In all of my years covering presidential election politics, I have never seen a more concerted effort by national party representatives to prop up a bad-but-acceptable candidate. Even the RNC in 2016, much of which wasn’t convinced then-candidate Donald Trump could win in the general election, did far less to get in his way. Some tried and NeverTrump was born, but for the most part they recognized his bombast and flair were benefits to their overarching cause, so they ran with it. The DNC isn’t running with Bernie Sanders. They’re running away from him as fast as they possibly can.
They’re running back to the guy they were originally propping up before his gaffe-filled existence and pitiful fundraising efforts scared them away temporarily. They looked at Amy Klobuchar and Pete Buttigieg for a short time before finding both were wanting. They played with Elizabeth Warren and had her try on moderate clothes, but in doing so they only drove much of her progressive support towards Sanders. Then, they flirted with Michael Bloomberg as their savior, but made the wise decision to force him into a debate to see how he tasted to the electorate. That failed miserably.
So, they’re back to Quid Pro Joe. And, like any relatively organized and intellectual bunch, they’ve decided to go all-in as they derail the Sanders campaign and replace him as frontrunner with Biden. By going all-in, they’ve called on every favor they had in their Rolodex. First, they got his moderate lane competitors out of the way by cutting some sort of deal with Buttigieg and Klobuchar. Then, they hit up every prominent, semi-prominent, and somewhat known Democrat to tell them to get on whatever channels they had available to them to announce support for Biden.
Beto O’Rourke, Harry Reid, Buttigieg, Klobuchar, and everyone they could find with a Twitter account swore their undying loyalty to the guy today. It was awkward watching the blatantly manufactured show of support flooding in for someone who, earlier today, promoted “the thing.”
“All men and women created by the.. by the.. you know, the thing?” pic.twitter.com/zURNcArObr
— Raheem Kassam (@RaheemKassam) March 2, 2020
I do not support Bernie Sanders, but I haven’t hidden the fact that I’d love for him to be the nominee. The reason isn’t like other Trump supporters who think Sanders would be easier to beat or that he would damage the down-ballot races for Democrats. The reason we need to see a Trump-Sanders general election is because this country needs to have the debate about freedom versus authoritarianism. Socialism will continue to rear its ugly head until we have that conversation on the national stage. I’d rather have that conversation between now and November instead of letting it fester for another four years. And it will.
The DNC’s message to Bernie Sanders and his supporters is this: We’re just not that into you. Meanwhile, they’re rallying behind a man who remembers more about his days as a Senator than what he had for breakfast this morning. The party is imploding.
