Bernie Sanders has been the frontrunner in the early stages of the race to become Democratic Party candidate for November’s US presidential election. And today, on what voters know as ‘Super Tuesday‘, he could secure an important win in a contest where establishment forces are doing their best to defeat him.
Former vice president Joe Biden will be Sanders’ main rival. Long the favourite of billionaire backers, Biden has so far had a weak ground game and lacked enthusiastic support from ordinary people. But he received a boost in recent days when two other billionaire-backed candidates dropped out and backed him after his victory in South Carolina. Sanders, meanwhile, relies on massive, enthusiastic, grassroots support, and has zero billionaire backers.
Whether Sanders wins big in the 14 Super Tuesday states or not, however, will depend on how well his progressive message has managed to cut through vicious establishment propaganda and bias.
Cutting through elitist propaganda
Many independent analysts believe Sanders is the best bet to beat Donald Trump. Academic and author Robert Reich, for example, recently put out a video arguing precisely that. And at the same time, he took down the key elitist attacks on Sanders, arguing that:
- Sanders has a common-sense platform. US establishment forces have long demonised the word ‘socialism’, but Sanders is a moderate who simply wants public money and power to serve ordinary people rather than the rich and powerful.
- Sanders can beat Trump. Reich stresses that “the best way for Democrats to defeat Trump’s fake anti-establishment populism is with the real thing”. Why? Because “more and more Americans feel politically disempowered and economically insecure”. And the data consistently seems to back that up, with Sanders seeming to be the candidate most likely to beat Trump by the biggest margin.
- The establishment challenges Sanders on how he’d pay for his public investment plans; but Reich says it’s “funny that they never ask how we’ll pay for endless wars, or bailouts, tax cuts, and subsidies for the top 1%”. He also points out that Sanders has already detailed his spending proposals; and that universal public healthcare (‘Medicare for All’) would save both hundreds of billions of dollars and tens of thousands of lives every year in the long run.
- Sanders has a long record of working with Senate colleagues to achieve change, and Democrats have a better chance of taking control of the senate “if Bernie’s political revolution continues to surge around America”.
- Sanders’ age shouldn’t matter; “having the right values” should be more important to voters.
- It’s clear that Sanders “unites people from all walks of life” in his “multi-racial, multi-generational coalition”. People who say that ‘moderates’ (i.e. billionaire-backed elitists like Biden) appeal to most voters, meanwhile, are “woefully out of touch”.
The Democratic establishment is wrong to think @BernieSanders is too progressive to win a general election. He's the Democrats’ best shot at taking back the White House.
Share this with all the Bernie skeptics you know before #SuperTuesday: pic.twitter.com/pS7vjfywA3
— Robert Reich (@RBReich) March 2, 2020
Also… look at the alternative
The main challenger to Sanders, meanwhile, is the lukewarm Biden; a man who offers the same old centrist posturing that failed to beat Donald Trump in 2016. So it’s also worth looking at why voters shouldn’t pick Biden:
NEW: Joe Biden voted to kill a Paul Wellstone-Bernie Sanders amendment that would require drugs funded with public research money to be sold at a "reasonable price" to the public https://t.co/mWCymCEWQr
— Ryan Grim (@ryangrim) March 2, 2020
We will not defeat Trump with a candidate like Joe Biden who voted for the Iraq War, tried to cut Social Security and supported NAFTA. pic.twitter.com/Lk7U7JDS21
— Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders) March 1, 2020
I do not believe we will defeat Donald Trump with a candidate like Joe Biden who supported the Iraq War. pic.twitter.com/8tII7O3Mal
— Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders) March 2, 2020
https://twitter.com/IntheNow_tweet/status/1234677604122128385
Frankly, Joe Biden is showing he doesn't have the cognitive faculties to run a successful campaign for President, much less do the job. It'd be hypocritical to point out Trump's cognitive deficits while ignoring the obvious with Biden. It's time for them both to retire. https://t.co/SNuOUcx5fc
— Dr. Jill Stein🌻 (@DrJillStein) March 2, 2020
With so much at stake in this election, many see a ‘we can’t do better‘ Biden candidacy as a major risk:
Some folks seem to be looking at Biden like a comfortable old sweater they can put on to recover after the trauma of trump.
Here's the trouble: the house is on fire. And that old sweater is soaked in fracked gas.
So get out of your comfort zone and vote #Bernie2020.
— Naomi Klein (@NaomiAKlein) March 3, 2020
I am tired of extreme wealth inequality, extreme corporate greed and monopolization, extreme risk to the planet from climate change.
Status quo politics will not deliver the change we need. https://t.co/3K7pVUA0G4
— Faiz (@fshakir) March 3, 2020
What do they call doing the same thing over and over again,& expecting different results?
If we do not run a strong, progressive candidate that directly addresses the core crises Americans face, we take a major risk.
The time is now.
Vote @BernieSanders.pic.twitter.com/rzaKXx0Tk6— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) March 3, 2020
Klobuchar and Buttigieg are endorsing Biden. As the Democratic Party’s “moderate” (or shall we say “establishment”?) wing coalesces around Biden to stop Bernie, it's starting to look a lot like 2016, when the same wing rallied around Clinton.
I think that's a mistake.
— Robert Reich (@RBReich) March 2, 2020
Sanders is a real alternative
Although it’s easy to debunk the attacks on Sanders and expose Biden’s massive weaknesses, establishment forces won’t stop trying to derail the momentum Sanders very clearly has. They’ll keep dishonestly smearing the common-sense choice to take on Trump, largely because he represents a real threat (however moderate) to the selfish interests of elitist warmongers and billionaire grifters.
Fortunately, Sanders supporters have passion and drive. And if their efforts succeed in cutting through establishment propaganda, Sanders could come out of the “crucial” Super Tuesday vote in a very strong position to take on Trump in November.
Featured image via Flickr – Gage Skidmore / Flickr – LBJ Library
