Not Him, Us
And on a Wednesday in Abril, the revolution quietly came to an end.
Well, not technically "quietly" if you include Twitter. But yes, today, one day after Wisconsin Republicans and our overtly partisan Supreme Court forced citizens to vote during a pandemic, Bernie Sanders quietly and unceremoniously ended his second and likely final run for president.
Much will be made in the coming days, dissecting what went wrong for Bernie Sanders. After all, he had all the systemic advantages one would need to run for president: a built-up war chest, an army of dedicated supporters, near 100% name recognition, a strong ground game in the early primary states, and a friendly buddy-buddy relationship with MSNBC hosts, just to name a few. He had a clear lane in a crowded primary field and the only person that could overtake him in that lane chose to play nice. He had adoring crowds to his sold-out rallies and his grassroots fundraising helped him raise tens of millions of dollars each and every quarter. Given the nature of 21st-century American politics, all of this should have paved the way for a robust and formidable presidential campaign.
But that is not what we saw.
Instead, we saw a Bernie Sanders fluttering and floundering in the wind. By losing Iowa and squeaking by in New Hampshire, it became clear that Sanders wasn't growing his base. Young voters, who were supposed to spearhead the revolution, weren't coming out in droves. There was a brief reprieve in Nevada with a resounding caucus win, but with 4% of voters actually attending the caucus in-person, it was hard to make any definitive conclusions about Sanders' popularity. Despite these troubling signs, the media was more than happy to proclaim Sanders the front-runner and his supporters were already declaring Joe Biden's candidacy dead and asking us "Establishment Democrats" to bend the knee. With a crowded field heading into Super Tuesday, it appeared that Sanders would be able to parlay his narrow lane into squeaking out delegate victories and potentially building a 200-300 delegate lead that could not be surpassed. Having a crowded field was the only way Sanders could stay on top.
Then South Carolina happened.
More specifically, Representative Jim Clyburn happened. By giving Joe Biden a pep talk and then giving him his endorsement, Clyburn sent out the bat signal to the Democratic base of Black voters letting them know that this is our guy. Despite being ignored by the media, this core constituency of the Democratic Party was not about to let a lifetime backbencher with no commitment to civil rights became the party's standard-bearer. With an overwhelming victory in South Carolina, Joe Biden demonstrated that he was the only candidate who could keep the Obama/Clinton coalition together. Knowing this, and knowing Sanders' strategy to try and eek by with 1/3 of the voters' support, the Democratic Party quickly and cohesively came together around Joe Biden, putting their egos aside for the greater good. Within 24 hours, Pete Buttigieg and Amy Klobuchar left the race and Beto O'Rourke joined both of them in endorsing Joe Biden. This left Super Tuesday voters which a much simpler choice: Sanders/Warren on the far left or Biden/Bloomberg for the middle.
And the rest, as they say, is history.
Because what Super Tuesday showed us is that Democrats are practical. They understand the political process. They know to actually listen to the base of the party. They know that the eventual nominee might not have been their first or second choice but that this is no time in our nation's history to bitch and moan about the process. Democrats on Super Tuesday showed that they want to win and that a man who was vetted by Barack Obama and stood by his side for 8 years is a much safer bet than an unvetted political backbencher from Vermont. Democrats saw that outside of an undemocratic caucus and predominantly White states, Bernie Sanders' appeal was nowhere near enough to compete against Donald Trump in a general election. Exit poll after exit poll showed that beating Trump was voters' top concern and they saw Joe Biden as the candidate most likely to do that. Bernie was risky, Biden was safe. At a time when we have the most mentally unstable president in our nation's history, there was something reassuring about a kind, empathetic man who had practical experience in the Oval Office.
Bernie Sanders and his team gambled and lost. They did nothing to expand their base, despite having five years to do it. Their rallies drew overwhelming White audiences, even in some of the most diverse neighborhoods in the country. Black voters saw through this, just as they saw through it four years ago. Sanders and his team also made a habit of attacking those that disagreed with them. David Sirota, Nina Turner, and Briahna Joy were notorious for not only attacking media personalities but also doxing private citizens who questioned Sanders' platform. Women, many of whom were forced to go underground in 2016, were still harassed by Sanders supporters online, an issue that may very well have been why Elizabeth Warren never came around to endorsing him. Sanders also had to deal with the aftermath of his 2016 scandal where women campaign workers were mistreated and underpaid. Combined with Sanders' efforts to break up a union formed by his own campaign in 2019 and it was obvious that Sanders wasn't as concerned for the working men and women of this country as he claimed to be.
At the end of the day, Bernie Sanders lost badly and it was a loss of his own making. He surrounded himself with a team of sinister sycophants, hellbent on destroying the same Democratic Party it needed to survive. Sanders ignored Black voters, the base of the party. He refused to address his supporters and their constant online harassment, which alienated women voters. Sanders spoke highly of Fidel Castro, alienating Latino voters in Florida and making him unelectable in that critical swing state. His constant tweets demonizing the "Democratic establishment" made him no different from Donald Trump in that he felt betrayed and wronged, despite no evidence to support this claim. At a time when Americans were sick and tired of a political demagogue on the right, the last thing they wanted was a political demagogue on the left.
As Americans look back on Bernie Sanders, they will see a broken, political has-been. Someone who, after 50 years in politics, finally tasted the good life he felt entitled to. Someone who ran to get his name out there and who began believing all the hype. Someone who parlayed a distant second-place finish in 2016 to becoming a multimillionaire with multiple homes. Someone who created a political think tank in his home state that conveniently employed his own family members. Someone who held campaign rallies in college towns while ranting and raving with the same political message he's been spouting for a half-century. Someone who, like Donald Trump, never thought that he could win but once he started winning, could not stop. Ultimately, Bernie Sanders will be seen as someone who got caught up in the glory of politics and who believed the hype that he alone could fix all of our nation's problems. Like all demagogues, Bernie Sanders will be shown in history books as someone whose ego got the best of him.
Today's announcement was not about Bernard Sanders. It was about the American people. It was about the 2/3 of Democratic voters who saw this man for what he truly is: a self-speaking flatterer who was not qualified to be the nominee of the Democratic Party. The damage Sanders has done is monumental. We now have a generation of first-time voters who believe there is a mythical "Democratic establishment" that is somehow powerful enough to predetermine the party's nominee. These voters, although young and naive, will be needed in our participatory democracy for decades to come. Making amends with them requires Sanders to make that effort, something he has previously been unwilling to do. With Sanders out of the race, we also will have to be vigilant for the attacks from his supporters against Joe Biden. The Young Turks, Walker Bragman, Glenn Greenwald, Matt Taibbi, and others are already concern-trolling over Biden's now-imminent nomination. Like Sanders, these leftists are more than happy to spread Russian propaganda and they will continue to do so from now through November 3rd.
America dodged a bullet in 2020. A Sanders nomination would have been an unmitigated disaster. Fortunately, Democrats are not Republicans. We have ethics and morals. We know a disastrous candidate when we see one. Sanders' ultimate demise was a reflection of him and his terrible campaign but also a reflection of our values. The majority of Democrats want a return to normalcy. We want someone with empathy, who listens to us, and who can compassionately relate to our pain. We want someone with foreign policy experience, who has a background in various conflict areas throughout the globe. We want someone who knows and understands that Black voters are critical to the success of the Democratic Party and the country as a whole. We want someone whose supporters aren't vicious to women and people of color online. We want someone who can reunite the Obama/Clinton coalition and bring them enthusiastically to the voting booth in November. And we want someone who can take on Donald Trump head-to-head and whoop his ass on the debate stage.
The American people have spoken and made it known that person is Joe Biden.