If anyone wondered if the intra-party wounds from 2016 had healed in the Democratic Party, the events of the past two days have highlighted how raw and fractured the party is. As Hulu prepares to release a four part documentary series on Hillary Clinton, Clinton was asked by a reporter if she stands by her comment that Bernie “was in Congress for years. He had one senator support him. Nobody likes him, nobody wants to work with him, he got nothing done. He was a career politician.” She answered yes and then went on to say that even if Sanders gets the nomination, she may not support him. So much for unity.
Then on Friday in Iowa, the Sanders camp fired back. Representative Rashida Tlaib, a high profile Sanders surrogates, led a large crowd at a rally in Iowa in booing Clinton. Tlaib’s antics brought cheers from the crowd and smiles and laughs from fellow squad member Representative Ilhan Omar and filmmaker Michael Moore. Recognizing that she had probably gone too far, Tlaib later apologized on Twitter. Still, the damage has been done. The backlash from Clinton surrogates was swift. Meanwhile, Sanders supporters rushed to defend Tlaib. On Twitter, both the #NeverBernie and #NeverHillary hash tags are trending.
So what is the impact of all of this? We don’t think it was wise for the Sanders camp to take the Clinton bait. Sanders has the momentum and does not need to antagonize pro-Clinton, female voters. Particularly in Iowa, where the caucus process requires voters whose first choice does not reach to select a second choice, it’s unwise to antagonize half of the Democratic electorate who supported Clinton in 2016. On the other hand, Sanders backers are really energized and will have more volunteers out on caucus night than any other candidate. The Clinton – Sanders tension is also dominating the news as we head into Monday’s caucus, which reminds us of the old adage that in politics even bad press is better than no press.
On Saturday at a rally in Iowa, Sanders tried to dampen the tension by announcing that he will support whoever the ultimate Democratic nominee is versus Trump. We think that was a good move, but the reality is that Sanders does not have control over his base. On Twitter, it’s really ugly with Sanders and Clinton supporters attacking each other under the #NeverBernie and #NeverHillary hash tags and blaming each other for the 2016 loss. The war between the far left and the Democratic establishment is breaking out into the open. We think it’s just getting started. Our bet is that the far left is now a majority in the Democratic Party and is going to win, but Monday night will give us our first real clue.
NewEnglandPolitics.com 