Bloomberg Drops Out, Endorses Biden
The wagons have been circled.
Well, that was fast.
WaPo (“Mike Bloomberg is suspending his presidential campaign, says he’s endorsing Biden“):
Mike Bloomberg, the billionaire former mayor of New York who had hoped to self-fund his way to the Democratic presidential nomination but was spurned by voters in Tuesday’s balloting, has dropped out of the race.
Bloomberg endorsed Joe Biden, saying the former vice president had the best chance to win in November.
“I’ve always believed that defeating Donald Trump starts with uniting behind the candidate with the best shot to do it. After yesterday’s vote, it is clear that candidate is my friend and a great American, Joe Biden,” Bloomberg said in a statement.
Bloomberg will put his resources “in the broadest way possible behind Joe Biden’s candidacy,” Tim O’Brien, a senior adviser to the Bloomberg campaign, said Wednesday. “We have long-term leases and long-term contracts with the team and the intention was always to put this big machine we have built behind whoever the nominee is.”
NYT (“Michael Bloomberg Quits Democratic Race, Ending a Brief and Costly Bid“) adds:
After staking his candidacy on doing well on Super Tuesday, he did not collect on his grand bet, winning only American Samoa.
He made the announcement after falling short in his quest to poach enough center-left voters from Mr. Biden, who carried North Carolina, Virginia and other states across the South on Super Tuesday and won a decisive victory last weekend in South Carolina.
In an unprecedented effort to self-finance a presidential campaign — which some rivals derided as an attempt to buy the White House — Mr. Bloomberg’s bid cost him more than half a billion dollars in advertising alone. He also spent lavishly on robust on-the-ground operations, with more than 200 field offices across the country and thousands of paid staff. His operation dwarfed those of Democratic rivals who ultimately won states in which he had installed many dozens of employees and spent heavily on radio, television and direct mail ads.
Mr. Bloomberg, the former mayor of New York City, exited the race as the Democratic establishment began to converge around Mr. Biden — the very scenario he had judged unlikely when he declared his candidacy in late November. As some of Mr. Biden’s onetime opponents, including Pete Buttigieg, the former mayor of South Bend, Ind., and Senator Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, endorsed him this week, Mr. Bloomberg’s hopes of capturing the support he needed quickly evaporated.He was not helped by two deeply unimpressive debate performances, during which Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts led an onslaught of attacks on his record and past statements. Mr. Bloomberg had difficulty countering criticism that could threaten him in a Democratic primary, on issues including his support for the discriminatory stop-and-frisk policing tactic and his treatment of women in the workplace.
While Mr. Bloomberg’s departure from the race was meant to help unite the Democratic Party — and avoid splintering moderate or independent voters by drawing them away from Mr. Biden — Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont remained a strong contender in the race and was on track to capture a sizable number of delegates in Tuesday’s contests.
The bottom line is that he entered the race as the sane alternative to Biden and South Carolina demonstrated that we didn’t need an alternative to Biden.
That Biden, unlike Sanders, is going to be more than happy to utilize Bloomberg’s vast resources and infrastructure is a strong sign that Biden will be and should be the nominee.
I spent $500,000,000 on the electorate, and all I got was this stupid T-Shirt.
If Bloomberg follows through with his pledge to put all of his resources behind the Democratic nominee, he will be doing this country and this world a huge service, much more important than him trying to win the nomination…
Shocking, surprising. I did not think he would give up that quickly.
My Bernie friends are losing their minds. This is all, apparently, an establishment plot.
I’m so tired. Can it be November already?
Nate Silver:
I wonder how many voters were simply pissed off at Bloomberg’s ads popping up everywhere and voted against him on those grounds. I just threw out a piece of junk mail from him and I estimate 60% of my Youtube viewing has been interrupted with ad after ad after ad of Bloomberg. (Illinois hasn’t had its primary yet….by the time we get around to voting all the kerfuffle may already be over. As long as Elizabeth Warren is still in the race I’m going to vote for her.)
I don’t want him to spend money supporting Biden. I’d rather he spent it showing up Trump as a phony billionaire
@Jen:
Bernie Bros have a great deal in common with Cult45, don’t they?
