Bernie Sanders says President Biden will win in 2024 if he runs on a "strong progressive agenda"

Look, I'd love for that to be true, but it just isn't. Biden will win by being a boring centrist, because that's who he is and that's who will win a general election (generally speaking).

With the GOP going completely off the rails the easiest path to victory is to simply go middle of the road and pick up all those independents/centrists and conservatives with brains. Progressives will vote Biden regardless because Trump (or any Trump wannabe) is too terrifying of a reality.

This country has never shown it has some giant progressive silent majority - Bernie would know, he bet and lost on that materializing in his own presidential runs.

I don't see Democrats running hard on progressive policies until either the GOP starts running moderates again (forcing Democrats to pickup votes elsewhere) or young people prove they can be a force at the ballot box.

All this is not to shit on what Biden has achieved, because he has done things for progressives, but I don't see him suddenly switching to anything resembling a "strong progressive agenda" because it will just give his GOP opponent ammo to claim "see he's radical too". Biden will be the most boring, normal politician he can, while highlighting how bad things will get if his extreme opponent gets into office, and that's probably the smartest thing to do.

This country has never shown it has some giant progressive silent majority - Bernie would know, he bet and lost on that materializing in his own presidential runs.
nonsense. The dems pulled the dirtiest tricks to kneecap bernie - including ALL of them dropping out on super Tuesday. They battled bernie harder than they fucking did trump. Don't spread garbage like this
- The dems pulled the dirtiest tricks to kneecap bernie
  This was, of course, documented in the Wikileaks e-mails, whose contents were largely ignored by the mainstream media.
- Bernie had a surprising turnout, and the Dems had to pull all the stops to prevent him from being the front runner. Meaning something in the ballpark of a quarter of Americans who actually bother to vote were supporting him. Far from a majority, but to your point, it's a big and growing political force.
  But I think the point stands that they aren't likely to swing a general election. Progressives (those that actually vote at all) are almost certainly going to vote for Biden regardless how how much he panders to them. This election will be decided by a fairly small number of centrists and moderate Republicans that may have been alienated by Trump who happen to live in swing states.
  Unless, of course, Biden does something monumentally stupid and pisses off the progressives so bad that they are willing to risk another Trump term and vote 3rd party, which seems unlikely.
- I've yet to see any evidence that there was some orchestrated agenda against Bernie. Sure, all the moderates probably did drop out so that moderate Biden could win against Bernie. What's wrong with that? Isn't that sort of implicitly how it works and should work? They made a choice that sacrified their own candidacy for the sake of advancing their policy goals (through Biden).
  Nor have I seen any evidence that the DNC orchestrated some sting against Bernie in 2016 - the most that ever came out of that leaked trove of DNC emails were some DNC staff saying they wanted Hillary to win - not that they were going to take any action to make that happen.
- Sad but harsh reality, it's not pretty but just how democracy functions under FPTP-voting with zero campaign finance subsidy available. If you can't pick up popularity in one of the two big parties you're shit out of options in the current system - designed by wealthy romans for the benefit of wealthy romans. If not allowed to evolve the great experiment is doomed at the whim of the super rich whenever enough lose their minds into fascism.
