Last updated on July 17th, 2023 at 07:15 pm
The mainstream media didn’t spend a lot of time on the disaster that was the GOP convention; even as evidence for Russian interference on behalf of Donald Trump mounts, it has been much more interested in painting the Democratic convention in the most negative light possible.
As reported earlier, much is being made by the mainstream media of a supposed divide between Sanders and Clinton supporters at the Democratic convention. Trump is also in action, selling the same sort of divide and conquer stratagem. He tweeted Monday night as the Democratic convention got underway, and Sanders appealed to his supporters to elect Clinton,
Hard to believe that Bernie Sanders has done such a complete fold. He got NOTHING for all of the time, energy and money. The V.P. a joke!
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— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 25, 2016
This is, of course, untrue, as Sanders’ campaign actually accomplished quite a bit. Besides forcing a restructure of the DNC’s super-delegate system, he pushed the Democratic platform to the the left; Maryland Democrat Rep. Elijah Cummings told MSNBC Bernie “got about 90 percent of what he wanted” in platform.
The result is the most progressive platform in the history of the Democratic Party.
Last but not least, Sanders was the catalyst that pushed out Debbie Wasserman Schultz, who was widely disliked by the Democratic base. And now, he acting as a unifying force against Donald Trump. And such a unifying force, as his speech Monday night showed, when he turned earlier boos into rousing cheers.
The Sanders movement is the factor that really has Trump worried about his own so-called movement. The last thing Trump wants to see is a unified Democratic Party, with the supporters of Sanders and Clinton making common cause against his destructive agenda.
It is amusing to see the guy who picked Mike Pence as a running mate calling one of the most qualified vice presidential candidate in American history a “joke” but then Trump also thinks attacking Sanders is the way to get Sanders supporters to vote for him.
Trump would have Sanders’ supporters believe that Bernie has not only folded, but “has totally given up on his fight for the people,” but that he “welcome[s] all voters who want a better future for our workers.” Even though Trump thinks those workers are overpaid and that small businesses shouldn’t get paid at all.
Donald Trump is desperate. He knows his own campaign is a mess. He has made a terrible choice for a running mate, one easily ‘trumped’ by Clinton’s selection of Tim Kaine. He received a modest post-convention boost but there is a long road ahead of him, one that will force him to debate not fellow GOP deadbeats, but a time-tested, highly experienced Hillary Clinton.
His last best hope is to force a divide between Democrats, and as of Tuesday morning, unless he is as much a victim of cognitive dissonance as his followers, Trump will see that hope is fleeting.
Clinton is receiving ringing endorsements last night from not only Sanders, but Elizabeth Warren, Michele Obama, and others, while Trump watched his main opponent dump Trump and endorse himself at the GOP convention.
As Rep. Joe Kennedy III (D-MA) pointed out to MSNBC Monday night, differences in the Democratic Party pale in comparison to the GOP’s Trump woes. Trump is in this for himself, not for the American people.
Leave it to Trump to think only in terms of personal gain. Sanders, unlike Trump, wasn’t in it for personal gain. What he did, he did for the American people and judged in those terms, he did a whole helluva lot.
Hrafnkell Haraldsson, a social liberal with leanings toward centrist politics has degrees in history and philosophy. His interests include, besides history and philosophy, human rights issues, freedom of choice, religion, and the precarious dichotomy of freedom of speech and intolerance. He brings a slightly different perspective to his writing, being that he is neither a follower of an Abrahamic faith nor an atheist but a polytheist, a modern-day Heathen who follows the customs and traditions of his Norse ancestors. He maintains his own blog, A Heathen’s Day, which deals with Heathen and Pagan matters, and Mos Maiorum Foundation www.mosmaiorum.org, dedicated to ethnic religion. He has also contributed to NewsJunkiePost, GodsOwnParty and Pagan+Politics.
