TL:DR: 2016 was meant to be a Clinton coronation with no real challengers, and they had to kneecap Bernie when he got in the way. 2020 was an open, fair election between everyone that wasn't named Sanders, and they had to kneecap Bernie when he got in the way.
For one they did not, at all, care for the results of the votes. Like in 2016 they just used Superdelegates to invalidate all the races Clinton had lost.
They did no such thing. Fuck's sake. We lost by some 10% points, against Hillary fucking Clinton. This idea that the better candidate will automatically be the more popular one is some utter fucking delusion I keep seeing from the left.
I voted for Bernie twice. I would vote for him again in a heartbeat, age and all. That's not the same as peddling "The DNC STOLE the primary from us!"
At the very, very least, they are guilty of lopsided financial support and advertising dollars behind each candidate. The rest is largely supposition, though certainly COULD be true. Sometimes it's easier to accept that than that the other voters are dumb. I have no idea which is actually true
I mean, even if you look at third party polling in the 2016 primaries, you get largely the same results. The DNC was unfair to Bernie - but at the same time, it is the primary voters who failed him.
West Virginia, where Clinton is the literal devil even amongst Democrats? Where the Obama administration was reviled, even amongst Democrats, and Clinton was still heavily associated with the Obama administration?
Do you... do you think West Virginia is more socialist inclined? More progressive inclined?
I spent most of my life growing up next door to West Virginia. West Virginia was a literal, not figurative, stone's throw from my hometown. I know a lot of West Virginians.
WV going for Bernie in the 2016 primary doesn't say what you think it does.
Using the superdelegates to call the race for Hillary the night before the California primary, He's in the superdelegates in West Virginia and other states. Doing everything they could to stop Bernie. Watch this clip: https://youtu.be/QGuVDz_88po
Not to mention the fact that we know the DNC was having their media outlets run interference on the Sanders campaign, painting him as a crazy left socialist to scare off the moderates, when in reality the majority of Americans approve of his campaign's policies even more than the Dems' or Repubs'.
There was a primary in 2024 that Biden won as well. The DNC doesn’t need to spend much money on an incumbent’s campaign. It’s up to the voters to research their alternatives and vote in the primary. That doesn’t make it less fair, but suggests that US citizens are lazy or disengaged.
Yeah everyone forgets their heroine Elizabeth Warren felt it was a good idea to talk shit about Bernie every chance she got and further reduced his chances by dropping out last minute.
You mean when we lost by some 10% in the vote against Hillary fucking Clinton, a legendarily unpopular politician, with even socialist-hostile West Virginia protest-voting for Bernie over Clinton?
"But the DNC tipped the scales by showing favoritism", yes, they wanted a coronation, but it didn't come down to a handful of voters who were swayed by fucking DWS, it came down to Bernie not being able to overcome the long-standing nominee who had been building a ground game for her presidential run for... 16 years? Arguably more?
Bernie threw his hat into the ring as a protest, not expecting to gain much support. He had to build an apparatus from the ground up in a matter of months. That he got within 10% of Clinton is a miracle and a showing of the strength of Bernie's position - but also not a loss attributable to the sinister DNC mind-controlling millions of voters.