For an old guy who had a heart attack, you have to give Bernie Sanders credit. He’s not just still standing, but he remains a player, along with his wild socialist ideas. As Bernie says, the ideas that would have been laughed out of the party a few years ago are not only being taken seriously, but are finding the cracks in the Democratic establishment as Biden recognizes that he needs the Bernie bros, the Warren identitarians, the youth vote, to beat back the Trump idiocracy.
Last night, Bernie got over 8 minutes of air time at the Democratic National (kinda) Convention.
He said the words, “we need Joe Biden.” But that’s only because the first step of the next election is to oust Darth Cheeto. But what about the second step?
“Now, the day after Biden is elected, we have got to mobilize and organize all over this country to make sure that Biden becomes as progressive a president as is possible, that Democrats control the Senate and the House, and that we can put sufficient pressure on Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer to carry out a progressive agenda.”
Sure, Trump is the worst, a vulgar, amoral, lying ignoramus, whose only redeeming feature (to the extent that applies) is his astounding incompetence. Getting rid of Trump, who many fear won’t go quietly into the night as he’s been prepping for the 82nd Airborne to swoop in and seize the “rigged” ballots, since the “nasty” Dems are so much more powerful, smart and effective than he, poor victimized Trump, could ever be.
Bernie has a point. His appeal to the young, poor and miserable is obvious, nothing is their fault and they can have the wonderful world that’s been stolen from them for free if they only squint and believe. Neither Biden nor Harris, who is every bit as obsessed with her own self-aggrandizement as Trump but far smarter and more competent, are entirely on board. But then, they aren’t entirely unwilling to sell the dream to Bernie’s believers in exchange for their votes.
Mr. Sanders cited recent primary victories by some of the most progressive members of the House, including Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Rashida Tlaib, and Ilhan Omar as examples of left endurance, despite the machinations of powerful, moneyed opponents. There were new primary victories for the left as well: In New York, Jamaal Bowman took out Eliot Engel in a hard-fought race, while Cori Bush pulled off a surprise upset against William Lacy Clay in Missouri. Mr. Sanders pointed out that, down the ballot — sometimes way down the ballot — state and local governments are quietly welcoming new members from the Democratic Socialists of America, a major left organizing group that proudly backed Mr. Sanders.
Assuming, arguendo, that Biden defeats Trump in an election that cannot be denied, that the Secret Service will escort the evicted occupant from the White House, what becomes of the second “election,” the one where the same protesters, and rioters and looters, take to the streets to let the president know that while they preferred him over Trump, they don’t prefer him. And they don’t love Pelosi or Schumer much either, as the old, failed, establishment Dems whose time is up.
Is Joe Biden a placeholder, an old man whose failed past campaigns make him good enough to oust Trump but weak enough that the progressive left can own him, destroy him, if they ramp up their marches, their resistance, their damage? The strategy is to make the cost of not letting them have their way in destruction of property, business and normality high enough that people who go to work, feed the kids, try to survive, will acquiesce in their reimagination of America. They may not represent the majority of Americans, but they represent a sufficiently large group willing to engage in violence and destruction that they will force America to negotiate terms with them.
Trump can’t stop the anarchy in the streets, no matter how many feds he sends in or how many rubber bullets they fire. Can Biden? Can Harris? If Biden is elected, will they stop marching or march more and harder?
Bernie Sanders didn’t get the nomination, and yet he’s the power broker. Does that make him the real winner? Is there any alternative to end the insanity?
*Tuesday Talk rules apply.
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