The media and political establishment in Washington was openly celebrating what was portrayed as a near complete victory of Joe Biden over the hoards of Sanders supporters marching toward gates of the Beltway. The establishment united this week behind Biden with candidates like Pete Buttigieg, Amy Klobuchar, and others rallying forces to defeat Bernie Sanders at all costs. Not since the victory over Attila the Hun at the Battle of the Catalaunian Plains has the ancien regime experienced such a thrilling moment. However, the history is not good for those celebrating behind the walls of Rome. (This blog has been updated)
I recently wrote how there remains a visceral distaste for the media and political establishment for many voters as they watched the concerted effort to defeat outsider candidates. That was also the case in 2016 with the effort to elect Hillary Clinton. The utter joy expressed this morning will only fuel that feeling of disenfranchisement. What we can expect is the continued strategic endorsements of establishment figures in the coming weeks and exhaustive coverage on the weakening Sanders and the surging Biden.
MSNBC was particularly aggressive in framing the election night and attacking the very premise of the Sanders’ movement. MSNBC anchor Nicolle Wallace bizarrely claimed that there was no effort by the establishment to prop up Biden. Wallace declared “Bernie Sanders… he has turned this idea of the establishment – he’s weaponized it against Biden,” she said. “The Democratic establishment did nothing for Joe Biden.” Really? Various establishment figures lined up behind Biden in the last week while CNN and MSNBC continued a relentless series of attacks on Sanders and his supporters.
Nevertheless, host Rachel Maddow agreed that sought to downplay the concerted effort in DC to push Biden: “every headline in all political coverage all around the country is like, ‘The establishment is coalescing the establishment.” She then suggested that this is all a lie that was used against that other seemingly wrongly candidate, Hillary Clinton: “It’s what he did against Hillary Clinton in 2016 as well.”
Maddow simply dismisses the admissions of how the DNC rigged elements of the 2016 primary for Clinton or how Clinton took over the debt of the DNC to exercise such control. She also dismisses how polls showed that Clinton was widely viewed as unauthentic and the ultimate establishment figure when the public clearly wanted a change in Washington. Instead, Maddow and Wallace portray the entire movement by Sanders to be a lie.
Not to be subtle, Wallace not only calls this all a lie but portrays Biden’s victory (with a long line of establishment endorsement) as a victory over the establishment: “But it’s a lie, I mean, it’s a lie. Listen, and I say this as a dispassionate former Republican who watched my party sort of implode around fake truths and false grievances, the establishment had nothing to do with Joe Biden’s victory. He’s flat broke, he has not a single ad on the air. He’s not advertising in any Super Tuesday states!”
MSNBC also asked James Carville for analysis of Sanders’ options . . . yes, the same Carville who has been denouncing Sanders as a “Communist” for weeks. Carville expressed concern for Sanders that he might risk a “backlash” if he did not immediately withdraw from the race. Thus, Sanders is almost even with Biden in delegates but Carville is deeply concerned that he may be staying too long in the race.
Over at Fox, Donna Brazile, the former DNC head who was found to have given Clinton debate questions in advance in 2016 (and admitted the questionable ties of Clinton over the DNC), declared the Biden victory to be “the most impressive 72 hours I’ve ever seen in U.S. politics.” The fact that the previous frontrunner was able to pull roughly even with Sanders is now viewed as more impressive than the victory of Trump in 2016 that shocked the world. She also told the GOP spokesperson to “go to hell” when she suggested that the Democratic establishment was again working to force through a nominee.
This all seems both forced and premature. While the coverage claims an “upset” by Biden, this ignores that he was viewed previously as the leading, if not chosen, candidate. With all of the other candidates lining up for Biden with most of the power brokers in Washington, this seems less than surprising. More importantly, it was not a rout. Rather, Sanders and Biden are roughly even in delegates. Sanders prevailed in California and came close in Texas.
