the truth is a tremendous number of powerful people have been extremely careless with that power for a very long time in regards to the threat posed by donald trump specifically and the revanchist right generally. and they are *just now* realizing the problem several years late and panicking
even the rallying around a then-78-and-already-showing-signs-of-decline biden in 2020 was careless! they were as concerned (or more) with keeping bernie or warren out of leadership as they were with removing trump.
*even if* we credit that, the argument still amounted to "we win the election and then trump is taken care of and things go back to normal" which was dumb and wrong and part of the reason we are in this mess now.
I think the arg was more like “we need to win the election to have a shot at the et cetera”
but also the Sanders revisionist argument is putting a lot of weight on health in service of an even older guy who’d just had a heart attack
Sorry, I know I tap this sign a lot, but there was a youthful guy in the race and a lot of the people clamoring to replace Biden on age grounds think he's Satan incarnated
Honestly, the way Warren’s campaign ended- she said the words “wealth tax”, people cheered, and then the media decided she wasn’t running any more- probably should have been a pretty serious warning to Dems which they more-or-less ignored.
Well sure, but I think the bigger problem for Warren is that she talked about it at all, and people liked it, and the people who own media outlets *really* didn't like that people liked it, so they torpedoed her.
A preview of the way legacy media treats Biden, who they want to lose.
I think Warren would have definitely lost, she consistently underperforms in her Senate races. It’s very possible Bernie would have also lost in 2020, though I think he wins easily in 2016 v Trump.
if those powerful people couldn't think of a better candidate to beat some old guy from a small state with no big donors, that's great proof that they didn't take Trump seriously
Warren wanted to be leadership's preferred pick, she was never going to threaten them
Any time you're saying "they" it's worth considering whether "they" exist, and are capable of doing the thing you describe.
Sanders and Warren weren't betrayed by a cabal, they failed to convincingly demonstrate they could build on their base of support to dominate the primary.
"Betrayed" is a really funny word choice.
Like lots of other issues with your post, but even if there was a cabal, how would they betray their enemies?
Bernie Sanders: We have to fight against the millionaires and billionaires! I am not a member of the democratic party because I have problems with them.
Cabal: Stab him in the front!
Bernie Sanders: Ah, I have been betrayed by the people I was just saying we need to fight against.
ye like they kicked him in the teeth and loled at him to his face
"mfer we're doing politics as usual, get outta here with your actual policy work attempts"
idk who thought that was a secret, i saw some of that on live tv
President Biden won the 2020 primary.
Just live with that. He won because we voted for him.
Maybe you didn't, I don't know; but as a group, Democratic voters chose Biden.
Wanna know why I voted for him? I'd have written in Harris otherwise. But every Black woman I knew supported Joe.
Periodically certain members of the left freak out, think they lead the fractious coalition because they are so special and important, and after a while realize they do not, and return to the fold
I think there are very good reasons why one of the smartest and most talented left-wing Democrats is steadily increasing her understanding of Congress and government and shifting towards the center of the party (to clarify, I don't ever see AOC becoming a timid centrist)
The Obama presidency should have been hint enough that the American Right was already off the rails. People were waaay too chill about Greg Abbott deploying the Texas state guard in response to the Jade Helm 15 conspiracy theory
My personal view is that Biden would've beat Trump in '16, and I'm a little surprised I don't see more people criticizing him for not running that year. But I also don't clearly remember why he didn't run that year. We'd be wrapping his 2nd term or a less destructive Rubio term, or whoever.
Clinton and her allies cleared the field. This sounds like a conspiracy but it’s not: Clinton locked down endorsements and donors very early and positioned herself as Obama’s de facto chosen successor. That’s why the 2016 primary was her, three no-hope weirdos, and a cranky grandpa backbencher
If that hadn’t happened I think Biden would have fought harder but the Clinton primary campaign started in 2014, a year before Beau died. Would have been a real uphill struggle for Biden (would have had a chance if he consolidated the anti-Clinton vote but no guarantee)
