OK, Bloomers

I've been noticing a silly argument on Twitter that I won't link to, because it is silly: whether "Bernie bros" will put people "on a list" if they support or work for former Republican NYC Mayor Mike Bloomberg. Whatever that list might mean, I really don't think people in this country can get shut out of working for campaigns or commenting on politics based on their previous support. My goodness, Jill Stein supporters manage to get attached to Democratic campaigns today, don't they? And the mainstream media doesn't look like it will ever give up it's love affair with Republican-lite/moderate Democrat cross-overs. For the unity!

But let's get real, the country will not be unified over Mike Bloomberg. Sure, he's got a whole lot of money and his ads do nail Trump right in his vanities and failures. But that doesn't equal a plausible Democratic candidate against Trump (it may even have some drawbacks as an outside antagonist, as I hope to demonstrate). 

In the past, I've blogged about my support of the Occupy Wall Street movement, Black Lives Matter, and the Me Too movement. If a Democratic candidate does not have a good record with, or can't demonstrate fundamental understanding of, the impact of economic inequality, the wealth gap, the failures of the system to protect consumers against fraud and predation in ways that harm economic security and mobility (as well as the way it intersects with racial inequality); if a candidate does not have a good record with, or can't demonstrate fundamental understanding of, the impact of racial inequality especially as it has related to the tools of the criminal justice system being used as a weapon against black bodies especially; and if a candidate does not have a good record with, and can't demonstrate fundamental understanding of, the ways men in power deploy misogyny and exercise their privilege against both women and men in sexualized ways, then, this party should not want them. 

And it really should not matter if that candidate has great ads or a lot of money. The Democratic party has had an argument ongoing about campaign finance and the need to limit influence--and yet, there's a risk of one self-funding guy swanning in and running the table? 

And let's talk about those ads--I like them. I also like The Daily Show and Full Frontal, too, so I'm pretty clear on why I like that stuff: they were made for people like me. But I don't think the entire electorate is people like me. I'm not the person you have to convince. One of the weird tricks that Trump has pulled off with his support is capturing white middle class resentment against "them"--including coastal elites. Bloomberg comes off as the posterchild of East Coast elitism. He's saying "Trump isn't successful enough, he isn't smart enough, his manners are terrible, he cares about the wrong things, and for another thing....he's fat and he dresses bad."

Just as when Trump, or his surrogates, hold up a misleading electoral map and say "You can't impeach all of this" in a way that tries to identify Trump with the areas of his greatest support, I don't know if it doesn't backfire for the "message received" to end up being, not that Trump is all of these things (true as they may be), but that elitists are somehow labelling parts of the electorate these things. 

There's also the hypocrisy issue--if we can all point to Bloomberg's very recent support of Republican candidates, his past statements on women, his "stop and frisk" support and so on, those ads don't just highlight Trump's failings. They highlight Bloomberg's. The guy has a record of saying things that easily turn off liberals already. I just can't see putting his face out in front. 

There has been some scare-mongering that Bernie Sanders might consider someone like Tulsi Gabbard for a running mate in the event of taking the nomination. I can't see that, at all--he is neither crazy or foolish! It seems as likely as the Drudge-powered rumor that Hillary Clinton would be Bloomberg's running mate--they are from the same state, people, think about it! But also, Clinton is done running. She keeps saying it. I believe women when they say things repeatedly.

Bloomberg is how you get Trump. This should not be a thing, happening in this party, in 2020. You don't like Sanders for whatever reason? Fine--Elizabeth Warren is right there. Joe Biden has lots of experience. Pete Buttigieg sounds like an AI trained on West Wing reruns, but he's very smart. Amy Klobuchar is relatable AF. Check them out--actual Democrats! 

We have to do better than this.