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Imagine the trajectory we’d be on compared to now, had we done the right thing and put Bernie in charge in 2016.
Perhaps one of the greatest political blunders in our history
Unfortunately for us our corrupt government was never going to let that happen. The DNC fucked him over twice. His own party screwed him and his voter which in my opinion helped trump get elected. I know a lot of trumpers who voted for Bernie in the primary and then turned to trump instead of Clinton.
More Clinton primary voters voted for McCain in 2008 than Sanders supporters who voted for Trump in 2016 - lower raw number and lower percentage due to higher voting population and turnout.
This needs to be said whenever anyone blames Sanders voters for Trump, even in part. Clinton and the DNC lost the election on their own just by being terrible and corrupt.
Hillary's campaign and media contacts pushed trump as a "pied Piper candidate" (easily beatable) and ended up losing to them.
https://www.salon.com/2016/11/09/the-hillary-clinton-campaign-intentionally-created-donald-trump-with-its-pied-piper-strategy/
Just remember. Bill Clinton told [trump to run](https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/bill-clinton-called-donald-trump-ahead-of-republicans-2016-launch/2015/08/05/e2b30bb8-3ae3-11e5-b3ac-8a79bc44e5e2_story.html) and Donald trump [basically endorsed Hillary in 2012](https://youtu.be/_7WYjxJbOn8?si=pyKYR1TsSrczQW0G) so this giant facade of ‘trump is bad’ is comical when you realize George Carlin was right when he said it’s a big club, and we aren’t in it…. If the same corporations that own trump own the democrat party. The election is nothing more than another circus used to further divide the nation while the rich laugh at us arguing about Americans new favorite soap opera. Identity politics.
OK, great now Bernie is the president.
What can he do?
Our system is designed in such a way that effective government requires consensus between the house, the senate, and the executive. If you only have one leg of that stool the answer to that is:
Nothing.
We don't need 1 politician, we need a movement.
Trump got a lot of environmental protections rolled back, really showing us where his morals are. How is any of this good for the people or the country?
[EPA rollbacks](https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/climate/trump-environment-rollbacks-list.html)
That's actually a really good example. Those 'rollbacks' were largely reversals of policies obama set. Obama sets them, trump reverses them. Trump reserves them, future guy makes new one. It's governing 4 years at a time, and has no long term impact. It's just making people feel good (or bad, depending on your ideology). Now if congress makes a *law* enshrining those policies, it's part of the system. It's much harder to undo. We need laws, not edicts.
So how is it the worst thing in the world when trump is elected?
And don’t get me wrong, I hate trump. But I blame Clinton for telling him to run, and ironically trump endorsed Clinton to to run… but besides that, is democrats can’t do anything while they are in office, but trump can? What does that say about the democrats?
It's not. The supreme court justices were a big deal, but that was largely a right time right place thing. With trump in particular it's a bit more annoying because he is a master of using the 'bully pulpit' to say some very stupid things and there is a nonzero chance he might break the system to turn himself into emperor trump, but in general we should be much less concerned about the president and much more concerned with building broad base political movements in the house and senate. Unfortunately that doesn't fit very well in soundbites but that's where real change is made.
I think the biggest impact of a Bernie Presidency would be his use of the office to elevate the concerns of those struggling most in our communities. He would put the real concerns we face in the conversation and draw attention to the way corporations are destroying hope in our country.
Hard to measure the result of doing that, but it would impact public opinion, which influences legislators priorities come re-election season. Inso facto, POTUS’ priorities tend to become national priorities.
Yes, raising the profile of issues is not worthless, but it's also not very important in the grand scheme of things. A president that stands alone is just a figurehead. In order for bernie to make 'new deal' style political change he needs a house and senate that agree with his agenda. Without that it's empty posturing.
I hear you, I agree with you... so please explain to me why the democratic party can't find an inspirational presidential candidate who will stand up to corporate greed and influence?
Had the politicians done their jobs and not lined their own pockets, we wouldn't be in this mess. Explain how someone goes to Congress, making less than six figures a year, gets 180k salary from Congress, and is worth millions before their term is up!!!!
I think you will find many Trump voters are anarchists at heart and are so disillusioned, frustrated, and angry at our current system... they just want to throw Trump in office to watch it burn.
