It’s not about who is “good” or “bad”, it is about who is beneficial and who is not

Agreed, and I’d say pretty much any prominent politician to the left of the main body of the Democratic Party is beneficial if you’re trying to pipeline people left of the Democratic Party.

Take Bernie. Despite his many faults, he helped crank open the valve on the pipeline left. It’s far easier to talk to someone about bigger ideas of economic redistribution if they’re bought into universal healthcare. It’s far easier to talk to someone about the structural limits of the U.S. electoral system if they bought into Bernie and saw him get ratfucked in 2020.