One of my Berniac friends posted on Facebook with the hashtag #NeverBiden.
When I saw that hashtag, the first thing I thought was “Trump wins the 2020 Election for President!”
If there was ever a tumultuous time for Trump it’s right now. His Ukraine scandal, a scandal that wasn’t even on the radar amidst all of his other scandals and investigations, is exploding, even as courts are ruling against him left and right on immigration and his tax returns.
But let’s not forget: Shortly before the last Presidential election a tape came out of Trump bragging about sexually assaulting women, and he still won.
Well, he “won” in that he got the electoral college. For all the talk of circular firing squads among liberals, Democrats, and progressives, Hilary still got nearly three million more votes than Trump.
The climate is such that many people believe Trump won’t even be in office by next year when the election rolls around. But he’s surprised us before. There’s also the possibility that the ouster of Trump could lead to a new candidate that the GOP will get behind as an attempted bounce back, but very few people believe that a resignation or an impeachment of Trump would result in a Republican revival.
One of the reasons so many potential candidates are vying for the Democratic nomination is that they smell blood in the water. Trump has been such a disaster that he’s been deemed an easy target by Democrats. That and every liberal and progressives sense of purpose has been amplified by his oppressive administration.
So is it possible? Is it possible that infighting and internal turmoil between liberals, progressives, and leftists might get so bad that it could actually sink the Democrats chances of recapturing the White House in 2020? It depends on who you ask. Some say the concept is nonsense, and others say it’s worse than it appears. But there is one way to ensure a victory: We have to sell out.
Sounds insidious? Sounds like something you don’t want to do? Tough cookies. The reasons conservatives keep winning and winning over and over again is that they sell out. All of the time! If a candidate or issue goes too far for them, or not far enough, they throw their support in that direction regardless of their misgivings, just as long as it’s going in the direction they want to go in. It just has to be right wing. Moderates go for extremists. Extremists go for moderates. Whoever or whatever has a chance, they back them.
Many liberals, progressives, and leftists stick to their guns. Someone who just wants price controls and subsidies for healthcare, rather than all encompassing universal healthcare? That will raise a storm. Someone who’s so radical they believe in Universal Basic Income? That just goes too far! You need someone more sensible. There are those who simply wouldn’t vote at all unless they got just the candidate they wanted. They will stay home and pout, even if it means giving the conservatives another victory. In the most extreme cases they will actually vote for the other side, just as a “That’ll show em’!” vote.
The front runners right now are Warren and Biden, also known as too much and not far enough. Warren is too far out for more moderate Dems. She leans too far to the left. Many progressives aren’t happy with Biden. Too establishment. Too much part of the machine. He doesn’t lean to the left far enough.
Many progressives weren’t satisfied with Hilary. They didn’t think she was progressive enough. She didn’t go far enough. She was too much part of the establishment. There were even some who said we would be better off with Trump, some saying that he was needed to fire up the left. Well, if the infighting hasn’t stopped, what good did getting Trump get?
Also the Susan Saradonish claim that we’re better off having Trump win than Hilary is most definitely a point of privilege. People like her and myself do not suffer nearly as much as others without white upper middle class privilege. That Hilary would take us closer to our goals, closer to Universal healthcare, closer to greener laws to fight climate change, closer to reforming our broken immigration and prison systems, was irrelevant. For some voices, Hilary’s not-progressive-enough shortcomings were enough to say the hell with it. Did it get Trump elected? I can only believe that it helped.
The impact of these throw-them-to-the-wolves-if-we-don’t-get-just-what-we-want progressives and leftists is still highly debatable. But in order to combat with George W Bushes and Trumps, we have to get out and vote for Biden, or vote for Warren, or whoever is on the Dem ticket, because progress needs to keep moving forward, no matter what speed it’s at. If having to hold your nose to vote for someone is an insurmountable problem for you then you’re just letting the bad guys win.
Conservatives always vote. Always. If a Republican has two broken legs on election day they would drag themselves to the polls. It’s time for us to do the same. Damn your principles, damn your sticking to your guns. Because that’s the kind of thing that gets Trumps elected. Take down your privilege and vote for the Democrat.
Even if you have to sell out. The alternative is too terrible to contemplate. It’s simply no longer a choice.
