Bernie Still Doesn't Get Why He Lost

The Democratic Primaries Were Fair, He Was Just Not A Good Candidate.

Sen Bernie Sanders with Andrew Schulz on Flagrant

I’m honestly sick of writing about Bernie Sanders.

I am not as down on the Democratic Party's future prospects as most people. The party has many rising stars, from Georgia Sen. Jon Ossoff to Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear, Arizona Sen. Ruben Gallego, and New Jersey Sen. Andy Kim. Though it’s unlikely the Democrats will nominate a woman again, Sen. Elissa Slotkin of Michigan and former Rep. Abigail Spanberger of Virginia, who is favored to be the next governor, are both well-respected former CIA agents who have a very different vibe than Hillary or Kamala. If there was ever a time to close the door on the past and look ahead, this is it.

Unfortunately, Bernie Sanders, who recently filed for reelection in 2030 when he will be 89 years old, is at it again.

On a recent appearance on Andrew Schulz’ Flagrant podcast, Schulz suggested to Bernie that the Democratic Party is also a threat to democracy and pointed to the party “screwing him” in the 2016 Democratic primary as an example. Bernie responded, "Fair enough. I’m not going to argue with that point. And that’s why I’m proudly an Independent."

The response led to this extremely helpful headline plastered all over the internet.

Bernie then went into more detail about how the “liberal elite” somehow convinced black voters who overwhelmingly backed Hillary and Biden in both primaries that Bernie was a racist and seemed to imply that’s why they didn’t vote for him. His comments became fodder on right-wing social media as influential MAGA accounts shared the interview and used it to drive home further the idea that it’s the Democrats, not Trump, threatening democracy, even while also admitting they would never vote for Bernie had he won the nomination.

Bernie, once again, became a useful idiot for MAGA.

I assume we’ll continue relitigating this primary for as long as Bernie wants to relitigate it, so I expect it to become a hot topic in the 2028 primary, too. So let me say this right now:

Neither the 2016 nor the 2020 Democratic primary was “rigged” against Sanders. He lost them fair and square.