Already started: US liberal media immediately begin campaign to exploit Corbyn's heavy defeat and use it against Bernie Sanders
Right after Jeremy Corbyn's heavy defeat in the recent UK national election, we warned that the corporate Democrats and the Clintonian establishment will seek to
invest on this defeat in order to crush Sanders' momentum.
They will certainly use the argument that the Leftist faction in the
Labour has failed to inspire the voters. The liberal media will exercise enormous pressure on Bernie Sanders in order to make him withdraw his nomination from the Democratic primaries.
We got some furious responses by many progressives who supported, more or less, that what happens in the UK is a different thing and can't be connected to any political development in the US. Yet, unfortunately, we were right ... again.
Indeed, the US liberal media and their corporate stooges didn't waste time. Almost simultaneously, they launched one more anti-Sanders campaign based on Corbyn's defeat.
Here are only a few examples:
The next day of the election we found an article on the NBC website under the title Corbyn's UK defeat was bad news for Sanders, Warren and America's left. And if the title is not enough for you, take a taste of the "analysis" inside (most indicative highlighted):
Always beware of drawing conclusions from one country’s election to another. But it’s also hard to ignore that the results in Britain last night were bad news for Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren and America’s left — just 52 days before the Iowa caucuses. On Thursday, unpopular Prime Minister Boris Johnson and his Conservative Party trounced even more unpopular socialist Jeremy Corbyn and the Labour Party, with Labour having its worst general-election performance in three decades. Make no mistake: Neither Sanders nor Warren are as unpopular as Corbyn is in his country; in fact, Sanders and Warren have similar favorable and unfavorable ratings to Joe Biden’s. And there’s no doubt that Corbyn’s muddled message on Brexit hurt his party. But beyond unpopularity and Brexit, last night’s election showed the limits of campaigning and winning on ideology. A socialist or very left-leaning message — inspired to turn out young voters and unite the working class — simply didn’t work.
The last phrase (highlighted red), tells you all you need to know about how the liberal establishment will play the game from now on and throughout the Democratic primaries. Simply and shortly goes like this: either Bernie should drop his progressive agenda, or, he will be replaced by another neoliberal centrist who will play the good, rational kid, maintaining status quo.
Politico (also the next day of the election) joined the campaign. The title of the article was Blowback from U.K. election burns Warren, Sanders. And if the title still says nothing to you, the subtitle may convince you: Centrists warn Corbyn defeat highlights the dangers of a progressive nominee. How more clear can it be?
Take a taste, already from the first lines inside the article (most indicative highlighted):
The votes were still being counted in the U.K. when a fierce debate broke out over whether the crushing defeat of Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour Party foreshadowed dark days ahead — for the left-wing Democrats running for U.S. president, that is. As exit polls rolled in showing a landslide victory for Boris Johnson’s Tories, particularly in former Labour strongholds that had backed Brexit, centrist Democrats seized the opportunity to argue that a moderate must be nominated to defeat President Donald Trump. And they continued to press the case Friday.
The article presents mostly the argument of key centrist Democrats that, in short, a Leftist agenda can't win. Yet, there is some reference on the fact that the UK political situation is different due to the Brexit issue.
TIME also referred to the possible impact of Corbyn's defeat on progressive Democrats. Yet, its corresponding article was much more balanced and presented the argument that Brexit played a critical role on the election result. Therefore, the conditions in the US political process are somehow different.
Finally, the hard-core Blairite David Miliband, gave a short interview on MSNBC, two days after the UK election. Miliband almost couldn't hide his satisfaction for Corbyn's heavy defeat and David Gura wouldn't let the chance go wasted. One of his questions was essentially a soft pass to Miliband, in order to promote the idea that the US progressives should "learn" from Corbyn's disastrous night: "What should we make here in the US of what happened there?"
And surprisingly enough, we found an article that even pointed out the anxiety of many centrists to exploit Corbyn's defeat. The subtitle of Nicky Woolf's article on NBC website is characteristic: American pundits have been quick to recommend centrism as the cure for Trump after Labour's loss to Boris Johnson. Few of them understand British politics.
So, the whole point is to show that no matter how different the political status in the UK, all the US establishment spectrum (from neoliberal center to the far right), will seek to exploit the election result against progressive politicians.
And surprisingly enough, we found an article that even pointed out the anxiety of many centrists to exploit Corbyn's defeat. The subtitle of Nicky Woolf's article on NBC website is characteristic: American pundits have been quick to recommend centrism as the cure for Trump after Labour's loss to Boris Johnson. Few of them understand British politics.
So, the whole point is to show that no matter how different the political status in the UK, all the US establishment spectrum (from neoliberal center to the far right), will seek to exploit the election result against progressive politicians.
Dedicated to all our fellow progressives who rushed to attack us. Wistful thinking won't take us too far. We need to monitor and analyze constantly the tactics of the establishment, in order to have a chance against it. Bernie should be prepared for another merciless war.
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