over immigration and culture have roiled Europe and the U.S., with right-wing parties often making national identity central to their political message. The symbols and rituals of patriotism also distinguish countries from one another — from debates over what students are taught in schools and whether they should be required to sing the national anthem, to differences in displays of the flag.

Here’s what stands out for each country.

Pluralities of adults in other countries — and 49 percent of Americans — say the U.S. has the most patriotic citizens. That’s partly because of its overt displays of patriotism, with Americans historically placing national flags on their lawns and outside restaurants and businesses, and leaders frequently wearing flag paraphernalia.

That embrace of the flag stands out. The U.S. flag has long been a revered symbol in the country, and most Americans (51 percent) say they own the national flag. That’s significantly more than adults in the other countries — for instance, just 22 percent of U.K. adults say they own a Union Jack and just 27 percent in France say they own a flag.

Still, the American flag has become somewhat partisan.

Trump and his MAGA movement have made patriotism and nationalism central to Republican politics, and more than 70 percent of his 2024 voters say they own an American flag. Just 44 percent of those who backed former Vice President Kamala Harris say the same. Trump voters are also more likely (52 percent) than Harris voters (33 percent) to say that displaying a national flag outside your house is considered an act of patriotism.

Near-majorities of adults in the U.S., the U.K., France, Spain and Canada say their country should be proud of its history. Germany is the outlier, due to its Nazi past.

Just 24 percent of Germans say the country should be proud of its history. A majority — 53 percent — say the country should neither be proud nor ashamed. Still, only 14 percent say Germany should be ashamed, and a 61 percent majority say they feel the country has “done enough to apologize for the bad things it did in the past” — potentially helping explain why most Germans say they feel neutral of the country’s history.

Politicians from the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party have argued that the country should reclaim a sense of national pride, including by reshaping childhood education so it involves “less Hitler,” as one version of a manifesto published by a regional branch of the party put it. Forty-one percent of voters who plan to back AfD in future elections say Germany should be proud of its history — more than double the number of total adults who say the same.

While such ideas were once considered politically fringe in Germany, they have increasingly moved into the mainstream. The AfD is in first place in national polls, in front of German Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s conservatives, and it’s even further ahead in two eastern states in which regional elections are set for September.

Amid a growing anti-incumbency backlash across the West, Canada stands out.

When asked what makes them most ashamed of their country, just 22 percent of Canadians pointed to their leaders — significantly lower than the 40 percent of Americans, 45 percent of Brits, 52 percent of the French, 43 percent of Germans and 50 percent of Spaniards.

There’s a reason for their more positive outlook on the government. Aided by Trump’s trade war and what have become routine threats to turn Canada into the “51st state,” Mark Carney, a rookie politician, managed to revive Canada’s Liberal Party and win office in April 2025 with promises to stand up to Washington while transforming the oil-rich country into an energy superpower. Carney is even popular in Western Canada — traditionally Conservative territory — thanks to pipeline promises and his rollback of Justin Trudeau-era climate policy. A recent Leger poll showed he’s more popular than any other politician in Quebec.

While the majority of adults across the European countries surveyed expressed national pride, Spaniards are on a different level. A 52 percent majority pick Spain as the best place to live, while most adults in the U.K. and France pick other countries over their own.

That showed up when we asked about pride in nationality, too: A strong 76 percent majority of adults say they are proud to be Spanish, compared with the 68 percent who are proud to be British, 71 percent who are proud to be French and 60 percent who are proud to be German.

In Spain, national pride goes beyond its politics — which has been and is still somewhat tumultuous. Spaniards are reckoning with the echoes of Francisco Franco’s decades-long dictatorship, competing pro-independence movements in regions like Catalonia and the Basque Country, and an ongoing deep dissatisfaction with the way their country is being run.

And still, they exhibit a more optimistic sense of national pride than their European counterparts, partly because of the country’s status on the world stage, through its athletic success as well as its reputation as a tourism and culture hub.

France’s national anthem, the Marseillaise, is a revered national symbol that dates back to the French Revolution.

Most adults in France, 57 percent, say children should be made to sing the national anthem in school, a view that cuts across partisan lines but is most popular among the far-right National Rally (74 percent) and the centrist Ensemble party (67 percent). Meanwhile, just 42 percent of U.K. adults, 32 percent of German adults and 26 percent in Spain say the same.

More broadly, just like the kneeling protests in the NFL provoked outrage among American conservatives, jeering and booing as a form of protest during the French national anthem at sporting events usually stokes controversy — though in France, the furor is often from across the political spectrum.

Ten years after Brexit initiated, an effort to take back control of the U.K., The Blue Light News Poll suggests British attitudes toward patriotism remain somewhat pessimistic — and broadly aligned with those elsewhere in Europe.

A 46 percent plurality of adults in the U.K. say “you can’t say you’re proud to be British anymore without being judged,” about on par with the share who say the same in other European countries. Though similar shares of U.K., French and Spanish adults say their countries should be proud of their histories, similar shares of them — and German adults — also say they’re ashamed of their leaders now.

The findings suggest that while Brexit reshaped Britain’s relationship with the European Union, whether it fundamentally changed the country’s sense of national identity is more complex. Other studies have revealed a multi-year decline in U.K. adults taking pride in the country’s achievements.

Blue Light News’s Tim Ross, Sue Allan, Joshua Berlinger, James Agelos and Aitor Hernández-Morales contributed to this report.

