Sadly, it has now become an accepted meme that supporters of Bernie Sanders are just the Democratic version of Trump supporters. Why anyone would take the word of the MSM for what is going on right now in the psyche of Americans, after their initial proclamations that this race would be all about a Clinton vs. Bush rematch is bewildering. It seems pretty proven at this point that the MSM is no longer insightful as to what lies ahead or even what is genuinely going on right now.
So, to the simplistic corporate media, it’s easiest to say categorically that support for candidates that aren’t their original “obvious” picks, Bush and Clinton, is just an “outsider” mentality by both Democrats and Republicans. Donald Trump is indeed an outsider to politics, at least in the sense of not having been an elected politician (though he has bought and rented many of them to get legislation and tax giveaways he has sought…in fact, he is a central player in the crony capitalism side of politics). Meanwhile, Bernie Sanders is a politician, a sitting Senator and while he isn’t an establishment Democrat (he has been an Independent), he is not an outsider to the world of politics. So this is absolutely not a case of some Democrats supporting “a political outsider” as Republicans are, they are actually supporting an established politician (a sitting Senator) who seems more genuine to them than the allegedly inevitable Democratic front runner.
It would be true to say that there isn’t unanimity in either party in supporting the establishment favorite. But only the Repubs are supporting someone with no political experience and only in the Republican party is a non-politician leading nationally in their party.
There is one admitted commonality between both sets of voters…because it is a commonality between most American voters including independents.
After many decades of watching the cynical and dishonestly pandering “campaign game” played in front of them, Americans seemed to have wised up to the disingenuous nature of campaigning politicians. It’s like watching a magician do the same card trick dozens of times in a row, it works on you for a while but eventually you recognize how the trick is being done and how the magician has been repeatedly deceiving you. It’s finally seemed to reach a critical mass, Americans in general understand that most politicians truly do campaign in a deceptive way and they are tired of it. They want to vote for someone they feel is genuine. They are also tired of the post-Citizens United plutocracy after seeing so explicitly how billionaires now dictate who gets to run for office and eventually win in many cases.
So, while the MSM can lazily hang their hat on core Dems and Repubs being mirror images of each other in seeking outsiders that are extremists (another claim that is flat out wrong since Bernie’s views are those of a majority of Americans), it is more accurately the case that most Americans have evolved to recognizing when politicians are being pandering and insincere and they seek a more genuine nature to politicians they wish to support.
Once past that threshold, the theory of mirror image similarity of Trump and Sanders supporters blows up.
To state it simply, Trump supporters are personality cult types while Bernie supporters are issue and principle driven, two very different thought processes.
Trump supporters are impervious to facts, racism, chauvinism, class warfare, hypocrisy and opposition to their core beliefs when it comes to their unwavering support of Trump. He has openly called for raising taxes, preserving Planned Parenthood, attacked McCain as not being a hero because he was captured and a variety of anti-Republican values but apparently, there is no Republican principle he can oppose that will pry away the embrace of his Republican supporters.
That is because what attracts those Republicans to Trump is one primary thing, they want a tough, mean, daddy to be their President. The most highly regarded figure in the GOP is their last tough, mean, daddy, Ronald Reagan. What they want and emotionally need above all else is a “leader” who kind of reflects the ultimate father, like the Old Testament God, someone they can give themselves over to completely, who promises to take care of everything that scares them and they in return will embrace and accept how mean-spirited and vindictive he is. While they have howled at Obama being “a dictator”, that is exactly what they want in a Republican President. A billionaire who wouldn’t hesitate to throw his full weight around as President, kicking at whole races and sexes and insulting the rest of the world, reflecting their own racism and xenophobia. They want a bully as President, not to represent all Americans but just them and their emotional insecurities.
They like Trump because he doesn’t give a shit about other people, about minorities, women, diplomacy, manners, honesty, principles…just like them. He does reflect their aspirations for how they wish they could be independently wealthy, famous and powerful, being in a position to tell everyone else out there who has abandoned them to an unsatisfying life, at least as they see it, to go fuck themselves.
