[This article also appears on the Huffington Post.]
As someone who voted for Bernie Sanders in the Democratic presidential primary, I want to make a pitch to the “Bernie or Bust” crowd as to why they are, as Sarah Silverman perfectly put it Monday night, “being ridiculous” by not supporting Hillary Clinton in November.
I am not going to try and convince you that it is “ridiculous” bordering on delusional to think there is no difference between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. I vowed to myself months ago that I would not try to convince those considering voting for Trump of the error of their ways. My thought is, if someone can watch as Trump fear-mongers, boldly lies to stoke fear, displays ignorance of policy and the world, offers few realistic specific plans, spews racism, shows a thin skin and a propensity to lash out, retweets white supremacists, and generally behaves in a way that is an embarrassment to the country, and think, “Yeah, that guy would make a good president,” there is nothing I can say that would make a difference. That Trump voter deserves to live in a Donald Trump-led America.
Trying to explain to “Bernie or Bust” adherents that there is a difference between Clinton and Trump seems to me to fall into the same category and be equally fruitless. You don’t care if Trump is elected? Fine, you deserve to live in a Trump-led America, too.
Instead, I’d like to make a point that might actually resonate with a “Bernie or Bust” follower: If you want Bernie’s revolution to happen sometime in the near future, your best strategy is to make sure Donald Trump is not elected for one simple, strategic reason: The next president will appoint up to four U.S. Supreme Court justices, which will shape the government and policy for two to three decades.
Now, I know many “Bernie or Bust”ers feel like things will be fine if Trump wins, since it just means that Bernie or another more progressive candidate can run against Trump and beat him in 2020. It’s not a crazy idea. Exchange the 2016 election for the hope of getting what you really want in 2020. There are certainly some Republicans (fewer than a month ago, though, it seems) who have embraced this very strategy, conceding 2016 to Hillary Clinton with the hope of a non-Trump Republican winning in 2020. So I get the argument.
But there is one fatal flaw in punting 2016 for 2020, and that is the Supreme Court. We have seen how a conservative Supreme Court acted as a roadblock to President Barack Obama’s agenda, for example striking down the state Medicaid mandates in the Affordable Care Act, finding a section of the Voting Rights Act unconstitutional, opening the floodgates of corporate money in the Citizens United case and blocking Obama’s executive actions on immigration and to fight climate change.
Can you imagine what a Supreme Court with two George W. Bush appointees and four Trump appointees would do to a President Sanders in 2021? Almost nothing Sanders got past Congress or did on his own would survive Supreme Court scrutiny.
So the wait-for-2020 strategy is not an effective one for those looking to advance Bernie’s agenda.
In a democracy change is a process, not a revolution (sorry). If you truly believe in Bernie’s revolution, the real question should be, What is the best way to get there? To take an attitude of, We have to get there right now!!!!!! is not just childish and impractical, it’s short-sighted and dangerous.
The ideological purity of “Bernie or Bust” may feel good, but it’s not actually effective. It makes you no better than the Tea Party.
Again, I have no desire to convince the “Bernie or Bust” crew of the seemingly obvious fact that there are multiple important differences between Clinton and Trump as candidates. But I think it’s clear that if you want Bernie’s policies to be adopted, the most effective, direct line to pursue is not through a Trump presidency ― and thus a Trump Supreme Court ― but rather through a Clinton presidency and a Clinton Supreme Court. Doing so makes success down the road possible.
You know who knows this to be true? Bernie Sanders. That’s why he so strongly endorsed Clinton Monday night at the convention and devoted a good amount of time to talking about the ramifications of a Clinton v. Trump Supreme Court. I think it’s important to lay out the Supreme Court passage of Sanders’ speech here:
“This election is about overturning Citizens United, one of the worst Supreme Court decisions in the history of our country. That decision allows the wealthiest people in America, like the billionaire Koch brothers, to spend hundreds of millions of dollars buying elections and, in the process, undermine American democracy.Hillary Clinton will nominate justices to the Supreme Court who are prepared to overturn Citizens United and end the movement toward oligarchy in this country. Her Supreme Court appointments will also defend a woman’s right to choose, workers’ rights, the rights of the LGBT community, the needs of minorities and immigrants and the government’s ability to protect the environment.If you don’t believe this election is important, if you think you can sit it out, take a moment to think about the Supreme Court justices that Donald Trump would nominate and what that would mean to civil liberties, equal rights and the future of our country.”
And so many Bernie supporters have made the same point. Are we all wrong? Doubtful.
If you passionately support Bernie, why not listen to him now? It’s not like he’s making the strong Clinton endorsement for any personal gain. There is nothing in it for him, beyond that he knows that the best path forward for his goals, in the long term, is for Clinton to win in November.
Bernie has been around fighting for his ideals for a long time. He knows change is a process that takes time. I think even Bernie knows that his full agenda wouldn’t have even happened if he had been elected president, given the realities of trying to get legislation through Congress. I mean, Obama had more than a year of a Democratic House and a Democratic supermajority in the Senate, and yet it still was a fight just to get the Affordable Care Act passed. Democracy is about incremental change.
But Bernie knows there will be no change if a W/Trump Supreme Court acts as a wall (pun intended), blocking a progressive agenda in 2021 and for two decades to follow.
So, “Bernie or Bust”ers, it’s really that simple: You want Bernie’s revolution to move forward? Then listen to Bernie himself and realize that the best next step is to make sure that Clinton, and not Trump, appoints the next set of Supreme Court justices.
You don’t have to like Hillary. You don’t even have to admit that she is better than Trump in any other way. You only have to recognize that she is the better option for the long-term victory of Bernie’s goals, if for no other reason than her Supreme Court nominees won’t stand in the way of a future Bernie revolution. If you can’t see that, you may have to ask yourself what your motives are. Is it really about Bernie’s agenda, or is this some kind of personal journey for you? If it’s about Bernie’s goals, follow the man himself, and make sure Clinton is elected in November.
