If Bernie Does Not Win Primary, Will His Campaign Work to Defeat the Democratic Nominee? [View all]

[TomCADem]

The one thing to understand about Bernie's "progressive" message is the idea that the reason why Trump was not Comey's 11th hour surprise, Russian interference, billions in dark money flowing to Republicans, or even Bernie's own role in sabotaging Hillary's chances by using the hacked emails to attack Hillary as evidence of the DNC primary being rigged.

Instead, the reason given by anti-anti-trump ("AAT&quot groups is that the losses are the fault of Democrats. Think Jill Stein, Cornel West or Tulsi Gabbard. Of course, to prove this theory, people who subscribe to this AAT view actively work to undermine the success of Democrats, because if they lose, then they claim they are vindicated.

So, you have Briahna Joy Gray, Bernie's current press secretary, dismissing 2016 reports of Russian interference and supporting Trump's attacks on Hillary:

https://heavy.com/news/2019/03/briahna-joy-gray-bernie-sanders-press-secretary/

Briahna Joy Gray is Bernie Sanders’ national press secretary for his 2020 campaign. She was one of 15 new hires announced in mid-March that included 10 women joining Sanders’ presidential campaign team. Sanders’ press secretary in 2016 was Symone Sanders (no relation to Bernie Sanders.) Gray is known for being outspoken about her beliefs, including her decision to vote for Jill Stein in 2016 after Sanders didn’t get the Democratic nomination.

Here she agreeing with Donald Trump:

Link to tweet

?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E780590640438603777&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.democraticunderground.com%2F%3Fcom%3Dview_post%26forum%3D1287%26pid%3D386015

Likewise, you had Bernie's celebrity surrogate Cornell West, who Bernie asked to help write the DNC platform, campaigning for Jill Stein and supporting the Green Party.

The problem with the AAT view is that it ignores their own role in undermining efforts to beat Trump. For example, do you think that Tulsi Gabbard seriously considers that she is being boosted by Republicans and Russians in order to give progressive credibility to attacks against Democrats? Instead, because she has bought into this idea that Trump won because it is the Democrats' fault, she feels justified to attack Democrats, and is grateful for the support.

In short, while many Bernie supporters talk about building a movement, the language they use is AAT in that much of their talk is about blaming and bringing down the Democratic "establishment," thus undermining the movement they propose to lead. Instead of seeing Republicans as the adversaries, Bernie pushes the idea that the primary adversaries are Bernie's would be Democratic allies.

https://www.newsweek.com/bernie-sanders-abortion-defeat-donald-trump-climate-change-democratic-1429833

BERNIE SANDERS BLASTS DEMOCRATIC ESTABLISHMENT, TOUTS 'MORAL RESPONSIBILITY' TO PROTECT HEALTH CARE, FIGHT CLIMATE CHANGE

Vermont Independent Senator Bernie Sanders went on the offensive against the Democratic Party "establishment" Sunday, claiming that only his 2020 presidential campaign understands it has to do more than just defeat President Donald Trump.

Speaking with NBC News' Chuck Todd on Meet the Press Sunday, Sanders said he and the other Democratic candidates for president have a "moral responsibility" to fight for Americans' health care and preserve the Earth from the negative effects of climate change.

The senator pushed back against Todd's suggestion Sanders was merely offering the same platform that got him defeated in the 2016 primaries by Hillary Clinton. Among many topics touched on during the interview, Sanders said he does not support any restrictions on abortion, and views the subject as medical, rather than political.

"There are millions of people who are sick and tired of that Democratic establishment," Sanders said, noting several recent polls which showed him ahead of Trump in Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin.