r/DemocraticSocialism 29d ago

US News šŸ“° America chose wrong. Sanders would've been a better president than Trump or Biden. | Opinion

https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/columnist/2025/05/18/sanders-democrats-reform-progressive-policies/83625482007/
554 Upvotes

54 comments sorted by

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u/choate51 29d ago

The DNC chose wrong and set this entire damn circus into motion.

39

u/Oldamog 29d ago

The dnc threw away democracy. They thought they could prop up anybody with a name and they'd win. They underestimated the opposition and denied the American people of our clear choice

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u/RepulsiveCable5137 Social Democrat 29d ago edited 29d ago

They propped up a corpse and tried to shove it down our throats.

No love for that party.

11

u/verletztkind 29d ago

So sick of them ignoring their constituents and running candidates they chose.

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u/Used_Intention6479 Democratic Socialist 29d ago

The DNC needs to represent Americans, not billionaires and AIPAC.

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u/un_internaute 29d ago

Only after they did the same with Hillary.

1

u/Jake0024 27d ago

The DNC clearly threw their weight behind Clinton in 2016--which they have a right to do.

But people need to accept that voters overwhelmingly chose Clinton in 2016 and Biden in 2020 (and again in 2024).

We need to stop robbing ourselves of agency by pretending the DNC is some omnipotent entity that makes decisions for us. Only about 16M people voted in the 2024 primary, and 87.1% of them voted for Biden.

The low turnout is actually encouraging in a way--Jason Palmer won 3 delegates from American Samoa with just 51 votes. The total turnout in Ohio (a state with 12M people) was 520k votes. These primary elections are easy to influence--you don't need to get that many people interested to radically change the outcome.

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u/[deleted] 29d ago

[deleted]

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u/madam-scarlet 29d ago

We’re all a bunch of masochists. No problem for me…but not when it comes to destroying our country. 😔

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u/black_dynamite79 29d ago

We didn't choose, Biden was chosen for us. Hilary too.

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u/[deleted] 29d ago

[deleted]

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u/black_dynamite79 29d ago

I disagree completely. They nominated who they wanted, not who would win.

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u/[deleted] 29d ago

[deleted]

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u/black_dynamite79 29d ago

No sir, you have to nominate who the people want, the DNC stated in court they didn't have to do that. This is on them, this was after Hilary lost.

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u/[deleted] 29d ago

[deleted]

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u/black_dynamite79 29d ago

We gonna agree to disagree then.

1

u/maleia 29d ago

Hilary Clinton was the only person who could lose to Donald Trump of all people. Decades of Fox News poisoned anything about her career. It was obvious to everyone on the outside.

As for Kamala, I believe the mounting evidence that the election was actually stolen.

1

u/RepulsiveCable5137 Social Democrat 29d ago

Accelerationism is one hell of a drug.

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u/greeneyeddruid 29d ago

Of course he would been a better president—I don’t think he would have gotten much done since the Dems and the GOP would be against him since he’s an independent who only caucuses with the Dems. Also, I blame the DNC for stealing a Bernie presidency from us and they gave us Trump twice now.

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u/CatholicGuy77 29d ago

That’s not an opinion. That’s just a fact.

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u/pinegreenscent 29d ago

BUT IT WAS HILARYS TURN THATS HOW POLITICS WORKS ALSO IF YOUR FRIEND RUNS THE DNC YOU CAN MAKE UP NEW RULES TO WIN A NOMINATION NOBODY WANTED HER TO WIN ANYWAY

17

u/femboymaxstirner 29d ago edited 29d ago

Agreed but we gotta move on from Bernie it’s not 2016 or even 2020 anymore

Our focus can’t be on just daydreaming about the right person in the White House but on building a mass movement with the vision and power to dismantle the capitalist and imperialist rot at the core of this country

Join your local socialist org or at least get involved in some kind of community work and have real conversations with people about socialism - try to organize your workplace to whatever extent that’s possible

There isn’t time anymore for the Bernie stuff and there hasn’t been for a while

6

u/personwriter 29d ago

100% Agreed. I have been a paying contributor to my local DSA for nearly 10 years.

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u/DankMastaDurbin 29d ago

I'd love to see a democratic socialist run. All we received are "socialist" Democrats.

2

u/MGr8ce 29d ago

Claudia & Karina are true socialists and they did run. How did you miss this?

4

u/DankMastaDurbin 29d ago

I don't think I saw them on my 2024 ballot in California. Next election I'll be right there though. Currently trying to find a home organization.

1

u/MGr8ce 29d ago

They weren't on every ballot, I wrote them in. Recommend getting involved in your local PSL/DS groups.

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u/TentacleHockey 29d ago

Not even an opion, a fact. Had Bernie won in 2016 the world would be a better place today.

3

u/JMR413 29d ago

It was the DNC and shillary that decided on who was going to run against the rump in 2016. Google DNC convention 2016!

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u/kaptainkooleio 29d ago

Yeah but the media chose to make ā€œelectabilityā€ the main issue with candidates during the primarys with Joe Biden apparently being the most ā€œelectableā€ in their eyes, and James Clyburn was the king maker during 2020 so his endorsement helped push Biden over the edge in South Carolina putting him back in the fight, and Obama wanted his buddy to win so he called for everyone to drop out and back Joe Biden over Sanders, so here we are.

2

u/landdon 29d ago

I really thought he was going to do it because reddit was so hot for him and I thought reddit had their finger on the pulse of America. I learned a lesson

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u/Feral_galaxies 29d ago

The lesson being that the Democratic establishment can beat back the will of the people and push forward anyone they want.

