[rad-green] Here It Comes: Get Ready for a Stop-Bernie Onslaught Like You've Never Seen

*https://www.commondreams.org/views/2019/12/27/here-it-comes-get-ready-stop-bernie-onslaught-youve-never-seen
<https://www.commondreams.org/views/2019/12/27/here-it-comes-get-ready-stop-bernie-onslaught-youve-never-seen>Common
Dreams          December 27, 2019*





*Here It Comes: Get Ready for a Stop-Bernie Onslaught Like You've Never
SeenBeware. Because disparaging and minimizing Bernie in 2019 didn't work,
the next step in 2020 will be to trash him with a vast array of full-bore
attacks.by Norman Solomon*

[image: Democratic presidential hopeful Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders
Speaks to supporters at an Immigration Town Hall in San Ysidro, California
on December 20, 2019 at San Ysidro High School. (Photo: Sandy Huffaker /
AFP / Getty Images)]

*Democratic presidential hopeful Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders Speaks to
supporters at an Immigration Town Hall in San Ysidro, California on
December 20, 2019 at San Ysidro High School. (Photo: Sandy Huffaker / AFP /
Getty Images)*

A central premise of conventional media wisdom has collapsed. On Thursday,
both the *New York Times* and *Politico* published major articles reporting
that Bernie Sanders really could win the Democratic presidential
nomination. Such acknowledgments will add to the momentum of the Bernie
2020 campaign as the new year begins—but they foreshadow a massive
escalation of anti-Sanders misinformation and invective.

Throughout 2019, corporate media routinely asserted that the Sanders
campaign had little chance of winning the nomination. As is so often the
case, journalists were echoing each other more than paying attention to
grassroots realities. But now, polling numbers and other indicators
<https://bernie.substack.com/p/bern-notice-nyt-on-why-bernie-is> on the
ground are finally sparking very different headlines from the media
establishment.

"When the Bernie campaign wasn't being ignored by corporate media during
2019, innuendos and mud often flew in his direction. But we ain't seen
nothing yet."

From the *Times*: “Why Bernie Sanders Is Tough to Beat
<https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/26/us/politics/bernie-sanders-iowa-democrats.html?action=click&module=Top%20Stories&pgtype=Homepage>.”
From *Politico*: “Democratic Insiders: Bernie Could Win the Nomination
<https://www.politico.com/news/2019/12/26/can-bernie-sanders-win-2020-election-president-089636>
.”

Those stories, and others likely to follow in copycat news outlets, will
heighten the energies of Sanders supporters and draw in many wavering
voters. But the shift in media narratives about the Bernie campaign’s
chances will surely boost the decibels of alarm bells in elite circles
where dousing the fires of progressive populism is a top priority.

For corporate Democrats and their profuse media allies, the approach of
disparaging
<https://fair.org/home/heres-the-evidence-corporate-media-say-is-missing-of-wapo-bias-against-sanders/>
and
minimizing Bernie Sanders in 2019 didn’t work. In 2020, the next step will
be to trash him with a vast array of full-bore attacks.

Along the way, the corporate media will occasionally give voice to some
Sanders defenders and supporters. A few establishment Democrats will decide
to make nice with him early in the year. But the overwhelming bulk of
Sanders media coverage—synced up with the likes of such prominent corporate
flunkies as Rahm Emanuel and Neera Tanden as well as Wall Street Democrats
accustomed to ruling the roost in the party—will range from condescending
to savage.

When the Bernie campaign wasn’t being ignored
<https://mobile.twitter.com/hashtag/bernieblackout?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Ehashtag>
by
corporate media during 2019, innuendos and mud often flew in his direction.
But we ain’t seen nothing yet.

With so much at stake—including the presidency and the top leadership of
the Democratic Party—no holds will be barred. For the forces of corporate
greed and the military-industrial complex, it’ll be all-out propaganda war
on the Bernie campaign.

While reasons for pessimism are abundant, so are ample reasons to
understand that a Sanders presidency is a real possibility
<https://jacobinmag.com/2019/12/bernie-sanders-vs-donald-trump>. The last
places we should look for political realism are corporate media outlets
that distort options and encourage passivity.

Bernie is fond of quoting a statement from Nelson Mandela: “It always seems
impossible until it is done.”

From the grassroots, as 2020 gets underway, the solution should be clear:
All left hands on deck.

Norman Solomon <https://www.commondreams.org/author/norman-solomon> is
co-founder and national coordinator of RootsAction.org
<http://rootsaction.org/>. His books include *"War Made Easy: How
Presidents and Pundits Keep Spinning Us to Death
<http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/047179001X?ie=UTF8&tag=commondreams-20>"*
 and *"Made Love, Got War: Close Encounters with America's Warfare State
<http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0977825345?ie=UTF8&tag=commondreams-20>."*
 He is the founder and executive director of the Institute for Public
Accuracy.

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