It seems that former President Barack Obama has become the champion of moderation in the Democratic Party. Lately, he has made several remarks criticizing the “woke” culture of the hard left and warning the Democrats against embracing the socialist wing of the party. But there might be another dimension to the conflict between these moderate and radical factions.

Obama vs Sanders?

Barack Obama

Politico Magazine claims that the former president said in private that he would speak out publicly against Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) if the socialist seemed likely to win the nomination. One of the former president’s spokespersons, however, stated that Obama would back whichever Democratic candidate secured the nomination.

Up until recently, Obama has refrained from commenting on the 2020 primary. But as 2020 inches closer, he has decided to make his opinions known, and it is clear he is concerned about the party’s move towards the hard left and has made his feelings known on the matter. But what does Obama see that concerns him so? Is it possible that the hard left might resemble a tendency that even he would fear?

Are the Hard Left Russian Puppets?

One of the progressive left’s favorite propaganda points has been to paint President Donald Trump as a puppet of the Russian government. Indeed, despite the dismal failure to convince the American public that the president collaborated with the Kremlin to win the 2016 election, they are still trying to push the “Trump is Putin’s lackey” argument.

Yes, their insistence that Trump is a Russian stooge is laughable and has been roundly disproved by special counsel Robert Mueller – who was recruited to confirm the narrative rather than debunk it. But the left has not given up on making this label stick.

But why?

Perhaps the far-left element of the Democratic Party wishes to obscure their similarities to President Vladimir Putin’s Russia? It wouldn’t be a surprise; many of the accusations they use against their political opponents seem designed to cover up their own shortcomings.

It would be easy to focus on Sanders, America’s favorite socialist uncle. But it seems obvious that he is only the most prominent member of the far-left element in the Democratic Party, and if one were to look closer, they could easily see that these folks resemble Putin far more than Trump could at his most statist.

Is President Trump attempting to silence speech criticizing his party? No. It is the hard left trying to deplatform conservatives on alternative media and using the government to curtail freedom of expression.

Has President Trump pushed for greater government control over the means of production? He hasn’t. But the progressive left has railed against his love of deregulation of business. It’s exactly what Russia would fear, isn’t it?

So who is Russia’s true lackey, then? Not the president, who has taken actions that would not exactly please the Kremlin. But perhaps it is those who favor a more intrusive government that works to make Washington more like Moscow. They express outrage at Russia’s attempt to interfere in the 2016 election. But in reality, the far left would rather our government be more like the Soviet Union, the government that created Putin.

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Read more from Jeff Charles.