[rad-green] The Democrat Civil War: Socialists vs. Centrists

*http://oneworld.press/?module=articles&action=view&id=1298&fbclid=IwAR0HPoaLYU36E-xtn9VdhLQy9WJjHlsGidvRax9OZ3oH-1XXCHWATJd2pKA
<http://oneworld.press/?module=articles&action=view&id=1298&fbclid=IwAR0HPoaLYU36E-xtn9VdhLQy9WJjHlsGidvRax9OZ3oH-1XXCHWATJd2pKA>*

*One World          5 February 2020*

The Democrat Civil War: Socialists vs. Centrists
*By Andrew Korybko
<http://oneworld.press/?module=articles&action=list&by=114>*
*American political analyst*
[image: The Democrat Civil War: Socialists vs. Centrists]
The shady developments surrounding the Iowa Caucus prove beyond any
reasonable doubt that there's a civil war raging in the Democrat Party
between socialists and centrists, one that's so fierce that it recently saw
party insiders indirectly sabotaging what could have otherwise been
Sanders' first victory in order to boost his rival Buttigieg, which goes to
show that nothing's changed with the centrist Democrat establishment in the
past four years because they're still terribly afraid of their party's
growing socialist base.

*Sabotaging Sanders A Second Time*

Bernie Sanders was more than likely robbed of what could have otherwise
been his first victory earlier this week during the Iowa Caucus after a
shady app built by a company amusingly called "Shadow Inc." supposedly
malfunctioned and prevented the state's Democrat Party from officially
declaring a winner Monday night. That didn't stop Pete Buttigieg from
proclaiming himself the winner, though, which is all the more interesting
because it was soon revealed that his campaign had given tens of thousands
of dollars to "Shadow Inc." over the past year. Adding to the intrigue,
internet sleuths also discovered that some former high-ranking Clinton
campaign staffers created the questionable app, leading to a rise in
so-called "conspiracy theories" that the Democrat establishment was once
again sabotaging the socialist senator just like they did four years prior.
RT's Danielle Ryan wrote a concise report about these latest developments
titled "Not a great look: Failed Iowa caucus app is deeply linked to
self-declared winner Buttigieg… and Hillary Clinton
<https://www.rt.com/op-ed/480068-buttigieg-iowa-app-shadow/>", which is a
must-read for getting caught up on the facts if one isn't already aware of
them.

*Socialists vs. Centrists*

From the looks of it, it convincingly seems to be the case that victory was
once again stolen from Sanders, which wouldn't be surprising since the the
Democrat Party is in a state of civil war between its growing socialist
base and its centrist establishment. The first-mentioned are largely
comprised of younger voters and believe that they're inevitably going to
become the future face of the party, while the second is more "traditional"
and is terribly afraid that this trend could spell the Democrats' electoral
doom by scaring away the so-called "average American". It's with this fear
in mind that the establishment believes that the socialist surge must be
stopped at all costs, hence the possible motive for screwing with the Iowa
Caucus results so that Buttigieg could proclaim himself the victor amidst
the chaos and therefore receive an invaluable boost ahead of the other
primaries. He seems to be the establishment's favorite considering his
indirect connection to the Clintons through each campaign's differing
degrees of involvement in "Shadow Inc." and thus this week's historically
unprecedented primary season scandal.

*The Establishment's Argument For Buttigieg*

From the centrist establishment's perspective, Buttigieg is much more
electable than Sanders. He's not a socialist so the "average American"
isn't afraid of him, and he's also a former military serviceman so he could
theoretically appeal to some of the conservative-inclined Democrats who
voted for Trump during the last election. He's also homosexual, which is
fashionable nowadays in the US and treated as somewhat of a protected --
even privileged -- class. Being younger and without any previous health
problems, there are also no credible concerns that he might pass away in
office like Sanders could given his age and recent health scare. To top it
all off, Buttigieg was also the mayor of a relatively small town and has no
experience on Capital Hill, so while "inexperienced", he also can't be
accused of being part of the "swamp" like Sanders can. On paper, all of
this contributes to the party establishment viewing Buttigieg as the
"perfect candidate", at least at the moment (and that could definitely
chang depending on forthcoming developments), which explains why some of
Clinton's formerly high-ranking operatives might have connived with him to
stage the latest scandal.