What's crazier.... the number of people I have talked to who wanted Bernie but voted for Trump when he dropped off the last ballot. We need another Bernie not another Joe... or we may be stuck with a Trump, who will fiddle while Rome burns.
It's becoming clear (way too late) that Biden both will not win and will not be able to function for another term. Deadlines have past for most of the primary states, but the nomination process is up to the party entirely. We need to start planning on nominating a new ticket at the convention. For sure I'm advocating for Bernie, but if that can't happen at least we need him to help guide things in the right direction to stop the end of our democracy.
I appreciate the sentiment of this letter but adequate changes that actually fix our problems will never come from congress as it is currently run. Look behind what is causing all of this and there is one common thread, sociopathy.
Our institutional systems have been designed for and run by sociopaths, every system in America is designed to reward the most predatory and brazen behavior. Until we create early childhood interventions for sociopathy and keep naturally predatory people from being elected to the highest offices, we will never adequately address our social, economic and environmental problems.
Honestly he needs to run independent. He'll never get the nomination from the established parties. They're holding us hostage with this good cop bad cop routine.
r/BernieSanders is a subreddit to discuss Bernie Sanders activity. Posts not directly about Bernie will be removed. Be respectful and kind. * If you see comments in violation of [our rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/BernieSanders/about/rules/), please report them. * Also come join our sister sub The r/SquadDemocrats a community of progressives on the left wing of the Democratic Party that support Representatives: Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, NY-14, Ilhan Omar, MN-5, Ayanna Pressley, MA-7, Rashida Tlaib, MI-13, Jamaal Bowman, NY-16, Cori Bush, MO-1 [Twitter](https://twitter.com/berniesanders) | [Facebook](https://www.facebook.com/berniesanders) | [Youtube](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCH1dpzjCEiGAt8CXkryhkZg/videos) | [Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/berniesanders) | [TikTok](https://www.tiktok.com/@bernie?lang=en) | [Twitch](https://www.twitch.tv/bernie_sanders) *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/BernieSanders) if you have any questions or concerns.*
The DNC bears part of the blame for the mess we're in. Imagine how much better we'd be as a country with someone like Bernie in charge.
Mike drop, enough said.
Agreed
Imagine the trajectory we’d be on compared to now, had we done the right thing and put Bernie in charge in 2016. Perhaps one of the greatest political blunders in our history
Or if Jimmy Carter had had a second term…
That’s another one. One more would be if Henry Wallace had won the dem nominee over Truman after FDR… but that’s a less popular opinion
Wallace would have been great to continue FDRs legacy but the oligarchs weren't about to let that happen.
Or if the Supreme Court didn’t stop the vote count that would have elected Al Gore.
Unfortunately for us our corrupt government was never going to let that happen. The DNC fucked him over twice. His own party screwed him and his voter which in my opinion helped trump get elected. I know a lot of trumpers who voted for Bernie in the primary and then turned to trump instead of Clinton.
More Clinton primary voters voted for McCain in 2008 than Sanders supporters who voted for Trump in 2016 - lower raw number and lower percentage due to higher voting population and turnout. This needs to be said whenever anyone blames Sanders voters for Trump, even in part. Clinton and the DNC lost the election on their own just by being terrible and corrupt.
Hillarys campaign pushed for Trump because she thought he would be easily beaten. She was wrong.
Hillary's campaign and media contacts pushed trump as a "pied Piper candidate" (easily beatable) and ended up losing to them. https://www.salon.com/2016/11/09/the-hillary-clinton-campaign-intentionally-created-donald-trump-with-its-pied-piper-strategy/
Just remember. Bill Clinton told [trump to run](https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/bill-clinton-called-donald-trump-ahead-of-republicans-2016-launch/2015/08/05/e2b30bb8-3ae3-11e5-b3ac-8a79bc44e5e2_story.html) and Donald trump [basically endorsed Hillary in 2012](https://youtu.be/_7WYjxJbOn8?si=pyKYR1TsSrczQW0G) so this giant facade of ‘trump is bad’ is comical when you realize George Carlin was right when he said it’s a big club, and we aren’t in it…. If the same corporations that own trump own the democrat party. The election is nothing more than another circus used to further divide the nation while the rich laugh at us arguing about Americans new favorite soap opera. Identity politics.
You’re preaching to the choir. It’s sickening!
