Bernie Sanders sucks at growing his coalition and it's driving me nuts

This has been a hard election for me as a progressive. I am a very strong supporter of a nationalized system of health care, I believe our distribution of resources is unconscionable, and I voted for Bernie Sanders in the 2016 primary. Without question, his politics run the closest to mine. However, as the 2016 primary progressed, it was clear that his brand of revolutionary leftism attracted a certain type of supporter/troll. That’s been written about a lot, of course – we don’t need another exposition on “Bernie Bros.” What I can say is that, as someone whose personal politics tend toward what I’ll call institutional progressivism, Sanders’ constant attacks on the establishment wing of his own party grew tiresome when he lost not through a rigged process but because Clinton got a lot more people to support her. The anti-establishment riffs wearied me even moreso in 2018 when Democrats won a historic wave despite an awful showing by Sanders-supported “Our Revolution” candidates. It was clear following that election season that his go-to line that moderation is a path to failure needed tweaking. He couldn’t win in 2020 without working to grow his 2016 coalition with the candidates that made 2018 a success.

Then he did pretty much the opposite.

For me, a telling moment in the 2020 cycle was when two of Sanders’ more notorious trolls, David Sirota and Briahna Joy Gray, were hired into high level positions in his campaign. It was a move which served to undermine claims that he wasn’t responsible for the actions of his most toxic supporters and it’s made it really hard for me to return to supporting him this time. Anyone who supported anyone else in the party was dismissed as a corporate shill – most improbably that included Senator Warren, who ran a policy-focused campaign that was much more detailed, arguably more progressive, and far more maligned by the actual corporate class. But did it matter? With a deep field, Sanders won early contests, seemingly reinforcing that he didn’t need to moderate to succeed.

Since the endorsement of Jim Clyburn, Vice President Biden’s campaign has been reinvigorated, with a decisive victory in that race and a strong showing on Super Tuesday. Rather than re-evaluating his methods, I’ve seen most of my progressive friends pushing that Biden’s support has come from the establishment. That’s true to an extent, but it’s important to look at who is actually voting for him – his votes are certainly not coming from comfortable centrists unaffected by health care concerns. His base has been largely within the black community, particularly in some of the places with the highest concentrations of poverty in the country. South Carolina is not corporate democrat country – think carefully who you’re dismissing when you dismiss his voters there as being part of the establishment.

Allow me to be clear on this, referring to poor and black voters as corporate centrists is not a path to victory. It does not help Sanders build his coalition and help win over a community where he has failed to earn the trust he needs. The speeches the two front-runners delivered Tuesday were striking – Sanders went directly after Biden and his “establishment” boogeyman. Biden’s speech was yelly, but it was also much more uplifting and positive, with a much more inclusive message: “We want you and we need you, there’s a place for you in this campaign.” Other candidates are falling off – Biden invites their supporters, Sanders demeans them.

I write this post not as someone who is going to go to the mat for Joe Biden. I like him just fine, but I think he’s wrong on some important issues. I know a lot of you see Bernie Sanders as energizing, and I respect that. But he needs to find a way to build a more inclusive coalition without sacrificing that energy. Here is my short plan for turning his campaign around:

1. Fire the trolls. Seriously, it’s past time to dump toxic waste like Sirota and Gray who really reinforce any bad feelings people are inclined to have about Sanders. Apologize for the damage they’ve done, and make it clear that while he won’t compromise on his policy ideals, his campaign is welcome to work with people who may disagree with parts of his message. 
2. Recognize black voters aren’t voting for him and be candid about that. Sanders has been talking about how he’s building a multi-dimensional coalition, but… he really just isn’t. To his credit, he’s built the Latino community into his base, but it’s largely the highly energized and relatively young progressives who voted for him four years ago. He needs to talk about wanting to earn the vote of black people specifically. 
3. Soften the implicit and explicit criticism of Barack Obama. There is absolutely a space for a progressive critique of the Obama years. From someone who wants to be the Democratic nominee for President and who is having a miserable time convincing black voters that he’s an ally? That critique needs to be mild and constructive. Obama was far from a perfect President, but he's easily the best one of the past 50 years, for whatever that's worth. Recognize, celebrate, and lift up his successes. 
4. Focus more on Trump instead of attacking his Democratic opponents and establishment. It’s disingenuous to spend years ranting about “The Establishment” in vague terms and then be bent out of shape when the folks who may make up that establishment endorse someone else. What's frustrating is that it's such an unnecessary fight. Sanders is a better speaker than Biden and can better formulate a specifically anti-Trump message tailored toward the “vote blue no matter who” crowd. If he can turn future debates into a “who can best bury Trump” competition it plays into Sanders strengths as a politician.

It’s important to understand that a lot of people who are voting for Joe Biden are not doing so simply because they perceive him to be electable, they honestly like him. (Or at least like or trust him better than Sanders). If you’re a Sanders supporter then respect that, stop dismissing their votes, and work to earn them. And if Sanders can't tweak his approach, let's find other outlets for progressivism. Work for Congressional candidates, march, write letters, and hold elected Democrats accountable.