I’ve a lot of discourse online about how the Democratic Party held back Bernie Sanders from becoming president in 2016 & 2020 during the primaries. But my question to that is, are primaries not decided by the voters to get the most delegates? If the people didn’t vote for him, how is that the Dems’ fault?
A counter I see for that is that Dems endorsed his primary opponent to sway the vote. I dont really think that would have much impact on committed voters. Trump got almost no help in the primaries in 2016 and still won.
Is this narrative true and I’m just oblivious?
The 2016 republican primaries were like a game of plinko. I forget the exact number, but it was something like 40 people trying to get the nomination. And they were all mostly heavy hitters in the republican world. My guess before everything played out, was it would be Jeb Bush. I thought that made the most logical sense. My mistake was thinking the 2016 republican nomination had any logic involved. People kept dropping out, and eventually trump was the only one not stubborn enough to drop out. He had no political career it could harm, and he wasn’t expecting to win. So fuck it. Go all the way, lose, and you still made a bunch of donation money. Do it again in 2020. Just as he had already done in 2000 and 2008.
Except this time…he won.
And then the democrats went with Hillary of all people. Which everybody hated. So trump won.
And 2024, the democrats went with Harris, which large important groups hated. She used to be district attorney, in charge of punishing people for having weed. She also was tied at the hip the last 4 years to Biden, whom everybody hates, and mostly for his stance on Israel. So, she got lumped into that camp. So while EVERYONE didn’t hate her, a large group did. And you run the same formula. Trump running against a woman who a large number of people won’t vote for. 2016, and 2024.
I understand all of that. But why didn’t people vote for Bernie in 2016 & 2020?
I’m beginning to think you might be trolling based on your responses. In case I’m wrong…
The simple answer to your question was that people who voted in the Democratic Party primary didn’t want him to be their nominee. Of course you’re asking why.
In 2020, Sanders had the lead and the party leaders decided “guys, we can’t run a Socialist Jew against Donald Trump, so we need to pick a candidate and go with him.” A ton of people vying for the nomination dropped out and endorsed Biden. Their supporters voted according to the endorsements and we ended up getting Joe Biden.
ETA: To be clear the Democratic Party is a private organization and they can do whatever they want. It’s completely within their rights to say “we need to stop Bernie Sanders” and put in action a plan to do just that.
