Bernie may suspend his campaign at this point--if I read his latest official email sent to me this morning. I am so angry those elections were held yesterday, as the majority of the voters were the corporate media herded older Democrats. I laughed, however, when I saw last night, regarding Florida, how Bernie was up 20 points among voters under 40. They saw through the argument that Bernie was pro-Castro and a no-good Commie. Also, ironically, a poll released yesterday showed Bernie coming back against Biden nationally. I think, had there been no elections, we would have seen Bernie gain more momentum, especially as he is to speak today in the senate on the virus issues.
I am more convinced than ever corporate media won this primary season, and how the corporate media manufactured, for Democratic Party voter consumption, Biden's solidifying lead for the nomination. This despite my plea to fellow Dems not to fall for the media narrative. I hope my FB friends who have fallen in line can find enough "moderate" Republicans to vote for Biden against Trump. That is Biden's "electability" argument, isn't it? As I have said, my old law firm boss, a woman, is the full personification of a "moderate Republican," and she said last week to me she will easily vote for Trump over Biden. She said the same for Bernie, but that is not where Bernie's electability is located. Bernie's electability is located in working class neighborhoods and among the young. We may say they didn't vote enough, or are manipulated, too, but I saw those long lines and one voting place in various college and other Bernie oriented areas. And I for one am really concerned about the more than 4% (sometimes as much as 11%) disparity in exit polling data and official results, when the OAS and UN use such disparities of 4% or more to question the propriety of an official election. And there is no, I repeat, no enthusiasm for Biden, unlike white enthusiasm for Trump.
I see Biden winning the national popular vote, but I don't see Biden winning the Rust Belt, after Trump and the Republicans highlight Biden's trade votes, bankruptcy votes, and his lies and plagiarism. The only way I see Biden defeating Trump is if enough swing voters in the Rust Belt decide Trump did badly in handling the virus crisis. However, that is why Trump suddenly went into YangGang territory yesterday. Trump knows how to win this re-election, and must be giddy how the establishment/corporate Democratic Party stalwart Joe Biden is solidifying his nomination. You can expect Joe to get hounded on Ukraine, his son Hunter and Joe's own brother. Bernie didn't hit Biden on this vulnerability. Yes, I know the arguments against Biden are wrong and in bad faith when it comes to his own conduct and Ukraine. Just read James Risen in the Intercept for the dishonesty of the Ukraine attack on Biden. I should add I felt the same about Hillary's emails, as there was no competent evidence of any national security violation, though she and Obama never gave that benefit of the doubt to others who were negligent in handling national security matters. Fat lot of good it did for Bernie to not attack Hillary on her emails, and the same will be said with Bernie not attacking Biden for being vulnerable about Ukraine matters.
In short, Democratic Party stalwarts: If Biden is the nominee (assuming he does not stroke out by July, and the DNC chooses another candidate from their establishment roster), I will vote for Biden in November. Okay? Satisfied? I will say I will not waver in saying Biden is the very personification in what is wrong with the Democratic Party for the past forty years, and is a liar who has had bad judgment on major policy issues over the time he has served as a senator. But yes, he is still better on judicial appointments and a few around the edge issues than Trump will ever be.
For me, if Bernie suspends or drops his bid for president, I am focused on downticket races more than ever. Beating McConnell and the Senate Republicans is a key thing to ensure we have no more right wing bomb throwing judges. However, I am also watching to see what happens after November. I am waiting to see if there will be a new movement for a non-money corrupted progressive oriented party--beyond what the late Gore Vidal called The Property Party and its two wings, Democratic and Republican. I am ready to join the activist kids, Sunrise Movement, BlackLivesMatter, and other organizations for a #DemExit after the election. The Democratic Party, for the last and most damning time--a time of multiple existential crises (climate chaos, systemic inequality, medical care for less and less, student debt beggaring the younger people, and now virus crises), has made clear how much the party hates people like me. I get it. You have no respect for people like me, have only a condescending contempt for people like me, and have no use for me other than as a follower for your corporate, neo-liberal, pro Empire candidates.
Oh, and one more thing: If Massachusetts progressives decide to primary Elizabeth Warren, count me in as a money supporter (not that I have much to give, but I will). What Warren and Yang did, in not lining up with Bernie upon their departures from the presidential sweepstakes, is unconscionable and was a corrupt, petty move on the part of each. Yang may survive, but Warren has clearly lost credibility for many more people than just me. Historians of this period, when analyzing the progressive movement, will pinpoint Warren as petty, and ultimately a phony who betrayed the progressive movement. She is damned as far as I am concerned. Damned. Had Bernie done the same in reverse, I would say the same about Bernie. This is not about gender. This is about integrity and fealty to what you claim to believe in.