- If it was trump v Bernie we would still have president trump right now. I’m in GA and there is basically not a single Bernie voter here. And as we all know ours and other swing states were key.
- I'm trying to follow your logic. How does other candidates dropping out on Super Tuesday screw Bernie? Those voters didn't vote for Bernie.
because it will just give his GOP opponent ammo to claim "see he's radical too".
But they already do that, so why care?
I voted for Biden in hopes that
The clown show would be over
We would get one nice progressive win.
He gave me half of what I wanted. So I guess partial victory.
- If the independent litmus test were "do you find some of Trump's policies acceptable?" then sure, I would agree with you. But that's incorrect. Republicans embracing full-blown insanity has taken them out of the running for many independents, leaving them only with whomever the Dems decide to nominate.
  So in that sense I suppose you're right--when one of the choices is always hate-fueled insanity, many independents become de facto Dems.
- Trump =/= Republican Party Independent =/= centrist (or whatever you mean by "someone that has a so-so opinion of trump" and most centrists I know dislike him. idk the statistics of independent support of Trump, but I would guess that it is very low)
  Independents exist, as independents are just voters with no allegiance to one particular party. (Sometimes third-parties are included) This includes centrists, libertarians, and any one else who doesn't associate with a party. Just because you have been polarized doesn't mean everyone has.
- You don't know anyone who doesn't vote for the same party in every single election? I know several, and my wife and I decide who to vote for each election based on their platform and track record rather than the letter next to their name.
With the GOP going completely off the rails the easiest path to victory is to simply go middle of the road and pick up all those independents/centrists and conservatives with brains.
I think we may have found out that's a risky strategy in the general election in 2016. It's as if having a choice between a status quo centrist and republican crazies isn't good for turnout- when the American Dream is increasingly regarded to be a cruel joke by young voters and the result is such low turnout that if 'did not vote' had been a candidate it would have won, maybe it's time for the Dems do some soul searching here.
I don’t see him suddenly switching to anything resembling a “strong progressive agenda” because it will just give his GOP opponent ammo to claim “see he’s radical too”.
I don't see him switching either, and in any case it doesn't make sense for him to run away from progressives to avoid being called radical- after all, they're calling him radical anyhow and it's unlikely they'd stop doing that
To the extent that running to 'the center' is seen as just appeasing Republicans in trade for no benefit to anyone but those Republicans (I think it is seen that way by a lot of younger, left and independent voters), I take the view that the one thing the Democrats must do (if they do nothing else) is keep on pressing hard on antitrust enforcement and restoring unions and labor protections and promoting environmental protection. If they don't, I expect a lot of stupid protest votes going to the green party or other splitter factions set there to split the democrats and lower the bar enough for the GOP to heave a fascist boomer into the white house where they will finish the job of dismantling American democracy
This country has never shown it has some giant progressive silent majority - Bernie would know, he bet and lost on that materializing in his own presidential runs.
Yea I laughed when I read this headline. Man who failed to win with strategy thinks candidate will win with same strategy.

