“I ask you as a personal courtesy to me to not engage in any kind of protest on the floor. It’s of utmost importance you explain this to your delegations – Bernie.”
What you just read was a text message sent by Bernie Sanders to his supporters.
Presumably, they were supposed to read it, then show their undying fealty to Mr. Sanders, by immediately piping down and falling in line.
But there is a problem. Now that Mr. Sanders has been beaten by Hillary Clinton for the presidential nomination in an unfair and unsquare fight (do you doubt Sanders’ people read the emails?), a great many of them have become former supporters, who despise Hillary Clinton for what she and her sock-puppet Debbie Wasserman Schultz did…
…and feel deep resentment and betrayal at the hands of Bernie Sanders who, instead of being furious about how he was cheated, has decided to shill for the cheater herself.
So why would they obey his commands like good puppy-dogs?
Little wonder that, amid the dutiful cheering of Hillary supporters, the loudest, most emphatic boos during Mr. Sanders’ speech came when he asked his people to support Ms. Clinton.
Does this trouble Hillary & Co.? Sure, in a way. But I doubt that they consider the outrage shown by this segment to be very meaningful. Their philosophy is that, at the end of the day, Sanders people have nowhere else to go but Hillary Clinton – certainly not Donald Trump – so, outrage notwithstanding, they’ll hold their nose and vote for her.
Truth be told, they are mostly right about this. It is usually what happens to the purists in both parties (e.g. does anyone think Ted Cruz supporters will be voting Clinton this year?).
The issue for Democrats is not how many votes The Donald will get from its disaffected Sanders supporters – which, despite what Mr. Trump might hope, will be minuscule. The issue is how many will jump ship and vote Green, or decide to sit it out and not vote at all.
That is where the election just might be decided.