These Repubs are angry at the establishment Repubs for their deceptions, pandering to them during election season by promising to ship 11 million undocumented Latinos out of the US, repeal Obamacare or end abortion but then cynically turning their backs on them once they win seats in Congress. To be fair (or unfair), some of these Tea Party Congresspeople genuinely want to make all of that happen but have lied along the way to get elected, claiming that their election would help make these things happen despite the impossibility of that with a Dem President and Dems able to filibuster in The Senate.
Meanwhile, the supporters of Bernie Sanders are…to quote a frequent Trump phrase, “hugely” different.
Unlike Trump supporters, the Progressives who are energetically supporting Bernie Sanders are doing so primarily because of where Bernie stands on the issues that matter most to them, issues that are about helping the majority of Americans as opposed to the wealthiest 1%. They are not supporting Bernie because of his fame, hairstyle, wealth, tough image or practice of viciously insulting everyone who he sees as a threat to his ambition.
Trump says he supports Planned Parenthood, something that conflicts with a central “principle” of Republicans yet his supporters are unwavering in support for him.
If Bernie Sanders called for killing Planned Parenthood or enriching Wall Street at the expense of the 99%, would his supporters remain just as devoted?
Of course not. There are two completely different dynamics at play with Republicans and Democrats supporting candidates once they step off of the same platform of distaste for the standard disingenuous nature of typical politicians.
Republicans are looking for a tough, crude, dictatorial-styled leader they can follow who will rule with an iron fist and stomp on those who Repubs see as their adversaries.
Democrats are looking for a crusader-for-justice to march with them on the issues they care about and stand up to the wealthy and powerful.
These are not negligible differences and do not represent two sides of the same coin to those who reason. One group disregards principles and doesn’t care about details on issues, the other group insists on principles and demands details on issues. One group simply wants a candidate because he isn’t a politician, the other group is supporting a politician who has stood for the same principles for decades.
This should be made clear, Republicans are supporting Trump as an outsider to politics, who doesn’t show any desire to be diplomatic as politicians are. They want the antithesis of a politician, Trump’s policies are irrelevant outside of his core magnet of racism.
The Democrats supporting Bernie are supporting a career politician. They are supporting a sitting Senator primarily based on his stands on social and economic issues. They are not supporting a candidate who is an outsider to politics. Yes, many Bernie supporters share the same distaste for establishment politicians but they are not supporting an egocentric tv celebrity billionaire thinking that such a buffoon can solve all the world’s problems just by bragging that he can.
Just as it has become a popular sensibility among Americans that gay people should have equal rights to marriage, it has also become a popular sensibility that pandering and dishonest politicians financed by a handful of billionaires and Wall Street have been playing the public long enough. Dems and Repubs may begin at that same starting line but the convoluted path Repubs take to blindly supporting an unprincipled, racist, chauvinist billionaire is a very different path than Progressives who are supporting a sitting Senator espousing stands on economic and social justice thatare supported by a majority of Americans.
It’s not two sides of the same coin, it’s two totally different coins that only have in common the basic similarity of being coins, one being a cheap slug and the other being a legitimate coin of value.
