So Twitter was abuzz with #RiggedPrimary talk this morning. I am not in that camp and I’m very careful when I use the word “rigged”. So that everyone is clear on my position, I never claimed that the 2016 primary was rigged, and I shut that talk down whenever I come across it. Yes, the DNC set up their primary assuming that Hillary was going to be the nominee. They didn’t “rig” the primary against Bernie. They didn’t think he was going to be a factor, and they were preparing for a coronation. I don’t use it when it’s strictly speaking, not true because I don’t want to be the bitch who cried wolf. When I use it, I want you to know that I’m not being hyperbolic. Republicans have thrown “socialist” around for so long, that it no longer packs any punch. People don’t take you seriously when you’re playing it fast and loose with your language so let me repeat: this primary was not rigged.
Here’s what happened. The DNC freaked the fuck out about where this primary was going and they decided that they had to spring into action to prop up a very weak candidate. Stay with me Biden supporters, because I’m talking to you, and I need for you to hear me if we have any hope of winning the general election. They coordinated a group drop-out and endorsement to try and turn this ship around in order to stop the candidate who promises to tax their donors and hurt the military industry complex, prison industrial complex, big pharma, big oil, and all of the other companies who have been investing in democratic politicians for 30 years. So they decided that a former VP to a wildly popular president who came in:
I have never seen either party do this before. Not republicans and not democrats. They cleared the path for a 3rd place (average) nominee. Biden lost the white working class in Iowa, New Hampshire, and Nevada. “Amtrak Joe” has been his shtick for 40 years. These are his people. He got pummeled with Latinos in Nevada. And this is the guy that the DNC has decided will be the nominee? For context, in 2008 Hillary and Obama knocked all of the other candidates out of the primary after Nevada. Why? Because it was clear that none of the other candidates were strong enough to win the general. This time around, the DNC cleared the path for a 3rd place candidate who would have been out in any other primary season. So they orchestrated a drop-out and endorsement on the eve of Super Tuesday to prop up a weak candidate. Make no mistake: he’s weak. Denying Hillary’s weaknesses is how we got Trump in ’16. Please don’t do that again.
No one drops out right before Super Tuesday, after they’ve made their ad buys. No one. Please don’t deny that this was a coordinated effort. And for FFS, please don’t deny that Biden is a weak candidate. He still lost Latinos all across the country, even after the DNC’s wipeout strategy. We can’t afford the kind of complacency and delusion that we had in ’16. Hillary was a weak candidate, and no one was willing to acknowledge that so they assumed she would win with ease. Michael Moore was the only one sounding the alarm bells. I could clearly see the path to Trump’s victory, the week before the election. Even I didn’t really believe that he was going to win, but I could see the path and I was sounding the alarms.
I am not trying to bash Joe here. I’m trying to sound the alarms because I’m terrified of four more years of Trump.
We can’t have that again. We need to acknowledge his weakness and be prepared to deal with it. The DNC deployed an effective strategy to prop up Joe and now we might be stuck with what we’re stuck with. If you voted for Joe or plan on voting for Joe, you own this now and you need to spring into action come July.
I am not going to spoon feed you all of Joe’s problems because again, I’m not trying to bash Joe. And people get testy when I try to present them with facts that they don’t like, so I’m urging you to do your own research and get ahead of these problems before the general. You need to prepare compelling arguments in favor of voting for Joe in November, and you need to do it soon.
Social Security is no longer a quiver in our arsenal and you’d better get ahead of familiarizing yourself with the audio and video of Joe advocating for cutting social security or “putting it on the table” because it’s going to be in a lot of Trump commercials. I’m not going to post it here because my goal isn’t to bash Joe. It’s to scare you into action because I’m terrified of four more years of Trump.
You’re going to have to mount a defense for Biden’t bankruptcy bill because Trump is going to use that, so do your research and educate yourself on what it was, and what it did to working class Americans. You need to be prepared to face that head on, and not just deny it because it’s inconvenient.
The cost of prescription drugs is also no longer an issue that we can use, since Joe Biden blocked an amendment by Bernie that would have stopped Gilead Pharmaceuticals (just to provide one example of hundreds) from charging $1750 a month for PrEP, when we paid for the R&D of that drug. Guess who is developing the Novel Coronavirus vaccine? Right, Gilead. Trump is going to use that, as he lies about how much he’s done to bring down prescription costs down. His voters don’t care that he’s lying, but Biden’s record is going to suppress some democratic enthusiasm. That’s not the only time Joe voted to protect big pharma, so do your research and be prepared.
You need to be prepared for all of this.
You need to be prepared to convince white working class voters that the Obama years weren’t that bad for them, and that Joe’s promise to get us back to that is a good thing for them.
Get your arguments ready.
You need to be prepared for the Hunter investigations. Do not assume that since Joe didn’t do anything illegal, that it’s not going to be a factor. We did that with Hillary’s emails (which I also sounded the alarms over) and it was a factor. Not illegal and not shady aren’t the same thing. Speaking of Hunter, Ivanka and Fredo Jr’s corruption are no longer on the table as a weapon to highlight Trump’s corruption so you’re going to have to use other arguments about how much bigger Trump’s swamp is than previous swamps.
You need to prepare your arguments now, or you’re going to be ambushed in September. You need to be prepared to mount these defenses to people who hate Trump, but aren’t motivated to actually vote. These aren’t arguments you need to craft to convince republicans. That’s never going to happen. These are arguments you’re going to have to craft to convince democrats or left leaners to show up.
You need to take three people who didn’t vote in 2016 to vote with you. Bribe them with a lavish seven course meal, drive them to their polling location if it’s different than yours, do whatever you have to do, but you need three people. I am terrified that Trump is going to win again, I really am.
Come September, you need to get some comfortable shoes on and go door knocking. If you can fly to Wisconsin, Michigan, and Pennsylvania to convince white working class voters to come back to the democratic party you have to do that. These are places where Biden doesn’t poll as well against Trump as Bernie does so even if the DNC consolidation strategy wins Joe those primaries, you need to understand that he’s weak in those states and you need to work your asses off in those places to ensure turnout in November.
I’m still hoping that Bernie can outsmart the DNC, so I’m with him until the end. For my part, I won’t post all of the readily searchable “oppo research” on Joe. Unlike all of that mythical oppo research that some of you have convinced yourselves exists on Bernie, but has thus far eluded Hillary, Biden, Bloomberg, and everyone else he knocked out of this primary, Joe’s problems are public record and easily found. And come July, if we’re stuck with this, I will help by highlighting some of the good things he’s done.
But right now Biden supporters, it’s on you to be prepared to get out the vote for your candidate in November. Please do not convince yourselves that he’s got this. We can’t repeat every single mistake from 2016 and expect different results. We have a very flawed candidate. Be prepared to advocate for him.
