At the risk of getting lost in the bushes before GP themselves can respond, I'm not sure that's a reasonable defence. First of all it's a two party system, so the left and the party of the left are essentially interchangeable. They said that "the only reason" he won is because of this "abuse" from both parties. Indeed there's no suggestion that the democrats are taking all or most of the blame there, but my response was only on the basis that they were being blamed at all, which they were. I'm not sure there's anything that justifies the behaviour we're seeing, to me it seems unreasonable to expect one party to change their ways from relatively moderate politics because the other side, so to speak, will otherwise threaten to dismantle the democratic functioning of the state.