Bernie Sanders accuses Harris of being 'influenced' by billionaires in 2024 race
Progressive Sen. Bernie Sanders accused former Vice President Kamala Harris of being “heavily influenced” by rich people in the 2024 race.
No doubt about it...
You mean when she changed her tune mid stride and went centrist?
Centrist? She campaigned with Cheney. That’s right wing.
She was at the center between fascism and conservatism.
She did that in 2020...
There was only a very very brief window she pretended to be slightly progressive, but it was an act everyone saw thru, and the dumbasses that were running the party till this year just threw her with Biden because they legitimately thought Black woman equals progressive vote.
Everyone held their noses for Biden because he was the only option, so they just tried to double down on it. It's what happens when a party is corrupt, the people who rise to the top are the ones willing to do anything for donations, because that was the sole metric the old guard cared about.
If you could raise money for their shitty candidate, you got promoted. So we ended up with over a billion dollar campaign that was almost certainly a grift and a complete waste of money from state parties that handed trump the House.
Now, all that being said...
The voting members of the DNC did finally wake up and elected a chair who wouldn't fight against the party's own base. Martin ran Minnesota for a decade, made it solid blue, and home to some of our most progressive politicians and highschool football coach Tim Walz as governor.
If he's a neoliberal bought off by billionaires and AIPAC, then he's absolute dog shit at stopping progressives in primaries, and it's completely illogical that he kept supporting them in the general.
We got an equal playing field for the first time since the 90s.
We just need to get people to show up in the primary. We can't fucking waste this chance.
There were ~6 more progressive candidates and she did horribly. She saw the money on the other side and thought, "fuck it."
Hopefully the playing field stays intact
Is, "influenced by billionaires," a euphemism for, "she let her uber executive brother-in-law talk her into gutting any economic populism from her campaign in favor of tepid centrist policies that cost her the election and ushered in a new era of American fascism?"
I mean I'm not sure Bernie is that woke, much as I love him, but that's pretty much the view from over here.
Are we reddit now, posting USA Today articles like they're a proper news source? This is /r/news behavior. Might as well start linking New York Post articles, too.
https://www.compassvermont.com/p/bernie-sanders-criticizes-harris
Thanks for doing the leg work. USA Today is slop.
@return2ozma@lemmy.world appears to either be a bot or a newly minted user from Reddit. They're even using their Reddit Snoo as their avatar. I might just block them to avoid this idiotic content. They're posting lots of the same.
Are we reddit now
Pretty much. Have you gone on Reddit? It's literally the same posts as Lemmy. We're a filtered version that isn't controlled by a corporation but almost all the content here still comes directly from Reddit
I mean, I voted for her, and would vote for her again any day if it meant voting against Trump, but he's not wrong.
She's not really unique in that aspect compared to any other mainstream Democrat vs any outsider or mainstream Republican, and that's probably ~90% of the DNC's problem when it comes to overcoming voter apathy.
Realistically, most people are not expecting Dems to refuse large donations, but accepting a donation should not mean that you then compromise your own values to accommodate 1% of voters on any issue. That's not how a democracy is supposed to work. That's just pay to play.
Its so stupid to me that we've now reached the point that politicians don't even pretend to be public servants anymore. They're just paypigs doing whatever the money wants. Used to be, a campaign donation got you a "hi how are ya" and maybe a thank you card after the election. They sent you money and it was nice of them because you needed it.
Now with kamala, she got the largest grassroots fundraising of any candidate in history and what does she do? Listen to a bunch of rich fucks who gave the maximum contribution. I bet they all voted for Trump too. She's either the most incompetent and gullible politician in american history or the dnc are fascist collaborators. The way she turned away from every popular idea she had makes it seem like she was told to lose. Im sure its been fucking great for her brother tho.
The big money on both sides is invested in the same places.
The rest follows from that.
The Dems though paint this like it’s a “necessary evil” they just have to accept all these donations from the ultra wealthy because you can’t win any other way
So the position starts off cynically pragmatic, and cynical pragmatism makes for a shitty rallying cry.
