Trump didn't spark a progressive revolution four years ago, nor will he today

[RandySF]

In 2016, there was a toxic argument on the left in which it was posited, basically, that it was better for Donald Trump to win the election than Hillary Clinton because he would frack stuff up so bad that it would hasten a Bernie Sanders-style revolution.

And if you missed it and can’t believe it, because it sounds so crazy, here’s Susan Sarandon making that point exactly to Chris Hayes: "Some people feel that Donald Trump will bring the revolution immediately, if he gets in. Then things will really, you know, explode.”

Things did explode, with Trump managing to screw up literally everything he touched while, among other horrors, putting children in cages.

And yet here we are, with Bernie Sanders unable to grow past his 30% base. And while he got 43% of the vote in 2016, he’s at 29% today and could fall even farther as more states vote. Instead of ushering in a glorious political revolution, Trump’s chaos made Democratic voters even more cautious and unwilling to take risks in their primary choice. And we ended up with Joe Biden.

So remember that when the usual suspects make the same argument this year, that it’s better for Trump to win than Biden, to help create even riper conditions for revolution. You know it’s coming. And it’ll be just as idiotic this year as it was four years ago.



https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2020/3/9/1925479/-Trump-didn-t-spark-a-progressive-revolution-four-years-ago-nor-will-he-today

[Dopers_Greed]

1. Trump's victory did spark progressives

...only to share "woke" posts, bashing pretty much everything, on social media.

Hardly a revolution.

And they've now turned their sights to the 2020 Dem candidates.

[gab13by13]

2. IMO Trump wants to run against Joe,

He will use basically the same playbook he used against Hillary that she represents the bad establishment, and Joe is to the right of Hillary. In Joe's own words he is not a good debater. Trump will use fake tales about Hunter and the Burisma "scandal" just like he used fake scandals against Hillary. Hopefully we have all learned from what Russia and the far right did posting lies about Hillary. Hopefully Bernie supporters will throw their undying support behind Joe if he wins, I will. With that said I think Joe will trounce Trump as long as we don't get complacent and feel that a Biden presidency is inevitable.

[Happy Hoosier]

5. Except Trump has a record now... one Joe can shred. NT

[William769]

6. Give it a fucking break. Did you all go to the same parrot school? nt

[TomCADem]

14. Except As President, Trump Is The Establishment...

...and Bernie for all his anti-establishment bluster has been a member of Congress since 1991.

[beastie boy]

3. Well Trump did frack stuf up. It's just that the revolution didn't move beyond bashing the Democrats

One out of two. Credit where credit is due, Susan!

[Magoo48]

4. Well, something or someone better spark a progressive, or enlightened, or woke movement

pretty soon or Climate Catastrophe will unleash suffering on our next generations that will make COVID-19 look like a sneeze in a tornado. Or, maybe the worlds best scientists are just fucking with us?? Yup, that’s it, the Republicans are right, the world’s best science is a hoax, and the scientists are having a big joke.

[Turin_C3PO]

8. Biden is serious about climate change too.

He’ll put us on the right track in addressing the crisis.

[Magoo48]

10. Please point me to his discussions on the Climate Crisis.

[TwilightZone]

11. This took me a whole 30 seconds to find:

https://joebiden.com/climate/

Have at it.

[karynnj]

12. It was people like Al Gore and John Kerry who led for DECADES on this issue when the progressives

were less concerned. Both Gore and Kerry (with Teresa) wrote books on climate change/environmental justice. Yes, it Kerry's 2004 campaign when the issue of environmental justice was a core issue - even though the media (other than CSPAN) ignored it. In 2009/2010 when the Obama administration backed a climate change bill, one passed the House, but even though Kerry got several Republicans on board, many coal state Democrats refused to support it - including some progressives - even after Kerry and Sherrod Brown worked out ways to help those states transition.

It is simply not true that Bernie Sanders was a leader on this over his career.

Gore has not endorsed anyone, but Kerry was an early endorser of Biden. In 2006 or 2007, Biden chaired the first SFRC hearing into the National Security aspects of climate change where 3 or 4 retired generals spoke of the results of their task forces looking into the impacts. Both Kerry, who had pushed for the hearing, and Obama were on the SFRC at that point. Later comments from all of them on NS and CC echoed things said at that hearing.

On climate change, I trust people like Kerry, Gore and Inslee who have all worked on that issue as their top issue. Sanders for decades has spoken of economic justice and that is what drives him. It does make the issue of environmental justice a natural, but it clearly was not a top issue for him over his long career -- as it clearly was for these three. I trust that Biden will place great people in charge of EPA and will push internationally for the US to be on the right side as we were in 2015.

[redstatebluegirl]

7. All it caused is a whining revolution.

I swear I grow weary of all the whining about EVERYTHING being unfair to them.

[thucythucy]

9. I remember the same argument

from leftie friends about Reagan vs. Carter, and then Bush II vs. Gore. Especially the latter, when Nader called Gore a "faux environmentalist" and mocked the idea that taking votes away from Gore was somehow bad for progressives.

Ugh!

[Turin_C3PO]

13. That idea was stupid all along.

Only an idiot would believe that was going to happen. Unfortunately, history shows that people often become more reactionary when things fall apart.