The Left-Right Alliance Pipe Dream Will Never Die
A prolonged conflict with Iran could shift much of the Online Right to the Left.
The Iran War rages on with no clear end in sight. President Trump’s strikes are unpopular with most of the public, but “MAGA Republicans” overwhelmingly support them. There’s little dissension within the GOP establishment over the intervention, despite the war drawing unprecedented hostility from conservative influencers.
Feeling betrayed by Trump over Iran, parts of the Right now want to ally with the Left. Some view it as a temporary measure to punish conservatives for their apparent treachery. Others view it as a way to accelerate the collapse of the “system.” And some even think they can make a grand alliance with the Left against the establishment. Whatever reason, the Iran conflict pushes parts of the Online Right to see the Left as its friend rather than the GOP.
This isn’t a new idea. It often comes up during disillusionment with the rest of the Right. The grass always seems greener on the left-side in these daydreams. While frequently proposed, it was never seriously pursued because the Left hates “racism,” “xenophobia,” and whiteness more than they care about foreign policy or economic populism. There was never an opening for parts of the Right to work with the Left.
But there could be one today, it just wouldn’t be an alliance. The new media environment allows the Right to have a far bigger voice than it did a decade ago. Social media is awash with right-wing talking points and memes. It would be for the Left’s benefit to use this sphere to its advantage. Convincing the Online Right to turn on MAGA and support the Left would be a serious coup, and it wouldn’t even take any real concessions. All Democrats have to do is be mildly critical of Israel and say they believe in borders. That would be enough to convince parts of the Online Right that it’s time to back the Left.
There is a big tent populism emerging online. It’s not much concerned with identitarianism. It’s primarily fixated on Israel, conspiracy theories, pedophile cabals, and the evil establishment. It’s inclusive and has wide appeal, particularly among the young. It can also seem to own the rivals of various right-wingers, further boosting its charm. Democrats seem eager to entertain it with evocations of the “Epstein class” and criticisms of Israel.
I’ve long argued that there’s a good chance a sizable chunk of the Online Right will back the Democratic nominee in 2028. That prediction looks better and better by the day.
The OR stands at a crossroads. It can continue its merging with the conservative movement, make it more identitarian, and wield significant influence over the American Right. Or it can declare MAGA the enemy, work with the Left, and pretend a Democratic president will be more BASED than Trump because he (or she) said they have issues with Israel. It’s a matter of discernment and deciding what issues matter more. If the identity issues matter more, it’s obvious the conservative path makes sense. If Israel matters above all else, then the mythical left-right alliance will be adopted.
This will be the divide within the Online Right in the coming years.
Allying with the Left has gained attention due to disillusionment with Trump. It’s understood America is a two-party system. A BASED third party won’t be on the ballot for 2028. Your only options are the Republicans or Democrats. These limited options explain the dream of a leftist alliance. If one feels the Right is too corrupt to save or accomplish what you primarily care about, then maybe supporting the Left makes sense.
But it is curious this rosy-eyed view of the Left emerges alongside an extremely critical view of the Right. The administration reducing legal immigration, effectively ending new illegal immigration, curbing affirmative action, banning DEI, addressing anti-white racism, and granting refugee status to white Afrikaners is all dismissed as crumbs. Meanwhile, if Gavin Newsom merely says we need a border or Israel is an apartheid state, it’s treated as a revolutionary act. That’s something real, unlike anything Trump is doing. Never mind that there are no actions to go along with these statements and Governor Newsom undermines immigration enforcement in California. The need to believe Newsom and Democrats are better than Republicans outweighs actual facts.
Some right-wingers plead with the Democrats to embrace immigration restriction but that’s never going to happen. The party reviving “abolish ICE” is not going to reduce migration. As seen with Biden, they will dramatically increase the numbers once they gain power again. Democrats will also promise to restore DEI, protect affirmative action, consider reparations, force Big Tech to censor more, and declare “white nationalism” a domestic terror threat if they return to the White House. There will be nothing for right-wingers, except maybe vague promises of reassessing America’s relationship with Israel. But this isn’t even definite. It’s far more likely the next Democratic president signs an executive order to “explore” reparations than makes an effort to defund Israel.
Joe Biden didn’t do a damn thing about Israel while in office. His admin would shake its head at Israel’s actions in the Gaza war, but that’s it.
Democrats don’t really need these disgruntled right-wingers. The Online Right can’t offer votes, money, or organized activists. It would in fact hurt Democrats to become the choice of “racists.” Democrats just need the Online Right to turn on the GOP and ensure young people don’t see pro-Republican content like they did in 2024. That’s it, and much of the Online Right, Rumblesphere, and broadcasters are already on this page.
In any case, Democrats already have the support of these people simply by being somewhat critical of Israel, a noncommittal pledge to border security, and not being the GOP. They don’t need to offer anything else.
Rather than changing the Left, the Online Right would transform itself through this arrangement. To back the Democrats, the identity issues would have to be demoted. All that would matter is Israel and hurting Republicans.
Paleocons experienced a similar transformation in the George W. Bush era. Their main issue became the Iraq war. Everything else was put aside to focus on this matter. This resulted in a number of paleocons abandoning concerns with immigration and identity issues to fixate on allying with the Left against foreign intervention. Some paleocons even praised immigration for bringing natural anti-interventionists to America. The paleocon abandonment of the identity issues further marginalized the movement and left them ill-equipped to deal with the emergence of Trump in 2016.
Whatever happens in the 2026 and 2028 elections, it won’t be attributed to the Online Right turning on MAGA. It’s more likely to be blamed on Trump being too “far-right” rather than too moderate. A GOP loss will be a pyrrhic victory for the OR as it would aid the pre-Trump elements of conservatism in their attempt to regain power. Republicans could stop paying attention to the OR rather than listen to the shitposters more intently.
Barring a return to peak censorship (which is possible under Democrats), the Online Right would still have a prominent place on the internet. Many of the memes and phrases would still originate from this sphere. But if it loses its direct connection to conservatism, it would lose its political influence. It would act as a funhouse mirror of reality, allowing its participants the pretense of radicalism while real-world politics returns to its pre-Trump self. Podcasters can imagine revolution is just down the road while the political world debates tax cuts and the debt ceiling.
The only way the Online Right can influence real-world politics is through MAGAfied conservatism. The Left isn’t serious about an alliance and only wants to use the OR to destroy the opposition. Once in power, they’ll do the same terrible things they did under Biden and Obama–with additional motivation to use state power against the Right.
A left-right alliance is a myth that will never manifest in the real world. Any attempt to create one would result in the Right losing its political influence and identity.
https://www.highly-respected.com/p/the-left-right-alliance-pipe-dream