But then it doesn’t even work. They sell out to get the big money donations and then lose.
Ineffective cynical pragmatism is an even worse rallying cry.
And any time you get a Sanders or a Mamdani that shows a different path to success they go “oh sure that worked for them but it wouldn’t work anywhere else, only our cynical pragmatism works everywhere as long as you ignore all these electoral defeats”
The Dems though paint this like it’s a “necessary evil” they just have to accept all these donations from the ultra wealthy because you can’t win any other way
So the position starts off cynically pragmatic, and cynical pragmatism makes for a shitty rallying cry.
But then it doesn’t even work. They sell out to get the big money donations and then lose.
Ineffective cynical pragmatism is an even worse rallying cry.
And any time you get a Sanders or a Mamdani that shows a different path to success they go “oh sure that worked for them but it wouldn’t work anywhere else, only our cynical pragmatism works everywhere as long as you ignore all these donations from electoral defeats”
Bernie is correct as per usual.
If only being correct has value with society at large...
Maybe he should start a podcast. Seemed to have worked for the right.
It's not just Harris, it's the whole Democratic Party leadership DNC...
…. She would have been another bandaid. Just like Biden was. Out of everything that’s happening right now, why is this making the news?
This is the liberal media distraction from the Trump Epstein files. It gives us anything to read about that isn't one of the 4 major dictators. Xi, Putin, Trump, or Netanyahu. Also allows the liberals to further balkanize into even smaller groups.
Now we're just gonna bleed to death.
I mean, he's correct in that both political parties have been bought and paid for by large corporations for a long time. This shouldn't be news, it should be plainly obvious by now.
One party is openly hostile towards the average citizen. The other puts on a friendly mask for the public but is also hostile towards the average citizen. None of them actually give a fuck about the average person. Trump is exceptionally arrogant and aggressive with his goals, but I promise he is far from the first person to have such goals or to exploit the government system for personal gain. He is the first to be so obvious about it, but it has been happening for decades, hidden under the guise of 'security' and other buzz words.
The news isn't that the Democratic party is bought and paid for by the oligarchy. The news is that Bernie has stopped playing nice with the DNC.
Thank you for that take; this is the important part. Now I'd like him to get mean, please.
Without organized labor parties to call for strikes or make demands we are really stuck waiting for somebody famous (and who we trust) to say what needs to be said, and organize what needs to be organized. And it needs to happen soon. In Bernie we could trust.
Hes 100% right, she started the campaign great talking about progressive real issues, then when she started changing thats when she started losing support
No no no. She ran a perfect campaign.
I have it on good authority that she was stabbed in the back by far-left, transgender, pro-Putin antisemites.
Next time - and there will be a next time, it's her turn - she needs to be even more friendly with moderate Republicans and win back the Joe Rogan demographic. The Democrats need their own Jordan Peterson. They need their own Yeomni Park. They need their own Curtis Yarvin. They need their own X, The Everything App.
That is the only way to win the coveted American swing voter.
I hear it may be Gavin Newsom's turn. Just shoot me.
We choose the lesser evil. Now, look what happened when people don't act and give up.
This seems to be how the majority of Democrats in office are and they'll never see themselves as wrong... They just point at Trump and say he's what's wrong. And yeah they're not wrong about that but that doesn't make them right or good either. You get stuck running for a bad candidate or a downright evil candidate. And yeah I voted for Harris. I voted for Biden and Hilary too. Id vote for a literal log of shit on the floor before I voted for Trump, but that doesn't mean I liked the Democratic candidates or that I'm super happy with party. This country isn't set up to make third party candidates an option.. But no...I don't think the Democrats in office will every see themselves as a problem.
A third of your comment is a disclaimer that democrats arent exactly the same as Republicans. Sorry, you are well below the 69% threshold, and are now a secret Republican nazi Russian communist who loves trump with all your heart! /$
Harris & 95% or more of the democratic party. Outlaw money from politics - lobbying, campaign finance, PACs, political foundations (i.e. Heritage), all of it.