Politics

Norway’s other World Cup campaign: Getting Israel kicked out of soccer

Published

21 minutes ago

July 11, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

Norway stands out among the historic European powers that dominate what remains of the World Cup. It has the skimpiest soccer heritage of the bunch — with a 28-year break since its last visit to the tournament — and the strongest political agenda: a continued fight to boot Israel from international soccer.

Norway’s trip to this World Cup ran through Israel, which has competed for one of Europe’s tournament slots since 1994, when boycotts from Arab and Muslim countries made it impossible for the Middle Eastern country to continue competing in the Asian Football Confederation.

When the two countries faced off in Oslo last October in a qualifying match, the Norwegian Football Federation announced that all proceeds would be donated to relief aid in Gaza. Palestinian flags, keffiyehs paired with viking hats and a massive “Let Children Live” banner swept the stands. Fans booed the playing of Israel’s national anthem.

But the Norwegian federation’s primary instrument is not advocacy from its team or fan base, but institutional pressure through federation standing and procedural respectability — an instinct reflecting the nation’s overall style and befitting its disproportionately large role at the United Nations.

Norway has been in the middle of Middle Eastern politics for a while. In 1978, the Camp David Accords set Israel on course to surrender the Sinai Peninsula and its oil fields, just before the Iranian Revolution upended regional energy politics. The United States pressed Norway to supply oil to Israel, which it did only after clearing the idea with Palestine Liberation Organization Chair Yasser Arafat, who saw the value of a Scandinavian back channel to Israeli leaders.

Norway’s tact turned itself into a distinctive intermediary: a small, energy-rich state with few Middle East ambitions of its own, clout in Washington, trust among Israelis and rapport with Palestinians. In the 1990s, the country hosted the negotiations that generated the Oslo Accords, the most significant diplomatic breakthrough toward a lasting peace. As talks failed and Israel’s occupation of Gaza and the West Bank deepened over the early 2000s, Norway pulled back from Israel.

Now Norway has brought that perspective to soccer’s governing bodies, arguing that Russia’s exclusion from the sport after its invasion of Ukraine presents a double standard that should be applied equally to Israel. The latest push for Israel’s suspension from FIFA began in 2024 by the Palestinian Football Association. It is backed by Arab and Asian football bodies, which cite atrocities in Gaza, discrimination against Arab athletes and Israel’s inclusion of football clubs that operate in illegal West Bank settlements.

Norwegian support advances the cause into the soccer’s mainstream, lending a weight and legitimacy absent among other European countries whose federations have taken a hard line against Israeli involvement. Türkiye’s position can be dismissed as predictably partisan on religious grounds, while Ireland — which has formally introduced a resolution to expel Israel and has considered boycotting matches against the country — is absent from this World Cup.

The driver of Norway’s political agenda is former national team star Lise Klaveness, a lawyer who serves on the executive committee of European confederation UEFA. She has been a voice for Nordic progressive politics within international soccer: In early 2022, Klaveness spoke to FIFA Congress about human rights, LGBTQ+ safety and transparency concerns in Qatar.

Players have been more circumspect than their leadership, but far from silent. Captain Martin Ødegaard said in early 2025 that the situation in Gaza — which that fall was subject to a peace deal negotiated in part by the United States — was “a background you can’t ignore” when playing Israel. The team’s leading goal-scorer, striker Erling Haaland, has engaged more obliquely with the subject but has not ignored it: A 2023 social media post mourned innocent children dying as attacks escalated on Gaza, and clips circulated of a 2025 video call Haaland held with a freed Israeli hostage.

Politics

Why FIFA is putting down roots in Miami

Published

36 minutes ago

July 11, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

When the men’s World Cup winds down next week, FIFA isn’t packing it all up and heading back to Zurich.

Instead, the global soccer governing body will keep open the Miami office that it has used as an American political headquarters as it looks to expand its presence in the western hemisphere.

The strategy marks a significant shift in how FIFA has approached major tournaments. Rather than relying on a local organizing structure that dissolves after the final whistle, officials say the organization intends to retain the institutional knowledge assembled in South Florida and deploy it for the next wave of competitions.

“The whole idea was to bring 50 people from Zurich, who have the necessary experience and breadth who’ve done other World Cups and they became the nucleus of Miami and they hired people,” a senior FIFA adviser, granted anonymity to describe internal strategy, said earlier this year. “That’s a model that we intend to use for future World Cups.”

FIFA first opened its Miami office in 2023, but the operation has since ballooned into 700-plus full-time staff. During the tournament, it has functioned as organization’s nerve center and base for senior officials, including FIFA Secretary General Heimo Schirgi.

The Miami team will soon pivot toward FIFA’s next slate of marquee events. Brazil will host the Women’s World Cup next year, and FIFA will help to manage the soccer portion of the LA28 Olympics, which will include qualifying matches across the United States. And while Spain, Portugal and Morocco will serve as the primary hosts of the 2030 men’s World Cup, Uruguay, Argentina and Paraguay will each stage one opening match to commemorate the tournament’s centennial.

Just a year later, the United States is expected to host the 2031 women’s World Cup, giving FIFA another major event on American soil.

The organization hopes the staff, relationships and expertise developed during the largest World Cup in history can become a lasting asset as North America increasingly becomes one of the sport’s most important markets.