Senator Bernie Sanders drops out of the race, clearing path for Joe Biden (updated)

I’m not sure what took him so long, but today Independent Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders dropped out of the Democratic Presidential Primary, clearing the path for former Vice President Joe Biden to be the Democratic Party nominee.

CNN reports, Bernie Sanders drops out of the 2020 race, clearing Joe Biden’s path to the Democratic nomination:

Sen. Bernie Sanders ended his presidential campaign on Wednesday, clearing Joe Biden’s path to the Democratic nomination and a showdown with President Donald Trump in November.

Sanders made the announcement in a call with his campaign staff, his campaign said.

Sanders’ exit caps a stunning reversal of fortune following a strong performance in the first three states that voted in February. The nomination appeared his for the taking until, on the last day of February, Biden surged to a blowout victory in South Carolina that set off a consolidation of moderate voters around the former vice president. The contest ends now as the country continues to grapple with the coronavirus pandemic, which halted in-person campaigning for both Sanders and Biden and has led many states to delay their primary elections.

Sanders’ departure from the race is a sharp blow to progressives, who rose up during and after the 2016 campaign and commanded the Democratic Party’s Trump era debates over issues like health care, climate change and the effects of growing economic inequality.

But even as his policies grew more popular over the years and into the primary season, the Vermont senator struggled to broaden his own support and galvanize a winning coalition. Now, as he did after leaving the 2016 primary, Sanders will seek to influence the presumptive nominee through the means he knows best — from the outside.

Biden has already made gestures toward Sanders’ populist base, which formed a movement over the past five years that could be critical to defeating Trump in the fall. Whether the former vice president will take the necessary steps to win over the holdouts, and the extent to which Sanders goes to make the case, will be a running subplot until Election Day.

Oh, there it is, the media’s favorite worn out meme: “Dems Divided.” Do they never tire of this? A “big tent” coalition of many different interests and views is always going to have disagreements over policy. This is normal and healthy.

What is not normal and healthy is the authoritarian personality cult of Donald Trump, where mindless MAGA cult members parrot whatever constantly shifting and contradictory opinion their “Dear Leader” tweets out each morning. That should terrify you.

Whether Sanders’ decision to the leave the contest now, rather than carrying on as he did in 2016 through the end of the primary calendar, will earn him some goodwill with the party establishment he fought so long and hard to upend, is an open question. An earlier departure won’t blot out the ideological divisions that have roiled the party since 2016.

But the more immediate question facing Sanders, following his departure, and his supporters is whether and to what extent they will lend their support — and organizing energy — to Biden’s campaign.

Sanders has been insistent that he would support the eventual nominee, no matter who it was. But his political base — especially the young, who voted for him by overwhelming margins, and disaffected — will be more difficult to bring along, no matter how many miles Sanders covers on Biden’s behalf.

Let’s be clear: Donald Trump and Trumpism, the new American fascism, is an existential threat to the very survival of American democracy, and a threat to the entire world. I don’t give a damn about your trivial petty differences with the Democratic Party or with Joe Biden. Now is not the time. There is only one path forward now to defeat Trumpism, and this is an all hands on deck moment.

If you love your country and truly believe in what Bernie Sanders was preaching, you had better get on board and work your asses off to defeat the Party of Trump up and down the ballot to remove this existential threat to our democracy.

There will be time later to debate the nuances of policy differences once Democrats have regained control of the government.

UPDATE: Joe Biden Lifts Up Democrats With Thoughtful Kindness To Sanders And His Supporters:

After Bernie Sanders suspended his presidential campaign, Joe Biden responded with a message of thoughtful kindness to Sanders and his supporters.

Biden said in a statement provided to PoliticusUSA:

Today, Senator Sanders announced he was suspending his campaign. Bernie has put his heart and soul into not only running for President, but for the causes and issues he has been dedicated to his whole life. So, I know how hard a decision this was for him to make — and how hard it is for the millions of his supporters — especially younger voters — who have been inspired and energized and brought into politics by the progressive agenda he has championed. Bernie has done something rare in politics. He hasn’t just run a political campaign; he’s created a movement. And make no mistake about it, I believe it’s a movement that is as powerful today as it was yesterday. That’s a good thing for our nation and our future.

Senator Sanders and his supporters have changed the dialogue in America. Issues which had been given little attention — or little hope of ever passing — are now at the center of the political debate. Income inequality, universal health care, climate change, free college, relieving students from the crushing debt of student loans. These are just a few of the issues Bernie and his supporters have given life to. And while Bernie and I may not agree on how we might get there, we agree on the ultimate goal for these issues and many more.

Bernie for being a powerful voice for a fairer and more just America. It’s voices like Bernie’s that refuse to allow us to just accept what is — that refuse to accept we can’t change what’s wrong in our nation — that refuse to accept the health and well-being of our fellow citizens and our planet isn’t our responsibility too. Bernie gets a lot of credit for his passionate advocacy for the issues he cares about. But he doesn’t get enough credit for being a voice that forces us all to take a hard look in the mirror and ask if we’ve done enough.

While the Sanders campaign has been suspended — its impact on this election and on elections to come is far from over. We will address the existential crisis of climate change. We will confront income inequality in our nation. We will make sure healthcare is affordable and accessible to every American. We will make education at our public colleges and universities free. We will ease the burden of student debt. And, most important of all, we will defeat Donald Trump.

At this moment, we are in the middle of an unprecedented crisis in American history. There is enormous fear and pain and loss being felt all across the country. There are also untold stories of heroism — of nurses and health care workers and doctors and first responders and grocery store workers and truck drivers and so many others on the front lines of this crisis. Putting their own lives in danger for the rest of us. If we didn’t know it before, we know it now: This is the backbone of our nation.

Our first job is to get through the immediate crisis threatening the public health and getting into the pockets of America’s workers. But we also need to take a hard look at what we need to fix and change in this country. Many of the biggest cracks in the social safety net have been laid bare — from health care to paid sick leave to a more extensive and comprehensive system of unemployment benefits. We will need to address these. Just as we need to address rebuilding our nation’s infrastructure. And we all know — the clock is ticking — we don’t have a moment to waste in combating the climate crisis.

As friends, Jill and I want to say to Bernie and Jane, we know how hard this is. You have put the interest of the nation — and the need to defeat Donald Trump — above all else. And for that Jill and I are grateful. But we also want you to know: I’ll be reaching out to you. You will be heard by me. As you say: Not me, Us.

And to your supporters I make the same commitment: I see you, I hear you, and I understand the urgency of what it is we have to get done in this country. I hope you will join us. You are more than welcome. You’re needed.

Together we will defeat Donald Trump. And when we do that, we’ll not only do the hard work of rebuilding this nation — we’ll transform it.

Former Vice President Biden showed grace and kindness to Sanders and his supporters that neither side showed each other in the 2016 primary. Bernie Sanders did change the issues and the debate within the Democratic Party. His supporters have a place in the party, and Joe Biden is accepting them with open arms as allies in the common mission of defeating Trump and rebuilding the nation that Trump has destroyed.