The Progressive Populists Make Their Case

**Faiz Shakir** (0:00)
There's a sense of greed and exploitation that is abound in our society, manifested by Trump and not exclusively him, by, if anyone's flown on an airline recently, if anyone's tried to buy a ticket online recently, if you try, you know, to just get a rental car. I mean, any damn thing you want to do in society, through the concentrations of wealth and power, have made life difficult, hard, and to make you feel like you're a pawn, you're suffering your economic dignity, your freedom just doesn't matter to us. We've got the money, you've got nothing. And as there is all around us in society, you sense that this sense of greed that exists, the sense of exploitation that exists starts to affect human relationship. We do not want that as a society. We want a sense of solidarity, that my life is better when your life is better. But we also want to change a culture that respects people who may not have a college degree. There's respect and dignity in what you do to improve America that I think is being lost.

**Jon Favreau** (1:07)
I'm Jon Favreau. It was a big week for the ongoing debate over the future of the Democratic Party. Abdul El-Sayed's primary win in Michigan will now be the most significant test of the left's political theory that progressive populist candidates are as electable, if not more electable, than more moderate center-left candidates. A few weeks ago on the Pod Save America Sunday show, I talked to Matt Iglesias to get the center-left perspective on what Democrats should do to retake power in 2026 and 2028 So this week, I wanted to talk to Faiz, who I think is one of the smartest political strategists out there and can articulate the left's theory of the case better than just about anyone. For those who don't know him, Faiz was the campaign manager for Bernie's 2020 presidential campaign and still serves as a senior advisor to the senator today. He's worked in the offices of Speaker Pelosi, Senator Harry Reid, and, as I mentioned, founded More Perfect Union, the non-profit news organization known for its incredible video coverage of labor issues, corporate greed, and most recently, data centers. And we'll talk about that as well. I thought Faiz could offer a perspective on how the progressive movement has evolved in the decade since Bernie's 2016 presidential campaign, what it will take for Abdul to win the general election in a purple state like Michigan, and what role the DSA has played, both positive and negative, in the movement's successes.
I also wanted to talk to him about data centers, an issue that More Perfect Union began covering in detail over a year ago, long before they became the defining issue of many of the nation's most contentious Democratic primaries. It was a great conversation, and we'll get to it in a moment. But before we do, please consider becoming a paying subscriber to Friends of the Pod. Subscribers get access to ad-free episodes of this show, as well as ad-free episodes of all your favorite Crooked Media podcasts, access to our subscriber-only newsletters, and episodes of special behind-the-wall paywall shows like Polar Coaster, Pod Save America, Only Friends and Terminally Online. Plus, subscribers get special discount prices on tickets to this year's CrookedCon, where smart strategists like Faiz will be joining us to make sense of the 2026 midterm results and to kick off the 2028 Presidential Primary. So head on over to crookedcon.com to get tickets to CrookedCon and become a friend of the pod. All right, here's Faiz Shakir.
Faiz, welcome to the show.

**Faiz Shakir** (3:25)
Hi Jon, always good to see you.

**Jon Favreau** (3:28)
I talked to Bernie for Pod Save America this week, but I thought I'd have you on to get into the nitty gritty of Democratic Party strategy since you're one of my favorite people to do that with. I also want to talk about your wildly successful media venture, More Perfect Union.
But let's start with what has been a huge week for the left, or progressives, or populists. What term do you prefer? I never know how to describe the movement.

**Faiz Shakir** (3:54)
If I were running for office, which I am not, I would be calling myself a progressive populist. But I would welcome all the terms that other people have used.

**Jon Favreau** (4:03)
Okay, good. All right. So in Michigan, Bernie endorsed house candidates. Will Lawrence, Donovan McKinney won their respective primaries. Of course, our friend Abdul El-Sayed won the Senate primary, which has led to no small amount of consternation among more moderate Democrats and establishment types.
The consensus seems to be, yes, Abdul can beat Mike Rogers, but the race is much harder now. Why is that wrong?