2d ago

Thousands in Midwestern GOP Districts Attend Sanders' First Stops on Tour to Fight Oligarchy | "It's like there's only one person who is actually able to sidestep the demoralization and frustration"

www.commondreams.org Thousands in Midwestern GOP Districts Attend Sanders' First Stops on Tour to Fight Oligarchy | Common Dreams

Senator Bernie Sanders is on a mission to fight oligarchy and empower the people. With a powerful message against Trumpism and billionaire influence, he's rallying Americans to stand up for democracy. #FightOligarchy

United States | News & Politics @midwest.social

BrikoX @lemmy.zip

1d ago

Thousands in Midwestern GOP Districts Attend Sanders' First Stops on Tour to Fight Oligarchy

www.commondreams.org /news/bernie-sanders-donald-trump

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I've felt that Bernie should be president since 2015, but he never stood a chance in the US. You have a 0% chance of being elected president in this country once the label of "socialist" has been applied to you.
- They called Obama a socialist.
  
  Obama never embraced the label, though. Bernie did. Obama was a Democrat and a liberal, Bernie is an independent and a socialist.
  
  Those who ran from the label and embraced the right just lost to trump.
  
  Obama won two elections and Biden won one.
  
  Oh, well at least nothing at all has changed. Running to the right and only the right always works, according to people who only want to move to the right.
- You say that but articles like this don't fit that narrative. There are Republican voters who like Bernie and they have been showing up to his rallies for years. I know several Trump voters who have said they would have voted for Sanders if they got the chance. The idea that progressives don't appeal to conservatives is neoliberal propaganda. Progressives hit on alot of the same problems as conservative politicians they just have different solutions (and a lot less bullshit). Neoliberalism just pretends that the status quo is fine. Despite the name conservatives are largely unhappy with the status quo. That's how we got Trump.
  
  There are Republican voters who like Bernie and they have been showing up to his rallies for years.
  Then Bernie should have run for the Republican nomination. He tried running for the Democrat nomination twice, and he lost twice.
  
  I mean, he probably would have encountered less resistance from party leadership.
  
  You can be flippant about the nature of first past the post voting systems if you like but it's not a useful contribution to the discussion. If you want to be POTUS you run as an R or a D and Bernie is not an R. That does not mean there are not R voters who like his policies.
  
  If you want to be POTUS you run as an R or a D and Bernie is not an R.
  Did you miss the part where I said he ran for the Democrat nomination, twice?
  That does not mean there are not R voters who like his policies.
  I never said otherwise, but how does that help him win a presidential election?
  My whole point is that Bernie could not win a presidential election in the US. How has anything you've said disproven that?
  
  He's not a D either, he's an SD
  
  Which is much closer to D than R
  
  Yes
  
  The DNC rigged it against him. He should have ran independent. The DNC is corrupt af.
  
  The DNC rigged it against him
  Yep.
  He should have ran independent.
  Nope. Wouldn't have worked.
  The DNC is corrupt af.
  Yep.
  
  It is surprising how many people don't realise the spoiler effect inherent in first-past-the-post makes running as an independent an bad idea: you are more likely to split the vote with a candidate who agrees with some of your points, causing both of you to lose, than being able to bring change.
  
  I know this is true. Bernie was one of the few I saw as possibly bridging the gap. I knew multiple people who were Republicans that said they would vote Bernie because he was a man of conviction. I think Bernie would have pulled a lot of Republicans in 2016 because of the climate. So many rural people voted Trump in protest of the establishment more than a love of DJT back then. 2020 was a different story, so was 2024. 2016 I think he would have had a real shot to take from both sides with how little enthusiasm Hillary and Trump had. Bernie’s rallies dwarfed either of them. He had so much momentum. But this will always be a what if…
  
  Fair, though I don't think rallies are a good indicator for enthusiasm in the general voting public. If you have access to polls you may be able to judge things somewhat better (even if polls have their own problems). I like to believe that a politician like Bernie is smart enough to have at least given the option a thought, and figured that running would guarantee a DJT win.
  With hindsight, it may be easy to say that it would have been worth a try anyway (given who won in the end...).
  Even so, even if he won, it would not be easy to be a president without backing in the US. The only reason DJT is not in prison is support from the other branches of the US government.
  
  Brother, who the hell says they’re a fan of Sanders and then willingly votes for Trump other than chaos agents or racist who want to bury social issues?
  
  More than you think. Trump is a fascist piece of shit but he's not wrong when he says the system is rigged and drastic change is needed. Replace Trump's Nazi rhetoric and egoism with workable ideas and genuine empathy and in simplistic terms you have Sanders.
  
  Yeah, a not-insignificant portion of Trump's voters are people who have been shafted by the system and are desperate for change, any change. Two out of three times, Trump was the candidate offering change. That he's destroying stuff is, to them, secondary at best because they think their lives can't get much worse anyway.
- True. People need to learn what socialist actually means. Much of Europe is socialist.
  
  no we arent. having social policies doesnt make a state socialist
  
  I didn't say communist, I said socialist. Socialism isn't a monolith, there are different variants, but in general we have universal healthcare and good public services, support people with a financial safety net for those who need it, high taxes so wealth is shared more equally. I mean all this is relative and could be better but compared to America? Homeless shanty towns & workers living in cars for years? Was it Finland eliminated homlessness? Socialist paradise.
  
  Thus demonstrating that people do indeed need to learn what socialist actually means!!

105 comments