It is in the news that Russia is helping Sanders to undermine him. What is Russia up to?
@amyv I so appreciate what you posted, your malaise and decision to do self care. I do not mean to assume what is going on with you, but I sense you are an empath, a sensitive, like so many in this community. We sensitives feel the roller coaster that the Collective is going through. This morning we are on the verge of a pandemic-driven market drop, a possible pandemic that public health professionals are now telling government leaders to get prepared for. We are on the verge of a dictator rising in the U.S., i.e., Trump. People are nervous now on both sides of the aisle. Obviously even Trump is nervous since he asked Congress for a billion dollars to prepare for the pandemic hitting the U.S. He knows that a market drop will cost him the election, unless he can convince people that he will save us financially.
Many of us are viewing the democratic candidates as a rescue from all of this, but no one person is going to save us from an inevitable unraveling that has been hundreds of years in the making. I don't want to suffer and I don't want others to suffer, but change is coming and we need change.
This morning I decided to check my many visions of the future that I wrote down and put in files going back to 2013. I saw lightening striking for 2019 and releasing a symbol of rebirth. I saw markets going wild in Feb 2020, trying to rally in subsequent months and then going down further. It shows a volcano going off in mid 2020 and I rarely see volcanos in visions. Don't know if that one is symbolic, but I think it is real. It shows waters rising precipitously in November 2020. In other words, this is a volatile time. None of these visions are a set in stone. I got them years ago. But mostly it feels like a time of major shift that is scary but necessary and we will rise from it!
If anyone responds to this post, then I will move the issue to a more appropriate thread, since this one is Bernie's.
Russia could be up to a few things with that.
1. They could publically promote their interference for Bernie to have a reverse effect and paint Bernie as the Russian operative and justify the entire Trump/Russia defense from day one.
2. Bernie does give the strongest opposite platform on the Dem side so his nomination would polarize the voting even more-which gives Trump an advantage.
3. Painting Bernie as "Russia's guy" would gaslight voters and have them questioning "if the Russians like Bernie what am I missing?"
4. People dont know, nor care to truly understand, the difference between Communism, Socialism, and Democratic Socialism. Promoting Bernie helps paint him as a communist.
5. They also could see him as too weak to survive a GOP Senate/House, or they could have dirt on him they feel will make him the most useful of the Dem candidates.
My best advice is that Russia is obviously up to something, but seeing how psych warfare and gaslighting are their main means of ammunition these days, I would completely ignore it when deciding on how to proceed/vote
I really like the historian John Meacham. This morning I overhead him say we are going through a political climate change. I love that.
Regarding all of the negative hoopla about Bernie: Meacham spoke about the number of people (newscasters, politicians, etc.) who believe we're driving towards a cliff and remarked apparently none of them are checking with the voters. Meacham is witnessing something very different going on among the electorate.
I also heard about a Harvard political study that was conducted among young voters. The bottom line is, young voters don't care at all about labels (e.g. socialist, etc). According to the study about 50% support Bernie, and the other 50% want a candidate who support some of Bernie's policies, but within the context of a new definition of capitalism. I'm a Warren fan, and wonder whether she fits into the latter 50%?
In any event, these people who are losing their minds about Bernie getting in -- I believe they're using an outdated paradigm.
I have a strong feeling the whole "Russia is trying to boost Bernie so Trump will win" narrative is pure propaganda to scare Dems into supporting a status quo candidate. It's been kind of hilarious how MSNBC has been in meltdown mode over Bernie since his NV win. I don't think this new 2020 astrology supports the status quo any longer, though, so that's a recipe for disappointment.
None of the numbers support Bernie losing to Trump- his favorability rating has been consistently higher than Trump's for the past 5 years. In key states like WI and MI, Trump is now running a big deficit in favorability points compared to 2016. Even in FL, he's now -1 down from +22 at the time of his inauguration. You can check regular state by state updates on the Morning Consult website.
@deetoo Absolutely agree. Something is happening at the grassroots level that many pundits aren't seeing. Rachel Bitecofer's take (her Twitter feed is a must read for anyone who wants to understand what's happening with the electorate) is that the way to win is for a candidate to excite the base, not cater to the other side. Democrats, unfortunately, have spent decades chasing the unicorn of the "swing" voter and given this nonexistent group priority over their own voters. The GOP gives us right wing policies, the dems gives middle of the road stuff. No one has given us true liberal policies since LBJ's Great Society programs, and FDR before him. There is a hunger for it that well paid pundits with health insurance and paid vacation don't get.
@lynnventura Amen. Whether you agree that Bernie Sanders is the right vehicle for that approach or not, the simple truth is, it has been a long time since Democrats ran on the basis of what they are actually for, rather than what they think they might be able to finagle.
The majority of Bernie's support is coming from people who weren't even alive the last time the mainstream Democratic party took a position that might be considered "courageous". It's no wonder they aren't inspired by policy wonks.
The bottom line is, worrying about a vague notion of "electability" is nowhere near as important as advocating for what is right and good. That has pretty much always been true, at every critical juncture of history. The current crisis is no more unsettling than several we have been through before, and the leaders who brought us out of those other crises were almost universally driven by ideals first, and pragmatism almost as an afterthought. FDR's ridiculous optimism is the example that comes most to mind.
It didn't take a psychic to see this one coming, but Chris Matthews apologized to Bernie Sanders today:
The problem democratic, and intelligent conservative, voters have these days is that polls are correct but misleading. We are almost all looking for the candidate that beats Trump.over any other quality. Polls today are just as useless as in 2016 when predicting a victory. The Democratic candidate will win the popular vote no matter who it is. The problem is that it doesnt matter. There is no consolidated, easy to understand, poll that shows which candidates are polling well in a nationwide electoral college vote. There are a few notes that come up about Michigan/Wisconsin/Pennsylvania, but I have yet to see something easily understood by the masses that shows what candidates EC projections look like. The AA vote is a huge chunk of the Democratic electorate, but it's also most targeted for suppression and often a non winnable percentage in strongly red states. For someone like Klobuchar or Buttigieg to be dismissed because they wont win in highly AA populated states is the wrong way to look at it. No one is going to beat Trump in Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina, etc. I'm not saying they are the best candidates, but the only info the public is getting their hands on eliminates their electability chances on a moot point.