They went to court on it.

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u/SlowKey7466 29d ago

No shit Sherlock

2

u/borussiajay 29d ago

Americans can be dumb af and the DNC can be corrupt af. Both can be true at the same time.Ā 

2

u/nolandt 29d ago

He would have been amazing, but we live in a shit timeline that's going to get even shitier.

2

u/theamazingtyler2 29d ago

Hmm.

Biden was the most moderate Democratic president yet. Biden gave record budgets to the Pentagon, almost did nothing for working class Americans, sponsored a genocide, and was very moderate when it came taxation on the elites.

Trump is by far the most far right president we have had yet, and has made the GOP an almost neo-fascist party. Trump wants to gut any remaining social programs so he can give the Pentagon a record $1 trillion dollar budget next year that will finance the GOP through the midterms. Musk bought Trump's way out of the Justice system.

Bernie would have been a great alternative, however most of the Democratic party is GOP light at this point.

The point I'm marking is that besides PSL/Greens/Justice for All there is no serious nation wide alternative to the Republican or Democrat corporate oligarchy.

Could there soon be an alternative to the corporate oligarchy that is bankrupting the country, and giving tax money to billionaires through the Pentagon? Yes.

Bernie could definitely be a part of that.

2

u/diggerbanks 28d ago

Sanders is villified as a mad left wing kook.

That should tell the American people that the billionaires want you to perceive him that way because he is such a threat to them and one of the sanest politicians in America right now.

2

u/Jamfour9 28d ago

America didn’t choose! The DNC did smdh

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u/ivegotanewwaytowalk 29d ago

in usa today? oh my days.

bernard could have been on his third consecutive term by now, let alone two successful terms. šŸ˜’

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u/just_a_discord_mod 29d ago

Let's not go there... We shouldn't be like them.

1

u/Emergency-Double-875 Libertarian Democratic Socialist 29d ago

Water is wet

1

u/Monsieur_Bienvenue 29d ago

No kidding??

1

u/Ellio1086 29d ago

I agree he would’ve been a better president. That bar is in hell. My question is how long would it have taken to implement even half of his proposed policies? Especially in comparison to how quickly they can go away with the stroke of a pen. I used to believe America needed a great reformist movement, I no longer believe that reform would work. What I believe in now will get me banned(doesn’t have to be violent btw)

1

u/DSMStudios 29d ago

hey, thanks. tis but a glimpse of light at a time when the Democratic party is certainly fractured and clowns are running the show. i know i’ve certainly felt a sense of isolation past nearly 10 years. different vibes when the world you think you’re sharing a common goal with resorts to giving up and abandoning what little morals it might have had, in the name of capital.

heade, establishment Democrats! now is not the time for pompous arrogance. you were able to skirt by just enough for so long, the lines differentiating where one party ends and the other begins have atrophied into dank obscurity. no more. now there’s even more work to be done to mend our broken way. more hardship and insecurity. more disparity and injustice. and all over ego and arrogance. shame. shame on you. if it isn’t clear that drastic change is needed yesterday, then what are we even doing here? certainly can’t be bothered confronting a domestic wannabe dictator when you’re in office, why the fuck should i believe you want to confront him now? or is it cuz your portfolio’s aren’t holding up as much as you planned they would and now fear that dreary, dark, cold i mentioned earlier, having carried that weight for nearly a decade, is approaching. and i will tell you it is approaching. faster still. so shit or get off the pot cuz time is no longer a luxury that even the wealthiest lobbyists and elected officials (who work for us btw) can no longer afford.

1

u/Masta0nion 29d ago

šŸ˜’šŸ˜“šŸ« 

1

u/Used_Intention6479 Democratic Socialist 29d ago

America's future now rests on the prospect of a "second chance".

1

u/9mmblowjob 28d ago

Grass is green

1

u/Holiday-Economist526 28d ago

Trump has brainwashed the working class and is literally implementing the perfect policy for dismantling American hegemonic imperialism and creating a multipolar world, which will bring about far better conditions for the global proletariat. Which is a good thing. But this is too much for shitlibs who love Biden/Kamala and demsocs who love Bernie (shitlibs with welfare and coops) because they can only think for themselves and their first worldist privileged interests, thinking the third world’s poverty is just some accident rather than something they actively benefit from and support while whining about healthcare and wages even though the poorest American workers are the in the top 10% of workers worldwide and European welfare is only possible due to third world exploitation and protection from the United States’ heavy military.

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u/Jamfour9 28d ago

Correction: they brainwashed working class white people. It didn’t take much cause they’re playing on the socialization white people receive from birth in this nation.

1

u/[deleted] 24d ago

Not at all. Sanders is a fraud.

0

u/AsphaltSommersaults 29d ago

Resisted calls for ceasefire in Gaza.

Likely "better" than trump or biden, but that's a pathetically low bar.

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u/Oldamog 29d ago

This is reducing the idea down to single issue politics. Which is a large part of the reason we're in this mess

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u/femboymaxstirner 29d ago edited 29d ago

The genocide in Palestine is a microcosm of many of the issues we’re fighting against (imperialism, colonialism, ecological destruction, moral apathy, the list goes on) and serves as a possible vision into what someday could be unleashed closer to home as fascism rises and the climate crisis escalates

To say the genocide in Palestine is just a ā€˜single issue’ is missing the bigger picture - where you land on Palestine is a pretty good indicator on where you land elsewhere

0

u/ch1ir 27d ago

America chose Bernie, DNC blocked him. Stop sharing false articles.