So the one thing I have to say regarding Bernie vs Biden and getting things done is that Bernie wanted shit to happen. One of the things about his campaign I was impressed by is that he had an entire legal team dedicated to figuring how to get things done via executive order and what they could have gotten away with. Which is to say, they would have killed him eventually.
But, he would've declared a climate emergency, he would've forgiven student loans, and we'd probably see some sort of coherent covid policy, maybe evn UBI. He probably would have attempted to pack the courts, possibly even ignore them in some cases as much of his EO's would have led to legal battles. He would've been very supportive of labor actions. His foreign policy would have been all over the place as he seems to recognize US Imperialism in South America but has a stroke and develops a blind spot when it comes to the rest of the world. But ultimately heart attack gun or stroke.
Bernie's plans with EOs was so exciting, seeing someone who actually planned to do the things they said they would without having to go through a hostile Congress or to use it as the reason nothing could be accomplished and that's exactly why he would have gotten the heart attack gun again
Indeed. How that might've affected the radicalization of the populace, who's to say? But his presidency would've been great for building class consciousness and possibly steered us away from the overwhelmingly fashy place we're heading towards.
I see a lot of people assuming not much would have changed. I disagree. He would have led a cultural shift inside the entire party.
There is a reason Democrats went nuclear and outright blatantly cheated to stop him. He would have changed numerous things.
He is someone that a large portion of voters respected over many other politicians. My republican uncle even said he would have voted for him if he had won the primary. The key thing Bernie would have done is he would constantly and boldly state what direction the party should go and what policies Americans deserve. The snakes in the Democratic party that would rise to stop them would be smoked out. He would made significant changes to foreign policy and stifled and eliminated many status-quo neo-liberal approaches to other nations. They were fucking terrified of this, that he would bring an end to reaganomics, and that the nation would start forming political movements directed at ripping up neo-liberalism with their president's blessing. Imagine the unionization efforts now if they were overtly supported and broadcasted by the president.
The doomerism of "he couldn't change anything." just strikes me as well, liberalism. The idea that a leader cannot rise and change the minds of Americans everywhere because everything is "too big to defeat" is some kind of helpless mindset that afflicts many young people but it simply isn't true.
You were THAT CLOSE. That's why there was that news anchor crying that soon public executions in central park were going to happen. They were absolutely fucking terrified of Bernie Sanders winning the presidency. And he truthfully isn't even anywhere near as left as the nation needs, but he would have set the nation back on track by changing voters minds about what is possible.
Think about how often Joe Biden and the Democrats talk about what isn't possible and how they can't do anything to change the system. How they never acknowledge the wishes of their voters, except to tell them that they are wrong for wanting them. When election time comes, its never the party's fault, it is the voters fault for not backing a failing and useless party.
And yes, there is a high chance they would absolutely kill him to stop him. But they didn't want to be in that situation because unlike JFK there would have been a chance of a more radical reaction within the country. He wouldn't have just been another JFK, there is a chance he would have become a martyr for working class movements. They desperately needed to beat him electorally to show the average uninformed voter that there isn't any "steam" in left leaning ideas.
But I am also aware that he is no-where near perfect, as he isn't left enough, and he isn't mean enough, nor was he willing to buck the party when they screwed him. Electorally, the problem with the United States is that left leaning ideas don't vote as a bloc. The democrats are not afraid of losing left leaning votes because leftists roll over and vote for them anyway. Bernie encourages this when he doesn't win, and that is why the Democrats are the way they are.
But make no mistake, the terror was real.
People with rose emojis on their Twitter profiles would explain to you why Bernie had to support the "kill minorities and bomb non-white countries bill" in order to secure funding for the initial phases of the preparatory work for making a commission to look into the feasibility of working with industry partners to incentivise the gradual voluntary reform of health insurance.
QAnon/anti-maskers and bourgeois media all unify against him. And 24/7 articles and news clips about how everything bad happening in the US is his fault.
Dems and GOP would unite to stop anything from his agenda getting enacted. There would be some good executive orders though. Might actually close or scale down the ICE camps, there would probably be better pandemic control measures. Probably more government departments going rogue though, and the media would constantly be spit roasting him.
Bernie gets jfk'ed after announcing he'll cancel student debt by executive order, his vp then works out identically to joe
he'd do the classic succdem move and capitulate to neoliberalism. Maybe in a saner country he'd get some social programs passed in return (that would be immedialy dismantled as soon as his term was over), but since we're talking amerikkka, a country with currently 0 sense of self-preservation, he'd get nothing.
Ukraine discourse would be even more insufferable. The fash would behave exactly the same. He would probably at least try to do something about the Roe overturn though
Unless he was MAJORLY hiding his power level and actually willing and eager to drone strike all the big capitalists and most of Congress and the Supreme Court... not much.
I kinda agree with Christman's take. Bernie's presidency was always destined to be a "failure" in terms of passing legislation. There's just too many bulwarks and safeguards in place to prevent the kind of revolutionary reform he wanted and he never had the kind of control of the party he would have needed to override them.
The big hail Mary hope of Bernie's presidency is that if he had won: the combination of him being stymied from pursuing those policies combined with his willingness to burn bridges and make his case to the public and encourage and help lead strike action (potentially resulting in his assassination if you're that pilled) might have done a speed run on forcing a party realignment.
Instead: turns out there's no shortcuts.
I kinda agree with Christman’s take. Bernie’s presidency was always destined to be a “failure” in terms of passing legislation. There’s just too many bulwarks and safeguards in place to prevent the kind of revolutionary reform he wanted and he never had the kind of control of the party he would have needed to override them.
Ok but executive actions alone could help millions.
Maybe....
Hot take: if a left-winger ever actually became president and really started going wild with his pen you'd suddenly see all those supposed safeguards and checks on power kick in immediately.
- Dems media would be cautiously optimistic for about a day or two. Then they would constantly criticize him for being too extreme. Fox would pick up on this and run stories of CNN/MSNBC shitting on Bernie and saying "Well if even they know socialism is coming, we're in trouble"
- Immediate stock market crash. Capital strike from several industries. All blamed on economic policies that haven't passed. Economists would come out to validate it.
- Dem legislators would start having open fights with Bernie in the media
- By 2022 they would be making the mid-terms a referendum on socialism and restoring sanity
- If he made it to 2024 without being shot, he would be challenged by several Dems who would then collapse around the typical choice.
- Hillary would get her own show on MSNBC
The Democrats probably would have won a couple more seats in the Senate, roping more members into the role of "rotating villain." A lot more pressure would be applied on Congress from the White House to do good things, but this would not necessarily deliver results. Several useful policies would be implemented through executive order though, creating a dichotomy between the White House and Congress which does not exist under Biden where both are equally useless. Depending on Bernie's ability to substantially change things through executive power alone, the midterm would end up being a very hostile referendum on which path the party should take. The media and the money would still win, though more marginal gains in Congress might be made.
If he touched anything regarding imperial policy, they would shoot him with the heart attack gun.
