Battered by four defeats in Tuesday night's primaries, Bernie Sanders is planning to lay off hundreds of campaign staffers across the country and focus much of his remaining effort on winning the June 7 California primary. (snip)

Bernie Sanders, the Socialist senator representing Vermont as an independent and who is now running for president of the United States as a Democrat, blusters about evil millionaires and billionaires who selfishly keep all their money, which is why necessities and wants aren't free, has been " bernt " by reality.

The Vermont senator revealed the changes a day after Hillary Clinton's victories widened her delegate lead and left her all but certain to win the Democratic presidential nomination. Despite the changes, Mr. Sanders said he would remain in the race through the party's summer convention and stressed that he hoped to bring staff members back on board if his political fortunes improved. But political experts say the layoffs signal Mr. Sanders is beginning to accept that he will not be the Democratic nominee and is now focused on pulling the party toward a more progressive agenda.

Oh, so the laid off staff members are now useless fluff to be discarded when not needed – in this case, Socialist Sanders not winning – but some will be brought back if his political fortunes improve? And what are these fired staff members to be doing in the bleak interim – continue in a state of suspended animation? Or will he continue to pay them until he knows more about his plans?

Sanders explained further:

"We want to win as many delegates as we can, so we do not need workers now in states around the country," Mr. Sanders said in an interview. "We don't need people right now in Connecticut. That election is over. We don't need them in Maryland. So what we are going to do is allocate our resources to the 14 contests that remain, and that means that we are going to be cutting back on staff." When asked how many people would be let go, Mr. Sanders did not give an exact number but did say, "It will be hundreds of staff members." "We have had a very large staff, which was designed to deal with 50 states in this country; 40 of the states are now behind us," he said "So we have had a great staff, great people." (snip) Michael Briggs, a spokesman for Mr. Sanders, said in a statement that the campaign would keep on staff more than 300 workers focused on the remaining contests.

Oh, those lucky 300.

But just a few weeks ago Sanders roared about large evil corporations such as General Electric, which employs hundreds of people in his state, destroying the moral fabric of America.

"If the CEO of General Electric (GE) wants to know how his company is destroying the fabric of America, he should take a good look in the mirror," Warren Gunnels, policy director for the Sanders campaign, told CNN on Thursday. The Sanders team criticized GE CEO Jeff Immelt over his retirement package, which it claimed was worth tens of millions of dollars, and for being a leader of "a business group lobbying Congress to slash Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid." That's likely a reference to Immelt being involved in Fix the Debt, a group pushing Congress to reduce the debt by cutting spending and raising taxes.

As the head of GE calmly replied:

We create wealth and jobs, instead of just calling for them in speeches. We take risks, invest, innovate and produce in ways that today sustain 125,000 U.S. jobs. Our engineers innovate every day to build hardware and software solutions that meet real-world challenges. Our employees are proud of our company. I meet second- and third-generation employees whenever I travel across the country. I am one myself. Our suppliers and partners are proud of our company. Our communities are proud of our company. Our pride, history and hard work are real — the moral fabric of America. The senator has never bothered to stop by our aviation plant in Rutland, Vt.

Or as media strategist Stu Loeser, former spokesman for New York's Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, put it:

"By the math, it's been impossible for Senator Sanders to catch up for quite some time," Mr. Loeser said. "Now it looks like he's finally looked down, realized there is no ground underneath him, and is starting his descent."

Minor correction: Sanders is not starting his descent – he's been at the bottom for a long time and is still digging.