Summary
Bernie Sanders criticizes the Democratic Party for neglecting the working class, leading to their recent election losses.
He highlights issues like economic inequality, job displacement, healthcare costs, and foreign policy as key concerns for the American people.
Sanders questions whether the Democratic leadership will address these issues or remain beholden to big money interests.
This is an inaccurate claim by Sanders. Biden was the first President to walk a picket line with striking workers.
With union negotiations, he was pretty balanced. He did come down on the railroad strikes some after both sides got stuck, but they did get improvements beyond what management wanted to give. With the ports, though, he stuck with the workers and forced management to negotiate by refusing to override the strike.
Could the Democrats do more? Sure. But they’re still recovering from the fever that took the party over with Clinton in '92. There are a lot of people who believe that win was a meaningful approval of the pro corporate but not racist Democratic Party platform, when in reality Clinton only won thanks to Perot.
I don’t know that there was any magic messaging that Harris could’ve deployed this time around. I’m not sure there was any likely alternative even from a short post-Biden primary that could’ve done better than her.
Trump has everyone thinking he has some magic way to boost salaries and lower prices. And he railed against the elites more stridently and apparently people believed him.
On the other hand Google saw a lot of traffic with people asking if Biden dropped out so who knows what could have been done to avoid Trump 2.
If that’s true, Jesus H. Christ, Democratic party, just get out of the way and let someone else fight fascism. If you’re “still recovering” 32 goddamn years later, you’re not recovering. That’s just a permanent part of the party identity. And the people are clearly not wild about what you’ve become if you lose to Donald Fucking Trump two out of three times.
So just quit.
Shut the party down and let something else take its place, because whatever happened in 92 is chronic and terminal, and you’re bringing the rest of the country down with you.
I think the American middle got taken by surprise at their own apathy in '16. Then in '20 they were motivated by fear. This week, they showed that they’ve simply lost faith in the Democratic party, plain and simple. That they’re tired of what they’ve been getting from the party and they’ll accept a horrible person over perpetuating the arrogance and inaction of the Democrats.
And while I can’t say I was too fed up to support Harris, now that Tuesday is behind us, as much as I despise Trump, I have to admit that the Democrats got exactly what they deserved at the ballot box: the same lukewarm apathy they’ve shown the American people the past 12 years.
Maybe they’ll finally get the message and put together a cohesive, intelligent, inspiring platform and message for the midterms, but if history is anything to go by, I’m guessing that this time in 2 years, they’re thrilled as fuck to take back the House (with too slim a majority to do much beyond hold up legislation), with progressives gaining slightly more seats than now, and the party as a whole will still have the same lack of focus, direction, and message…
…and I would bet money that this time in 2026 they still don’t have anything close to an idea of a possible presidential nominee that gets people excited.
Harris said she could not think of anything she would do different from Biden in a period where Biden was remarkably unpopular and people are hurting, a lot. And she essentially promised them more of the same. “We won’t go back” is not a promise to move forward. And her promises to help people start a business and give child credits… does not help anyone not interested in starting a business, who already has kids or does not want kids. Everything was contingent on very narrow promises.
So the voters that needed change stayed home… They can say they did not vote for Trump and wash their hands of anything bad that happens.
Let’s see how it pans out.
Bernie is becoming a serious issue for Democratic messaging. He’s in the senate, he KNOWS what Biden has done for the working class. And instead of helping to promote that message to his millions of followers, he’s rather virtue signal. It’s really a sick game man.
The voters proved your theory wrong. Working class voted Trump or stayed home. How you you explain that… Because whatever Biden did… 1) it was not enough and 2) Harris promised more of the same.
Voters aren’t stupid. The reason so many people like Bernie is because he’s genuine and walks the walk. Supporting a candidate that doesn’t actually match his values would significantly weaken that.