Hillary Clinton is the presumptive nominee of the Democratic Party. Occupy Wall Street changed the conversation in 2011. Bernie Sanders turned the conversation in 2016. Neither ‘movement’ made it to the pinnacle.
The fact is that Hillary Clinton won more votes, pledged delegates, and states than Bernie. Bernie Sanders won the souls of most of the younger people and hearts if not votes of many Hillary Clinton supporters.
All Americans, not Republicans, not Democrats, not independents, not other, but all Americans will be picking the next president. The country is in a justifiably erratic mood. Many believe that both Democrats and Republicans have failed them.
Most know America is still a duopoly and as such an independent stands almost no chance of winning. As such many will choose the next best thing to an independent even if they know, he is a charlatan. It is not rational, many just will.
Thom Hartmann pointed out some stark realities on a recent show. He alluded to the angst of white working class America. Yes, these are concerns that all Americans have. But from their perspective, they are moving in the opposite direction from the others.
Who are those others? Those others are all the previously aggrieved groups, Latinos, Blacks, women, LGBT, Native American, etc. The truth is all of these are settling to a place of lower mediocrity. The once privileged believe the one thing they could count on is going fast. The never privileged feel their ascent is better than none at all.
The Thom Hartmann clip below is prescient. He personalizes the reason why many believe Trump’s message will resonate with many. This perspective is missing from most of the punditry’s understanding of today’s politics. It is the reason why they have been consistently wrong this election cycle.
Clip from The Thom Hartman Show titled “What Happens If We Don’t Take Trump Seriously?”
Those in the punditry class need to leave their offices and studios and visit Americans outside of their zone of comfort. Only then will they understand the dynamic that is occurring in the country.
Donald Trump is clearer than Hillary Clinton and unequivocal in the manner in which he articulates the problem. Yes, Hillary Clinton is the smarter candidate. She knows the policy. He does not. Sadly, most Americans do not know that they should care.
Most importantly, Trump gets press coverage. And he knows how to use it. It is true that he is having a bad couple of weeks. An election cycle is very long. With an economy that is not firing on all cylinders and with many Americans feeling the angst we are all aware of, the narrative changed away from Trumps racism, and idiocy will be quick.
Would it be a good thing if Bernie Sanders took the nomination to the convention floor? Bernie Sanders came across as a warrior for the middle class and the economically disadvantaged. His decades of consistency makes his record unassailable, unlike Clinton’s record which many justifiably view with concern.
It is imperative that all of those who are not yet excited about Hillary Clinton are brought over not because they think it is their only choice. They must believe that she gets it. They may believe that irrespective of what is in her heart, she is committed to the millions of Bernie Sanders supporters. One must remember, the desires of Hillary Clinton’s supporters are a subset of the desires of those people who support Bernie Sanders.
Americans do not need a clean staged Democratic National Convention. They need to see active and hard discussions in the open that make good TV. Americans need to see Democrats atone for less than stellar support for the middle-class and the needy that ultimately results in a believable middle-class centric platform. America needs a catharsis where all eventually come together, not in a staged manner, but in a form that ALL Americans believe they have a stake in for their future. Absent that, be ready for President Trump.