Political Irony

If you live in one of the states that has a primary today, please vote. I don’t even care for whom you vote. People complain about the special interests in politics, but the main reason those special interests can get away with it is because most people don’t vote.

Ignore the AP calling the primary for Clinton. Their prediction is based entirely on superdelegates, while the pledged delegates are far more important.

Vote for Clinton or vote for Sanders. Vote for whomever you want. The only wasted vote is one you don’t cast. I don’t even care if you vote for Trump, since all of his opponents have dropped out.

Just vote. If you don’t vote, you don’t get to complain.

I’ve been having conversations recently with Bernie Sanders supporters and have felt a kind of desperation coming from them. Like if Sanders doesn’t win (and most of them are still holding out hope for that unlikely outcome) they will be very depressed or angry. Some are saying that they plan to vote for Trump if Sanders doesn’t get the nomination, and many of them are saying that they just won’t vote.

It isn’t like I don’t understand. I feel depressed and angry when I think about Donald Trump becoming president. Ironically, the Sanders supporters I’ve talked to all admit that Trump is much worse than Clinton, but that doesn’t seem to matter.

Is the prospect of Hillary Clinton becoming president really that horrible? Up until two years ago, Bill Clinton was the favorite president of most Democrats. But recently his popularity has been slipping. What’s going on?

But today I read an interesting article by Barrett Holmes Pitner titled “The White Entitlement of Some Sanders Supporters“. Now, Pitner is a Sanders supporter and even interned for Sanders. But he is noticing the same things I have — Sanders supporters trash talking Clinton, talking about how “Killary Clinton” has stolen the nomination, that she is cheating, and that she can’t be trusted. But Pitner has a theory:

The main source of their frustration was merely the fact that they had lost. The fact that she is ahead in the popular vote, has won more primaries and caucuses, and has earned more delegates was to them a minor nuisance. They had their absurd talking points and were unwilling to deviate into reality.

The more I reflected on them, the more I realized the key point: They felt entitled to win, and a defeat meant that someone must have cheated or that their opinions did not matter, which of course couldn’t be true. They preferred to suspend reality and fabricate injustices rather than concede that Sanders has lost fair and square.

Essentially, we disagreed on what America supposedly promised or owed us. They felt success was promised to them. The entitlement to believe that you should always win allowed them to overlook how the system in many ways has always been unjustly rigged in their favor because they’re white.

This could explain why Sanders supporters are predominantly white, while most minority voters favor Clinton. Could it be that Sanders (if even unintentionally) is benefiting from the same white tribalism that appears to be the driving force behind Trump’s appeal?

Well, I expect some of my readers to strongly disagree with this idea. I’m not even totally convinced of it, but so far it is the only explanation I’ve heard that makes any sense.

Bernie Sanders responded to the anti-Trump violence on Thursday with a statement that bears repeating:

I understand how reprehensible and disgraceful Donald Trump’s positions are, how ignorant they are, how much he is appealing — and I can understand the anger, I surely can. The bigotry that is coming from his mouth, the insults to the Mexican community, the Latino community and the Muslim community, and women, and African-Americans, and veterans. I understand the anger.

But we are not going to defeat Trump, you know, by throwing eggs or getting involved in violence of any kind. We defeat Trump when we stand together as one people and fight for a progressive agenda.

The only thing I would have added is to point out not just the insults to protesters, but the violence that has been committed against protesters (and encouraged by Trump). The media reports seem to be focusing exclusively on violence against Trump supporters, but at a Trump rally in San Diego last week, Trump supporters pepper-sprayed non-violent protesters in the face. And we’ve all seen the video of a Trump supporter who sucker-punched a protester who was already in custody. Unfortunately, it looks like violence against his supporters is exactly what Trump wants. I hope our side can show more restraint.

So, do you believe in democracy or not?

The Washington Post couldn’t find any change in the rules that would give Sanders a win. Right now, the only way he could become the nominee is if most of the superdelegates ignore the will of their voters, abandon Clinton and decide to vote for Sanders. Sanders has been touting this argument since March, but so far not a single superdelegate has switched (none have even talked about doing it).

To his credit, Bernie Sanders himself is starting to make some motions of coming around. He is spending more time attacking Trump — even giving Trump the nickname of “Mr. Macho“:

Let me not worry about Hillary Clinton right now. Let me worry about Donald Trump — this big, brave, macho guy, my goodness. He said he wanted to debate Bernie Sanders, then he said he didn’t, and then he said he did, and then he said he didn’t. So I say to Mr. Macho that I am open to a debate anytime, any place here in the state of California, hopefully before the June 7 primary.

Sanders also hasn’t ruled out being Clinton’s pick for vice president.

And for those of you who still have an uneasy feeling about Clinton, here are two posts from Facebook. The first is from Gavin Newsom, the current Lieutenant Governor of California and formerly the mayor of San Francisco:

In 2004, after I ordered the city clerk to give same-sex couples marriage licenses, I quickly became a pariah in the Democratic Party. I was accused of endangering Sen. Kerry’s campaign for president, my speech at the national convention was cancelled, and most hurtful, major democratic candidates and elected officials — some of whom were my friends — refused to be photographed with me or even be in the same room with me. I was being demonized by the left and the right. Only one major figure in the Dem party was willing to be photographed with me: Hillary Clinton. In 2004, we did an event together down at Delancey Street in San Francisco. I’ll never forget that moment — that when I was being attacked for my position on same sex marriage and what we did in San Francisco, she was willing to stand with me in public when no one else was. ‪#‎ImWithHer‬

The second Facebook post is from someone named Scott Wilson:

Just who were you expecting? Seriously. When a woman finally captured the nomination of a major party for President, what kind of a woman did you think she would be? Did you think that she might be tough-minded and pragmatic, someone who knows how to work the system and who is willing to do that? Did you think she might be someone flawed, who has made mistakes, but who is also resilient enough to withstand two and a half decades of relentless attacks? Did you think she might be a fighter, carrying the scars of a fighter? And if you thought she would be any of those things, did you really expect that anyone would like her, given what we demand of women in this culture? Let me tell you something: I have not liked this woman, either. I don’t agree with some of the things that she’s done, and some of the things that she stands for now. But I admire her. I am moved by who she is, given what we have put her through. And I am absolutely for her.

© Matt Bors