The DNC is committed to insider trading, corruption and AIPAC. In no way do they represent the interests of the majority. They are rewarded handsomely to play reluctant enabler in the political theater.
Unfortunate truth here. The modern dnc exists solely to enrich their donors.
Sanders is such a fucking beauty.
I mean he is right
Name one mainstream party in the current day world that isn't being influenced by billionaires or their country-specific equivalents (if the country has no billionaires for instance)
Some green parties considering all of their policies are conflicts of interests with billionaires?
They still heavily compromise, only targeting very specific sectors.
Besides, billionaires aren't a monolith - they also have differing interests. Someone might have a heavy stake in solar power for instance and no stake in oil, in which case they'd support greens.
Greens in Australia do not take donations from corporations or property developers.
https://greens.org.au/campaigns/dirty-donations
They are the third largest party and hold balance of power in the Senate.
Mario Party
Bowser (evil billionaire who owns multiple castles) has paid Nintendo big bucks to make games about him and include him into Mario Party.
Sorry but this is true
Bernie is pointing out one of the major flaws of the Democratic Party and he is way ahead of his time in regard to US politics. Can you imagine if the USA would look at itself like Norway.
An oil producing enthostate governed by a neoliberal plutocracy?
I think we already tried that under Bush, Obama, and Biden.
Yeah no shit
Well, duuuhhh. Is this a new or unique take?
Well... duh
Harris said on July 30 that she won’t run for California governor, leaving the door open for a potential 2028 presidential run.
Leaving the door open for her to run again or for someone else? How is being Governor relevant anyhow?
The door is open for her
As far as I know, one could be elected as California Governer in 26 and still legally run for president in 28, but it would be a lot, and open to attack for using CA as a stepping stone etc
Kamala not going for CA governor in 26 is being used as evidence for a 28 presidential run - it is kinda tenuous, but not completely out of nothing
Stepping stone? She already ran for president!
“I think the key to Democratic victories is to understand that you got to stand unequivocally with the working class of this country,” Sanders said. “You need an agenda that speaks to the needs of working people."
Yep
“too many billionaires telling her not to speak up for the working class of this country.”
Joe Biden, Nancy Pelosi, Chuck Schumer, and all the other corporate Democrats are far from billionaires. That was her pressure group.
Pelosi is the wealthiest of the three due to her stock trading husband, just over $100 million, but still a far cry from a billion.
Do it lady!
I wonder if the French were busy infighting when Hitler showed up
The Germans certainly were
Bērnard Sandeaux: Le Maginot line will not hold! We need a better strategy!
You: Good job helping the Germans, traitor
Bernie Sanders whines about Democrats. But seriously, he has been in politics forever. What has actually done? I understand Bernie says the right things. But can we actually look at what a politician does before we support them? I love what Bernie says, and how he has recently rallied. But I need more before I can support a bashing of people who have actually done what they say.
But he was too. Not too long ago he was pro Israel because of his sponsors.
No for bernie it's ideological
Does this mean Bernie was also influenced when he backed her or is that different?
Did you expect him to back Trump???
Not really, but also expectations seem unrelated
Yup. Bernie is the lightning rod meant to embrace, extend and extinguish any leftist movement.
Duh! That’s why we need a new political side, not left, not right, NEW! Because we need to drain the swamp, enter set terms and get the dinos out! Boomers votes are dwindling and now they are about to see the shift, first with NYC mayor and many other midterms to follow! LET US CHANGE! NO FUCKING KINGS!
That's funny, he also endorsed her candidacy.
If Bernie didn’t do that it would have been a guarantee that Trump won. The DNC wasn’t going to run anyone else so that was the only thing he could do. I’m not saying I’d do it myself, personally, but I understand the position he found himself in.
As usual, nuance/context is a thing.
. The DNC wasn’t going to run anyone else
The "DNC" doesn't run anyone, they support the Democratic candidate once chosen.