Of course, such moments can be deceiving. When Roman General Flavius Aetius defeated Attila the Hun, he did so with his own “barbarian” units led by Visigoth King Theodoric I. It did not last long. Rome would be sacked by barbarians repeatedly. Indeed, Attila later returned and laid waste to much of Italy.
The point is not that Sanders’ victory is inevitable. Indeed, media and political forces seemed entirely aligned and committed to securing the nomination for Biden. Rather, the coverage by the mainstream media continues to be overtly hostile and distortive. At the same time, after Tulsi Gabbard qualified for the next debate, the DNC has yet again announced that it will raise the threshold requirements — a change that seems designed to block Gabbard who has also been attacked relentlessly in the media.
Many of my students, who support Sanders, have complained about it and the coverage this morning only reaffirms those objections. For them, it always seems like the answer of the establishment to all our problems every four years is the most establishment candidate in the field. There is a sense of relief in the media that “our children are safe tonight” in the Beltway. For those who support Sanders or oppose the establishment, it further deepens the political divide and distrust. This week saw the full weight of the establishment brought against Sanders with clear success. However, the open expressions of relief by cable hosts or analysts leaves one with the eerie feeling of celebratory toasts from the gates of Rome.
Jonathan Turley has the history wrong, but more important, this format is is inappropriate.
Someone really needs to edit these articles before they’re posted.
Yup.
Of the three old white guys running for president, I’m voting for the youngest one…as of this writing, tomorrow, who knows?
Yeah, and he has the body of a much younger man. An infant to be precise.
Your “three old white guys,” remark is vile, sexist and racist. Did I leave anything out? Oh yes! Age discriminatory…
You are wrong and Nicole is right. The establishment let Biden swing in the wind with very little funding and support.
Bingo.
It’s difficult trying to get 200,000 blacks from S Carolina to a party at Barbara Streisand’s house.
Who needs to pay for ads when you have establishment activists in the media churning out support.
So the establishment Dems got to have their own little Kristallnacht! Thrilling, indeed! They must be exhausted……
To the establishment, Bernie is a loose cannon. They do not have any control over him and that makes them very uncomfortable. I don’t like Sanders at all, but in the same vein, I feel that he is and always has been debased and mistreated by the Democrat Party and their media comrades.
It is not as if the Party elite are not in step with Sanders Socialist ideas, it is more that he says it out loud and is not a pawn of the deep state.
Biden is not just old, but seems to be somewhat senile, and not totally in control of reality. What the media love to call gaffes, are actually moments of senility, that continue to get worse each day.
If elected President, the Democrat elitists would be pulling all the strings, while Biden could just relax and have his four years of glory, without doing very much else.
This election season, could prove to be the most interesting I have ever witnessed.
I don’t think either of them have much of a grip on reality. They’re both living in a state of delusion.
You said, “Biden is not just old, but seems to be somewhat senile, and not totally in control of reality. What the media love to call gaffes, are actually moments of senility, that continue to get worse each day.”
Amen! But the question is, how many Democrats will still vote for him??? Because that is kind of a cult-like thing. Our party right or wrong!
Squeeky Fromm
Girl Reporter
I’d take Biden’s gaffes any day over Trump’s outright lies. And given your past comments, You really should not even bring up the words, “cult-like”
Fishy — You think ol’ Joe doesn’t lie through that bright white set of shiny new teeth he’s got? As Joe would say, “come on, man.”
Justice…..correct. They can’t control him…….and they don’t like Jews (but they’ll take their money)
Probably best when looking at how the powers that be coalesced around Biden the past week to look at one thing in particular: Bernie’s interview on 60 Minutes where he cited Fidel Castro’s reading programs…
There are many ways he could’ve complimented those programs without doing it in a way the media would take as a ride or die statement of support for Fidel. And then getting in a taunting match with the audience at the debate over it. Add peacing out on the Selma weekend memorial activities and the inside power freaked the hell out.
First off, they were like ‘there goes Florida’ right off the bat. The inside power doesn’t want nominee’s to just write off a state that quickly. Add to that Bernie’s statement he wouldn’t take Bloomberg’s $. Another bonehead move on his part. And then Michael Moore going on MSNBC and providing a ’70’s style treatise on socialism that jaw dropped Brian Williams. All the alarms went off.
