Establishment's plan to stop Bernie Sanders becomes more and more evident: Elizabeth Warren as a tool to split the progressive base

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Politico's latest article title on Bernie Sanders tells you almost all you need to know about establishment's plans to stop him: "'I'm not a Bernie Bro': Sanders' base splinters in California"

But let's take a look at a few more details to understand towards which direction the establishment drives the whole issue. As the article points out:

        ... as the Vermont senator sets up camp, he finds himself in a different and perhaps less favorable environment: Without Hillary Clinton to play off, he's losing momentum to a progressive rival, Elizabeth Warren, and fighting off a popular home-state senator, Kamala Harris.

The next two paragraphs are even more revealing and literally expose the whole strategy against Bernie Sanders:

         A crush of events this weekend revolving around the Democratic State Convention — from ballroom speeches to intimate meals to a liberal forum organized by the influential group MoveOn — laid bare the emerging scramble to cut into Sanders’ progressive base.

        “Last time, Sanders was able to run as the only progressive against an establishment candidate,” said Doug Herman, a California-based Democratic strategist. “There are multiple options for a progressive candidate at this point — if that’s who you want to elect. And polling is showing that Warren is taking the biggest bite out of Bernie’s base.”  

This is an amazingly straight admission by the establishment apparatus, concerning a certain strategy as part of the whole anti-Sanders operation. And it is also clear that Elizabeth Warren is establishment's key player around this strategy.

Perhaps it's not accidental that this article was published right after Elizabeth Warren signaled to the establishment that she will 'play by the rules' at least on some issues, through her neocon-style statement on Julian Assange. 

It's also worth to mention that MoveOn was promoting Elizabeth Warren even prior to the 2016 presidential election. As the Washington Post reported back in 2014: 

          Last week, in a coffeehouse in downtown Des Moines, a group of progressive activists launched an effort that they hope will change the 2016 presidential campaign and in the process upend the Democratic Party. The gathering in Iowa, organized by MoveOn.org and backed by Democracy for America, was the opening of a grass-roots push to draft Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) to run for president. Its broader effect was to escalate the debate among Democrats about the party’s values, its message, its real constituencies and, most of all, how it can win elections in the post-Obama era.

Recently, we identified an effort by the establishment, through a carefuly set up CNN panel, to promote some establishment Democrats as progressives. What puzzled us is the risky option of Elizabeth Warren as establishment's last resort. After all, if many Americans seriously believe that Joe Biden is a progressive candidate, the establishment could easily recruit a plethora of Democrats to 'sell' them as progressives to the voters, instead of 'picking up' Elizabeth Warren.

But now the mystery is solved. The whole picture is clear. In the most progressive states, like California, it would be difficult for the establishment to persuade voters that Joe Biden, or even Kamala Harris are real progressives. But someone like Elizabeth Warren could trick the voters.

So, now you have the whole plan in front of your eyes. Warren will be used as a tool to split Bernie's progressive base, paving the way for someone like Kamala Harris.

It appears that Kamala Harris is establishment's most preferable candidate because she has all the characteristics that could revive identity politics and drive the electorate away from the substance of politics and towards the neoliberal center. But even under these conditions, progressives have now an alternative that can beat her. It's called Tulsi Gabbard.