The concept of freedom of speech is often covered by the same laws as freedom of the press, thereby giving equal treatment to spoken and published expression. The constitution is a wonderful document, but we have to remember that those who wrote this document were fallible…oh not in the manner in which you may be thinking…I believe in freedom of the press, but I realize that when those who decided this was a wonderful idea came up with this part of the constitution, they were limiting the press to wealthy white men, those who were able to own a newspaper, magazine, etc. The ideas that came from those publications were therefore those of the publisher aided by his trusted editor. In this manner, the wealthy could inform the citizenry. It was a wonderful idea, but we do realize that those with power tend to want to keep that power, those with influence tend to want to control the rest of us, and so we can see how the press can use manipulation to try to create ideas and opinions for the majority of the public (the 99%) rather than wait to see what the public is actually thinking. You know, tell them what they think, then take a poll to convince them they think exactly as everyone else does..how clever. 🙂 \r\n\r\nOver the years the courts have sought to define in one way or another what the framers of the constitution meant to include when they came up with this idea, it is equated today more with freedom of speech rather than freedom of the press which should have been a check on government, corporations, and those that would as they do today attempt to sway public opinion. It has done no such thing, as with all things there is ultimately a manner in which those who are depraved manage to get around anything that is considered a rule they mostly use wealth to exclude the opinions of others…the government, or should I say the politicians that control the government (government meaning—We the people) can do it by classifying documents, corporations do it through burden on those that inquire, how? through the courts, they bring a case that postpones the right of the individual to obtain the document, they require those who wish to gain the information to pay for search and reproduction cost etc., this for instance could curtail the search of an individual who cannot afford this. As I said before, every rule can be broken if you have the funds to convince the courts your breaking of the rule is exempt from scrutiny.\r\n\r\nWhy, you might ask, am I harping on freedom of the press when your article is speaking mainly to the question of why Bernie and Donald are considered two sides of the same coin…my answer is, this phenomenon is occurring due to the fact that the press is now owned by a very few wealthy individuals who, in my humble opinion of course, have decided that Bernie Sanders may not be someone that will continue to uphold their maniacal stranglehold on delivery of mostly misinformation. \”Make Bernie irrelevant, he won\’t play ball.\” I can just hear that drifting from the corners of Board Rooms in press offices all over the U.S. \r\n\r\nAny person who has the capability of thinking for him/herself can see that there is no comparison when it comes to Trump and Sanders. Trump is a product of the establishment, Sanders is a product of years of struggle in this nation and abroad that tries to focus on what is best for humanity, not what is best for the few who have managed to swallow up the resources of this world through hook, crook, or pocket book.\r\n\r\nI applaud your article, and appreciate the addition KT made with the video he has placed in the comments section, it is a wonderful addition to the thought you have conveyed. Thank you for continuing to have what I consider a wonderful way of informing your readers. Excellent Article!’
Cheers monicaangela!\r\n\r\nIndeed, the intent of the 1st Amendment was to make the press a virtual fourth branch of our democracy, if the other three branches failed the American people, a free press represented a safety net to help empower and protect Americans.\r\n\r\nAs you say, the Founders couldn\’t have imagined the rise of corporations that would gobble up the press and turn it into an unprincipled, profit-generating mutant.\r\n\r\nThe real revelation is that it is only due to the establishment of the internet that our democracy hasn\’t been mostly strangled to death by the corporate propagandist MSM. It\’s the truth, the US gained a new safety net just in time, just as its original one was being shredded up by the wealthy. Where would we be without all that the internet provides for poking holes in the propaganda of the MSM?\r\n\r\nSo even though its original protections of the press are somewhat moot now (not completely but when a free press is used primarily for entertainment, there\’s not much need for preventing political censorship), the 1st Amendment\’s protection of the internet is profound.\r\n\r\nIt is an eternal struggle, pushing back against the propaganda and manipulation of the wealthy and corporations who use the media they own to advance their interests (did you see yesterday how the AP edited a report on the Iran-IAEA agreement to twist it into falsely saying that Iran would be self-inspecting with no oversight…in an attempt by AP to try and kill the nuclear deal? http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/08/20/us-iran-nuclear-iaea-parchin-idUSKCN0QP0ID20150820)\r\n\r\nToday\’s media just can\’t be trusted because it is owned by corporations that have agendas that conflict with telling the truth. That insight seems pretty well known out there by many but we do need a lot more people (especially viewers of Fox News) to understand that.
So good to see you back here , Monica! Missed you very much. \r\n\r\nI think Bernie Sanders is a rare politician. One who actually cares about the people! Cares about doing the right thing, even if it is harded that doing the wrong thing. I have been busy writing on veterans for Bernie and a couple other sites. Being my Senator, I feel he is the BEST choice we have for our next President. I also have been saying to anyone who reads my stuff that we need to elect some new people to Congress to help Bernie get things done! \r\n\r\nPresident Obama has had success in so many ways even though the GOP has done everything they could to undermine his efforts. That is why Bernie will need help from a \”new\” Congress with people willing to do their jobs!\r\n\r\nAgain, good to see you back. Peace.
Hello Nirek!
