IOWA CAUCUS FUELS STOP-SANDERS EFFORTS

by Howard Jordan, Journal_Jordan https://bit.ly/2Ot0heT

(Update: With 62 percent of 99 precincts counted Buttigieg has a narrow lead with 26.9% for Sanders 25.1% for Warren 18.3% and Biden 15.6% )

?Corporate media is saying they "don't know who won" but MSNBC(S) the Biden channel declared Pete Buttigieg & Michael "Bloombucks" winners. For those who suspected that the moderate-conservative corporate establishment wing of the Democratic party was colluding with corporate media the results of the Iowa caucus have fueled these suspicions. For the past year the mainstream media has promoted every anti-Sanders mythology they can from socialist boogeyman, not electable, Bernie the "sexist," age, Bernie supporters as "zombies" (Bernie Bros), can't win votes of people of color though he leading among Latinos in Nevada, among many other attacks.

The Pete Buttigieg campaign immediately declared themselves winners without any voting results. This is not unusual for shooting from the hip, racially challenged, "Pistol Pete." Then you have Joseph Biden who many anticipated would be the biggest loser immediately declares the results are unverifiable and in a dilatory tactic should not be released until Iowa Democratic party gives an explanation as to what happened. Biden campaign is clear he lost so they want to put that behind them praying for African American support in South Carolina.

Then you have Bloombucks who is celebrating the confusion since he has not participated in the democratic caucus process and it feeds his narrative that he is the "savior' of the party from the growing progressive wing led by Sanders. With his billions as the equalizer the best election money can buy. Corporate Dems have Bloombucks and Buttigieg on "standby" adopting an "anybody but Sanders" philosophy which may end up giving Trump a boost for his re-election. How can Dems run the country if they can't run an election in Iowa even without Russian interference? Perhaps equally troubling is that the questionable tactics of the Warren campaign against Sanders has come back to bite progressives in the rear end preventing a progressive sweep. Add up the Sanders-Warren numbers especially among younger voters and one can readily conclude the progressive wing is the dominant view in the Dem. Party.

Where does that leave the Sanders campaign. Sanders supporters should "keep on keeping on." On to New Hampshire. The establishment Dems are already in the process of rigging the Democratic convention to marshal the super delegates in the event Sanders comes in with a large percentage of delegates. Sanders and Warren teams must construct an "operational unity" truce to make sure they have influence in the platforms of the Democratic party in the event the Dem establishment (acting more like Trump) Stop-Sanders efforts prevail. Other Sanders supporters have suggested backers call their highest ranking Democratic representative and tell them you will no longer support the Democratic Party if it continues its thinly veiled attempt to steal the nomination from Sanders?

Lastly, and this many of my friends on the left may disagree. We must commit ourselves, even holding our noses, to vote for the Democratic nominee of the party because defeating Trump must be the priority at this historical juncture.

Howard Jordan is a tenured Professor at Hostos Community College, attorney, journalist, and political activist. He can be reached at [email protected] or tweet journal_jordan