The problem isnt hair or piercings - its a small but vocal group of far left people who create phrases like "defund the police" precisely because its radical and divisive. This gives them cred with their base, but they don't want to get involved with the actual discussions and compromises required to 1) expand their supporters and 2) take their values and enact policy to reflect them.

It's about who can say they've compromised their ideals the least as a purity contest. There's not enough of them to win more than a handful of elections, but is enough to split the vote of candidates running against Republicans, so that brand of insane fascism can take over this country.