Baby-Step Solutions: Nobody Is Buying It Anymore And Nobody Ever Did

DC consultants told Bernie thousands of times. Don’t talk about Medicare For All. Don’t Scream about billionaires being the enemy. Stop antagonizing the donor class.

Don’t talk about big, bold solutions. It’s too risky.

But Bernie knew it was the right thing to do.

When Senator Bernie Sanders, an Independent from Vermont, a not-well known senator announced he was running for president in April of 2015, DC insiders, members of Congress, consultants, the donor class and leaders of both parties, collectively shrugged their shoulders and laughed.

You know who did not laugh? Workers, working families and middle class folks across the country.

It was not funny at all, because they finally heard a politician talk about how important they are and they listened, with vigor.

And for a full year before he announced, he toured all parts of the U.S. to really understand at a visceral level how real people felt, not donors.

Then he started talking about it:

“It is not acceptable that a number of major profitable corporations have paid zero in federal income taxes in recent years, and that millionaire hedge fund managers often enjoy an effective tax rate which is lower than the truck drivers or nurses.”

-Senator Bernie Sanders, 2016

cnn.com/2015/04/29/politics/bernie-sanders-announces-presidential-run

He was not slick, not saccharin, but clear and strong to the point of being called “gruff” and “overly blunt.”

Guess what? It was a giant gulp of fresh air.

He galvanized the across the political spectrum: the Left, folks on the right from the brosphere (Joe Rogan disciples) and independent voters (as a reminder, independents are not moderates, but issue voters).

Folks convened around a simple premise “I’m sick of being gouged by billionaires and corporations.”

Early on in the 2016 cycle, the Democratic Party politely clapped and reminded everyone Bernie caucuses with the Democrats and “we appreciate his work.”

Quickly, a strong group of supporters, smart advisors and donors jumped on his campaign and it took off like a rocket. These were not power players at all, in any way. They were rank and file Americans sick to death of getting taken advantage of every day. The donors were not max-out millionaires and billionaires. Instead, there were millions of retail workers, bus drivers, sandwich shop workers, teachers and union members, giving $27 a piece and it poured in at a velocity we have not seen in our politics before.

Why did this happen? Because he was blunt, said what others would not and did the right thing.

He talked about third rail issues like healthcare for all, job programs, raising the minimum wage and a free Palestine, in a frame a tangible real solutions.

The Democratic leadership grew concerned and began to be outspoken about bashing Bernie.

They made fun of him and then, all of sudden declared, “he is not a real Democrat,” when he got close to Hillary in the polls.

His popularity exploded.

Democratic leadership was bound and determined to make sure Hillary Clinton won the nomination, even though most polling showed Bernie beating Trump in the General Election. They threw everything at him they could.

So what exactly did the DNC and elected leaders do to thwart Bernie?:

• The Joint Fundraising Agreement: In August 2015, the DNC and the Clinton campaign signed a fundraising agreement. This gave the Clinton camp substantial control over the party’s finances, strategic decisions, and communications in exchange for helping the DNC pay off debt leftover from 2012. [1, 2] Which made the entire apparatus forever beholden to the Clintons.
• Leaked Emails: In July 2016, WikiLeaks published hacked DNC emails. They revealed that top committee officials, including then-Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz, openly favored Clinton, mocked Sanders, and actively strategized on how to undermine his campaign. The controversy forced Wasserman Schultz to resign. [1, 2, 3, 4] However, others just took over and became more toxic.
• Superdelegates: The Democratic nomination process included “superdelegates”—party leaders and elected officials who could vote for any candidate at the convention regardless of the primary election results. Clinton accumulated the backing of hundreds of superdelegates months before voting even started, creating an early narrative of an insurmountable lead. [1, 2, 3]
• Debate Scheduling: The DNC scheduled fewer primary debates than in previous election cycles, and placed them on weekend nights with historically lower television viewership, which made it harder for Sanders to introduce himself to the wider public. [1]
• Media and Information Disadvantage: Leaked emails demonstrated that certain DNC officials coordinated with mainstream media reporters to push negative narratives about Sanders, including planting stories about his campaign being “a mess”. [1, 2]
• Donor Smear Campaigns: High level Dem donors were dispatched to claim Senator Sanders was a “socialist and will ruin America” in every state.
• State Party Chairs Were Threatened: Dem leaders in each state were bullied nonstop and ultimately, cow-towed to the Clinton campaign.

Now, truth be told, we will never know if all of these were the reasons Bernie did not prevail, or was Hillary exactly what America wanted as their nominee.

We also don’t know if Bernie would have beaten Trump for sure, even though the polling demonstrated he would fare better than Hillary. But we do know the independents that were supporting Bernie in the primary left his camp when he stopped running and most went to Trump.

And that is precise moment when the deepest polarization our country has seen since the Civil War began.

The Independents stopped trusting the Democrats.

And yet, given all of that, would Hillary have been a much better president than Trump.Absolutely! No question.

The point is that people like to be told the truth. Voters don’t like baby steps and are seeking deep dynamic change. Voters like it when their leaders are notbeholden to billionaires and have transformative plans in a measurable way.

Interestingly, fast forward to 2025-26 and listen to what many Dem leaders AND well known Conservatives are saying about Bernie and his policies:

David Brooks, a center right conservative columnist declared, “…Bernie was right.”

David Frum, a Bush Republican has said several times, people are fed up and "Bernie-esque disruption is effectively reaching working-class voters.”

Here is the good news, we have a whole battalion of senate candidates running who listened to people, tell the truth, will champion real solutions and have plans that actually work.

These US Senate candidates are not afraid of doing the right thing and fighting for working families, workers and the middle class.

a. Peggy Flanagan in Minnesota running a great progressive campaign and winning against a very conservative Dem for senate ( Angie Craig). Peggy is currently the Lt. Governor and is leading by ten points. Her predecessor was more conservative – Tina Smith – so this is a trade-up and welcome.

b. Graham Platner is up ten points in Maine against susan collins who is “perennially concerned,” but always seems to just do what she is told by the GOP. That said, there may be some things to be concerned about with Graham’s background.

c. Abdul El Sayed is up 6 points in Michigan in the primary against two establishment corporatized candidates.

d. Dan Osborn running as an independent in Nebraska, former union leader is tied in the polls to Pete Ricketts, a billionaire republican. He unabashedly is a progressive-populist but refuses to be tied to a party.

e. Zach Walls in Iowa is absolutely not afraid to say he will not support old ideas that no longer work and Schumer as leader in the senate.

Next week we will talk about the potential players in the 2028 presidential election.

Until then, support good candidates.