@grumpy realist:
I can only speak for myself; I was initially very interested in him, but the more I looked at the soda issue, the stop-and-frisk, the red-lining, and the harassment…the less interested I became.
Look, the guy spent $1/2B on his campaign…but last year he gave $1.8B to Johns Hopkins…this is small potatoes to him. And if he donates a boatload of money and is instrumental in defeating Trump, then his place in history will be cemented. Which is awesome…I just don’t think he should be President.
@MarkedMan:
A tempting idea, but I think every sentient being knows Trump isn’t a billionaire except for the members of Cult45, and no matter how many times you told them, they’d scream: “Fake news”
Never Trumperz are now super bummed.
They wanted Bloomberg so bad. Joyner was practically advocating, partially tumescent.
This cycle’s Super Tuesday was way too early.
@Liberal Capitalist: And a box of Samoas.
@MarkedMan:
He can’t give a lot of money directly to Biden, or even coordinate with the Biden Campaign. But he can attack Trump relentlessly…and most importantly he can support Senate races. If you are not aware…he funded a lot of the 2018 Blue Wave Candidates that took the House.
@CSK:
Yes, they do. Bernie is egotistical enough to fuq this up. Let’s hope someone can talk him out of doing that.
@Jen:
Can’t think why they’d be concerned. After all, everything certainly appeared to be up and up in 2016, eh? Meanwhile, Trump et al are about to make sure the Bernie Bros stay home in November.
@Polimom: Not “concerned,” paranoid and delusional.
When you spend all of your time railing against the party you want to lead, don’t be surprised when members of that party feel attacked and don’t want to line up behind you.
It was true for Sanders-2016, and it’s true for Sanders-2020. Don’t poop in the punchbowl and expect everyone to see it happen and still ask for a cup.
@Jen:
And **poof**, just like that, we’re transported back to the prior discussions about the how and why of someone’s vote. If the party establishment truly thinks it’s important to defeat Trump this year, it seems like deliberately and transparently alienating the Bernie Bros would not be the smart play. Twice in a row = a PR problem that might bite them hard in November. To be clear: I think Bernie would get shredded in the general election. But I know Bernie people who stayed home last time because of the DNC. Pulling it again is likely to have quite the damper effect.
Also —
Requires an LOL!!! A thumbs up just ain’t enuf. 🙂
@de stijl:
I literally have no idea what you are talking about.
I’ve never been a Bloomberg enthusiast. As best I can tell, I wrote precisely seven posts about Bloomberg between early November and yesterday’s voting (thus, not counting the post-mortem and drop-out posts this morning). I don’t know that I expressed any enthusiasm for Bloomberg in any of them.
The closest I came, and it wasn’t in one of those posts, was a note in a post Friday or early Saturday saying that, while Buttigieg was my favorite, I’d vote for Biden in the event he won South Carolina and would default to Bloomberg otherwise. But that wasn’t because I loved Bloomberg but because that would have left him as the only plausible non-Sanders nominee.
My goals this cycle are to nominate a candidate who can defeat Trump, preferably one I can vote for without holding my nose. If Biden is the nominee, I think we will have achieved both.
and
It’s a little difficult to prevent the latter event without doing the former event…
@Polimom:
But there is no soft-pedaling with this crew. Clinton tried that in 2016, it didn’t work. She didn’t go after Sanders on myriad fronts that she could have explored, because she didn’t want to alienate his supporters.
I’ve come to believe that there is literally no manner in which Bernie could lose the nomination that, in their minds, isn’t the result of nefarious activity or shenanigans. The simple fact of acknowledging he has a ceiling–one that has lowered since 2016–just doesn’t occur to them. It’s all establishment-this, and DNC-that. Not, “gee, Bernie doesn’t seem to be increasing his coalition, that might be bad since he needs more votes to win.”
It’s…weird.
@CSK:
Exactly. And the (admittedly few) actual Trumpers I’ve had a conversation with are in agreement that his business success and acumen are his greatest assets. If I say Trump is a phony, I have no credibility. But Bloomberg does. Bloomberg could Swiftboat him, except this time it would be with the truth instead of lies.
Swiftboat him. Attack him where he is strongest, where he assumes he is invulnerable. That got Kerry. It got Gore. I bet it could peel away 5-10% of the Trumpers.
@Jen:
Nothing new to add. Just felt this sums it up so well it deserves more than a thumbs up.
@James Joyner:
FWIW, I had the exact same reaction.
@MarkedMan:
Same.
@Steven L. Taylor:
Me three.
I’m confident JJ knows what partially tumescent means. 😉
I’m not so confident he (or I) understand the comment.
@Polimom:
We shall see if Bernistans learned from 16.
I do agree that it’s less than shocking that a guy who spent 50 years building contacts in politics does better than a guy who spent years alienating people.
That all said, the fact Warren didn’t even get a sniff makes me sad. No respect for intelligence, warmth, etc. To me Warren is like Obama except for one key factor.
Bernie and Trump, and their supporters, certainly seem to share a sense of aggrieved victimization that doesn’t work for me at all. Policy wise I’m certainly closer to Bernie than I am Biden. But politics is about more than being right-it’s about building a coalition that can get things done. Not only has Bernie shown no evidence of doing so, he’s shown no interest in doing so, and there is quite a lot of evidence that he’s actively bad at getting cooperation. In the end, as much as people gripe about voting for the guy you’d like to have a beer with, getting along with people is kind of a core political skill. With 2 big tent parties, each with multiple factions, you have to figure out how to work with people you don’t always agree with. And the way Bernie and his more vocal online supporters rage at people who agree with them 80% of the time simply because they don’t agree 100% of the time is simply infuriating.
Why did Bloomberg campaign in Florida just a few days ago and then withdraw 2 weeks before we have a primary down here?
I don’t care for Biden or Sanders. Sanders is not electable in the general election. Unless the economy tanks between now and November, Biden’s chance isn’t much better.
Right now I stand a good chance of not voting in the primary or just casting a protest vote. Been there, done that both in 2014 and 2016.
@Bill:
Because Bloomberg is a data and analytics guy. He still wants to beat Trump, but knows he’s not the one to do it (based on what the Voters have said).
I believe Biden will attract more older, moderate voters to make up for the Bernie Bros that stay home. The numbers from the primaries show this to be true. Youngsters didn’t come out. Those over 60 did, and Biden crushed it.
The majority of America isn’t on Twitter, and don’t pay attention day to day like many of us do. Bernie does not have the support his followers think he does.
I was listening to some Public Radio show this morning on the way back from the dentist and there was a guy who was maybe a Biden guy or just a pundit and a Sanders guy who was a former union leader and now Bernie official. The host was doing a good job in trying to draw them into specifics and the Bernie guy kept talking about how Biden and Establishment had to accept that there was a strong desire for revolutionary change and that there needed to be a synthesis of ideas if the party was to keep from fracturing. But when they tried to pin him down there was no synthesis offered or even a potential area of synthesis. In the part I listened to it was basically that Biden and everyone else had to accept Medicare for all. (In fairness to the Bernie guy I got the impression he was actually a negotiator but that Bernie had tied his hands.)
And then a Bernie voter called in and literally (literally literally, not virtually or figuratively literally) said that Biden and the establishment had to capitulate to Bernie or his supporters would stay home on Election Day. He used that exact word. Capitulate.
@EddieInCA:
I’ll turn sixty about 10 weeks after the November election.
I had a good (for me) check up with the oncologist this week. My cancer is stable. He will see me again in 3 months.
So it looks like I will make that big birthday next year.
On a funny note- Someone in the retirement community I live in threw out a mid 80’s (at least) RCA television set. I thought those things wouldn’t work now with digital television.
@EddieInCA: My daughter, like a lot of young people, is a big Bernie fan, and said to me that he would win the nomination because so many young people support him, and they’re a big generation. I told her that that would happen if and only if young people come out to vote in large numbers, and historically that has rarely been the case. So far, young voters are still following the historical trends.
@EddieInCA said:
and @MarkedMan said:
Whether the Democrats or the country at large are ready for it, change seems to be coming regardless. Clearly not this time around, maybe not the next. But sooner rather than later.