But he's not all that progressive. He never has been. In a sane country, he'd be a middle-of-the-road Republican. There is no progressive left in this country. Not with any real power.

I keep seeing this but I'm not sure what you all want ..
biggest investment in climate infrastructure ever
biggest investment in infrastructure since the new deal
codified gay marriage into law
attempted to forgive $10k in student loan (blocked by republican scotus, still attempting a workaround on interest at least)
attempted ban on assault weapons (let's face it, this will never happen without an act of congress)
negotiated drug prices for Medicare (10 drugs so far, a blueprint for more)
Dude is ticking a ton of boxes. Sure we're not living in a socialist utopia with universal basic income, etc but it's been 3 years
Edit: with a republican congress no less
- They don't like Joe Biden because he doesn't pick losing fights on principle, in general, and because they don't want to admit that the primary process on the left actually does select for the strongest candidates.
  I get it. I feel the same way at least emotionally. But $1.3 trillion dollars towards climate change and what is almost certainly the most important climate bill ever passed in the world so far is really hard to argue with.
  I would like him to stand up and advocate for court reform. We need to strike while the iron is hot and people are seeing the Supreme Court for the corrupt political institution it always has been. He's backed down with very little fight on a couple of the things they've pulled lately when the Trump Administration would have just kept hammering on passing the exact same laws with tiny changes until they accept it. For example, the opinion on that student loan relief case made this incredibly idiotic argument about how the HEROES Act doesn't give permission for partial waivers because it only allows a modification or a full waiver and the partial waiver apparently doesn't count as either of those. I think you should have just come back and said well all right then, full waiver and total jubilee. That probably would also have been struck down but it would have really shown how vapid and hypocritical the court was.
  The word neoliberal has basically lost most meaning. But everything they accuse Joe Biden of being are things that describe Joe Manchin. The guy who singularly keeps killing Progressive legislation put forward by the Biden administration.
- He's also yet to declassify weed even though he carrot on a sticked it leading into the general and then again before primaries. He could do it any time and has not.
- living wage would be cool
- these are the lowest fucking bars imaginable
  try the following:
  enough climate infrastructure to at least stave off apocalypse
  enough infrastructure to keep people from sleeping on the streets in the richest nation on earth
  codifying gay marriage?? that's where you want the bar? maybe try codifying trans rights, that one isn't a political softball for free. It's not even true either, states don't have to issue marriage licenses if they don't want to
  "attempted" lmao really? he pretended to around midterms to stir up votes and then let it flop. he was never going to.
  attempted a ban on assault weapons? Again, if he cared, he'd executive order it
  how about we don't make people pay a corporation to not die
  in regards to ticking boxes, if someone ticks every single box I've outlined here, I'll think about calling them a centrist instead of a rightist
- this just hurts to read friend, please, want better for yourself. We deserve more. Don't settle for the pathetic Biden offering, you and I deserve so much more than these crumbs.
- I keep seeing this but I’m not sure what you all want …
  Really simple. Pay close attention.
  Some sort of universal healthcare Stop attacking telework as much as he currently is Stop using draconian border policies that are just as bad as Trump's if not worse Stop attacking primary challengers like he did with Marinanne Williamson. You don't have to like her, but the Biden Administration doing this is childish as hell. Stop running. He's 80 years old. He's part of the problem with politicians being too old to hold office. Biden should've just passed the baton instead of being stubborn like Diane Fienstein and Mitch McConnell. He also could've played hardball with Kyrsten Sinema and Joe Manchin and he didn't and the infrastructure bill was greatly watered down for it. Biden is also more anti-weed than he should be. Sure, there was that thing where he lowered the weed scheduling, but he's made it clear before where he stands on weed and it's dumb.
  Now as for some of your points.
  "attempted to forgive $10k in student loan (blocked by republican scotus, still attempting a workaround on interest at least)" He literally can forgive it all with his presidential powers. This is a classic carrot and stick routine and you fell for it.
  "Dude is ticking a ton of boxes. Sure we’re not living in a socialist utopia with universal basic income, etc but it’s been 3 years"
  He also ticks a lot of boxes that makes him a glorified 80s republican. All of the stuff I mentioned requires no act of congress and he has more than enough political capital to do. And even if he did all of this, he still wouldn't be all that progressive. I really wish you neoliberal would stop with this nonsense.
- This man has made his career out of destroying the lives of poor minorities. He's a mass murdering mysoginist white supremacist to the bone. Fucking yank politics is a shitshow.
There are certain facets to consider here. The nuance I would add is that if he campaigns as a progressive, that will be a more winning platform but they will still just be campaign promises.
- Then he should do that. Then, if he doesn’t uphold his promises, we can hold his corpse accountable.
Pretty sure he lines up well with the neoliberal side of most European parties, which is on the right.
- If neoliberalism means massive state intervention in investment activities, and putting up trade barriers, then the word has no meaning.

The infra bill was a huge shot in the arm and, based on the ads I'm seeing, he's going to run on its passing... that bill is beyond amazing, but they should have gone harder. While the ~$1.6 trillion is an eye watering amount of money, ~$4-6 trillion is what was originally asked for and what is needed. Hopefully he'll run on a Build Back Better: Part Deux. Also his appointees to the NLRB have been super progressive and aggressive, the return to Joy Silk will give the reinvigorated labor movement serious steam, but he also busted the RR workers ability to strike and he seriously shouldn't have done that. Overall, I'm not mad at the Biden WH on domestic issues... but more is needed and he should have let the RR workers strike. Like, the economy be damned, call the hedge fund's bet and end the Reagan era union busting.

