Some Democrats seem almost to snarl when they feel that their privilege is being threatened. My take is that the snarling happens when people believe that there isn’t enough for everyone lower down the ladder to climb up to where they are — so they snarl to protect what they already have. The truth is that there is no closed loop. The game is not zero-sum. The kind of economy that puts money in at the bottom allows everyone to have more. Nobody should accept the idea that allowing those at the bottom of the pile to rise will cause those higher up to sink.

In truth, I don’t think that comfortable Democrats actually care that much about acquiring wealth — at least past a certain point. What they really seem to crave is to have more status than most other people. In the case of such Democrats, what they do possess (past the point of a comfortable lifestyle) simply becomes a monument to their own colossal egos.

Mimi Rocah, Criminal Justice Fellow at Pace Law School, recently was featured on MSNBC in a panel discussion. The topic was 2020 US presidential contenders and she was asked to help make a distinction between Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders. In such a situation, one might expect that she would respond by showing how the two candidates differed on policy, or even on values. But what she said was:

“For me, as, and again, I’m not the political analyst here: but just as a woman — probably considered a somewhat moderate Democrat, I . . . Bernie Sanders makes my skin crawl. And I can’t even identify for you what exactly it is, but I see him as sort of a . . . a not pro-woman candidate. And so having the two of them there . . . Like I don’t understand young women who support him and I’m hoping that having him next to her will help highlight that because those are the people that, if I were here, I would want to say ‘Why are you supporting him and not me if you’re gonna choose between the two of us?’”

Niko House heard this clip and conjectured that Mimi was a bot who was brought on the show specifically to advance the corporate agenda of MSNBC. I’m not so sure that’s the whole story. I’ve listened to other commentators (specifically Jimmy Dore, Jordan Chariton, Sam Seder, David Doel, and Tim Black) parse her words and they seem to have come to conclusions similar to Niko’s. While I agree that Rocah was brought on because she was likely to trash Bernie Sanders (as was Zerlina Maxwell who is paid to do exactly that on MSNBC on a regular basis), I think Rocah did it with more relish and genuine feeling than someone who was merely being paid to advance someone else’s position.

In a previous Medium article, I described the kind of vitriol that seems to come with the territory occupied by many elitist Democrats:

“. . . their elitism is why they hate Bernie. That’s the reason they keep reminding us that he is not actually a Democrat. Many of them absolutely loathe his populism. Their class-based sense of entitlement runs very deep.”

In that same article, I went on to explain why they might support an overt corporatist like Joe Biden or a stealth corporatist (still acceptable to Third Way) such as Elizabeth Warren:

“They (falsely) believe that such a candidate will best protect their privilege. That’s why they mirror the Third Way sentiment that #anyonebutbernie should win the Democratic nomination . . .”

I think it can surprise us when we are confronted with how territorial, grasping, and downright bigoted elitist Democrats can be. Rocah is a bona fide member of the crony club that keeps electing neoliberal politicians. Her snarl is the real thing. She may be willing to say the right things on social issues but when it comes down to it, she still thinks of the world as a zero-sum place and seems all too willing to fight people like Bernie Sanders who might actually make a dent in the power structure of the world we all inhabit (unlike Third Way Democrats and Republicans of the sort we’ve had for more than 50 years). What she and the other snarling Democrats don’t seem to understand is that there is plenty for everyone. The world has not been zero-sum since the first Industrial Revolution. We do not need to keep acting as though our personal goals can only be met if many other people (conveniently sorted into the category of “other” by our masters) are denied access to their goals.

The element of MSNBC political coverage and analysis (of Niko House and the others mentioned) that I think Progressive commentators are getting right is that what Wall Street wants, especially as expressed by the likes of Third Way President Jon Cowan, is for Elizabeth Warren to be considered by Sanders supporters to be an acceptable alternative. They seem to be trying to package Elizabeth Warren (whom they obviously prefer to Tulsi Gabbard) as the candidate who might be able to attract Bernie Sanders supporters who would otherwise AGAIN abandon an establishment candidate in the general election. In that regard, corporate-sponsored media seem to be at least one jump ahead of typical elitist suburbanites. The media and their corporate owners have done the math and have figured out that if 20% or more of Sanders supporters jump ship again, Trump again will be the outcome. But unlike regular suburbanites who have jobs, families, and real lives to live, they seem to believe that Trump won’t significantly disturb their way of life. When it comes right down to it, they would much rather have economic injustice, a trashed ecosystem, and unending war than give an unrigged/unimpeded opportunity to a presidential candidate who has the ability to disrupt the livelihood of central bankers, transnational corporations, and hedge fund managers.

Here’s a message for those with such thinking (and for their comfortable duped minions): You can keep your nice houses, nice neighborhoods, nice schools, and your comfortable way of life. You can even keep feeling superior. This is just as likely to be possible under Donald Trump as under someone like Obama or Biden. But what you cannot do is insist that other people’s kids must have poor health or even die because of it. You cannot insist that some people are allowed to be treated like animals by police officers. You cannot insist that our planet must cease being inhabitable. You cannot insist that corporations are allowed to continue to squeeze the labor force harder and harder and pay workers a continually shrinking percentage of their own productivity. You cannot insist that our infrastructure must continue to be neglected. Your sense of superiority should not require that. Additionally, other people’s kids should not have to go to shitty schools and endure shitty living conditions for you to retain your sense of superiority. And under Trump or any other revolting Neoliberal, other people’s children, particularly those who do not live in suburbs and who do not have the access to the privilege that you and your children enjoy, will suffer. People in other parts of the world will suffer. The planet will suffer.

Consider this a declaration of emergency. Elitist Democrats need to figure this out immediately. We need to call out statements such as Mimi’s and make it clear to all of our circles that such statements are no more acceptable (and no more deserving of being ignored or glossed over) than racist or sexist comments. We also need to engage them in conversation for the purpose of letting them know that we can tell the difference between true Progressives and Faux-Progressives who have been deemed acceptable by Wall Street. The battle for our planet and its people will be won or lost with such conversations.

David Sirota cries Hypocrite!

Katie Halper reverseroo!

UPDATE: Emily Tisch Sussman

Emily Tisch Sussman’s Faux-Feminist Smear

Democratic strategist Emily Tisch Sussman has gone viral in the worst way because of an MSNBC appearance in which she endorsed the idea that anyone who still supports Bernie Sanders over Elizabeth Warren is “showing your sexism.” The comment came during an appearance on Monday’s edition of MSNBC Live with Craig Melvin, during which Sussman and a Republican strategist discussed Warren’s steady rise to the top of several recent polls. “Bernie Sanders, has he peaked?” host Craig Melvin asked. “It does feel that way,” Sussman replied, and added that “It feels like Warren is pulling together a coalition of people, particularly women and also people of color, who liked Hillary Clinton,” but said Warren is “also pulling a lot from Sanders, and Sanders is still in the race.” “What we’re seeing of his support is that there’s a ceiling. There is nowhere to go but, there is no up to go,” Sussmann said, of Sanders, then added “I actually overheard someone saying, that I thought was an interesting point, that basically at this point if you are still supporting Sanders as opposed to Warren, it’s kind of showing your sexism. Because she has more detailed plans, and her plans have evolved. I thought it was an interesting point, and I think there may be something to it.”

Emily’s Dad:

Emily’s mom (thanks to the fossil fuel industry):

Jimmy Dore points out that Emily also is former VP of Campaigns for Center for American Progress! “Neera Tanden’s VP, baby!”