And on the way to that potential future, I suspect that MarkedMan’s Bernie guy was right: the Democratic party will fracture. On the up side, maybe that will allow for a viable third party for all the homeless moderates like me. 😮
(Maybe not, but a girl can hope…)
@Jen: A week ago everyone here was rending garments because Bernie was going to win, and it was clear to these prophets that Bernie’s followers would alienate anyone not in the “cult” and how terrible that is.
Today it looks like Bernie’s got a big shot at losing the nomination — and now all those people who were so concerned about the party pulling together are happily shitting on his supporters.
Hey, fellow Democrats — pulling the party together means pulling the party together. That’s ALL the party, not just the people you like.
Yes, some Bernie people are dicks. I’m sure a lot more are just upset because it looked so good for their candidate days ago, and now it doesn’t. If you reach out to them and remind them we’re all in the same fight together, some will reach back. If you sneer in their faces and call them losers, they’ll have nothing to do with us.
So maybe follow a little of your own advice and stop crapping on Bernie’s people all the fucking time.
@Monala:
NBC Exit Poll: Total Voters By Age
18-29: 13%
30-44: 23%
45-64: 35%
65+: 29%
My wife, when I showed here that screen grab: “Maybe the youngsters should be voting instead of making memes and sharing them on social media.”
@Just Another Ex-Republican:
He’ll often work against getting cooperation–his recent tweet railing against the Republican and Democratic “establishments,” essentially equating the two parties, certainly shows this. Is it really surprising a candidate who has spent decades avoiding membership in the party whose nomination he wants doesn’t get the full and warm welcome he seems to think he’s entitled to?
At the same time, though, if he doesn’t get the nomination, we should listen to those like @wr and understand many of Sanders’ supporters will be disappointed but still open to coming over to the actual nominee. So yeah, there are some “Bernie Bros” who are actual assholes, but most of his supporters are the kind of idealistic optimists we should want supporting whoever gets the nod.
@Steven L. Taylor:
In this house we eat Caramel Delites!
@Polimom:
@MarkedMan:
I have to tell you, from reading the exit polls, the only big change most people agree on is a change of President. I don’t think a lot of people have the stomach for revolutionary change. 4 years of relative normalcy would be really nice. 4 years of fighting over M4A? No fuqing thank you.
A self-avowed Socialist is never going to be POTUS. Especially when you look into what he is saying and find that he is wrong on a lot of it.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/bernie-sanderss-scandinavian-fantasy/2020/02/27/ee894d6e-599f-11ea-9b35-def5a027d470_story.html
@wr:
100%. Or, at least that’s how it appears on my social media feeds. I, for one, have done no bragging that my preferred choice between the two won big. Winning is enough, there’s no need to rub it in. (Especially because “winning” in this case means a slight delegate lead.)
@Daryl and his brother Darryl: I agree. Pragmatic voting right now. Might hold for another cycle or two, even. But eventually, the young people who are clamoring for Bernie right now will be the adults left standing; we’ll all be dust. And however long that takes (not very), they will bring change with them I believe.
@Polimom:
If they ain’t showin’ up, they ain’t clamoring.
Each new generation brings change, especially as large a cohort as Millennials. But it tends to take a long time to manifest and it tends not to be dramatic change but incremental. After ’68 and ’72 the Boomers all cut their hair, had kids and went to work in finance. They brought their anti-racism, their tolerance of social inclusivity, their low-key feminism and their music, but the ‘revolution’ died.
This is not a radical country. This is a country built on the ruthless pursuit of wealth. We satisfy none of the usual conditions for sweeping societal and economic change. Gay marriage and trans bathrooms were the high point. Now we have to preserve gains and get down to the boring work of trench warfare to prepare for some future progress.
@Michael Reynolds: Meh. Probably you’re right. I won’t be here to see it, either way. Can’t decide if that makes me glad or sad.
@wr:
Of course. But that applies to a lot of people recently, say, Buttigieg supporters and Klobuchar supporters, for example. The difference is those former supporters don’t have proverbial knives out.
I’m maintaining my distance for now, because I am friends with a few Bernie supporters, and they are not in the mood. I’m frankly a bit surprised at the vitriol I’m seeing surface in people I know.
