#IfNotBernieUs

Bernie reshaped American politics. To reshape American policy, we need to learn from him. Here’s the speech he should have given yesterday.

My fellow Americans, I’d like to give a brief update on the state of our campaign. You might have noticed that over the last few weeks, between my legislative work and live streams, I’ve been devoting most of my attention to the unprecedented economic and health crises brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic. By precluding large gatherings like rallies and elections, it has also further muddied the waters of the Democratic primary process, which as we all know is complex under the best of circumstances. As it stands today, we have about 900 delegates and are about 300 behind Joe. We will need to win around 1000 of the 1700 (59%) delegates that remain to surpass him.

Current Democratic primary delegate breakdown (from LA Progressive: The Next FDR).

I hope that helps clarify where things stand numbers-wise, which I think has understandably gotten lost amid the chaos of the coronavirus. Meanwhile, that same chaos has actually shed some light on the nature of some of our country’s greatest challenges that predate the virus itself. I think my good friend Reverend Dr. William Barber put it best: “One germ has exposed our weaknesses. One germ has laid bare the vulnerability of inequality.”

According to a recent poll, our Medicare for All plan is now supported by 55% of Americans and 76% of Democrats. I’d like to start with a simple question. Why, during a deadly pandemic and mass unemployment, does my Democratic opponent still think your access to healthcare should still be determined by your employment? Maybe he or the healthcare lobbyist chairing his campaign could provide an answer to the millions who recently lost their job and are wondering whether they can afford to see their doctor.

Upon closer inspection, this appears to be a virulent strain of malarkey 🔬

I’d also like to ask Joe what he meant when said he’d “lead the way with science” after multiple poll workers contracted COVID-19 in Florida, where his campaign pushed for in-person primaries. Given everything we know about the way this pandemic spreads, why did he think it was appropriate just a few days ago in April to suggest that an in-person primary “could be done” in Wisconsin, where a statewide stay at home order had been issued almost two weeks earlier and thousands have already tested positive?

If CNN hadn’t bargained away its journalistic integrity, this video would be devastating. Unfortunately, our major news outlets have become shameless purveyors of partisan propaganda. None are trusted by even half of all Americans.

Americans should not have to put their families’ lives at risk to participate in our democracy. As a party, we need to ask ourselves whether a candidate who has asked them to do so on multiple occasions can effectively prosecute the case against Trump’s disastrous COVID-19 response. Personally, I am deeply concerned by a recent poll that showed 60% of Americans actually approve of that response. Somehow, the president seems not only to have averted any blame for his role in the death and destruction sweeping our nation, but has actually benefited from it. We must find a way to help Americans understand the price they’re paying for his science denial. My campaign will continue to make that case regularly and forcefully. I’m calling on my Democratic opponent to find a more effective way to use his platform to do the same.

Disappointingly, I must also call on the DNC, as well as outlets like the New York Times and the Washington Post, to thoroughly investigate the serious allegations involving my opponent that were recently brought forward by his former aide Tara Reade. Though I had hoped after Justice Kavanaugh’s confirmation hearing the need to take an account like Tara’s seriously was understood, after almost two weeks of silence, the cost of our campaign’s involvement seems to be less than that of the alternative. As Joe himself said, “for a woman to come forward in the glaring lights of focus, nationally, you’ve got to start off with the presumption that at least the essence of what she’s talking about is real.”