*The Base's Argument For Sanders*

Viewed from the perspective of the party's growing socialist base, however,
Sanders is the Democrats' only hope. They're convinced that the supposedly
inevitable moment of the "democratic socialist revolution" is at hand, and
that this election is really a battle between Sanders' socialism and
Trump's capitalism. Considering their dogmatic ideological beliefs, they
can't fathom for a second that America as a whole wouldn't vote for a
socialist over a capitalist if given the chance. After all, their thinking
goes, Sanders is promising to benefit the vast majority of the country at
the expense of its wealthy minority, so they're sure that pure numbers are
on their side if they can frame this election as a "class war" in the event
that their candidate wins the nomination. Although Sanders enjoys support
from all demographics, his most zealous acolytes are stereotypically
considered to be mostly younger folks either still in college or fresh out
of it and who were likely inspired to back him as a result of their college
experiences (which critics describe as "indoctrination"). In their eyes,
Sanders is the savior of the Democrat Party, not the symbol of its
impending doom.

*"Saving The Party From Itself"*

The Democrat's centrist establishment believes that the relatively higher
rates of youth political activism and consequent participation in the
primaries could skew the party's primaries, thus resulting in the
nomination of a "radical" candidate who doesn't represent the party as a
whole and could therefore stand a greater chance of losing the election to
Trump. It's patronizing and condescending, but the establishment believes
that it must "save the party from itself" and "meddle" as needed in order
to see that a centrist candidate (such as Buttigieg at this moment) wins
instead, just like they did with Hillary the last time around. In their
view, the primaries are a political playground of the party's youth since
they think that older and "more traditional" (centrist) voters might choose
to stay home despite pledging to come out and vote for whoever the eventual
nominee is. They might not, however, accept Sanders, being scared of his
socialist promises and thus refusing to vote or -- even worse -- possibly
voting for a third party candidate instead, if not Trump. The party will do
whatever they can to prevent that scenario from happening at all costs,
whether by hook or by crook, hence the latest scandal that just transpired
during the Iowa Caucus where Sanders was likely robbed of his rightful
victory.

*Trump's Strategy*

As could have been expected, Trump definitely has an interest in the
outcome of the Democrat Civil War, though it's less about a single
candidate and more about sowing confusion and ultimately political apathy
among his opponents exactly like they've accused the Russians of doing the
last time around. His sympathetic statements of support for Sanders are
insincere since he simply wants the socialists' supporters to lose hope in
the party and vote for a third candidate in protest. In the unlikely event
that Sanders succeeds in clinching the nomination despite the Democrat
establishment's best efforts to stop him, then Trump thinks that he'd win
in a landslide because he interestingly shares the same views as the
party's "old guard" in believing that America would never elect a socialist
to the presidency. It's almost counterintuitive to an extent then that he'd
signal support for Sanders knowing all the while that other Democrats might
interpret this as a signal to vote against him in the primaries for a
centrist like Buttigieg instead, though Trump still stands to gain even in
that scenario since all that he's trying to do is divide the establishment
from its base and weaken his opponents as a whole.

*Democrat Dilemmas*

Democrat voters have now been thrust on the horns of several dilemmas. They
can't ignore Trump's interest and active "meddling" in their primaries, yet
they also want to vote as independent individuals according to their own
political preferences in spite of the president's strategic designs.
They're also increasingly confused by what happened Monday night since they
were assured that the establishment wouldn't sabotage its base again, a
naive belief if there ever was one but nevertheless a train of thought that
many of the incredulous reactions on social media prove is representative
of a sizeable amount of Democrat voters. In an ironic reversal, it's
usually socialists that trust in the party and centrists who trust in its
base, yet now it's the socialists who trust in the base whereas the
centrists are placing their trust in the party. This is the result of
internal party dynamics after the 2016 experience and the immense pressure
put upon all Democrat voters to unseat Trump in November, which is becoming
increasingly difficult to do given his astounding domestic economic
achievements and their party's ever-worsening state of civil war.

*Concluding Thoughts*

In hindsight, Trump's (unsurprising
<https://www.geopolitica.ru/en/article/dear-foreign-friends-heres-why-trump-won-clevelander>)
2016 election might have destroyed the Democrats once and for all despite
the Mainstream Media earlier predicting that it was Obama's 2008 election
that forever destroyed the Republicans. It exacerbated the growing
factionalism within the "left" after Hillary's centrist establishment
allies stole the nomination from Sanders' socialist supporters, after which
each mutually antagonistic wing of the party moved further apart ahead of
the 2020 primaries. The Iowa Caucus scandal convinced the grassroots that
the establishment was back to its old tricks, which reduces the chances
that they'll vote for any candidate other than Sanders if this year's
nomination is stolen from him a second time no matter if their socialist
leader once again pleads with them to back whoever the party decides upon.
Trump stands to win from all of this infighting regardless of the ultimate
outcome since he believes that he'll handily smash Sanders in a landslide
or easily defeat a centrist opponent if their base remains so divided. That
said, anything can still happen, but from the looks of it, Trump might
casually coast to re-election in less than nine months' time.

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