The former is distraction for the others. The left in USA has been convinced (or convinced itself) that identity politics is more important than human rights.
I disagree. I think we had torture so that a President could look tough on National Security as a re-election strategy. Not-torturing people and "identity politics" are not mutually exclusive, there is no reason that we couldn't have both. "Identity politics" is fundamentally about human liberty and the dignity of the individual, a.k.a. individualism, which is also the same moral foundation that most arguments against torture rest on. Advancing the rights of the individual advances the case against torture.
Is it no wonder that the police in USA murder black people, when the state also does so?
If you say they put X above Y, I feel like you should quantify that with something.
Today’s left are more right than yesterday’s right.
That said, at the local and house level there is an increase in left candidates getting elected. We'll see where that goes.
On what grounds? AOC, like Sanders, advocates for centrist policies like those in the UK. AOC is a left leaning centrist. The rhetoric in the US does label her and Sanders extreme left but that’s evidence in favour of my point - there is no left in the USA.
Who is the USA’s version of John McDonnell telling us all that there’s a lot to learn from Das Kapital?
GP is rightfully pointing out that political discourse is far often centered on identity politics to the exclusion of more important topics such as human rights.
No one is saying that one precludes the other except you.