I respect Bernie. It's his right to run. When he's lost, he's always accepted it and endorsed the Democrat. He never claimed he was cheated or that the elections were rigged. He has integrity and understand that gradual improvement is better than straight regression.
Wish I could say the same for a chunk of his supporters though.
Huh, it's almost as if he understands compromise/tactics/political game theory instead of being a hopeless idealogue. Imagine that.
Yeah, IMAGINE THAT, 10 million people who voted for Biden and not Harris.
Yup, it's not so much the compromise as it is which compromises. Compromising international rule of law by turning a blind eye to Israeli occupation and settlement is a different matter than compromising a hardline universal healthcare stance.
It was that or trump lmao.
A bunch of his supporters seem to have wanted Trump then.
Bernie Sanders bent the knee to the same oligarchs in 2016.
Every day he fails to support the creation of a leftist party he continues to be complicit.
Bernie Sanders bent the knee to the same oligarchs in 2016.
Every day he fails to support the creation of a leftist party he continues to be complicit.
-SoftestSapphic
Explain
I feel like I was pretty fucking clear.
He has spent too long with the DNC, he's been compromising so long he can't phathom any leftist policies or canidates actually passing, including himself in 2016.
He supports the dying ideology of Neoliberalism out of habit, and it's sad he's the moat famous progressive that is allowed to exist in this country.
Because look at the wins third parties have achieved...
Look at the "wins" that the Democrats have achieved:
And yet, some people can't figure out why we don't want Bernie to keep supporting the Dems.
Democrats win?
I don't think 50 years of impotence feels like winning to me.
there are way too many liberals in this thread down voting us for speaking the truth. Bernie is just another pathetic liberal zionist.
Daamn. Also, did you know, Hilary Clinton was using private email server, and sometimes she used it to talk to her official stuff. I bet that's also very important.
Yeah, thanks for the heads up Captain Obvious, now fuck off, sheepherder.
and he's a zionist shill that doesn't really have a position to stand on either. calling him progressive when he's a liberal zionist is absolutely batshit.
Bernie, Jon Stewart and some other Jewish people condemned what's going on in Palestine and does not support killing kids. Can you back your story? Maybe there's something I don't know. Now most normal people of empathy does not support what Hamas did to innocent Jews, same as the zionist are doing to innocent Palestinians and West Bank on a greater scale as an excuse to sieze more land.
Bernie supports sending interceptors to Israel and get out of here comparing the Nazis to their resisting victims.
Bernie Sanders has literally said that Isntreal has a right to exist and defends its status as a state. No state has the right to exist. That pale face poser actively shuts down pro-Palestinian voices at his rallies and talks, ignores the criticism on how he speaks about the genocide, all while protecting his precious Isntreal.
Starting on February 21st, 2025, he set off on the "Fighting Olligarchy Tour" with the other pathetic liberal zionist where he stated that Isntreal has a right to exist. He received criticism and yet still removed and silenced Pro-Palestinian protestors from his rallies. His exact statement from the rally:
“Israel, like any other country, has the right to defend itself from terrorism, but it does not have the right to wage all out war against the Palestinian people”
The only terrorists are the settlers occupying that land and for him to allude to Hamas being a terrorist organization is just more proof of his ignorance. An indigenous resistance group is NOT a terrorist when they're trying to liberate themselves from the terrorist settlers that are trying to genocide them.
Not only does he actively defend Isntreal's right to exist but he has also been called out for his voting record. Especially his vote to confirm Marco Rubio. As an indigenous person, that settler is nothing more than another pale face devil that pretends to act like some white savior when in fact the language he uses is actively causing harm to society.
Fuck this old crow. Bernie go away already
Raven Seldon vibes
Sanders, shut the fuck up and step aside.
He's consistently not stepped aside for a long time because of his principles I implore you to seek something similar--common cussedness will take you further than a comanche's pony
votes to bomb yugoslavia is pro occupation regime of west palestine
some nice principles lol
I implore you to stop politician worship. He is not above filthy backstabbing. He gave support during the campaign and now he's showering criticism. It's not principles, it's politics. Always has been.