Rather spectacular turn around for a candidate. Rivals the Orange one’s 1 in a million night in ’16.
all he did was say it was true that the commie brigades increased literacy on the island. which is true. you can say countless bad things about the incompetent communist history of cuba but they have that feather in their cap nonetheless
the news media are feckless liars. its to bernie’s credit that he refused to repudiate etc etc etc. to hell with these fake journalists “calling on you to repudiate X Y Z”
repudiate this !
they didn’t ask about this, but I’ll add it. Mao Zedong’s communist leadership introduced simplified characters (hanzi) for Mandarin that also advanced literacy among tens of millions of peasants, beyond what the previous governments had done, and it’s a welcome system for those who are learning Mandarin today
Again there’s a lot of horrible things to say about communists in China, but they have the general literacy achievement, that is just historical fact.
I wish they did ask about that.
all he did was say it was true that the commie brigades increased literacy on the island. which is true. you can say countless bad things about the incompetent communist history of cuba but they have that feather in their cap nonetheless
Every other government in the hemisphere recorded large improvements in the prevalence of literacy during those decades. The value-added of Cuban Communism qua Cuban Communism was just what?
Agreed. He was on to something. Press took it and does what the press tends to do.
I am not sure how to read this. JT, are you saying the Socialist arm of the Democratic Party will be laying waste to the country periodically? Or just the Democratic Party?
And let’s not minimize the victory of Aetius over Attila at the Catalunian Fields. Gibbon didn’t — saying the defeat made Attila seem mortal. And no less an authority on warfare than Judge Sir Edward Creasey wrote:
“Attila’s attacks on the Western empire were soon renewed, but never with such peril to the civilized world as had menaced it before his defeat at Châlons [another name for Catalunian Fields]; and on his death, two years after that battle, the vast empire which his genius had founded was soon dissevered by the successful revolts of the subject nations. The name of the Huns ceased for some centuries to inspire terror in Western Europe, and their ascendancy passed away with the life of the great king by whom it had been so fearfully augmented.”
If this neutralizes socialist and communist wannabe Sanders, it was worth anything Theodoric of Biden can throw at us.
i agree, i took it as something of a joke, the title
in my book, the next biggest win after Chalons, was the repulsion of invading Muslim hordes, Franks under the leadership of Charles Martel, at Tours 732
Although don’t agree with all of Bernie’s policies, he is a good man and genuine. It seems like one problem is that Bernie embraces derogatory labels, created by his opponents, which might scare many voters. For example: Bernie could have said he essentially supports the tax rates of Dwight D. Eisenhower, the healthcare plan of Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan’s 11 tax increases. Instead Bernie uses ambiguous labels like “socialist”, which can mean authoritarianism and tyranny to certain voters, even though most Americans actually like some so-called “socialist” programs (public schools, social security (partially subsidized), publicly financed police/fire/EMS, etc. Most Americans aren’t Puritans on any topic. Bernie’s own language, using his opponents derogatory labels, may have scared Democrats.
Bernie’s an avowed socialist (his words since the 70s) who barely got 51% of the vote in his home state. He’s as “good and genuine” as a millionaire socialist who spouts off about the climate change crisis from the seat of his private Jet Stream since his days as a Congressman can be.
It is not possible to be competitive in gruelingn modern presidential campaigns without using private jets.
No, Bernie did not use private jets on his regular commutes between DC and Burlington when a congressman.
He certainly did and continued even demands them when not running for office and supporting the doomed Hillary:
“In 2016, after Sanders endorsed Clinton and agreed to campaign on her behalf, the Sanders campaign’s preferred mode of travel quickly emerged as a point of tension, according to six former Clinton campaign staffers and another source familiar with the travel.
