The Democrats kicked off their year long process to select a party nominee for the 2020 presidential election and it felt like 2016 all over again. Instead of watching the debate, which would have been a horrible way to spend an evening, I scanned Twitter for reactions to get a feel for how enthusiasts were reacting in real time. This was something I did in the 2016 during the Republican debates. It turned out to be a much better gauge for how people were reacting than what was coming from the media. Three things were fairly obvious, based on Twitter. One is the Democrat media was instructed to sell the hell out of Warren, which they tried hard to do, but Warren gave them little to work with after she read her prepared lines. What they are going to learn is what people in Massachusetts know about her. Like all pols, she can read from a script and seem quite good. On her own, she reveals herself to be quite dull. Her serious egghead presentation is just an act. She is a pseudo-intellectual poseur.
Another thing that was made obvious to enthusiasts is that Beto O’Rourke is just a slacker who has been getting by on his looks. The media likes him because he has the RFK routine down cold. He knows how to charm left-wing Baby Boomers. The trouble is, once you get past the horse teeth and hairstyle, you’re left with a guy who probably spends his free time reading comic books. He is in politics because it requires the least amount of effort for the best possible lifestyle. Otherwise, he is a bum.
The third thing that was obvious reading left-wing twitter is they could not stop noticing Tulsi Gabbard. The Democrat media was programmed to ignore her, so they will ignore her, but the lower ranking members, who don’t get to see the memos from the party, were noticing their hell out of Gabbard. She was the only candidate who said anything of substance picked up by the enthusiasts. The rest were judged on style. Gabbard was noticed because she made valid points about foreign policy.
Just as with the Republican Party, much of the Democratic base is largely ignored by the party. From this side of the political spectrum, it is hard to pick up on this problem, as white liberals do seem to obsess over trannies and foreigners. The truth is, the eventual winner of this primary will have to appeal to white middle and upper middle class voters. It’s why Creepy Joe Biden is the leader, despite being dead. His working-class Joe routine appeals to a very large segment of the Democratic base.
Forgotten in all the celebration of degeneracy is the large isolationism vote inside that white voting bloc. It is a peculiar form of isolationism, as it tarts itself up as sophisticated and realistic, but in reality it is people who would prefer it if America disengaged from the rest of the world and focused only on domestic issues. Gabbard, with her well thought out anti-war positions, is probably tapping into that vote. She may be the only candidate in the field that is explicitly anti-war and dovish.
She’s also skeptical of Israel, which is another factor that never gets discussed, but has always been under the surface on the Left. There was a time, not so long ago, when anti-Zionism was a popular stance on the Left. The party leaders may have been co-opted by the Israeli lobby, as has happened with the GOP, but that skepticism of Israel and support for the local Arabs remains in the rank and file. Gabbard makes no bones about being open minded with regards to our unconditional support for Israel.
Now, after these debates, it is a tradition for Matt Drudge to run a poll on his site. These polls are not scientific, of course, as if there is such a thing. The main flaw in these polls is you can vote a million times if you are that bored. They could filter out repeats based on IP address, but even so, there is no way to know if the people voting are Americans eligible to vote. Still, they say something about the enthusiasm for the candidates or lack of enthusiasm in the case of some. Gabbard won the poll going away.
Like 2016, where Trump would win these polls hands down, the party media is reporting an entirely different response. The Nation apparently wrote their reaction pieces in advance. Similarly, the Daily Kos followed party instructions and celebrated the sleepy night for Warren as a great triumph. The New York Times and the Washington Post are all aboard the Fake Indian Express as well. Everyone got the memo and they are busy trying to gaslight the Progressive voters into thinking Warren is the one.
Most likely, the media will just ignore Gabbard for now. They will no doubt have been told to celebrate Creepy Uncle Joe as the winner of the second debate. In case he sexually assaults one of the women on stage, they probably have been told to have some material on Harris ready. They have some sidebar pieces ready to tell the faithful that the homosexual is a rising star in the party. The point is to make sure Sanders gets no positive press from the debate. This time, he gets taken out early.
What we are seeing is something that does not get noticed on our side. That is, the Left is almost as angry about their politicians as normal people. Our side gets mad because the Republicans keep chasing the votes of people who hate them. Something similar happens on the Left. The old fashioned pro-working class types have no representation in the party. The foreign policy doves have no one addressing their issues. Those aging white ethnics, who supported Sanders last time, have no voice either.
If 2016 was the year Conservative Inc. finally cracked, 2020 could be the year Progressive Inc. has its crisis. Like the Republicans, the Democrats are a party that really only represents the foreign money that bankrolls its operations. They no longer speak for actual voters. Someone like Gabbard, who stands out from the crowd by nature, can tap into the resentment within the ranks, by simply mentioning the many taboos issues ignored by the rest of the field. She could be the Happa Trump.
For now, as we saw in 2016, the media will do what it can to gaslight the voters, by selling the cold turd sandwich that is Biden and Warren, while carefully ignoring anyone that the party fears. If the result of these preliminary rounds is rising support for Gabbard, we will see if the Progressive Industrial Complex really did learn from the 2016 debacle. The gaslights will be on full for the rest of the summer, as they use all the tools to get the result the oligarchs want from this election.