I was thinking more of U.S. leftists who don't support other U.S. leftists who start to gain mainstream influence or power. After all, that's a place where U.S. leftists might reasonably have some impact. One thing this article doesn't touch on, that should be part of any discussion about U.S. leftists and China, is that our opinions have zero effect on reality (whatever those opinions may be). If every single U.S. leftist was united in opposition to China or in support of China, it would make no difference to China.

With respect to "not trying," I think a valid criticism of small-scale political activity (mutual aid networks, stopping sweeps of homeless camps) is that it's hard to see how that will translate into the type of mainstream influence/power leftists need to address big problems like climate change, imperialism, or mass incarceration. I wouldn't (and didn't) say that type of small-scale activity is useless, but I do think it's often over-praised because it's "pure," while mainstream efforts are often snubbed because they fail to live up to some idealistic standard. Ideally, leftists would do both -- they'd organize those mutual aid networks, but also support larger, more mainstream efforts to take steps in the right direction. We should see these as complementary strategies.