they should have gone harder
"They" didn't have control of Congress. Two Senators are Democrats but are much more centrist and won't vote for certain things.
You mean the one that created a government function thats proposed to privatize water?
- As well as mandated increasing federal fossil fuel extraction leases many times over before beginning any expansion of renewable energy.
  It's amazing how neoliberals will just blindly believe the propaganda of Politico, NYT and WaPo 🤦

After the last guy the country just needed a guy who mostly plays but the rules, as unwritten as they are. Understands the system. Makes the country look like its head is connected to the neck. Generally speaks diplomatically. Doesn't have too many ideas that are way outside center. Looks after the little guy sometimes. Hires advisors who have a clue.

We got that guy. That's a good thing.

Now we need a newer, younger person with vision. Somebody who can help rebuild an American dream. Somebody who will be alive to see their dream come true. Somebody who can get everyone excited about figuring out what it means to be an American. Somebody who can set aggressive goals and make the case for why we should pursue them, and get the ball rolling. Somebody who shows the average American that their life specifically can be better tomorrow than it is today.

Regrettably that person will still struggle to defeat the ancient skeleton incumbents.

skeleton incumbents
quit packing congress with them then and demand age limits
- You know what's easier than buying old politicians with track records? Buying young outsiders with no record that can just say what you want to hear then pass bills written by lobbyists.

Yeah...no. Enough of the fucking 70+ year olds. I'm so fucking tired of people who should be fucking retired owning and running everything. Fuck the mother fucking hell off fossils. God damn it. Enough with the fucking retirement home bullshit. Holy fucking hell.

Anything in specific or just the age thing?
- Yeah, there's the "decrepit and out of touch" Biden/Trump/Mcconnell/Feinstein old and then there's the "elder statesman who's still true to himself and his constituents and sharp as a tack if far too polite, even subservient, to people who he should consider the least disagreeable of two enemies rather than allies" Bernie old.
  Which one of these wildly disparate forms of old do they prefer, I wonder 🤔
- Oh fuck. He got us. Turns out there's nothing wrong with any of them at least partially due to their age.

He had better. Nothing worse than an incumbent democrat losing to fascists.

Can you rephrase it? I don't think I get what you mean.
- Sure thing!
  I hope the incumbent democrat wins because otherwise, if a fascist won that would be terrible.
  Hope that helps!
- The alternative for president is either Trump or a Trump wannabe
This country didnt turn fascist on republicans alone. Dems and their ratchet effect helped immensely

No more please can we just get normal human beings as presidential candidates and not whatever the fuck this has been?

They don’t exist. Not in politics, at least. All we get are crooks and 80 year olds.
- They don’t exist. Not in politics, at least. All we get are crooks and 80 year olds.
  In a real way, both major parties are still fighting out the battles of the civil rights era, and are effectively led by people who came of age then. Unfortunately, that they (or their ideas) are still running the show in the way that they are means both parties are stuck in a particular past, forever trying to avoid the calamity they're fighting to un-do
  The GOP's leadership is fighting like a wounded animal to un-do desegregation and Roe, and to dismantle voting rights and industrial regulation
  The Dem's leadership have spent decades fighting super-hard to prevent their voters from advancing progressives out of primaries and into general elections. McGovern's loss in 1972, they think, is forever evidence that progressives can't win and their subsequent curb-stomping of progressives (denying them party support, fighting hard to prevent them from winning primaries) serves as evidence to their way of thinking that 'progressives can't win'.
  That this last bit (progs can't win, never mind we make sure they can't, so you have to vote for what wins or else all is lost) begs the question it pretends to answer seems pretty obvious to me. It has the same energy as saying 'socialism doesn't work' and then pointing to socialist governments that 'didn't work' because CIA ran coups to depose them and replace them with right-wing dictatorships. Of course these things don't work when you kill them off, the whole argument becomes self-fulfilling and circular.
Biden is a normal Politician. Someone with of a wealth of experience in different levels of government who was elected slightly late. People seem to forget that younger less experienced candidates seldom live up to their hype. Obama never lived up to his hype, despite imo being a very good President. When you aren't experienced you can run on all these ideals and naivety. You get into the job and the reality hit you like a freight train. We all need to not get lost in "Not Progressive Enough", awhile the other side is pushing Regressive policies; It's far easier to tear something down than it is to build it.

