Speaking on Thursday, Missouri Democratic Senator Claire McCaskill expressed concern that she and other Democrats may face opposition in the midterm from a sort of left-wing Tea Party movement.

McCaskill and many establishment types in the Democratic party are continuing to consider the progressive movement as more of a nuisance than a legitimate party faction, an error that means they continue to underestimate and oppose the growing faction of far-left politics.

McCaskill said on the “Mark Reardon Show” that she was worried about the growing progressive movement and the apparent energy that movement was gaining.

Speaking on her re-election in 2018, McCaskill expressed concern at facing a primary rival.

“I’m for sure going to run, and I may have a primary because there is, in our party now, some of the same kind of enthusiasm at the base that the Republican Party had with the Tea Party.”

McCaskill is no doubt concerned about being opposed by a true progressive because she knows that she has compromised Democratic ideals more than once while serving as the Senator in a red state.

“Many of those people are very impatient with me because they don’t think I’m pure. For example, they think I should be voting against all of Trump’s nominees and of course I’m judging each nominee on its own merit.”

Sure, Claire, but then again, it also serves your blue dog motives to be able to tell your red state voters that you went soft on Trump, doesn’t it?

McCaskill is one of many in the Democratic party who are spending far too much time worrying about whether or not they match up to the ideological tests of the progressive movement while also doing nothing to change the far-left’s opinion of her. If she were acting as a true Democrat should right now, and opposing Trump when it matters, there would be no need for concern.

As it is, McCaskill and the others will likely face primary opposition, and for good reason. While the progressive movement lacks the Koch Brothers funding of the Tea Party, that same level of energy and passion will be matched, and exceeded, in the following months and years.