Those who had worked on his primary campaign made it known that the only logistical way Sanders could adhere to the event schedules requested by the Clinton campaign was by flying private. The Clinton campaign, however, viewed the private jet flights as a needless extravagance and wanted the senator to mostly fly commercial.
The senator ended up flying private on three separate multi-day trips in the last two months of the campaign.
Sanders’ flights — usually on a Gulfstream plane — cost the Clinton-Kaine campaign at least $100,000 in total, according to three people familiar with the cost of the air travel.
“We would try to fight it as much as possible because of cost and availability of planes, but they would request [a jet] every time,” one of those sources said. “We would always try to push for commercial. … At the campaign, you’re constantly trying to save like 25 cents.”
https://www.politico.com/story/2019/02/25/bernie-sanders-hillary-clinton-private-jet-flights-1182793
Bernie certainly did not fly private jets on his regular DC to Burlington commutes as a congressman. He didn’t have the money.
We agree that Bernie does and did use private jets as a presidential campaigner. That’s how the game is and has to be played if you’re serious. Note Trump flying AF1 to primary states where he has no opposition for campaign events. I’m sure you are upset about that as well.
Guess the “existential threat” isn’t so “existential” to Bernie if most everybody on the Clinton campaign flew commercial except for Bernie as the article mentioned. Bernie’s a fraud who attracts frauds.
I appreciate your dropping the congressman private jet BS.
Bernie was not “everybody on the Clinton Campaign”, nor were Clinton and Kane, all of whom’s appearances were deemed critical and all of whom flew in private jets.
Now, about Trump’s flying AF1 to primary locations without competition.
There is no “existential threat” when it comes to 1 million legal immigrants per year and open borders for all the rest of the world who want to come here. Because Democrats know that population increase is irrelevant to air and water pollution, overcrowding, traffic congestion and the price of housing. All of that can be off-set by restricting plastic bags. 🤣
and plastic straws, which carry diseases, destroy air quality, and are extremely detrimental to quality of life, unlike the human feces on the sidewalks of San Francisco and L.A. 😎
I haven’t dropped it. Just getting the source for you to further cement your status as a the blog clown.
Again, that MSDNC would hire Nicolle Wallace tells you nothing kind about MSDNC. The woman’s a grifter.
https://theothermccain.com/2011/10/05/im-thinking-about-writing-a-novel-called-two-faced-backstabbing-rino-bitch/
Well, if by “the establishment ” JT means Democratic voters, he nailed it. What a seer! How’s that “authenticity” thing working for you?
The establishment didn’t rescue Biden. He was out of money and presumed dead when primarily black voters in SC – you know the kind, weekends in the Hamptons with Chris Matthews – rescued him. The same group, with suburban women, pushed ahead of Bernie last night, so let’s end the poor persecuted Bernie meme that Trump tools like JT can’t let go. He lost with Democratic voters last night. Again. Come back when you have an actual plan for delivering on your fantasies and maybe Democratic voters who live in the real world will respond.
Bottom Line:
Good news for the Republic. Even the Dim base rejected, in order of disappearance, socialism (Didn’t feel the Bern); an inveterate liar (Lie-a-watha and “so he fired me”) and the Ritchie Rich candidate. Now it’s Bedpan Joe versus the Donald but not until a nasty floor fight at the convention. Hey Milwaukee PD: get the police dogs and tear gas ready.
Enjoy the show and the debates which ought to be epic (“Jill and I are glad to be here in Krakow … er … I mean Boise … tonight!).
Ha. Bedpan Joe versus Fat Nixon.
Joe puts Floptop over his knee and spanks those bulbous buttocks.
“Rather, the coverage by the mainstream media continues to be overtly hostile and distortive. There is a feeling of relief that “our children are safe tonight” in the Beltway.”
Yep. Exactly. But on the other hand, isn’t it sort of rich that the standard bearer for the Democratic Party is a doddering senile old white guy with increasing cognitive disorders?
