Sanders warns Biden: address working-class fears or risk losing to demogogue
In an interview with the Guardian from his home base in Burlington, Vermont, Sanders urged the Democratic president to inject more urgency into his bid for re-election. He said that unless the president was more direct in recognising the many crises faced by working-class families his Republican rival would win.
“We’ve got to see the White House move more aggressively on healthcare, on housing, on tax reform, on the high cost of prescription drugs,” Sanders said. “If we can get the president to move in that direction, he will win; if not, he’s going to lose.”
The US senator from Vermont added that he was in contact with the White House pressing that point. “We hope to make clear to the president and his team that they are not going to win this election unless they come up with a progressive agenda that speaks to the needs of the working class of this country.”
Sanders’ warning comes at a critical time in American politics. On Monday, Republicans in Iowa will gather for caucuses that mark the official start of the 2024 presidential election.
Biden faces no serious challenger in the Democratic primaries. But concern is mounting over how he would fare against Trump given a likely rematch between them in November.
Unless the Trump is held accountable, He will most likely win. People's material needs are important and Dem messaging has basically been hey we showed this graph so you're not struggling and anything popular you want won't happen. But everything bad will happen with the other guy. Being not Trump once again is a dangerous way to win the election. Trump's cultist ass should be getting crushed.
Biden really needs to understand how unpopular he is. Not that he will, but I can dream.
I really don't want another run of Trump pardoning psychopaths and doing what he wants. But democracy is basically in the hands of Dems and they scrap by when it comes to connecting with people or even giving them a vision post beating Trump.
The only way Trump is "connecting" with people is by telling them grandiose lies and making impossible promises.
Annoyingly, a shitton of people are willing to go along with those lies without thinking about it or questioning anything.
If only the "good guys" would do what the voters they depend on to win are demanding instead of trying to court Republican votes.
That'd be the least of our problems, I think.
I have been pre-emptively severely depressed for this.
It's kinda crazy since, what will the other wlsode do to help? There is a strong history of actively harming everyone but the ultra rich.
It's like being mad at my boss because he isn't telling me how he's going to help me on my career progression, and deciding I'll switch bosses to a corrupt prison guard instead.
The danger isn't dems voting R.
It's poor turnout.
And when poor turnout happens, Republicans win.
Same argument either way.
Unfortunately the way I see it is Biden will lose for two reasons:
Regardless of policies or how terrible the alternative is. I dont think most people are going to think much past "Things are expensive now, and oh great a super old white dude".
Love how they can blame inflation on Joe Brandon, but they refused to blame 45 for anything for 4 years.
Different types of people. Its a shame Democrats have such an uphill battle to rally around candidates because those voters hold their leaders accountable, almost to a fault. The republican voter base is made of people who are basically in a cult, or are one issue voters.
Because the Dems were not yelling that from the rooftops like they should have been, so perception is set as that it's Biden's fault.
Inflation started under Trump and Trump is just as old
That's not the perception though.
Why is that the perception?
Hint: Corps are at record high profits as is wealth inequality.
Just pointing out the facts. If you’re falling for some perception then you are the problem because not only are you not paying attention but you have no concept of history or facts.
Unfortunately this country is filled to the brim with people that are clueless, can’t remember what happened yesterday, and are misled by media to believe whatever nonsense they are gaslighting today.
So ultimately you are right but people need to be reminded that Trump was front and center of all of this inflation instead of blaming someone that came in after the damage was already done.
With all of this said, why would anyone look at Biden and say “oh just another old white dude”, but not come to the same conclusion with Trump? They are both old white dudes. So where are you getting this from? This is YOUR perception.
The bare minimum job requirement to being a politician is getting elected. If democrats can't nail messaging like republicans then that's on them, not on the average voter. Inflation didn't really ramp up until trump left office and even though his actions contributed to this ramp up, the effects weren't felt in full force until after he left. So what happens if you run on "we're not trump"? People think back to the trump years, and other than when covid hit (which people can excuse as not the fault of the president), the economy seemed to be doing great, and there certainly wasn't as big of an inflation problem as now.
Also, democrats had multiple candidates running in 2020 who weren't "another old white dude" but they asked all the candidates they could to clear the way for biden because they needed to focus their efforts to defeat their most feared enemy: Bernie Sanders.
His first play will be cannabis being decriminalized.
