"political or ideological battle" and "shallow dismissals" seem most plausible, but neither really fits. It's not as if the entirety of his comment was "more dumb leftist shit". There was more substance to his comment.
???
Largest scale:
USSR North Korea Cuba Recent entry: Venezuela Recent entry: South Africa
Smaller:
https://www.economist.com/news/business/21589469-collapse-sp...
Even smaller:
https://munchies.vice.com/en_us/article/gvkqnm/marxist-vegan...