Sanders Supporters Suggest Mobilizing an Anti-Trump Coalition

Via The New York Times:

A group of Bernie Sanders supporters who have worked or volunteered for his campaign have come up with a draft proposal calling for the Vermont senator to suspend his presidential bid after the June 7 California primary, eventually concede to Hillary Clinton and build an independent organization aimed at defeating Donald J. Trump.

The three-page document addresses a question now facing Mr. Sanders’s most ardent supporters: how to harness the energy of a movement now that his presidential bid appears to be bowing to the reality that Mrs. Clinton will capture the Democratic nomination. The document suggests building “an organization, completely independent of the Clinton campaign,” to defeat Mr. Trump before focusing on other goals after the November election.

About a dozen current and former Sanders staff members and volunteers have been collaborating on the draft proposal, which was obtained by The New York Times and first reported by Politico.

While the authors believe Mr. Sanders will win the California primary, they write that “barring a miracle,” he will not become the party’s nominee. Two of the authors, who are former campaign staff members, confirmed the authenticity of the document. The authors all spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were working without the campaign’s authorization.

You know, had Bernie Sanders and his supporters been a little more focused on defeating Hillary Clinton earlier in the Democratic primary process, they might not be looking for feel-good ways to handle his defeat.

Just sayin’.

This is a little temper tantrum here. They get to feel good about not wholeheartedly supporting Hillary Clinton and her evil big-bank supporters, all the while making sure she wins anyway. OK, maybe not so much a tantrum as an elaborate dog and pony show rationalization.

There has been a lot of talk from the Trump train (“All lounge cars! Everybody’s drunk!”) about disgruntled Bernie fans hitting the voting booth for Der Orangenführer in the general and this seems to dispel the likelihood of that happening. True, both have tapped into anger in their respective parties, but the demographics are very different. Trump is resonating with white, formerly middle class workers who have been left behind by both parties. Bernie fans’ anger is more of the classic progressive toddler shrieking about freebies. It is far more likely that they will cry themselves to sleep rather than actually do something with all that energy.