this post was submitted on 22 Oct 2026
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US intelligence officials baffled that politician who isn't a venal sex pest was somehow allowed to hold power.
Unironically yes; when you get to that level of power in America (if you're the sort who WOULD get to that level of power), neither you nor the people you rub elbows with have any recognizable morals; it will genuinely baffle you to meet people who legitimately have morals; not feel guilty mind you, just genuinely confused. These are people who see oppressed populations and oppressor allies and see a puzzle.
The Dollop just did a couple of episodes on how LA mayor Karen Bass started out as a community organizer who accomplished some great things, and then got into politics and spent a couple of terms in the house and came out the other side as a creature of the establishment. If you show up with morals, they make sure you toss them out.
Kind of like how good cops inevitably either stop being good or stop being cops.
I remember a quote along the lines of "you won't change the system from within, but it will change you."
Similar to "can't fight city hall"
reminds me of the first election after the counterrevolution in hungary, so 1990. a lot of starry-eyed idealists (with real morals) got elected and got filtered out or demoralized over the first 4 year cycle. by the second, it was purely just the slimy fucks getting elected.
Systems
I think most people with that arc were cynical and self-serving in their "community organizing" phase. Careerists, basically, gathering credentials and connections. There are a lot of people like that in "leftist" groups and unions and they are probably the most dangerous people in those groups, as anything disrupting their work (like a reasonable deliberation on what projects to focus on) threatens their personal trajectory. So they will fight, often in unprincipled ways, to keep that planned trajectory.