It’s a win-win for the current power system.

I also wish progressives realized they were being used as tools in this battle.

Oh, most do. This kind of vacuous PR nonsense is blatantly transparent and isn't really fooling anybody.

Those who are already on the "team" (i.e. - they identify as a member of the party but have no particular ideology of their own) may appear swayed, but usually this is just a bad faith effort on the part of party loyalists to stifle criticism from within.

Really fooled or not, the radical progressives have won the cultural war, no? TV anchors and politicians use racism and sexism to attack pretty much any opposing views. Case in point, WaPo(?) article said WSB folks were white supremacists/Trump supporters, never mind majority of them are actually supporters of Sanders.

Where is the voice of the people who are not really fooled?

we as a society will move on from it at some point. It's not really about winning the cultural war, it's about the elites manipulating the population and thus using the language du jour.

20-30 years ago it would have been about family values, christian values, and down with the gays. In 20-30 years it'll be something else, but what won't change is those in power stay in power.

I believe Lenin called such people "useful idiots".

They've been doing it to black people for decades. Swoop into inner cities and promise all sorts of welfare etc. get their vote and completely ignore them afterwards. Has it helped? It makes no sense to me that they believe an old rich white elite that's been part of the system they're calling racist for half a century is suddenly going to bring them out of poverty.

The hypocrisy of Harris/Biden to get up and declare the system corrupt... THEY ARE THE SYSTEM.

These are incredibly powerful magical spells to stop debate in its tracks. Few organizations in the US are immune. Doesn't matter whether it is a Facebook group, a University, a Trillion dollar corporation or the US Government. Debate can be stopped.

You can interpret anything as gaslighting. This sort of discussion rarely productive without concrete evidence. Maybe the wealthy are trying to burn Yellen's political capital because she's in favor of additional taxes. Maybe it's really corporations who are stirring up populist narratives because it gets less qualified candidates elected, who then need to turn to corporations for expertise.