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Leftwing senator advises ‘unification of progressive people in general’ because threat from Republican ex-president is too great
Progressive US voters must unite behind Joe Biden rather than consider any of his Democratic primary challengers because the threat of another Donald Trump presidency is too great, Bernie Sanders has said.
“We’re taking on the … former president, who, in fact, does not believe in democracy – he is an authoritarian, and a very, very dangerous person,” the senator and Vermont independent, who caucuses with Democrats, said on NBC’s Meet the Press. “I think at this moment there has to be unification of progressive people in general in all of this country.”
Sanders’ remarks came as Trump continued grappling with more than 90 criminal charges across four separate indictments filed against him for his efforts to forcibly nullify his defeat to Biden in the 2020 presidential race, his illicit retention of classified documents, and hush-money payments to porn actor Stormy Daniels.
Despite the unprecedented legal peril confronting him, Trump enjoys a commanding lead over his competitors in the Republican presidential primary, polls show.
And though polling for now shows Biden generally is ahead of Trump, that has not stopped Robert F Kennedy Jr and Marianne Williamson from mounting long-shot Democratic primary challenges – or third-party progressive candidate Cornel West from running.
Sanders himself was the runner-up for the Democratic nomination in the 2016 White House race won by Trump and in 2020, with West among his supporters. But Sanders this time quickly endorsed Biden’s re-election campaign, a decision which prompted West to accuse him of only backing Biden because he is “fearful of the neo-fascism of Trump”.
The senator responded to that criticism on Sunday on CNN’s State of the Union, saying, “Where I disagree with my good friend Cornel West is – I think, in these really very difficult times, there is a real question whether democracy is going to remain in the United States of America.
“You know, Donald Trump is not somebody who believes in democracy, whether women are going to be able to continue to control their own bodies, whether we have social justice in America, [whether] we end bigotry.”
Sanders didn’t elaborate, but his remarks seemed to be an allusion to the Trump White House’s creation of the US supreme court supermajority, which last year struck down the federal abortion rights that the Roe v Wade decision had established decades earlier.
That court also struck down race-conscious admissions in higher education as well as a Colorado law that required entities to afford same-sex couples equal treatment, among other decisions lamented by progressives.
“Around that, I think we have got to bring the entire progressive community to defeat Trump – or whoever the Republican nominee will be – [and] support Biden,” Sanders added on State of the Union.
Sanders nonetheless said he planned to push Biden to tackle “corporate greed and the massive levels of income and wealth inequality” across the US. On Meet the Press, he suggested he would urge Biden to “take on the billionaire class”.
Those comments came about four months after Sanders called on the US government to confiscate 100% of any money that Americans make above $999m, saying people with that much wealth “can survive just fine” without becoming billionaires.
You know the Democratic Party isn’t a monolith right? It’s voters decide mostly who is in charge. If people want a candidate other than Biden they can vote for them in the primary.
Since no viable candidates have shown up, Biden is the best option for now
it is a monolith though. Courts ruled after 2016 that the DNC can’t defraud voters or candidates because they aren’t required to have a fair primary. Their lawyers argued in court that they should be allowed to select a winner undemocratically, and won.
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That’s because the party isn’t a government institution, and candidates can run as independent (which does lower their chances, but the law don’t care about that part)
Not sure why this comment is downvoted, you’re not wrong. It might not be ideal, but it’s the truth
its because lemmy (and reddit) votes are just a “does this make you feel good” button.
If they need to threaten voters with ultimatums, then they’re not doing good enough.
Cool, but we have FPTP elections, so the choice will always be the lesser evil of the two front runners. Of course a real alternative would be preferable, but until we have a fundamentally different voting paradigm, ultimatums are a mathematical certainty.
They know that. They plan for it. They don’t want any actual liberals to run so the game is rigged against them from the start
Fuck them. They have absolutely no incentive to pass meaningful change and so the country will continue to swing further and further to the right, as bit by bit the conservatives sweep more of the government under their control.
The Democrats are contributing to the problem.
It is true that the game is rigged. The DNC has a pretty good grip on its own primary process. That said, Bernie made pretty amazing headway into their ranks despite the rigging largely due to people actually engaging the process instead of sitting on their ass whining about how unfair the process it.
You don’t like how the system is being run, join any one of the many coalitions who’ve formed up to change it. Or start your own. And if you aren’t up do doing that much, then go the fuck to the poles and vote for who they choose because otherwise the GOP wins and takes over the god damned country in the name of racism, religious hegemony, and oligarchy.
I’m sorry but the math on this doesn’t check out.
You’re saying that we must join coalitions whose intent is to change the system or we must vote for the Democratic nominee, otherwise we are supporting the GOP?
If not voting for the Democratic nominee is support for the GOP then how isn’t joining a coalition to undermine DNC power support for the GOP?
I don’t understand this logic.
I’m a big fan of a different option
Having a different opinion is fine, sitting there whining about how awful the Democratic party is well bemoaning the horrors that the Republican party is visiting upon our country and people while doing absolutely fucking nothing to help stop any of it is just pathetic.
Option. Not opinion.
Throw all your weight behind the Democrats if you like, it will only delay an inevitable descent to the fascist religious hegemony the Republicans clearly want. The current state of the DNC is such that no meaningful legislation is possible, no leftward progress will happen.
The game is rigged against you. The ruling class like it that way. As long as you’re in the working class, if you’re playing by the rules they’ve set it for you, you’re playing to lose.
Oh they want liberals. Remember, liberals are just “moderates”, making them conservative-lite. The don’t want progressives. That’s why they buried Bernie
Then show up. You’d be better than what we’ve got. Lord knows that since 4 of my neighbors told me independently of each other that I should run for city council, I’m looking into running for city council, and I would be the first to tell you that I am not qualified, which seems to be exactly why they think I am qualified.
Already volunteering in local county politics to push my little slice of the democrats to be more radical, about a third of them already support Bernie in the rural south so I’d like to think it’s going well.
Will most likely run soonish but that’s a tall task down here.
Good luck!