He’s beginning to relax. And he can finally speak at the pace that favors him, not the one that aggravates his stutter.
He sounds great. 
DNC states that there will be no live audience at the debate Sunday due to…yes…the coronavirus.
I have more than a sneaking suspicion there is not going to be a debate on Sunday.
Rahm Emanuel said essentially that Trump will go nuts if deprived of his mass adulation rallies. Can you imagine what being a White House staffer would be like if Trump is forced to stay there all the time?
For me, the big news tonight is not so much that Biden won in Michigan, since that was expected. Not expected was that youth voting declined from 19% in 2016 to 15% this year. That’s been the pattern pretty much everywhere since Iowa. If Sanders can’t get youth to vote in a year when he is the only progressive candidate on the ballot, then he doesn’t deserve to be within miles of the nomination.
I think he knows that. If Bernie doesn’t bow out quickly, tomorrow preferably but definitely after losing in the big states next week, he’ll be relegated to a party-destroying idiot with a Trump-voter-stupid fanbase.
Then gather all the Democrats together with one message and all the money and names supporting one candidate to defeat Trump. That’s the closest-to-ideal outcome and the party should feel incredibly lucky to have it happen as early as March, especially at a time when Trump is taking a pounding.
Because of coronavirus fears or because you think Bernie will drop out?
I think Bernie will suspend. He does not wish to be even the hint of the spoiler for this election. I think he is troubled by the Russian interference and the nasty tone of some of his supporters. I don’t think he wants to see these things rage out of control due to him overstaying his welcome in the party.
And you have to admit, if my theory that some of Bernie’s “small donor” money comes in fact from Russia, there is some poetic justice to it being passed from Sanders to Biden, to work to further Biden’s campaign against Trump.
At least, that’s how I hope it goes. Bernie no longer has any reasonable path to the nomination. It would be for the best for him to step aside. I think he knows that.
Also, campaigns are expensive. If you’re a politician with a war chest that suddenly looks like a dwindling checking account with little coming in, you might want to throw in the towel so has to have a rainy day fund as opposed to being bankrupt. Jus’ sayin’
A rainy day fund for what? You can’t just use the money for whatever you want. Bernie is 78. It’s now or never. What will he use it for?
My understanding is no - you can’t use campaign donations for whatever you want. You can use it to campaign or donate it to another campaign.
I’m nowhere near convinced this is how things play out but I hope you are correct. I also hope, if this happens, he actually lets his followers know it is time to give it up and do all they can to get DJT out of the WH.
Unfortunately, I suspect he may stay in longer than he really should–but I will be very glad to be proven wrong.
As a Bernie supporter I’m obviously hugely disappointed. I was never 100% sure that Bernie could beat Trump, but I am, to put it mildly, extremely skeptical of Joe Biden’s chances.
It’s depressing. I’m genuinely worried that, by nominating Joe Biden (and I can’t see a viable path for Bernie at this point), America has guaranteed the world four more years of Donald Trump. And when Trump wins you’ll all blame it on racism, or “Bernie Bros”, or Putin, or any one of a hundred other red herrings, instead of placing the blame where it belongs: on Biden for being a pitifully weak candidate, and on yourselves for playing it safe and choosing Biden on the elitist assumption that the rest of the country was too unevolved to pick anybody else.
I really, really hope I’m wrong. I really wish that on November 9th I can come back and be all like “Sorry everyone! You were right and I was wrong. Never should’ve doubted you” etc… But I really don’t think that’ll happen. I think what’ll happen is that Donald Trump will flatten Joe Biden like a steamroller.
When Joe calls him corrupt, Trump’ll point to Hunter and his nepotistic £50k a month do nothing no-show job. When Joe calls him sexist, Trump’ll point to any one of the thousand skin crawling “Creepy Uncle Joe” video compilations floating round YouTube. When Joe calls him racist, Trump’ll point to Biden’s opposition to busing and support for the now hated Clinton crime bill. When Joe questions Trump’s abilities, Trump’ll just call him “Sleepy Joe” and point to his ever-growing list of embarrassing mental slip-ups. When Joe question’s Trump’s judgement, Trump’ll point to Joe’s support for the disastrous Iraq war, and Joe’s long history of advocating cuts to Social Security and Medicare. And when the two of them debate?!. Fuck…Joe couldn’t even handle what his fellow Democrats threw at him. Watching him go up against Trump is going to be stomach turning.
Bernie hasn’t finagled any fake jobs for his relatives. Bernie hasn’t got a history of inappropriately touching women and little girls. Bernie protested segregation. Bernie’s mental faculties are still sharp. Bernie voted against Iraq. Bernie would never dream of cutting Social Security or Medicare. And, unlike Joe, Bernie is a strong debater. Again, not saying he definitely would’ve won, but unlike Joe he could’ve credibly attacked Trump where he’s weak.
I really, really hope all you Biden fans out there have made the right call. But if Biden loses it’s on you.
You’ve read my mind Unreconstructed Man.
I really, really hope Joe can pull this off, but I fear we’re in for 4 more years of Trump.
I’ll be voting for Biden, and I’ll be encouraging my friends and family to do so too. Don’t think it’s going to matter though.
Oh well. 254 years was a pretty good run for a country, right?
On the bright side, if I’m reading the numbers right, turnout is way, way up from 2016.
Supporting progressive candidates in downticket and local elections to help the progressive movement grow in power and influence, to be hasten the day it is the mainstream.
Seriously. His supporters, and one presumes they support the ideas more than him, are more numerous but in a demographic of lower turnout. Still they vote more often at their ages than the generation before them did and they have every expectation of having higher turnout as they become the next older demographic. Their views probably won’t change much. Their power will grow.
Yes. Progressives will have to grow the reboot of the system from down up, and it will likely be for the better. Sure, it helps a ton and is faster when a charismatic standard-bearer ascends to the very top first and then pulls others along (but BTW whoever it is needs to pull others along willingly… not threaten that if they don’t follow he’ll punish them), but you can really cement your agenda by building it from the ground. Look at the Contract With America/Tea Party – we may have bemoaned and ridiculed them but they kept the ascendancy of the Hard Right into power in all branches at all levels going, even (sometimes especially) when out of the White House.
Some calming words for the progressives from AOC.
I like her more as time passes and I think she shows lots of promise as the progressive future leader of the Democratic party. Well said, AOC.
What an excellent example of why I like AOC so much. I hope the folks who don’t like her will watch this.
She needs to stop touching her face! The American Strategic AOC/RBG Reserve CANNOT BE COMPROMISED!