9 Comments
User's avatar
⭠ Return to thread
James Trout's avatar

Two reasons why. #1. We now have two generations of American voters who didn't grow up in the Cold War, thus the word "socialist" is no longer poison in some mainstream political circles now, though it still remain very much a minority political sentiment in the USA. #2. The 2008 Wall Street crash did open the door to some left populism in this country, albeit not nearly as much as in 1929. Those two factors don't happen and he has no national audience, and today he'd struggle to have a Vermont audience.

Expand full comment
Jonathan's avatar

Trump is better at populism.. we should acknowledge that

Expand full comment
James Trout's avatar

Never said he wasn't. It's easy to be good at populism when your voters let you get away with "punching down."

Expand full comment
michaelflutist's avatar

They don't let him get away with it. They largely support him because of it. The cruelty is the point and is why it's ok that he's a convicted felon and good that he's a rapist, as far as they're concerned.

Expand full comment
michaelflutist's avatar

You're talking about political effectiveness. I have no problem with socialists advocating their positions, regardless of whether they are widely accepted or not. That's not my issue with Bernie and never has been.

Expand full comment
James Trout's avatar

I do because the Democratic Party simply does not get away with perceived extremism the way the Republican Party does. That's not changing anytime soon.

Expand full comment
michaelflutist's avatar

As you said, he's not a Democrat.

Expand full comment
James Trout's avatar

It doesn't matter. He caucuses with the Democrats in the Senate. Thus the Democratic Party is expected to own his actions.

Expand full comment
michaelflutist's avatar

Socialists aren't going to shut up. If that means the country turns into a fascist dictatorship, that's the fault of the American people, not the socialists.

Expand full comment