There
is no denying that the need to defeat Trump at all costs will be the
rallying cry used to push Democratic voters to fall in line behind
the eventual nominee, regardless of whether the nominee was chosen by
voters or by superdelegates.
by
Whitney Webb
According
to recent polling data compiled by Real Clear Politics for the
Democratic 2020 nomination, Bernie Sanders (I-VT) is the clear
front-runner among the contenders who have already declared their
candidacy. Indeed, among declared candidates, Sanders has a
double-digit lead, averaging over 21 percent, while the other most
popular, declared candidates, Kamala Harris (D-CA) and Beto O’Rourke,
trail behind at 9.9 percent and 8.9 percent respectively.
Though
the recent party reforms aimed at Democratic party insiders, often
referred to as “superdelegates,” may have given the Sanders camp
the impression that they will not be subject to the same dirty
tactics that occurred in the 2016 election cycle, the past few months
have revealed the strategy of corporate Democrats to keep the
“progressive” frontrunner from winning the nomination regardless
of whether he wins the popular vote or not.
On
Monday, Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA) became the 18th person to seek the
Democratic nomination for president. Swalwell’s candidacy has
resulted in the largest presidential field of any party in American
history, a record previously held by the Republican primary in 2016.
With 18 candidates in the race, it seems increasingly likely that at
least two, if not more, candidates will be able to stay in the
primary through the party’s convention, set to take place next
July. This likely scenario has recently been mentioned by several
recent reports.
Politics
abhors a vacuum
Enter
the “superdelegates.” Following the changes made by the
Democratic Party last August, if no candidate wins a majority (i.e.,
50 percent+) in the first round of voting at the convention, the
controversial “superdelegates” will be allowed to vote for their
chosen candidate — a candidate, if history is any indication, that
will be from the centrist, corporate wing of the party.
Superdelegates
were a major source of contention and controversy in the 2016
Democratic nomination battle, where they were accused of having been
“weaponized” against Sanders in favor of Hillary Clinton.
Superdelegates are elite members of the party and, as journalist
Caitlin Johnstone recently wrote, the superdelegate system “was
put in place to ensure that Democratic Party insiders would have the
ability to keep the riff-raff from nominating an unauthorized
candidate.” Even former DNC chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz has
admitted as much, telling CNN in 2016, “Unpledged delegates
exist really to make sure that party leaders and elected officials
don’t have to be in a position where they are running against
grassroots activists.”
Notably,
when the superdelegate system was altered last August, mainstream
news headlines declared that the move had “stripped
superdelegates of their power.” Yet, a trickle of reports in
the past few months has noted that the crowded field of the 2020
Democratic primaries may end up ensuring that superdelegates not only
retain their influence but make “a comeback.”
Last
month, Dave Wasserman wrote for the New York Times: “[F]or
2020, Democrats’ jam-packed field is already on track to surpass
the Republican 17-way rumble of 2016 and lacks an obvious
front-runner. At the dizzying pace small- and large-dollar donors are
bankrolling their favorite hopefuls, many Democrats could have the
financial wherewithal — and even pressure from their backers — to
campaign deep into the primary calendar, dramatically increasing the
odds no candidate will capture a majority by the convention.”
Though
among declared candidates Sanders is the clear frontrunner, the media
— with few exceptions — has largely avoided labeling him as such,
given the “prospect” of a Joe Biden candidacy, which seemed
inevitable until the recent deluge of “Me Too” testimonials
accusing the former vice president of inappropriate behavior towards
women and girls.
Wasserman
further noted that the decisions of California and Texas to move
their primaries to so-called “Super Tuesday” in early March 2020
also presents a problem: “This means 36 percent of Democrats’
3,768 pledged delegates will be allocated in early March, before the
herd has truly been culled, making it even harder for one candidate
to build a delegate majority. And if Colorado, Georgia and New York
decide to join the Super Tuesday stampede, that share could rise to a
whopping 46 percent.”
With the
primary now set-up to make it virtually impossible for any one
candidate to secure a delegate majority, the outsized role of
superdelegates at the next Democratic National Convention seems all
but assured. Those “unpledged” delegates comprise around a fifth
of all Democratic Party delegates.
This
likely explains why centrist, corporate candidates in striking range
of Sanders, namely Kamala Harris, made moves early on that alluded to
the now clear role that superdelegates will have in the upcoming
convention. Indeed, as MintPress noted in January, Harris was
quick to hire David Huynh, Hillary Clinton’s director of delegate
operations in 2016, to serve as a senior adviser to her campaign.
Harris’ hiring of Huynh drew attention at the time owing to his
success in essentially weaponizing superdelegates in Clinton’s
favor, leading some to suggest that Harris will follow a similar
strategy despite the reduced role of superdelegates in the Democratic
Party. Yet, now, with the role of superdelegates unlikely to be as
“reduced” as previously believed, Harris’ strategy has taken on
a new significance.
“At
least Trump’s not a ‘progressive’”
As
some analysts have pointed out, there are elements in the
mainstream media and the Democratic Party that prefer the prospect of
a Trump reelection over the prospect of a Sanders presidency, with
even “liberal” networks like MSNBC having made that case
directly.
As
Johnstone recently noted: “The extent to which superdelegates
will be willing to outrage the party’s progressive base will depend
on two related factors: how badly they want to beat Trump, and how
badly they want to avoid a President Bernie Sanders. Last time they
were willing to risk getting Trump elected in order to keep Sanders
out, and that may still be the case; the plutocrats who own the
Democratic Party certainly aren’t doing any worse under Trump.”
Indeed,
allowing an “unauthorized” candidate that makes powerful party
donors on both sides of the aisle uncomfortable to win the nomination
may be less attractive to party insiders than letting Trump waltz
into another term, particularly if there is concern that a candidate
like Sanders is much more likely to upend the status quo.
Yet,
even if Trump’s reelection is considered favorable by party elites,
there is no denying that the need to defeat Trump at all costs will
be the rallying cry used to push Democratic voters to fall in line
behind the eventual nominee, regardless of whether the nominee was
chosen by voters or by superdelegates.
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