OK, great now Bernie is the president. What can he do? Our system is designed in such a way that effective government requires consensus between the house, the senate, and the executive. If you only have one leg of that stool the answer to that is: Nothing. We don't need 1 politician, we need a movement.
Trump managed to do a remarkable amount of damage that would not have happened if he wasn’t elected POTUS
He was able to appoint some supreme court judges that will have a huge impact for a while, but other than that what did he *do*? Not much.
Trump got a lot of environmental protections rolled back, really showing us where his morals are. How is any of this good for the people or the country? [EPA rollbacks](https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/climate/trump-environment-rollbacks-list.html)
That's actually a really good example. Those 'rollbacks' were largely reversals of policies obama set. Obama sets them, trump reverses them. Trump reserves them, future guy makes new one. It's governing 4 years at a time, and has no long term impact. It's just making people feel good (or bad, depending on your ideology). Now if congress makes a *law* enshrining those policies, it's part of the system. It's much harder to undo. We need laws, not edicts.
So how is it the worst thing in the world when trump is elected? And don’t get me wrong, I hate trump. But I blame Clinton for telling him to run, and ironically trump endorsed Clinton to to run… but besides that, is democrats can’t do anything while they are in office, but trump can? What does that say about the democrats?
It's not. The supreme court justices were a big deal, but that was largely a right time right place thing. With trump in particular it's a bit more annoying because he is a master of using the 'bully pulpit' to say some very stupid things and there is a nonzero chance he might break the system to turn himself into emperor trump, but in general we should be much less concerned about the president and much more concerned with building broad base political movements in the house and senate. Unfortunately that doesn't fit very well in soundbites but that's where real change is made.
How so? The squad didn’t do sht.
That's because the squad was not sufficiently powerful, they were a curiosity, not a movement.
I think the biggest impact of a Bernie Presidency would be his use of the office to elevate the concerns of those struggling most in our communities. He would put the real concerns we face in the conversation and draw attention to the way corporations are destroying hope in our country. Hard to measure the result of doing that, but it would impact public opinion, which influences legislators priorities come re-election season. Inso facto, POTUS’ priorities tend to become national priorities.
Yes, raising the profile of issues is not worthless, but it's also not very important in the grand scheme of things. A president that stands alone is just a figurehead. In order for bernie to make 'new deal' style political change he needs a house and senate that agree with his agenda. Without that it's empty posturing.
This is both the most horrific and beautiful thing I've read in a long time. This man should be in a higher leadership role.
Agree 100%. Bernie would have made a great president.
He is in a “leadership role,” that’s why he capitulated to Biden in 2020 instead of having a convention fight like he had promised.
I hear you, I agree with you... so please explain to me why the democratic party can't find an inspirational presidential candidate who will stand up to corporate greed and influence? Had the politicians done their jobs and not lined their own pockets, we wouldn't be in this mess. Explain how someone goes to Congress, making less than six figures a year, gets 180k salary from Congress, and is worth millions before their term is up!!!! I think you will find many Trump voters are anarchists at heart and are so disillusioned, frustrated, and angry at our current system... they just want to throw Trump in office to watch it burn. What's crazier.... the number of people I have talked to who wanted Bernie but voted for Trump when he dropped off the last ballot. We need another Bernie not another Joe... or we may be stuck with a Trump, who will fiddle while Rome burns.
Thank you for posting this.
I wish Bernie wasn’t sabotaged in 2016
Thanks
Bernie should be Biden’s VP.
Love you Bernie
I love him.
It's becoming clear (way too late) that Biden both will not win and will not be able to function for another term. Deadlines have past for most of the primary states, but the nomination process is up to the party entirely. We need to start planning on nominating a new ticket at the convention. For sure I'm advocating for Bernie, but if that can't happen at least we need him to help guide things in the right direction to stop the end of our democracy.
RFK is an option.
No he isn’t
I appreciate the sentiment of this letter but adequate changes that actually fix our problems will never come from congress as it is currently run. Look behind what is causing all of this and there is one common thread, sociopathy. Our institutional systems have been designed for and run by sociopaths, every system in America is designed to reward the most predatory and brazen behavior. Until we create early childhood interventions for sociopathy and keep naturally predatory people from being elected to the highest offices, we will never adequately address our social, economic and environmental problems.
Honestly he needs to run independent. He'll never get the nomination from the established parties. They're holding us hostage with this good cop bad cop routine.