Of all the people I blame for the election of Donald Trump, Bernie Sanders is at the top my list. When I wake up in the middle of the night and check my twitter feed to see if Trump has declared war on North Korea (or something less insane but still detrimental to my well being) I repeat the names of these people like Arya Stark in Game of Thrones. Bernie Sanders, Susan Sarandon, Nina Turner and Joe Scarborough. Bernie Sanders, Susan Sarandon, Nina Turner and Joe Scarborough. It's better than counting sheep to help me sleep.
By claiming Hillary and Trump were the same, Bernie made it easier for people to stay home, write in his name in or vote for that "What is Aleppo?" guy or Jill Stein, who pops up every four years to run for president. Then after he lost the primary, he started the claim that if Trump wins, the revolution will start not caring how many people will suffer from a Trump administration. I won't forget his hanging around long after he had lost the primary or his lukewarm endorsement. And since the election, his merry band of red rose twitter followers have gone after anyone who dares criticize the High Sparrow Sanders especially black women like Joy Reid. Sanders and his supporters have withheld support from anyone who they deem is not progressive enough. And their representatives on the DNC unity commission have been as divisive as any tea partier.
The Bernie fraction was all ready to pop the cork on the champagne to celebrate a Democrat loss in Alabama to prove how ineffectual Democrats are and how much Sanders supporters are needed. It's a Ponzi Scheme that Bernie Maddoff would be proud of.
- Withhold support or work actively against the Democrat candidate.
- If the candidate loses, claim the candidate wasn't progressive enough and the DNC must switch to caucuses to pick their candidates.
- If the candidate wins, claim the candidate won despite not being progressive enough and if the DNC wants to win other elections, they should switch to caucuses to pick their candidates.
- If items 2 and 3 don't work, take credit for the win despite not doing anything to support the candidate.
Bernie has adopted the taking credit approach to the Alabama election. Sanders had a chance to endorse Democrat Doug Jones and he declined. His supporters even did op-eds on Jones not being a progressive because he supported a $12 minimum wage and not the $15 one that Bernie proposes. But none of that stopped Bernie from tweeted about the big win the Alabama election was for the "revolution". Bernie took credit for the Jones win along with Randall Woodfin's win as mayor even though Woodfin was Hillary Clinton's Alabama campaign manager. He claimed 'now is the time for action', but the time for action was before the election when Bernie and his minions could have been on the ground in Alabama like Corey Booker was. Bernie could have even recorded a robo call like Barack Obama. He could have done something, anything to help turn Alabama blue but he didn't. And now that black folks turned out in record numbers and black women voted at 98% to help put Doug Jones in the Senate seat, Bernie comes along to take some credit.
As an African American woman and a lifelong Democrat, I hate what Bernie and his supporters have done to this party. They consistently act as if our wishes don't matter; our votes are less than those of the "white working class" and dismiss our concerns as "identity politics." I was incensed that Tom Perez was giving them such a big platform in the DNC, pushing me and the rest of the loyal Democratic voters to the back burner in favor of the new flavor of the month, Sanders millennials. But as an African American woman, I'm a realist so I vote in my best interest period. And I will not let Sanders come in and take the credit for the Democrats big wins in Virginia and Alabama. So if Bernie wants to take credit for someone he actually helped elect, he should go ahead and take the credit for Trump. Until then, I'll keep my Arya Stark list going.