Here's Just How Massive Republicans' Super Tuesday Turnout Was

[RiverNoord]

11. Doesn't scare me anymore.

The damage is done, and I don't know if any of it can be repaired in time.

The manipulation of the Democratic party machinery by its elites during this caucus/primary period allowed Donald Trump, a complete surprise to even the elites both parties serve, to pitch himself very effectively, and quite possibly by complete accident, as a true populist hero ('He's saying out loud the things that everyone thinks but people running for President are too scared to say!' - I've heard that, or its rough equivalent, from more than a few people I have always considered generally decent, maybe leaning a bit on the 'intolerant' side.) Although... I haven't heard it spoken once in my now home state of Minnesota - for whatever reason he's really, really disliked here. Whew.

We had a chance to utterly eradicate any possibility of such a development in the candidacy of Bernie Sanders - who is, in word and deed, a genuine populist. And one who has been fighting for all sorts of social justice on street level for years and years. He has been very effectively suppressed by the party that could have swept 2016 elections in the House and Senate by embracing him.

And the more Republican party elites try to distance themselves from him, the more popular he will become. And, unless Sanders can rapidly overcome this suppression to win big in states that are voting now or very, very soon, which is seeming unlikely, we'll have the Ultimate Establishment Candidate of All Time running against a racist, sexist, flippant, ultra-rich mega-jerk populist hero.