Stop putting old farts in leading roles.

I'm 35 and I already feel a little out of touch tbh. It's insane people in their 80s being in positions of power is so normalized.
- To old to be on a jury but not too old to make the law.
- Atleast with Biden there's a good chance Harris will have to step up and become first female president
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t-lMIGV-dUI
These are the old fucks deciding things.
- Here is an alternative Piped link(s): https://piped.video/watch?v=t-lMIGV-dUI
  Piped is a privacy-respecting open-source alternative frontend to YouTube.
  I'm open-source, check me out at GitHub.

Biden? a progressive? yea right.

Biden is a far right fascist. It's just that the GOP are even more far right and actual terrorists.
- How dare that fascist try to give college students debt relief.
- I don't like the guy, but he's far from a fascist. And if it comes to between him and Trump again, you can damn well be sure I'll be voting for Biden.
  Also, when you use fascist that way you weaken the terminology, to the point where people throw that term around and it becomes meaningless. Much like the Republican party tries to do with all of the terms that have been thrown at them.

Biden is too old to run. And Trump is a liar, criminal, un-American, and working to get rid of our democracy, AND is too OLD. But it looks like I will be voting for Biden again. And he has done some good things while in office.

So, I hope that Biden will have a moment of clarity about the needs of the middle class and poor people of the US. And he'll want to die of old age with history saying he was very helpful in fighting for policies to help us.

Maybe. But I do know Republicans don't believe in our democracy and they don't want young people voting. They want to rule us with religion even though they are a small part of your nation.

Donald Trump is the most American American that ever Americaned.
And Trump is a liar
You might wanna catch up on Biden's past.

Hey everyone, go outside and find some grass and take your shoes off and put your feet in it. Stand there for a minute or two and just feel the grass on your feet. Have fun!

The grass is dried out and it makes my skin itchy
Do i take my socks off too? I don't want to keep them on and get them dirty, but I don't wanna take them off cause the grass is prickly :/

Maybe the US should create a "Geriatric Party", where all these senile diaper wearers are put in a home.

Voting for a guy who has at MOST 5 years to live is not good foresight, regardless of what political party you rally behind.

Any human being of any age is better than a Republican fascist.
- Sure, especially one who says racist garbage "by mistake." /s
  We need to do better than these senile geriatrics.

This is the best summary I could come up with:

He urged voters who are dissatisfied with the work the Biden administration has done to recognize that "we are living in an unprecedented moment in American history."

In the announcement, the president explicitly positioned himself opposite Trump, and some of his other Republican opponents, on key issues like abortion and social security.

Dictating what health care decisions women can make, banning books, and telling people who they can love.

Sanders referenced several of those issues in underscoring what he believes is the importance of building "a strong progressive agenda" to win the presidency in 2024.

Sanders called on Democrats to develop a progressive agenda that prioritizes the needs of seniors and of young people by expanding Medicare and addressing student debt.

"And when we win big, we have to make it clear that we stand with the working class of this country, against the kind of corporate greed that we now see."

The original article contains 702 words, the summary contains 152 words. Saved 78%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!

Seeing how much Trump has lost it, Biden might not even need to do that to win.

Remember, it isn't that Trump supporters don't know what he's done, it's that they don't care.
- Considering the Trump supporters I know, I think there's a strong possibility that it's both

He can run on a strong progressive agenda, but we all know it's all talk and no substance.

"I can't believe what you say because I see what you do." James Baldwin

Not cool to say he'll lose like that, Bern.

All talk no action. Don’t just hear what they say, see what they did. You’ll make the choice, think about next generation. I wanted to live in US but maybe not anymore, there are many shit-and non-brain young people.

Currently I am actually concerned if Biden makes it through the election healthwise. He looks very brittle and if the incumbent president bonus wasn't direly needed, I would advocate for someone else to get there.

But I am actually afraid of him dying or getting too sick during the campaign circus phase and Trump will win again. I don't trust the American people at all.

I guess you're right... The only option is to vote for the 80 year old, 300 (215?) lb guy who can't even make it up a ramp
And before you come in with "I'm just saying there could be better options!" there's not, so suck it up and quit with the fear mongering (if you're actually an American)
- Stop twisting my words. I said no such thing as to vote for the other fossil. The issue is that the cultists will vote for Trump even if he was a corpse on a chair.
  if you’re actually an American
  That's also weird. I never even pretended to be. In fact, I am not. But the election outcome usually has an impact on the rest of the world too, and 4 years of Trump was not a pleasure even outside of America, I can tell you that.
- Right? We have a VP for these reasons. Biden has Harris and Trump will have one of those young clones from Brazil as a back-up.
  I do not love Kamala Harris, she’s a grinning drug warrior, but the heads exploding as we swear in a woman of color would be pretty cool. The global Bosses have decided that we get to choose among evils this race and the Biden-Harris team is significantly less evil.
  Bernie is not an idiot. He knows that at this moment holding the line is better for progress than what we will lose if we do not.
- Why do idiots always do this whole whataboutism whenever someone criticizes Biden? Just because I criticize Biden doesn't automatically mean I support Trump. That just makes you look really stupid and ignorant as hell.
- you deserve better than having to choose between a geriatric rapist imperialist neoliberal and a geriatric rapist imperialist fascist. Please stop punching left when people insist that they deserve better too.

He ran on a progressive platform the first time. And then reneged on it. That union buster can fuck off.

"Most pro union President ever" As if saying it makes it true

So win by lying about what he's actually going to do while claiming that the policy positions of people who would have been better candidates are his own? Well it worked the first time, barely 🤷

Shut up trump supporter
- Yeah, because you can't possibly criticize a conservative neoliberal like Biden from the left 🙄

While I'll never vote Republican I don't see myself voting Biden this time. He got my vote to unseat the cheeto last time but his administration's antagonism towards financial markets along with his outdated stance on things like policing (more cops with no reform) and cannabis legalization (just no) along with him pushing a CBDC (programmable digital dollar that removes all privacy and places all control in the hands of the banking elite) have lost him my vote. I'll be wasting my vote on a third party since a worthy Dem primary challenge is highly unlikely.

Except that only works with republicans as they can't remember last week's message, only that it felt good to them

Sorry Bernie, Biden is trying to run on turning cult followers. Also known as, the stupidest strategy.

Only hope is to get something to stick to Donald. Which given the track record....

Of course looney lefty Bernie Sanders supports the commie cadaver sleepy Joe. They want to make it illegal to eat meat or even go to church. Carl Marks is laughing in his grave; in the end he won after all.

This post is an excellent example of Poe's Law.

So no?

There's no way what he's saying is actually true. He needs to be Lord Milquetoast, americans love that shit.

If Democrats truly want to keep Trump out of office then they need to vote for West. We've tried it your way for decades and its not working when the entire discussion is which senile, geriatric, racist POS is the 'lesser evil' Your status quo is keeping people in poverty, increased homelessness, with no access to affordable healthcare or housing.

Oh, and Bernie can go fuck off. His progressive talk is tainted by insisting we support one of the architects of most of our problems in the US. If theres a law suppressing people's rights, it was probably written by Biden

Ya’ll act like Cornel West isn’t real.

He doesn't. Why he's running for president third party I really do not know.
- Think. Deep down, you know.
He's definitely not a credible candidate.
- He’s got ballot access in 17 states and is getting more. He’s polling at 4%. He’s real.

Has Sanders ever won a contested election? Maybe we shouldn't be looking to him for campaign advice

You think he won a Senate seat uncontested?