Robert Reich: Bernie Sanders Is Not George McGovern

Reich’s analysis is worth a read.

His view of the world strikes me as both correct and terribly troubling. The basic economic realities are what they are and in that frame – if you take it in a vacuum – it makes sense that people would say Bernie and Trump are their two favorites.

The problem, though, is the rest of the equation – racism, nationalism, etc. Plus a dollop of utterly hare-brained Jesus/CPAC batshittery.

It’s like if you’re a worker or middle classer who’s racist you vote Trump and if you aren’t you vote Bernie. It also helps to be too stupid to comprehend actual reality if you’re a Trumper.

In this view, the economics cancel out and it comes down to whether you’re a racist moron or not. And that’s the terrifying part.

Whatever you think of Bernie’s economic ideas, there’s no reason to fear them because you’d need a Congress entirely empty of GOPpers and Vichy Dems to see a full overthrow of the late capitalist order. Also, you’d have to shoot the entire Judicial branch.

The current hegemony is so corrupt, so entrenched, so utterly immune to reform that our only for for even incremental change is to elect the most radical bomb-thrower we can find.