"Bernie Sanders is OUT! Thank you to Elizabeth Warren. If not for her, Bernie would have won almost every state on Super Tuesday! This ended just like the Democrats & the DNC wanted, same as the Crooked Hillary fiasco. The Bernie people should come to the Republican Party, TRADE!"
- President Trump
"Don't you see what's happening? Potter isn't selling, Potter's buying. And why? Because we're panicking and he's not, that's why."
- Jimmy Stewart from "It's a Wonderful Life"
Some things never change. The ability of some people to fall for a line of bullshit never ceases to amaze me. Four years ago, it was the same way. Bernie supporters, upset their guy didn't win, were duped into believing the nomination was stolen from him, despite all the evidence to the contrary. And no doubt some of them decided to either stay home on election day or, worse, vote for Trump.
Now history is repeating itself. Sanders has decided to suspend his campaign and Trump, seizing an opportunity, is pouncing on it. Like Mr. Potter in that fabled classic, he isn't selling, he's buying, and Bernie supporters are panicking and falling right into his trap.
Just to be clear, Elizabeth Warren was not the reason Bernie got his ass handed to him on Super Tuesday. True, she did take votes away from him, but Michael Bloomberg did the same thing to Joe Biden. In fact, if you distribute all of Warren's 81 delegates to Sanders and Bloomberg's 55 delegates to Biden, what you wind up with is a net gain of 26 delegates and two additional states - Maine and Massachusetts - in the win column for Bernie. That's it. All that hyperventilating, and in the end it would've made no difference. Biden would still be the presumptive nominee and Bernie would still be on the outside looking in. Indeed, given that Bloomberg got more votes than Warren, it's entirely possible he hurt Biden more than Warren hurt Sanders.
But that's all behind us. This insanity must end. The stakes are too high to fuck around any longer. Joe Biden has won the nomination fair and square, just like Hillary Clinton did four years ago. The conspiracy theories have got to stop and right now. Trump is playing you, just like he did in 2016; just like he plays all his opponents. Think about it. Do you really believe for an instant that Trump gives one shit about you? Are you really that gullible? Knock it off with the "broken clock is right twice a day" drivel. A broken clock is still broken no matter how many times you wind it up or what time of the day it is. It'll always be broken. Waiting twelve hours for the hands to line up to prove a point is a fool's errand.
Look, I know some of you, hell I even like some of you. You got duped once; now's not the time for a repeat performance. It's time to remember the old saying, "Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me." If that doesn't float your boat, try this classic rock lyric from Pete Townshend, "We won't get fooled again." No matter how you get from A to B, it's imperative you get there.
Trump is no idiot. He wins by dividing people, by sewing discord among his opponents. That's his playbook; in fact, it's his only playbook. He's found a soft spot within the progressive base of the Democratic Party that he is attempting to exploit for his own benefit. Don't let him get away with it. It's time for Democrats to unite against the real foe in the White House, not the imaginary one that Trump would like us to focus on.
Whether you like Biden or not, his platform is actually to the left of Barack Obama's. That's right, to the left. Somehow Biden has been portrayed as a centrist. Let me dispel that notion, hopefully once and for all. Bill Clinton was a centrist, Biden is Obama 2.0. There's not one policy of Obama's that Biden doesn't want to improve upon, from expanding the Affordable Care Act to include a public option, from decreasing carbon emissions more aggressively. Pick any policy of Obama's and Biden is on record as pledging to go one better. If that's your definition of a centrist, you and I live in different universes.
But even if that weren't true. Even if Biden was indeed the second coming of Bill Clinton, he still would be a better choice than the current occupant of the Oval Office, if for no other reason than what Trump is doing to this country will be unrepairable if he gets a second term in office. The Supreme Court, the environment, the ACA, the criminal justice system, you can kiss that all goodbye if Trump wins in November. This isn't about voting for the lesser of two evils, it's about removing from power the greatest existential treat to democracy we've seen since World War II. If that isn't enough of an incentive for you, I really don't know what else I can say that can be persuasive.
This November, every vote will count. We have no way of knowing what impact the Coronavirus will have on turnout. What we do know is this: Trump's base will show up come hell or high water. You can take that to the bank. If we let our petty squabbles divide and conquer us, Trump will win in a landslide and Republicans will have unfettered control of all branches of the federal government, in all likelihood for the foreseeable future.
Put that in your pipe and smoke it while you're nursing your resentments.
Comments