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Democratic Primaries
Showing Original Post only (View all)Will Bernie Sanders Split the Democratic Party in 2020? [View all]
New York Intelligencer, March 20, 2019.
Will Bernie Sanders Split the Democratic Party in 2020?
Bernie Sanders has tried to assure Democrats he does not intend to run a factional splinter campaign in 2020. To that end, he has promised to endorse the nominee, and pledged he will not run a negative campaign, and to date has followed through on the latter promise. But then yesterday, his campaign announced two high-profile hires: speechwriter David Sirota and press secretary Briahna Joy Gray.
Sirota and Gray, both very smart left-wing journalists, share a commitment to exactly the sort of left-wing factionalism that frightens Democrats. Sirota has savaged mainstream Democrats as tools of big-money interests, often in what appear to be intentionally misleading ways. In 2016, Gray dismissed reports that Russia hacked Democratic emails which fervent Sanders supporters believed distracted from the scandals the emails revealed and wound up voting for Jill Stein. Like Sirota, she has remained alienated from the party.
The schism reflected in their politics does not really map onto the Democratic Partys electorate as a whole. The Democratic Party is divided between moderates and liberals. But support for Sanders among voters is not especially ideological. A significant minority of his 2016 vote came from the most conservative voters in the primary (who had supported Hillary Clinton in 2008 for the same reason). Liberal and moderate voters support Sanders and Joe Biden in roughly equal measure.
Among the intelligentsia, it is a completely different story. Progressive intellectuals are divided not between moderates and liberals, but between liberals and leftists. And leftists themselves are divided between those who fundamentally differentiate the Democratic Party from the Republican Party, and those who see the Democratic Party as essentially corrupt, capitalist, and generally unworthy of support.
Sirota and Gray, both very smart left-wing journalists, share a commitment to exactly the sort of left-wing factionalism that frightens Democrats. Sirota has savaged mainstream Democrats as tools of big-money interests, often in what appear to be intentionally misleading ways. In 2016, Gray dismissed reports that Russia hacked Democratic emails which fervent Sanders supporters believed distracted from the scandals the emails revealed and wound up voting for Jill Stein. Like Sirota, she has remained alienated from the party.
The schism reflected in their politics does not really map onto the Democratic Partys electorate as a whole. The Democratic Party is divided between moderates and liberals. But support for Sanders among voters is not especially ideological. A significant minority of his 2016 vote came from the most conservative voters in the primary (who had supported Hillary Clinton in 2008 for the same reason). Liberal and moderate voters support Sanders and Joe Biden in roughly equal measure.
Among the intelligentsia, it is a completely different story. Progressive intellectuals are divided not between moderates and liberals, but between liberals and leftists. And leftists themselves are divided between those who fundamentally differentiate the Democratic Party from the Republican Party, and those who see the Democratic Party as essentially corrupt, capitalist, and generally unworthy of support.
http://nymag.com/intelligencer/2019/03/will-bernie-sanders-split-the-democratic-party-in-2020.html
Despite the hires of Nina Turner, David Sirota and Briahna Joy Gray who see the Democratic Party as generally unworthy of support the article concludes by saying - Whether the Saunders campaign augments or fractures Democratic support is ultimately up to Bernie and for the moment, Sanderss decision has yet to be revealed.
Its a thoughtful article. Worth reading.
If I were to vote in a presidential
primary today, I would vote for: Undecided
primary today, I would vote for: Undecided
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Maybe not. BUT Russian and GOP trolls will use him and his supporters to disrupt dem primary proces
bobbieinok
Mar 2019
#3
Liar liar pants on fire. Not that I ever believed him. If anybody has any doubts
Kahuna7
Mar 2019
#31
According to his acolytes everybody but him is part of the establishment
DemocratSinceBirth
Mar 2019
#17
You have trump bleating about the "establishment" on the right and Bernie on the left..
Kahuna7
Mar 2019
#21
I believe that's the intention. By sabotaging and undermining the Democratic party...
NurseJackie
Mar 2019
#22
If look at the people sanders hired like Sirota and the press secretary, sanders will be divisive
Gothmog
Mar 2019
#25
No. He'll unite his supporters to vote for the nominee like he did in 2016.
Power 2 the People
Mar 2019
#40
Sen. Sanders said during the general that it was up to Clinton to get the support of his voters.
Demsrule86
Mar 2019
#41
Fuck Stein voters...the not so Green party can pound sand. They elected Trump. And can never
Demsrule86
Mar 2019
#50
They will never be on our side. They don't want to win. They want to destroy the Democratic Party.
Demsrule86
Mar 2019
#54
I was being conservative and didn't want to get into the minutia of the breakdown of the non-Dem 6%
Power 2 the People
Mar 2019
#46
What it means that Bernie Sanders is hiring people who think all the non-Bernie democrats are bad
Gothmog
Mar 2019
#62
Based on what I've seen and the prevailing attitude toward the party, I have very low expectations.
NurseJackie
Apr 2019
#74
Bernie has been very clear in saying that within the political system as it currently exists, you
Perrenial Voter
Apr 2019
#78