Justin Cross

Every faction of the Democratic Party was at Crooked Con - moderate and leftist politicians, strategists and policy wonks from Fight Agency and Majority Dems and DSA and Blue Dogs and Bernie Dogs and JStreet and the Bulwark and on and on. People debated and disagreed. No one was nasty to each other in person. No one accused anyone of being motivated by audience or profit or donors like they do here every day. People at opposite ends of the spectrum were friendly and respectful to each other. I had great panels with Josh Shapiro and Melat Kiros and Mitch Landrieu and Chris Van Hollen and Sarah McBride and they were all super nice to each other. And that was just me! Everyone had experiences like that. It is truly disorienting to then take a scroll through this platform and see how various people’s comments and views are distorted through the funhouse mirror of the algorithm and clipping ecosystem. Not meant to shame or moralize - I’ve participated in this myself way too many times. But even though social media doesn’t reflect reality, it certainly shapes it. And, just for Dems, if we spend the ‘28 primary making our judgments based on the petty personal fights some people on here haven’t been able to get past for the last decade, we are doing ourselves and our eventual nominee a great disservice. Will try hard to practice what I preach. May also mute a whole bunch of people who just can’t seem to be constructive. And probably best to take X off my phone again and just use it on desktop. Anyway, deepest apologies for the Ackman-length tweet. Loved Crooked Con, deeply grateful for everyone who came, incredibly proud of our team and our volunteers and everyone who does the real work of persuasion and organizing every day.