But isn’t that what the whole Democratic Party has become over the last few decades? Cognitively Impaired in a big way. Embracing all sorts of “social justice” causes like loony open borders and no-bail required laws. Running to support dead drug dealers over the police. And muggers like Trayvon Martin. Glomming onto “Institutional Racism” in spite of black ghettopotami popping out b#st#rd kids to the tune of 77.3%. Ooohing and aahhhing over perverted drag queens performing for 4 and 5 year olds. Running around hollering Transphobic! when males invade women’s sports. And the whole insane Russiagate thingy.
No, I think Joe Biden is the perfect representative of Democrats – a senile old dude living out fantasies in his own head.
Squeeky Fromm
Girl Reporter
I had thought that I had replied to this. But no, it echoes on and on …
The Left thinks that it is just “politics as usual”; most of us see it as “lying as usual”.
The MSM are as partisan and mendacious as Pravda ever was.
The Democrats are a political force, but they are also undemocratic. Is Biden really the people’s choice?
Don’t know. And neither do Democratic voters.
“The MSM are as partisan and mendacious as Pravda ever was.”
True, but the American problem is different than that of the Russians. The Russians don’t believe Pravda, but a substantial number of Americans (such as Paint Chips, Anon etc.) believe that the American MSM is honest.
The so-called “Bernie Bros” are described as being intransigent cultists, who want “no one other than Bernie”. That’s a serious misreprentation, and one that distracts from the main issue. In fact, most supporters of Bernie Sanders, are, first and foremost, focused on the POLICIES that they want (and don’t want) for this nation. For most of his supporters, Bernie himself is wanted, and admired, as a credible public advocate for many of the desirable policies, and a credible public foe of many of the undesirable ones. He is credible for multiple reasons: his advocacies and oppositions have been long-term, and they generally are logically consistent with one another; his ideological foundations are generally solid, make sense, and all evidence is that the political positions he expresses are genuinely held by him.
In contrast, his opponents — not only within the Republicans, but also the Democrats — have frequently been very wrong on very important matters, or inconsistent, or duplicitous, or insincere, often all of the above at once.
So, I will NEVER vote for anyone, who, from a position of political or economic power or influence, either voted or advocated for the U.S. war in Iraq. Both Biden and Bloomberg did, and that makes them absolutely ineligible for my vote. Even if the current Republican opponent — in this case, Donald Trump — is the devil himself. That wouldn’t change a thing. At least with the devil, I’d know where I stand, and what he stands for. I’d hold no illusion that he’s my friend, I’d know he’s an enemy. With modern neoliberal Democrats (such a far cry from FDR-type ones), I’d get smooth-talkers always reassuring me that they “feel my pain”, “have my back”, have my interests at heart, when nothing could be further from the truth, they actually spend most of their time in cahoots with the Republicans delivering a broad range of benefits for the banks, the corporations, the military-industrial complex, the empire, the surveillance state, their friends and families in the oligarchy… In fact, anything and anyone OTHER THAN me. (Well, they might occassionaly throw a few crumbs my way). And then, every two years, I’m expected to turn out to vote for them? Scr*w that!
I used to believe that establishment Democrats just didn’t understand why Trump won in 2016, that they didn’t understand the myriad ways that the neoliberalism of Democratic Party politicians failed the people over many years preceeding Trump’s win, and directly led to it. For the Democratic Party to continue that neoliberal strategy as a consequence of ignorance would be bad enough, stupid bordering on delusional. But the evidence is mounting that the establishment Democrats would rather see Donald Trump re-elected as president than have Bernie win. That makes them not just stupid, but morally bankrupt.
Democracy might or might not work as a moral form of political governance, but its possibility for sucess at that requires that at least one of the major Parties within it operate with intelligence and morality. We know the Republicans are incapable of that. But if a half-senile, duplicitous, morally-bankrupt candidate with historically-demonstrated bad judgement such as Joe Biden is the best that the Democratic establishment can promote and what a large portion of registered Democratic voters choose in order to go up against master deceiver and expert hot-button pusher Donald Trump, then no, democracy does not work in the United States, and it’s all over for the future of this country as a nation that through democratic means might improve the future for most of its citizens.