This is so far from the type of person I am it’s almost not worth commenting on. I don’t sneer and I’ve never called anyone a loser. I DO remain troubled by the message being conveyed by the Sanders campaign–that the Democratic party–the party he is seeking to head–is hopelessly corrupt and awful. That isn’t a recipe for reconciliation down the road, and that’s a problem. It’s not a problem created by me.
@wr:
I’ll upvote that. There are many allies with whom we have differences, but there is only one enemy. We should model the WW2 allies, half of whom couldn’t stand the other half, but all of whom wanted Hitler dead.
@Jen: @Just Another Ex-Republican: Unfortunately, a lot of the BernieBros have the same righteous rage about supporting “their” candidate and sneering at moderates as the Corbynistas did in the last U.K. election.
There’s a reason that the Tories were re-elected.
@wr: I do not go for these proposals of Sanders. He has no feasible way of paying for the proposals. the Congress will not go for them, and they are not good for the country. But he knows what he wants and sticks to what he says. Biden has gone around doing a bunch of unnecessary apologizining , often for things that no one seems to know anything about.
The last thing the country needs is a US president going on another apology tour.
@Tyrell:
Wrong. We definitely need the next President to do an apology tour, starting with Germany, France, Canada, and the rest of our Allies. We need to apologize for Trump. It would be a start.
@Tyrell: You mean the Obama apology tour that never occurred? Please enlighten us with actual examples of the apology tour, not GOP talking points.
@Tyrell: “The last thing the country needs is a US president going on another apology tour.”
Since the country has never had a president “going on an apology tour,” it’s not possible to have another one.
Unless you’re one of the Fox-watching morons who believes that anything other than repeatedly claiming America is perfect and we have never done wrong to anyone is an “apology tour.” But since you are far too wise for that, I have no idea what you’re talking about.
And what of the GOP? As the percentage of the population that is white shrinks, Republicans will need to modify their…pigment bias, which will probably lead to a fracturing of its own, lest they become a rump political party…
@EddieInCA: according to Pew Research, the percentage of the voting population who are Millennials or Gen Z (the oldest of whom will be eligible to vote in this election!), is 36%, far above the 13% that have voted. However, that age range is more than 18-29 years old, as the oldest Millennials are in their late 30s.
@Daryl and his brother Darryl: I’ve seen some polling that says that a majority of Biden’s supporters want M4A. I think there is a strong appetite among large majorities in the US for something like M4A now, due to the universal need for healthcare, growing recognition of how screwed up our system is, especially with coronavirus on the march, and the taste of some of the benefits of Obamacare (such as no denial for pre-existing conditions, non-disabled but low wage adults having access to Medicaid, and young adults being able to stay on their parents’ insurance) leading people to want more. Compare that to something like free college or student loan forgiveness, which affects a lot fewer people, or more contentious subjects such as gun control or reparations — I actually think that, if we by chance take back the Senate and hold on to the House, that at the very least a public option might happen or other steps toward M4A.
@Tyrell:..Shocking, surprising. I did not think he would give up that quickly.
Micheal Bloomberg is not only richer than you. He is also smarter than you.
@Monala: Biden very specifically said that he wants to build on the ACA.
@Monala:
In general, I believe most Dems and many rethugs want something like M4A, they simply don’t want it forced down their throats. And as someone who is now on Medicare, I’m always surprised by the stuff that isn’t covered and what my out-of-pocket costs are. While my monthly recurring costs for Medi-gap is about the same as what my personal contribution was to the group plan I belonged to before retiring.
@Sleeping Dog: how would you establish something like M4A without forcing it on people? Something like the 55+ buy-in? Other ideas?
Biden is not my top choice. Actually bottom tier.
But evicting Trump is goal 1A+. Really, nothing else matters. We have a vain capricious idiot in the Big Chair who could easily wreck everything horribly.
If it’s Biden, it’s Biden. Not my preference, but Trump has to go. He is a burning stick of dynamite and must be removed from any button colored red you have to flick a clear plastic cover to engage with.
Priority is *anybody* but Trump. Man is a menace.
