Left Progressives Cool It on Green New Deal (Progressive Policy Institute)

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- May 13, 2026

“… the Green New Deal seems to have fallen to earth, borne down by the inexorable gravity of economic and political reality. Therein lies a cautionary tale for Democrats about the gulf that separates elite and popular opinion on climate change.”

“The Green New Deal’s bellyflop is no tragedy. It liberates Democrats to set aside utopian climate remedies and put U.S. energy policy on a more realistic and politically sustainable track.”

It did not begin with this week’s New York Times op-ed by Matthew Huber, “Democrats Don’t Have to Campaign on Climate Change Anymore.” Earlier this year in “The Green New Deal Crashes to Earth,” Will Marshall, founder and president of the “radically pragmatic” Progressive Policy Institute, called for a go-slow climate and energy policy.

But if the world is “on fire,” and “tipping points” are being reached or exceeded, Marshall’s message must be more than confusing. It is hard being green.

After describing the rapid rise of the Green New Deal and climate alarm, Marshall gets to the problem:

• “… the Green New Deal seems to have fallen to earth, borne down by the inexorable gravity of economic and political reality. Therein lies a cautionary tale for Democrats about the gulf that separates elite and popular opinion on climate change.”
• ” … green activists have failed to convert America’s non-college majority to their cause. Working class voters recognize the problem but it takes a back seat to their everyday economic and social concerns.”
• “… the 30th U.N. climate summit failed to reach agreement last month on a new ‘roadmap’ for phasing out coal, gas and oil. Perhaps that’s just as well, since most countries aren’t even meeting their previous commitments to reduce greenhouse gas reductions.”
• “The climate movement’s nosedive is a reality check for progressives. They had hoped it would be a galvanizing issue for a left besieged everywhere by the rise of right-wing populism. Educated elites eagerly embraced its promise of a post-material politics that could transcend the economic and cultural grievances fueling populism. After all, who doesn’t want to save the Earth?”
• “Key pillars of the new green orthodoxy were climate scientists, who suddenly found their arcane skills in high demand, environmental NGOs that conflated free markets with environmental ruin, liberal billionaires keen to flaunt their virtuous commitment to clean energy and a credulous media that amplified the voices of climate Cassandras like Bill McKibben.”
• “… Americans who live paycheck-to-paycheck weren’t convinced. And without them, you can’t build majority support for the Green New Deal.”
• “Green activists made the crucial error of turning a compelling case for more renewable energy into a holy war against fossil fuels. This makes little sense to working Americans, who fear it is a recipe for lost production jobs, high fuel bills and artificially induced energy scarcity amid plenty.”
• “The world’s dramatic economic growth, technological advances and rising living standards over the past 150 years have been fueled mainly by coal, oil and natural gas. Hydrocarbons are deeply embedded in our lives and can’t be replaced overnight without massive disruption.”
• “The Green New Deal’s bellyflop is no tragedy. It liberates Democrats to set aside utopian climate remedies and put U.S. energy policy on a more realistic and politically sustainable track.”
• “The immediate challenge is reassuring working class voters they won’t bear the brunt of decarbonizing the economy. Polls show that these voters prefer an “all of the above” approach to both Trump’s ‘fossils only’ policy or green demands to prematurely abandon oil and gas.”
• “… Democrats should affirm the essential role natural gas will continue to play in backstopping the energy grid as more renewable power and better energy storage gradually come online.”
• “Natural gas exports also have become a potent U.S. foreign policy tool, helping wean European countries from dependence on Russia gas.”

Marshall then resorts to the Progressive Left playbook, almost forgetting what he just said.

• “A pragmatic blueprint for slowing climate change also should include robust investments — financed by a carbon tax — in carbon capture, advanced batteries and green buildings, as well as new energy sources like geothermal, hydrogen and next-gen nuclear power.”
• “Trump’s one-dimensional energy policy is putting America behind China in the race to master clean energy technologies. That gives Democrats an opening to champion full-spectrum energy innovation and abundance. Unlike the Green New Deal, that’s a winning hand.”

A carbon tax? That is self-defeating in the Affordability Era. China? That country is losing its shirt on solar and other “green” initiatives and is in a general economic funk. The narrative is, indeed, busted.

Conclusion

So where does this leave the so-called climate deniers? “First they ignore you. Then they ridicule you. And then they attack you and want to burn you. And then they build monuments to you.” If good news could be accepted at face value, the alarmists would be going to the final stage–acceptance and appreciation. After all, who really wants to be climate anxious? (Answer: Deep ecologists and anti-capitalists and those with emotional and financial ties to a narrative that cannot be questioned.)

The Progressive Left climate narrative is crumbling as the climate alarm loses appeal (doomism is tired defeatism), and wind and solar are recognized as uneconomic and unwanted aesthetically. The grassroot rejection of unsightly, sprawling, property-value-diminishing wind, solar, and batteries is nearing 1,200 projects, according to Robert Bryce. Take the hint: the grassroots in rural America are at odds with Big Green and the Climate Industrial Compex.

Will Marshall is halfway there. A whole new approach is needed, one that is anchored in affordability rather than politics. That points toward free-market adaptation where the best energies lead the way.

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Previous Posts on Climate Messaging

Is Public Stupidity Behind Climate Change Apathy? (March 23, 2026)

Democrats Retreat from Climate Activism (energy affordability, electability in play) (March 19, 2026)

Climate Alarmists Question Climate Exaggeration (November 4, 2025)

Climate Out, Affordability In (October 23, 2025)

Climate Activism Fail from the Inside (July 31, 2025)

Climate Messaging: The Alarmists are Alarmed (July 29, 2025)

Joe Romm vs. Climate Thugs: Civil War Within the Climate Fringe (December 6, 2024)

Climate “Disinformation” Everywhere! (July 14, 2022)