Honestly, a candidate like Trump was not an "if" but a "when".
Even if the Dems had won that election, history has shown they they would not have made any real.changes. They would have done nothing to try and prevent something like the Trump Presidency from happening. They wouldnt have tried to fix the rigged gerrymandered districts, they wouldn't have pushed for voting reform, they wouldn't have tried to call put the insane rhetoric being put out by right wing propaganda machines, and they wouldn't have instilled better checks and balances on the presidency that relied on more than the assumtions of common decency, respect, and tradition.
Nah, they would have rested on their laurels for electing the first female president, and be caught with their pants down when the GOP successfully harnessed the resentment of angry white men for being "under the rule" of a black muslim socialist for eight years, and a satanic pedophile child eating woman for 4.
I guess the bigger point I was trying to make is that someone like Trump would have happened regardless of what happened in 2016. Maybe not him specifically, but this has been the work of right wing propaganda machines for 30+ years. If not in 2016, then 2020, and if not then 2024, etc.
The fractures in American society are so deep that I cannot see any real unity in that country ever again.
I guess the bigger point I was teying ti make is that someone like Trump would have happened regardless of what happened in 2016.
I agree with that.
There were even those that didn't support his "policies" when he ran, but wanted to "burn it all down" and get him elected to shake up the system. I surely hope those that did so under that reason regret the impact.
I wanted to believe this during the 2016 party primary like I needed to breathe. Hell, I STILL want to believe it. But the reality is that the American people robbed us of his presidency.
2016 was one of the first elections where Gen X, Gen Z, and Millennials collectively outvoted the boomers and the silent generation, by the slimmest of margins. It goes without saying how much the older generation drinks from of the neo-liberalism kool-aid. A self-professing socialist was always going to be a hard sell.
As far as the 2016 Democratic primary goes, Bernie got 1820 pledged (elected) and 45 unpledged (super/unelected) delegates. To win by one delegate, he would have needed to get 518 additional super delegates to overcome Hillary's pledged delegate lead over him. A win from him would have caused an outrage, since the unelected delegates would have overridden the elected (read: will) of the Democratic primary voters.
The most important thing American voters can do is to continue to demonstrably show how neo-liberal socio-economic politics is marching us to generational ruin to every voter you know, and then vote appropriately in every local, state, and federal election.
It was the Democratic establishment and the corporate media that stole it. The biggest thing they fear is a candidate that puts the American people over corporate interests.
See the pattern? Combined with all the "left" side of democrats support for US imperialism.
Bernie and people like him ain't gonna change shit, not any more in the future that they did in a past decades. It's time to radicalise way beyond him and the lukewarm electoral socialdemocracy, the only thing that can change something for the better, and did in the past, is the organised working class.