Man I would love to see this, but its one of those things that I will believe when I see. I hope I have to eat my words on that too. Even if so, I dont think decriminalization would mean much to people in terms of getting out to vote. Most people who are really passionate about this over other issues have had the states handle it for them already. Dems waited too long for Federal Decriminalization to be a big motivator in a national election in my opinion.
Agreed. Dems like to save popular law changes to package with other utterly deplorable actions.
They also divy it up so that it's not really a victory. "We legalized weed*!"
* For everyone over the age of 65, anybody who was born rich, if you own three patagonia jackets and people who attended an invitation only dinner with a bunch of billionaires.
Then moderates turn around and whine "Why doesn't anyone give credit to Democrats for all the good they've done???"
Too little too late.
If biden loses, a big part of why will be the single issue “genocide Joe” kids who, like their predecessors, The Bernie Bros, took their vote and went home over something that was much smaller than the potential loss of democracy.
Downvote all wish, the fact remains: had the Bernie bros not thrown a temper tantrum, there’s a good chance 2016 could have turned out differently.
Disagreeing does not make this untrue.
When do we get to blame the shit candidate who lost instead? Bernie didn't ignore and not campaign in multiple states because he thought they were in the bag, that was Hillary. Bernie didn't conspire with the dnc to put up the worse polling candidate because it was "their turn", that was Hillary. Bernie supporters didn't say "we don't need your vote" to the progressive voters, those were Hillary supporters.
This shit makes me want to write Bernie in instead of holding my nose and voting for Biden like I did last time.
When the polls reflect the proper amount of democratic voters during the election.
You fail to realize that when people stay home and don’t vote- it shows. So we’re well aware of how many of you “democrats” stayed home in 2016.
If you're acknowledging you need our votes in the general then made better choices in the primaries. Don't elect procorporate trash in the primaries like Joe Biden.
Having contempt for voters is like blaming the weather when it rains. Maybe the candidate should have came prepared with an umbrella, but here we are.
7 Palestinians are dying every minute.
Won’t someone think of America’s democracy?
There’s a damn good chance that even more will die per minute if Trump is elected- but you can add to that his promise that he will absolutely be a dictator from day one. He’s already said he has no issue using our own military against us if necessary.
What do you think this all means exactly?
Go ahead. I’ll await your response.
israel's end goal is complete ethnic cleansing of Palestine. They will achieve that whether biden or trump is in office. There is no worse candidate in this particular case, because both unconditionally lick the ass of israel.
One can criticize Biden, and still vote for him.
Are you having difficulty keeping up with the point of my original comment?
It’s entirely fair and necessary to criticize ANYONE for the things they do that fly in the face of human decency…
But I’m not talking about criticism. I’m talking about the people that admittedly are blatantly refusing to vote because of it- while simultaneously thinking it won’t be their fault when we wind up with a dictator in a throne.
Because they WILL be blamed for this.
It won’t be their fault. It’s their vote. It’s up to the candidate to win the vote. If they don’t win the voter’s vote; say, by aiding in a genocide, then it’s the candidate’s fault. We need to stop blaming voters because they don’t condone genocide, and start blaming candidates for abiding it.
Cut the shit. Inaction getting trump elected, is still a decision.
It’s not blaming voters- it’s blaming NON voters.
If you sit at home doing nothing- you can’t in your right mind expect to make any change in the world. When Trump gets elected because theres not enough votes to cancel out his droves of mindless supporters- it WILL be the fault of those staying home and pouting.
Want change? Make change. But doing nothing will net you exactly that.
Choosing the lesser evil is choosing evil. And nobody own another person vote. They have to earn it.
But not everyone can. And you're not helping those people get off the couch.
Hamas wanted permanent war, they got it. Palestinians overwhelmingly approve of Hamas and Oct 7. Although it seems absurd, it appears everyone is getting what they wanted.
You're right, those children deserved to die!!! In fact, democrats should run on the messaging of "fuck them kids", that'll get voters to eagerly run out and vote for them.
You appear to have more concern for their children's safety than 74% of Palestinians do. Hamas puts their lives in jeopardy, uses them as human shields, yet still remains popular.
Do you honestly think the Palestinians don't care about their children? You're just repeating israeli propaganda that dehumanizes Palestinians. Please think before spreading such fascist sentiments.
They care about their children, just evidently not as much as score settling. If they cared more about protecting their young, this popular intifada and constant provocation in a city of mostly children wouldn't make sense. Instead they indoctrinate children to violence and intifada from a young age, making child soldiers of them.
Upvote to get you to 69.