His voice raised in a British lilt, Robinson announces, “One of the things alt-right guys are good at is making all these weird, young, disaffected teens feel like they’re the cool ones and the left side is the boring side. We need to have that kind of thing.”
Then Robinson becomes expansive, his spoon arm swinging urgently, describing his wish for the new left in the wake of Donald Trump’s presidency. “We are the people you want to be around, we’re the fun people, we’re the cool people, the people who make life better!” he exclaims.
A cynic might suggest that signaling an image of cool sophistication is the only thing the left has going for it anymore — that, and Ghost Dancing for the return of the Great Welfare State and the disappearance of the neoliberals. Well, when you’re lacking in substantial ideas, you might as well play up aesthetics and image. Nothing says fun, cool and forward-looking like posing for a photo next to a miniature bust of Marx, if you ask me.