The DNC establishment looks desperate and ready to accept defeat in the civil war with Bernie and his progressive army

globinfo freexchange

It is no secret anymore. Various anchors, pundits and opinion writers in the corporate media admit that Bernie Sanders has gained a great momentum. Super PAC donors and their DNC proxies are out there in plain sight and full force to stop Bernie, right before the first critical battle in Iowa. Yet, all signs show that dirty tricks won't work this time.

The establishment apparatus exhibits an elevated panic as realizes that whatever it tries against Bernie not only doesn't work, but instead, sometimes backfires badly.

The most recent and perhaps loudest example, is an attack that has been orchestrated by CNN in co-ordination with the pseudo-progressive candidate, Elizabeth Warren, using the identity-politics weapon. This whole 'political drama' was so poorly directed - by a medium that has already lost its reliability - that it backfired very badly. Independent progressive media immediately recognized the dirty trick, as well as, people in social media who counter-attacked with anti-Warren and anti-CNN hashtags.

It seems that progressives have become a nightmare for the DNC, as they monitor closely every move against Bernie, due to the awful experience from the 2016 primaries. Whatever the DNC tries, the de-centralized progressive structure exposes it in no time.

The establishment apparatus has come now to the point where it hesitates to try any new tricks against Bernie because it knows that may backfire further. A recent article from Washington Post impressively depicts the situation:

Top Democrats are increasingly alarmed that Sen. Bernie Sanders could gain unstoppable momentum from the primary voting that starts next week. But they also fear that any anti-Sanders effort would backfire, and that has sidelined any significant stop-Sanders effort for now. Even the hint of an organized anti-Sanders movement would risk alienating the Vermont independent’s sometimes belligerent supporters and play into claims that the process is “rigged,” many Democrats say privately. Democratic House candidates in swing districts say they are nervous about running on the same ticket as Sanders, but they, too, are reluctant to say so publicly. [...] Some Democrats say they erred in 2016 by antagonizing Sanders and his supporters, and they are loath to risk doing so again. Others warn that treating Sanders too gently, however, could lead to a repeat of Republicans’ experience of 2016, when they underestimated Donald Trump until it was too late to stop him. Either way, the anxiety is palpable.

All across the political spectrum, the corporate media now acknowledge with extreme anxiety that any attack against Bernie will likely backfire. The title of the article in New York Times is characteristic: Super PAC Attacks Sanders in an Ad. Sanders Raises $1.3 Million in a Day. And it didn't escape from the radar of the ultra-conservative Fox News either: Democracy 2020 Digest: Sanders profits from ad in Iowa that attacks him.

These headlines reveal again that they are all on board to stop Bernie at all costs. If Bernie survives the primaries he will go after Trump. The establishment political factions, from the neoliberals to the untra-conservatives will unite in a last effort to stop him before the 2020 presidential election.

Progressives already know it: even corporate Democrats would certainly prefer another Trump term than Bernie as the next US president because he could further damage their precious neoliberal status quo. 

Beyond that, it is more than evident that the movement from 2016 is now more solid than ever, mostly because of the persistence of younger Americans to engage with it and become politically active. The progressive part of the American youth is absolutely loyal to the movement. And it will be almost impossible to go out and vote without Bernie Sanders in the Democratic leadership. Even if this would mean a second Trump term. A recent article in New York Magazine shows the picture:

A specter is haunting centrist Democrats — the specter of a Bernie Sanders nomination. As the democratic socialist has taken the lead in Iowa and New Hampshire, and narrowed Joe Biden’s advantage in national polls, the high clerics of Clintonism have begun calling for a (political) counterrevolution. [...] Democrats will need high turnout among young, left-leaning voters in November, and Bernie Sanders is overwhelmingly popular with such voters. The age gap between the support bases of the two leading Democratic candidates is unprecedented in scale. According to a Quinnipiac poll released Wednesday, Bernie Sanders boasts the support of 53 percent of Democratic voters under 35 nationwide, while Joe Biden lays claim to just 3 percent. [...] If Uncle Joe has to win millennial and Gen-Z hearts and minds — after riding to the nomination on the back of a wall-to-wall anti-Bernie ad blitz from Third Way and friends — his task may be impossible.

Moreover, there is some evidence that even many moderate Democrats would vote for Bernie Sanders. The article title from Buzzfeed is also characteristic: "I Would Vote For My Dead Cat Over Trump": Even Moderate Democrats Say They'd Vote For Bernie Sanders If He's The Nominee.

Perhaps the most impressive is that the article presents the views of Democratic party supporters from Iowa who are considered moderates and belong to the baby boomer generation. Although they disagree with Bernie's agenda, they claim they would vote for him if he becomes the nominee because they don't want to see another Trump term.

This is strong evidence against the myth that a "radical" could scare the moderate voters to the point that would make Trump's victory almost certain. Furthermore, it proves that Bernie has all the potential to broaden the base of the Democratic party under his progressive terms.

All signs show that the DNC establishment looks ready to accept its defeat and Bernie with his progressive army are ready to take over the Democratic party.

It seems that we are now very close to the moment we described four years ago: The establishment starts to sense the first cracks in its solid structure. But Bernie is only the appropriate tool. It's the American people who make the difference. No matter who will be elected eventually, the final countdown for the demolition of this brutal system has already started and it's irreversible. The question now is not if, but when it will collapse, and what this collapse will bring the day after. In any case, if people are truly united, they have nothing to fear.

The big question now is: if Bernie survives the primaries, how will they try to stop him?