@Tyrell: Bloomberg is a proper and real businessman, nor a pimped up carnival barker faux-billionnaire. He knows how to make proper cost/benefit analysis and cut where cut needs to be done. His agenda wasn’t served by playing an ego game, ergo cut it off.
@Monala: The USA might pull it’s head out of its Anglophone hole in the ground and regard the evolution of the French Mutuelles (mandatory mutual insurance companies). However USA Left seems stuck on Anglo models like UK, perish the thought of looking elsewhere.
We have a President who is obviously chaotic evil aligned.
That has to be addressed.
Btw, thank you very much R voters that made this so! You chose oh so well! You took that election really seriously.
@Lounsbury: I agree. A lot of Americans don’t realize that there are many different models of universal healthcare.
@EddieInCA:
Well youngsters are too busy working multiple jobs while trying to get through college to show up at a primary to cast a near meaningless vote.
That was the general gist from the 60ish students I talked to at the local college. Some bernie bros included in that group who did go stand in line to vote.
@EddieInCA:
They would be more into spending time voting if you and your wife’s generation hadn’t fucked them so hard. You might of been able to afford college with one summer job but that isn’t a possibility today as minimum wage has a fraction of the buying power it used to.
You’re coming across as an out of touch boomer who’s too busy criticizing today’s youth to bother to educate yourself on their struggles
Reminds me of a relative who was amazed I couldn’t just work odd jobs for the summer to pay for everything including college for the rest of the year. He’s a boomer and found Jesus late hardcore so he’s all about Trump or whoever the latest darling of the right is. It’s sad too because he’s a smart guy overall but his religious beliefs and partisanship blinds him to reality a lot.
@Bill:
They only have problems with broadcast stations as the tv requires an adapter between it and the antenna. Nothing changed on the cable coaxial front between the cable box and the TV.
@Matt:
Late capitalism eats its own.
Student debt is effectively indentured servitude.
The machine must be fed.
Special interest social engineering by capitalists for capitalism is viewed as entirely normal and not worthy of criticism. Doesn’t even rise to the threshold of an act worthy of criticism.
It is the water we swim in.
@Matt:
One thing you’ll learn with age is to not assume.
1. My wife and I are not of the same generation. I’m at the end of the Boomers and she’s at the end of GenX. Strike One.
2. I was able to afford college due to a football scholarship to a local junior college that paid my tuition and books. To make ends meet, however, I worked two 30 hours per week jobs (Foot Locker and Taco Bell) while in Junior College, while playing football, being part of the Theatre Department, and carrying 18 units of classes. I had a rent payment, car insurance payment, gas, food, electric and gas bills. When I went to UCLA, I worked three jobs for a total of about 70 hrs per week while going to school. In three years at UCLA, I went to ZERO football games, ZERO basketball games, ZERO Frat parties, ZERO Sorority parties? I went to class, I went to work, I went home, ate, took a shit, then slept. Monday through Friday this was my routine. On Saturday and Sundays i worked at a bike shop full time. 10hrs on Sat. 8hrs on Sunday. FOR THREE YEARS. Strike Two.
3. I have a 24 year old nephew who just started at one of the Big 4 in Chicago, after going to OK State and getting a degree in accounting. His education cost his parents more than my first house cost me. His parents are doing okay, so he’s only going to graduate with about $20k in debt. However, my other nephew got a business degree from Utah State and can’t find a job. He graduated with $50K in student debt. He’s driving for Lyft, and working at a coffee shop. He and I talk weekly, and I’m counseling him on how to make himself more marketable for employers. Lastly, I’m in an industry where a HUGE number of my employees, P.A.s, are between 20-30. I can assure you that I am fully educated on what young people are facing in this country, and worldwide. Strike Three.
Your post only underscores my original point. Those in your generation have a lot to learn. Best of luck to you. You’re gonna need it… because, you’re right. Boomers screwed up this country in a lot of ways.
John Carpenter’s They Live was prescient.
Sociopath protagonist. Clunky story. Sketchy actors.
But the world building was precise.
Obey. Conform. Stay Asleep. Watch TV.
Plus the longest, stupidest, bad-assiest fight scene ever recorded.
