2016 Postmortem
In reply to the discussion: I have a theory on why Sanders is not conceding or endorsing at this poinjt [View all]YouDig
(2,280 posts)If he does that he will look even more like a bitter egomaniac than he already does. His legacy will be ruined.
What Bernie doesn't realize is that he has only one piece of leverage. Which is, he can help Trump win in November. That's it. It's a really cynical and risky play, basically a doomsday machine, but he's trying to milk it for all it's worth.
But that is temporary leverage, and once the election is done, doomsday or not, then all he will have is the goodwill he has or has not built up with the party. So for now he gets to swing his weight around and act like the party owes him, but come next year, when the actual business of governing starts with the new congress, it's a whole new game. And if he wants to get anything actually done, legislatively, he needs cooperation from the very party that he will have pissed off royally if he pulls any convention stunts.
I do wonder whether he actually cares about legislation. It seems lots of times that he's more into yelling about single payer than actually trying to pass laws that would improve access to healthcare.