Summary
Progressive Democrats accused Donald Trump and Elon Musk of orchestrating a “constitutional crisis” after Musk moved to shut down USAID and gained access to a federal payment system.
Lawmakers, blocked from entering USAID’s headquarters, condemned Trump for granting Musk unchecked power over government functions.
Senator Elizabeth Warren warned that Musk’s involvement could trigger financial instability, while Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez called it a “plutocratic coup.”
Yes, because of First Past The Post voting.
Say there’s a region that’s 60% left-leaning and 40% right-leaning. If the far left splits off from the moderate left, you get 30% far left, 30% moderate left, and 40% right-leaning. The winner in a FPTP election is the party with the most votes. Even though 60% of the voters are still left-leaning, the election will go to the right-leaning party with 40% of the votes. Their 40% beats either of the parties with 30% of the vote.
Canada experienced this phenomenon in the 1993 federal election. The conservatives previously had a majority, but there was a split, and the Reform Party split from the Progressive Conservative party. There were almost as many right-leaning voters as before, but the Liberals won a huge victory. Because of the vote split, a lot of conservative ridings ended up electing a Liberal MP.
Basically, if you care about progressive politics, get rid of First Past The Post. Only once it’s gone should you consider splitting the party. Splitting the party while FPTP is in place is just handing victory to the GOP.