Warren really did turn sharply left and it seems like she did so purely as a political tactic. And it wasn’t just her wacky policies that she wouldn’t tell us how she’d pay for, it’s her embrace of the most fringe identity politics. Maybe her campaign manager spends too much time on social media, but for some reason she promised to staff her cabinets with at least 50% female, non binary POC. That’s such an obviously patronizing statement that I doubt even the gayest trans woman of color would be very impressed. The only person I can see this stance getting much traction with are the most guilt-ridden upper middle class gender studies voters. Those folks are a rounding error of a rounding error at the ballot box. Pandering to them is political suicide.

The rest of us can tell when that much smoke is being blown. Most people don’t care what your gender or racial or sexual identity is or isn't— they just want plausible policies that are likely to get results.