Anymore? Sounds like you're paying too much attention to reactionary internet celebs. Either that or you're being bullied into your "How I left the Left" phase.
At the bold? I dunno if you mean "You're watching too much Destiny" or "Don't hold all leftists responsible for the crazies you're seeing on youtube politics streams". And if by bullied you mean "I've been fighting terrorist apologia and veiled anti semitism from leftists for over half a year"? Then yeah. Though I'll never leave the left. I'll just bully and ostracize the worse parts of it. Gatekeeping is a good thing.
What would the downside be? Campaign ideas that might actually be pushed in office? Maybe that's naivete on my part but... I mean. What's the negative? Too much emphasis on social programs? Actually using the might of the government to protect individual rights instead of expecting neofascists to not be neofascists? Not actively funding despots and genocide? Idk, seems worth trying at least once.
While these aren't guaranteed to happen, the behaviors and desires of the leftists I've been in contact with leads me to believe these are things that they would push for via a Leftist president: Campaign ideas that will NEVER be passed in office, like a strong increase in gun control, UBI or 20 dollar or more minimum wage. A stark increase in anti-semitism disguised as anti-Zionism. A MAGA style radical authoritarian shift in favor of deplatforming and silencing of dissenting ideas in the media. A crippling inability to criticize Islam. Potentially enthusiastic employment of DIY HRT for trans youths who want to experiment without the help of trained medical professionals or the input of their parents (the Keffals scandal in case you forgot). Not illegal, but fucking shitty and is grooming-adjacent, the thing that conservatives accuse anyone that's pro LGBTQ of being anyway.
And while you could say I'm just picking out the most fringe of policy desires amongst the left that you would find in the furthest corners of the internet, I wanna remind you that Progressive Victory is still a thing... and Vaush still works for them. You know, the guy who got caught with his Lolicon horse bestiality porn folder open on stream? And Keffals worked for them, the Catboy Ranch DIY HRT child groomer that scammed her chat out of like 100k dollars and claimed it was for help with a court case, but was using it to feed her coke addiction? And Nominal Naomi, the transwoman who went viral for breast feeding her kid on TikTok (which isn't technically bad, its just optically bad for normies to see if they dont want swing voters and moderates to think they're fucking insane). Or Doe, the deergender girl who goes by It/Its pronouns (not officially working for them, but helping Vaush with the canvassing)?
Progressives only recently got away form the Ze/Zer stuff. My point with all of that was to show that the crazies aren't just online anymore. They're mobilizing. They're canvassing. They're gaining attention.
To be clear, my ideal America is one similar to the Nordic countries which is further left of center. All of that can be accomplished without going full-on radical leftist. IMO.
