The fact that people are turning on Bernie Sanders for supporting Biden when he’s the only person opposing Trump shows that they care more about some imagined idea of ideological purity and Bernie as a figurehead of an imagined political revolution rather than thinking about politics in any sort of pragmatic sense nor do they care about stopping a malicious asshole who if allowed to remain in office will only cause more death and suffering.
The important thing to remember about Bernie Sanders is that he’s not going to disappear in a puff of smoke once the Democratic Convention is done with.
He’s a Senator. He’s going to remain a Senator. He’s going to be out there working for the same progressive agenda he always has. He’s also not a stupid man; he knows how politics work. He has already figured out that he needs two things to push any progressive bills through.
First, he needs a president who will sit down and work with him rather than telling him to fuck off. Of the people who will be on the ballot in November, there’s one person who Sanders knows he can work with, and one person who is an absolute nightmare who can barely work with anyone. Biden is the one he can work with. If we support Sanders, we’ve got to give him Biden to work with.
The other thing we need to give him is a Democratic Senate. Because Mitch McConnell is turning the Senate into a bill-rejection factory, and progressive causes are dead in the water as long as he’s in charge.
Sanders hasn’t given up. He’s changed tactics to fit a changing situation. So should we.
Also, we should pay attention to down-ticket races. Down-ticket races matter. (Carthago delenda est.)
Remember in 2016 when a bunch of people chose to not vote once bernie dropped out and endorsed clinton?