You can just power 2x until Rowdy Roddy Piper puts the sunglasses on. It is pedestrian skippable crap until then.
Good commentary on police brutality on othered people in the first act.
Last act is just stupid. It is a very stupid movie with a very savvy world build.
@de stijl:
Are you aware that the film has long had a following among anti-Semites? Apparently they view the “aliens infiltrating society and secretly controlling everything” plot as a metaphor for Da Jooz.
Carpenter of course has denied he had anything of the sort in mind–and I believe him. I never took it to be more than just another one of those Reagan-era movies about the evils of Western capitalist conformity. But it was pretty creepy to find out about this interpretation, and I’ve never quite been able to look at the film the same way again.
(It reminds me of the way pro-lifers interpreted Horton Hears a Who as an allegory about the evils of abortion–something that annoyed the liberal Ted Geisel to no end.)
@Kylopod:
The anti-Jew idiots are perhaps the most susceptible to conspiracy nonsense. I think it is baked in because of the psychology that allows that an Other cabal controls everything and they hate us and want to kill us.
It’s actually quite sad. They are paranoid. It is also maddening and requires units and divisions of anti-terrorism police to focus on those people.
They Live is specifically anti-yuppie and of that era. It is a badly constructed movie, but the conceit holds to this day.
I cannot think of a more anti- consumerist, anti-capitalist American movie of that era.
Plus Keith David. Dude never dissapoints. Great voice.
It is an uninteresting 80s action movie except the concept was salient politically then and now.
Carpenter deserves respect. Escape From New York is great.
They Live has scenes of brutal police beatings on homeless people squatting in a field.
Bulldozers squashing the squat camp.
LAPD cops waling on folks with batons on camera well after they have surrendered.
Carpenter is an obvious guy.
The Thing is a poorly paced movie saved by Kurt Russell. Not a good movie, but surely a memorable one.
A better movie by far than They Live.
It amuses me and disturbs me that anti-Semites use They Live as a touchstone.
Fuck those guys.
@wr:
And we’re planning on doing that – Vote Blue No Matter Who.
The problem is there are two types of people in Sanders’ camp: BernieBros and Sanders Supporters. Sanders Supporters are reasonable folks who like his ideas and want change, who feel he’s the candidate that best spoke to their left-leaning ideals and are disappointed America’s not falling in love with it like they did. They won’t be happy about it but they’re very likely to Vote Blue because they understand Trump is the antithesis of Sanders and what change needs to happen. We welcome our brethren then and look forward to what ideas and specifics they can give the eventual nominee. There’s nothing wrong with a Sander Supporter and they should be treated as equals in our fight.
BernieBros, on the other hand, are a freaking cult just like Cult45. They are rabid, loud and devoted to the *man*, not the ideal or the eventual goal of preventing Trump’s re-election. In fact, they’re extremely likely to either deliberately sabotage Dem chances by sitting it out or actively voting Trump out of pure spite and purity pony righteousness. The fact that they can just jump from one end of the political spectrum to the other means they don’t really care about the issues, just the sense of angry victim-hood. They’re never going to accept his loss and will be PITA right up until the end. In fact, should the worst happen and Bernie suffer a medical issue before the election I expect to see QAnon-level conspiracy theories about attempted assassination. They’re something deeply wrong with these people that makes them more kin to MAGAts then any sort of liberal or even non-Trumper. The only one who can seemingly control them is Sanders himself…. and thus it’s on him to push them to Vote Blue No Matter Who. Nothing tepid like last time, he needs to be out there pounding that message into their heads.
We’ll outreach all we can but it in the end it’s on Bernie to make sure his devotees understand we all need to pull together. So the question becomes…. does he feel that way and will he do his duty if he doesn’t succeed in getting the nomination?
@KM:
Yeah, I have an estranged cousin I befriended on Facebook in 2016. After Clinton clinched the nomination, he because a Stein Stan, with the genius theory that a Donald Trump win would “teach” America to vote for the socialist next time.
His post after Super Tuesday? “I guess we need four more years of Trump to wake up the American people.” I’m not sure if that means he’s voting for Trump, but I wouldn’t be surprised.
Because, you know, the beatings have to continue until morale improves.