Andrew Sullivan: Dems Have Gone on ‘Massive Left-Wing Crusade,’ Especially on CRT

During an interview aired on Friday’s edition of PBS’ “Firing Line,” writer Andrew Sullivan argued that Tuesday’s election results show “Democrats have overread what they thought as their mandate” in favor of “a massive left-wing crusade, and that’s especially true when it came to something like schools, where people are aware that a whole new agenda has been introduced through the educational establishment around Critical Race Theory.”

Sullivan said, “I think it tells us that the Democrats have overread what they thought as their mandate. They have gone full bore on every part of their left agenda, as it were, and not given much of an indication of tacking to the center, which is what I think a lot of people who voted for Biden, like me, wanted. We wanted to get rid of Trump, but we did not want to replace him with a massive left-wing crusade, and that’s especially true when it came to something like schools, where people are aware that a whole new agenda has been introduced through the educational establishment around Critical Race Theory. And some of us have been trying to warn the Democrats about this for quite a while that they’ve been overplaying their hand dramatically on these cultural issues and they need to get in touch with reality. And the great thing about democracy is the voters just put the Democrats back in touch with some kind of reality.”

He also stated that CRT “should be taught. I mean, not in kindergarten. But at some point in education, yes, we should have it discussed. But we should also have other views discussed as rivals to that particular position. And what’s happened is that it’s been presented as the truth, the real truth, and it is happening. When the Democrats simply say in response, it’s not happening, you’re wrong, they’re going to miss a huge amount that’s going on out there and they’re losing these elections for a very good reason. They’re not listening to people. They’re listening to their own activists in ways that [are] destroying their potential to rescue this country from a very emboldened, anti-democratic far right.”

Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett