The Daily Populous Monday November 11st, 2024 day edition
Authored by independent.co.uk and submitted by Tyree07

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Bernie Sanders has doubled down on his scathing remarks about the Democratic party having “abandoned” working-class voters, despite criticism from longtime friend and allyNancy Pelosi.

The veteran Vermont senator reiterated that the US working class is “angry” but rejected the idea that the issue this election cycle had been with party “messaging.”

In a statement after Donald Trump sailed to victory over Kamala Harris, Sanders wrote that “it should come as no great surprise that a Democratic Party, which has abandoned working-class people, would find that the working-class has abandoned them.”

Speaking to The New York Times, former House speaker and Democratic powerhouse Nancy Pelosi then slammed his remarks, saying she did not agree or “respect” them.

Sanders was asked about his comments – and Pelosi’s reaction to them – on the Sunday politics shows, where he said he “absolutely” stood by what he had said.

Speaking to MSNBC’s Meet The Press about Pelosi’s remarks, he said: “Nancy is a friend of mine, and we’ve worked together on many issues, but here is the reality, I have to say to Nancy, in the Senate, in the last two years, we have not even brought forth legislation to raise the minimum wage to a living wage, despite the fact that some 20 million people in this country are working for less than $15 an hour.

Bernie Sanders appeared on Meet the Press on Sunday where he doubled down on his remarks ( Meet The Press )

“Bottom line, if you’re an average working person out there, do you really think that the Democratic party is going to the mat… and fighting for you? I think the overwhelming answer is no. And that is what it’s got to change.”

In a separate interview on CNN’s State of the Union, Sanders said that President Joe Biden had “kept his word” to working class people but that, as a whole, the demographic “is angry, and they have a reason to be angry.”

Sanders highlighted the current “economic reality” in the US, stating that 60 percent of Americans are “living paycheck to paycheck” and 25 percent of elderly people are getting by on $15,000 or less per year.

“What Donald Trump did is he provided an explanation,” he said, also rejecting the claim that messaging and communication with the working class had been the problem for the Democrats.

Sanders’s remarks drew heavy criticism from former House speaker Nancy Pelosi ( AP )

“It’s not messaging… It’s a fundamental understanding of saying, look, the Biden administration has done a lot of good things, period. We should all be proud of that, but it has to be put in the broad context of the reality of the American economy today,” he said.

Sanders’s remarks come as the upper echelons of the Democratic party become further embroiled in a blame game following the Harris campaign’s crushing defeat.

A gamut of reasons have since been offered for the cause. Some Democrats think swapping Biden for Harris was the mistake. Others have blamed Biden himself, saying he took far too long to drop out.

Progressives, like Sanders, have pointed to the Biden administration’s stance on Israel and the Harris campaign’s attempts to appeal to moderates and anti-Trump Republicans.

ShweatyPalmsh on November 10th, 2024 at 20:55 UTC »

Said this in another thread about this topic that got deleted but here’s my thoughts:

I think a lot of people are missing the message that Bernie and more progressive members have signaled and it’s that Dems haven’t truly passed bold country changing legislation since LBJ and the new deal era of Democratic policy. During that time, Dems restructured the banking system, strengthened government over site and penalties for corporations, raised minimum wage with the cost of living, created social security, created Medicare and Medicaid, housing act of 1949, creation of FHA, and increased stabilization of prices through federal over site post WW2. Whenever older republicans talk about the good old days they’re talking about days of very progressive Democratic legislation.

With all of that said the 1980s was the end of New Deal Dems and more adoption of certain Neo Liberal stances such as NAFTA, smaller federal spending, and tax incentives to direct corporations. The last legislation that could have truly revolutionized the U.S. and probably rivaled that of SS, Medicare, etc. was the ACA and this is where I think the working class once again lost trust in Dems.

We failed to hold those accountable for the 2008 financial crisis and then the Public Option was stripped from the final version of the ACA which imo was the single largest portion of that bill. Then the courts stripped the mandatory expanded medicaid requirement. Then you look at policy positions voters have been clamoring for for more than two decades (Expansion of Medicare, Paid family leave, increasing federal minimum wage, and banning Super PACs/corporate money from politics) and we just don’t move on it. Imo these are policy positions they need to run on because traditionally, Dems have dominated politics when they have bold ideas. Right now Dems to the electorate just seems like the status quo. Obviously there’s nuance like the right wing media machine and other things, but the point still stands. I’m not sure I even self Identify as a progressive Democrat and I still think Biden passed some absolutely consequential legislation and did help the working class in many ways, but it’s obvious voters feel Dems missed the mark where it mattered most: “what are you gonna do to make my life easier?”

5minArgument on November 10th, 2024 at 19:46 UTC »

On one hand, that people are getting angry about the inequities of American society is a good thing.

It's about fucking time.

However, the very people whom ignored and rejected the left and democrats for decades, deriding us as socialists and communists for even talking about it, now suddenly are aligning themselves with the very party that has historically promoted and exacerbated these inequities...

... is really difficult to come to terms with.

flakronite on November 10th, 2024 at 18:55 UTC »

Anyone who says the Democratic party doesn't need to make any changes after this election is missing something.

This is a time for trying out different visions for what an opposition party against MAGA can look like. I'm honestly a bit skeptical that the vision we'll settle on in 4 years will be Bernie's, but I think having these conversations is definitely the right move for this moment.

Edit: typo