• 420blazeit69 [he/him]
    ·
    9 months ago

    I'm just hoping something might change if they lose yet again but even harder this time.

    We shouldn't forget how many things had to break right for Dems to be able to ratfuck Bernie:

    1. Covid hit during the primary, undercutting the ability for people to vote for Bernie/against the ratfuck and relegating all other news to the backburner.
    2. Obama was able and willing to pull the strings for the coordinated dropout/endorsement of Biden. Will he still have the juice to do that in 2028? He'd do it for his former VP, but is he going to do it for pete-eat or someone? That someone would have been a better choice for the party in 2020 but they didn't get picked then.
    3. Biden could lean on his VP time and because he hadn't been doing a real job for 12 years could avoid most criticism with "that's ancient history." Who's going to do that this time?
    4. Dem politicians and voters in part went along with the ratfuck because (a) Bernie was farther left than any major presidential candidate since maybe 1988, and (b) Trump said scarier things out loud than any recent Republican candidate. But people have been talking about Bernie's positions on topics like healthcare since he forced that conversation back into the mainstream, Trump won't be on the ballot in 2028, and your Republican nominee might be some more polished freak like Nikki Hayley.
    5. Warren stayed in, which made the coordination behind Biden less obvious and cost Bernie some supporters.

    It was a very specific combination of circumstances. They could still pull it off, but they had to try, and they had to get a little lucky. They might not be able to pull it off in 2028, or they might have to do it so blatantly that it backfires.

    Finally, it got shoveled under the rug because Biden won. If they do it in 2028 and lose, the internal party divisions that sprung up after Hillary lost (and helped Bernie become a real contender in the first place in 2020) will re-emerge even stronger.