Blah blah electoralism, don’t treat politicians as heroes, I get it. But you know the more serious chuds planned to capture and probably execute any recognizable/non-white Democrat they could. And tbh it would be emotionally devastating. And they wouldn’t become martyrs for anything decent, in all likelihood.
Bernie & Ilhan are functionally social democrats, unlike most of us here. But I think for most of us we've critically supported them & social democracy & soft anti-imperialism (very soft) as the only half decent thing that could feasibly achieve in this country. Also worth noting the spotlight they've given socialism. Bernie using the word "democratic socialist" may have watered down how most people think of socialism, but I'd argue it's also let a lot of people see beyond liberalism for the first time. That's what happened with me, and I'm sure tons of people on here!
So no, we shouldn't consider them our leaders. But given that they are the only group of people we critically support in government, of course it'd be incredibly sad. And despite me not being a social democrat, I do have a strong emotional connection to them and their socdem project.
If Gloria La Riva can critically support Bernie, let us also do so without being worried about being called libs!