Good to read your comments again. Hope all is well with you and yours. 🙂
AdLib, this article is excellent! I\’m going to share it on some other sites, if you don\’t mind. \r\nBernie has the integrity to be President. His agenda is all good!\r\n\r\nTo me being conservative would be good if they really were. The GOP has bastardized good words. Like \”prosperity\” their definition is give to the rich, or cut taxes for corporations and billionaires. \”Conservative\” to them means take advantage of other people for your own profit. \r\n\r\nAt any rate, I think this article is one of the very best I have seen about Bernie and Trump not being two sides of the same coin! Thanks Ad!
Nirek thanks so much!\r\n\r\nThe only thing that remains conservative in the GOP are the first three letters of the word, \”con\”.\r\n\r\nThe Republican Party is one big con and a pretty obvious one too. It is a party run by people who despise democracy and only want our government to benefit the wealthy and powerful. The GOP\’s whole premise is trying to fool and manipulate the hateful and less educated into supporting their agenda to benefit only the 1%. \r\n\r\nSo they whip up the greedy and poorly educated to support them by validating their racism, greed, religious intolerance, they exploit all the worst traits in human beings to gather support.\r\n\r\nWhere is the positive vision of Republicans? Aside from the ridiculous BS that some like Trump express, that he\’ll make every American rich and force all the countries in the world, China, Russia, Mexico, etc., to bow to the US and do whatever we say?\r\n\r\nRepublicanism is nihilism. Their stated goals for the future of America is for it to be a kind of Thunderdome, where the elderly and poor are left to suffer on their own, the wealthy 1% oppress, dominate and poison the 99% and democracy is buried by plutocracy.\r\n\r\nAnd so many people dependent on support from the federal government, whether it\’s Social Security, Medicare, Welfare, etc, are so easily manipulated by their fears, prejudices and hatreds, they ignorantly support the destruction of these programs by Republicans.\r\n\r\nWhoever is in the General Election, it will be a pretty plain choice between a Republican who is seeking to cripple our government\’s support of the majority and the vulnerable and a Democrat who believes in government helping the Americans it represents.
A wonderful article, AdLib.
Proves how the GOP and most conservatives around the world, will put something they are afraid of into a bag, shake it up, and label it something or other to make it into a less fearful entity. That is how President Obama became “a secret Muslim”, “a socialist”, “a Marxist”, “a Kenyan born outside of the U.S.A.” and “a Witchdoctor” with a bone through his nose.
In the U.K. the Tories labeled those on benefits as “scroungers” and “layabouts” who don’t want to work. They have no time or interest in the poor so they label them and blame them for their own situations. Conservatives love to label, and that is how they convince the weak minded that it could be true. This is no different.
The corporate msm now want to cut Bernie Sanders off at the knees by claiming that he is an “outsider” like Trump to devalue his worth as a legitimate politician and presidential candidate. It might work for the dimwits who lap up this stuff on a daily basis, but as you say, not for those who feel a genuine concern and passion for the issues Bernie Sanders brings to this race.
Great job, you explained it all so perfectly that even I, who was not aware of the msm and their latest skirmish into the ridiculous, could understand without ever having heard it. It was a pleasure to read. Honest, spot on, and very vintage AdLiby.
This is very good Ad! It’s serious, insightful and contains some great observations.
This is a good video that, I think, supports your observations.
KT, thanks for the video, it sure does make the point. His refusal to play the media’s game of attacking Hillary and always trying to pull the focus back to inequity in the nation is a far cry from what we see in the GOP.
He says the same thing indeed, that Americans are tired of establishment politicians and the MSM’s conflict-based/non-issue based coverage.
He makes sense (so does Hillary for that matter though she doesn’t come off as genuinely).
Meanwhile, Trump and the 17 Dwarfs following him make little to no sense and offer “solutions” that are just RW fairy tales.
RW fairy tales indeed. They\’re still pushing Jeebus and doom and gloom, not to mention..fear of non-whites. Even the not-so-white candidates like Jindal, Rubio and Cruz, and most evident, Ben Carson. They\’ve been GOPers for so long now, they may actually forget they are not WASPs. Silly little fools.\r\n\r\nI will never understand how any minority can align themselves with the GOP.