It’s wreaking havoc. Convention superdelegates – the unelected delegates who overwhelmingly prefer Hillary – claim they’ve been subject to intimidation. Last weekend there was a riot at the Nevada Democratic convention as both sides argued over rules. While the Republicans are quietly falling in line behind Trump, the Democrats refuse to heal. Exit polls in West Virginia showed that almost half of Sanders’ voters intend to back Trump in November. Clinton's opposition to coal, the lifeblood of the state, hasn't helped.

What is Bernie thinking? For starters, he’s exercising a long-standing privilege among losers to remain as long as they like in the race, just so that they can flex muscle at the convention. In the 1980 primary between Ted Kennedy and incumbent president Jimmy Carter, Kennedy only picked up momentum in the latter half of the contest – scooping last-minute victories in states like New Jersey and California. He stood no change of winning the nomination, but the threat of open rebellion compelled Carter to pivot more towards the Left and Kennedy was allowed to rewrite the party’s economic platform. Carter won the nomination, Kennedy won the convention. The party’s elite created the superdelegate system with the intention of stopping this from happening again.