It’s Time to Switch Progressive Standard Bearer to Warren

At the Nevada debate, by virtually all accounts, Warren took Bloomberg down. Hard.

Bloomberg became the billionaire stand-in for Trump and all the candidates did their best to pile on, but the one who prosecuted the case most clearly and convincingly was Warren.

She demonstrated that she has the one quality that hasn’t been so evident in the primary: the ability to be a street fighter when facing powerful opposition.

Subliminally, I think many people might have feared that a woman might fare worse in a one-on-one battle with Trump after what happened with Clinton. Warren proved that thought wrong and showed a ferocity that was needed to reboot her campaign.

This moment needs to lead to a reckoning by progressives, many of whom have been placing their bets on Bernie.

From my angle, that is a poor bet for the following reasons:

1. His socialism label (which is what the Republicans will call democratic socialism every time) does not resonate with the vast majority of our country and will make him a piñata for right-wing propaganda. He has only faced light-weight attacks from within the Democratic party, which is far more aligned with many of his ideals. He is a sitting duck for red-scare, tax-hike, and radical labeling that will be absolutely ferocious.

2. His followers have become too strident, dogmatic and attacking. The culture of his revolution has become too toxic. Most non-Bernie Democrats I know don’t want to have anything to do with it. Bernie die-hards try to argue this is not true but if someone is spreading political negativity on my Facebook feed, it’s pretty much always a Bernie supporter. At this point, toxicity is baked into his culture and it is a major turnoff to potential new supporters.

3. He’s always been an outsider and for the general election he needs the insiders to rally in support. There’s a reason almost none of his colleagues in the Senate endorse him. He’s a lone wolf. That’s a recipe for trouble when we need a unified movement.

4. He’s the same old Bernie every time. Same stump speech. Same talking points. Same debate points. Trump, for all his considerable faults, is unpredictable and surprising, which is part of what has fueled his personality cult. Unpredictable, lying loose cannon wins against predictable, unsmiling class warrior in the entertainment department, which matters.

5. His class-warfare message is relentless and demonizes the 1%, going so far as to say billionaires shouldn’t even exist (despite the fact that his newfound millions now qualify him as a 1%er). This is not a recipe for a strong general election fundraising campaign. Even 10 million die-hards making multiple $18 donations (his average) will be close to nothing against the “Death Star” $1B disinformation machine Trump is assembling. In short, Bernie has alienated the vast majority of powerful and wealthy people he would need as allies to actually win. In his orbit, there is virtually no room for noble-minded wealthy people. Which is a terrible strategy to get them engaged in your campaign.

6. For most pragmatic voters, this election is simply about getting Trump out of power because of the threat he poses to America and the world. If Bernie supporters have spent months spewing negativity about other candidates, how excited will those same folks be to link arms with them in the general? Many will do it but it will be without real passion and with lingering bad feelings.

7. Bernie’s heart attack has largely gotten a pass in the Democratic primary but will be the subject of massive distortion campaigns and scares around his age and his health in the general.

I see a second Trump term as suicidal for American democracy and therefore the worst possibility for virtually any ideals and goals we progressives hold. The above reasons should at least give any card-carrying progressive serious reason for reflection.

To be perfectly clear, all of the above will not matter a whit for me if he is the nominee. I will rally and support him. But I am clear from candid conversations that many, many people will not support Bernie who are otherwise 100% aligned with Democratic candidates and stopping Trump.

Warren on the other hand, is a fiery progressive reformer but she’s also a capitalist. She’s been a Republican and knows how to speak in a language that transcends divides. And she showed that she is the fastest on her feet in a knife-fight.

We are much better off with Warren as the progressive standard-bearer because:

1. She is an exceptionally good speaker and storyteller and she is very connective with crowds, taking more personal time at rallies than anyone

2. She does her homework and has the most sophisticated, detailed progressive plans of anyone and knows her facts cold.

3. She is a woman in an election that is going to fall heavily along gender lines. This allows her also to prosecute the case against Trump from the vantage of women far more effectively.

4. She has proven that in a high-stakes battle with a powerful billionaire, she is actually the most effective fighter on the Democratic stage.

If progressives stay loyal to Bernie, I suspect we’re in for a long primary heading into a nasty, brokered convention and a likely loss in the general because either Bernie is the candidate with tepid support from the rest of the party or the #Bernieorbusters will refuse to rally behind anyone else.

If there is a switch to Warren, I think there’s a real chance she could consolidate the progressive vote and be sufficiently appealing to moderate Democrats that she could emerge as the unifying candidate we need.

The trick is we have to make this switch fast. There’s not a minute to waste.