Yup.
Biologist, thanks for demonstrating the Bernie Bros stereotype you started out by saying doesn’t exist. I’m so happy that you are able to turn voting into a therapy session and performance art , but unfortunately, the rest of us democrats live in the real world where getting your fantasies fulfilled doesn’t always work out when you share the country with 300 million other humans. May I suggest that the Iraq war you hate – so did I in real time – never would have happened if 600 Nader voters in Florida had exercised restraint in their 2000 presidential vote, rather than viewing it as a chance for them to prove their purity and disregard for the binary choice we Americans always face.
@bythebook:
Blaming Bush’s victory (and indirectly, the subsequent invasion of Iraq) on approximately 600 probably mostly Democratic voters for Nader is an old red herring. Fact is, more than an order of magnitude more Democratic voters crossed over to vote for Bush than voted for Nader. If you want to blame, apply it where it really lies:
“No, Ralph Nader Did Not Hand the 2000 Presidential Election to George W. Bush.
More than 12 times as many Florida Democrats rejected Al Gore in favor of Bush than they did for Nader.”
https://reason.com/2016/08/03/ralph-nader-did-not-hand-2000-election/?amp
Biologist, saying there were other idiots who put Bush in office doesn’t forgive others equally if not more delusional. At least those Democrats consciously made the choice to vote for Bush and what he represented, while the Nader voters pretended unicorns and it wouldn’t make a difference –
It did make a huge difference and it will this year. Bernie says he’ll support the nominee and so will Biden. I will also and if you care about the future, I suggest you do as well.
For those who don’t read this entire comment, here is key point:
Joe Biden voted for the Iraq war. Donald Trump did not.
Trump wasn’t in a position to vote yes or not. He wasn’t in government. It is important to also note that he isn’t against pre emptive strikes or invasions.
The commenter put it this way: “I will NEVER vote for anyone, who, from a position of political or economic power or influence, either voted or advocated for the U.S. war in Iraq. Both Biden and Bloomberg did…”
Donald Trump did not.
@anonymous:
But if I remember correctly, Trump at the time did make statements advocating and approving of the invasion of Iraq. And he did have economic power and influence.
So by my stated criteria, he too would never get my vote.
I feel like if it’s neoliberalism vs. progressivism, then neoliberalism loses. But it seems that covers over a big message from last night…
Bernie has not been able to solidify a black following and that’s the base of the Dems.
Dress it up anyway one wants…, a whole swath of black voters feel like a) Bernie is yelling at them when he speaks, and b) that Bernie is caught up enough with class warfare that he won’t recognize the effect of race on that dynamic.
I feel bad for Bernie because he’s a good guy, basically. Always tough when trying to get a party’s nomination that you’re not really in.
Paulie, I think you’re missing the most important explanations of the black vote.
1. Biden is loyal to Obama and served him well as VP. (Trump’s constant badmouthing of Obama cancels out whatever BS overtures he pretends to make). Did Irish Catholics love JFK?
2. Biden does have a long history of working with and for blacks, going back to his youth in Delaware. Bernie has the support of all 3 black Vermonters.
3. It’s a risk adverse constituency, the one that feels GOP cuts, and Bernie is high risk.The biggest part of the steady black vote is middle aged to old black woman.They don’t play!
Found this picture of Gainesville:
https://www.google.com/search?q=three+headed+knight&client=firefox-b-1-d&sxsrf=ALeKk02S2WdTLu0SbEB7Faxm1UreNEuNgQ:1583344855014&tbm=isch&source=iu&ictx=1&fir=7WPHxejeBW_GFM%253A%252CAbR5u2gmaCd5DM%252C_&vet=1&usg=AI4_-kS6-th3cCC4S_XtVTTw7SlBfoQ1mQ&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwik946ds4HoAhVjhXIEHaI8DMoQ9QEwAHoECAMQEg#imgrc=7WPHxejeBW_GFM:
Hence the sense that Bernie misses race relations as a causative in his class warfare motif.