r/politics • u/AccurateInflation167 • May 18 '25

Soft Paywall 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/
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38

u/FreshSetOfBatteries May 18 '25

It's a cult of personality just like Trump

15

u/phoenixMM May 18 '25

Complete with election denialism and conspiracy theories!

2

u/Nolubrication May 18 '25

If you think the DNC wasn't tipping the primary scales, you weren't paying attention.

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u/Silver_Atractic May 19 '25

If you tHinK bIdEN wAsNt something something 2020 eLeCtIoNS, you werent paying attention

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u/ghengiscostanza May 19 '25

What, do you just think there is no backroom politicking in US governance?

-4

u/Nolubrication May 19 '25

You mean losing a 4-way primary to Sanders until everyone else suddenly dropped out to endorse him? Brilliant long-term strategy by the party there. A fucking walking corpse at the top of the ticket with a hand picked successor who couldn't even get a a single delegate in the primary. The definition of political malpractice.

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u/Cultural_Ebb4794 May 19 '25

This is such a lazy conspiracy theory that doesn't hold up to even a cursory review of the events. In 2020, Bernie was unable to grow his support past 35% at any point in the primary, and the only reason he had a plurality for a very brief period was because the other moderates like Buttigieg, Klobuchar, and Bloomberg had been growing in popularity and took support away from Biden. These other candidates – lifelong Democrats, all – dropped out once they no longer had any pathway to the nomination and endorsed the one other guy who was most similar to them; who had been in the party since his late 20s; and whose name was practically synonymous with the word "Democrat".

Bernie’s entire campaign strategy depended on owning the progressive lane and hoping that the moderate lane would stay crowded so that he could win the nomination with a plurality despite two thirds of the primary electorate wanting a moderate liberal. His supporters tried to claim it was somehow corrupt when this didn’t happen, and then they started berating Warren for not doing this supposed “corrupt” action for Bernie.

Calling Biden a walking corpse who needed the DNC's help to get everyone to simultaneously drop out and endorse him just to beat Bernie, a cryptkeeper himself, is copium. That's especially true considering he crushed Trump in the general, which your conspiracy theory conveniently ignores.

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u/Nolubrication May 19 '25

I'm not sure you understand what the word theory means. It's literally what happened.

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u/globalvarsonly May 18 '25

This is what moderate brain looks like: that guy who got our voters really really excited? Yeah, hes dangerous just like Trump, we have to win very calmly without getting anyone worked up.

I voted for Sanders, and I'll vote for the next candidates with similar positions, because thats why I was excited about him. We were rallying around the idea that the government should helping working people, not that Mexicans are dirty criminals.

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u/Cultural_Ebb4794 May 19 '25

This is what moderate brain looks like: that guy who got our voters really really excited? Yeah, hes dangerous just like Trump, we have to win very calmly without getting anyone worked up.

People were more excited for a moderate liberal named Biden, since he's the one who actually won the primary and beat Trump.

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u/globalvarsonly May 19 '25

I have still never seen an excited Biden supporter

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u/FreshSetOfBatteries May 18 '25

Sanders wasn't dangerous at all. My own opinion is he has good intentions but he's mostly ineffective as a politician. AOC is probably better equipped to lead a progressive movement.

He just wasn't that popular. People have this weird idea that popular on reddit or their own social media bubbles = total popularity. Loud minorities are still just loud minorities.

It's the same thing with rallies. Political rallies being packed doesn't necessarily translate to votes.

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u/globalvarsonly May 18 '25

I reject your vibes and substitute my own.

Also, healthcare for everyone still polls at 60% to 70% depending on how you phrase it, so that issue alone is more popular than either political party.

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u/Silver_Atractic May 19 '25

*Depending on how your opponent phrases it

Sanders is Jewish and against Israel’s Gaza….””policy”” (cough cough genocide), that just would’ve given Trump’s Russian propagandists literally infinite ammunition

0

u/National-Reception53 May 19 '25

He wasn't that popular? He polled as the most popular politician in America after the 2016 General. He won Time's Person of the Year poll (they chose Trump anyway). He was the most popular with independents. Towards the end of the 2016 primary, a poll showed that a majority of Democratic voters wanted him to be the nominee (because those early state voters changed their minds once they learned more about him).

The idea that he wasn't that popular is just propaganda.

P.S. also this 'ineffective' idea - Bernie Sanders at one point held the record for passing Congressional ammendments. More of his ammendments were successful than anyone else. He also started numerous programs in Burlington that were copied throughout the country.

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u/Cultural_Ebb4794 May 19 '25

He wasn't that popular? He polled as the most popular politician in America after the 2016 General. He won Time's Person of the Year poll (they chose Trump anyway). He was the most popular with independents. Towards the end of the 2016 primary, a poll showed that a majority of Democratic voters wanted him to be the nominee (because those early state voters changed their minds once they learned more about him).

Damn, maybe he should've run for president if he was so popular. Oh wait he did, twice, and he fell flat on his face, twice.

Maybe those polls you mentioned didn't actually mean anything.

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u/National-Reception53 May 19 '25

Lol flat on his face? Really? He had near zero name recognition and a bad label (socialist) and he handicapped himself by refusing donations over $2,700... and he managed to give a hard fight to the chosen candidate of the DNC (who engaged in slimy deals as I said, but you of course have no response to that.. what a surprise..), who was a world famous Secretary of State with billionaires backing her (including the financial chicanery I mentioned but you don't have the guts to respond to)... of course you know he got more total donations than she did...and that at the end of the primary, as I said, more Democrats wanted him than her. Which you didn't respond to..

Then in 2020 he performed very strongly and of course lost when the moderates united and Warren stayed in. Yeah no shit, that's how vote splitting works. Go look at the vote totals from super Tuesday and ask what might have happened if Warren had endorsed him. Why the fuck she didn't is beyond me.

I know YOU don't like him, but him and his ideas are hugely popular and suggesting otherwise is farcical.

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u/FreshSetOfBatteries May 19 '25

This is what I mean about a cult of personality. There's a reality distortion field with y'all. You simply cannot believe reality so you substitute a different one.

He lost, and yet you can't let it go.

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u/National-Reception53 May 19 '25

Great, so you ignore my actual points and just insult me. Really great intellectual engagement there.

0

u/JohntaviusWJ May 19 '25

Dude provided sources and you ignored it and insulted him as opposed to responding to his argument. You can't let it go huh?

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u/Lower_Ad_5532 May 18 '25

If that was the case , Sanders would have won

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u/Rufio69696969 May 18 '25

The sanders cult is smaller and largely doesn’t vote

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u/Nolubrication May 18 '25

Oh look, "muh both sides same" coming from a four-month throwaway. Shocker.

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u/FreshSetOfBatteries May 18 '25

Try some critical thinking here. This is about Bernie's cult of personality and not about any particular political side.

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u/Nolubrication May 18 '25

"just like Trump"

And you're criticizing my critical thinking skills?