Establishment Press Silence 2018 Progressive Movement
The Sanders-Clinton schism, contrary to what establishment media wants you to believe, is alive and toxic within the Democratic party.

BAILEY T. STEEN | TRIGTENT | TUESDAY, OCTOBER 23, 2017
Try this exercise in political blindness: Youâre a Democrat. Youâve lost over 1,030 seats in the span of an eight year government. Thatâs 9 seats in the Senate, 62 in the House, 12 in Governorships and 958 state legislative seats since the Tea Party wave of 2010. Youâre wiped out on levels of government. And from your seat, surrounded by the fire of your party as progressives and true liberals are garbed in hoses and Bunker gear, you try to say âthis is fineâ.

This is the political lens one can assume of Mr. Gabriel Debenedetti, a journalist for Politico who penned an article a week or two back declaring: âBernie backers give Dem incumbents a pass in 2018â. The journalist writes: âThe Sanders-Clinton schism isnât plaguing the party in Senate races so far. Instead, itâs Republicans still facing intra-party heatâ.
Why is this a problem? Well, it only ignores every single populist left organisation gearing up for a 2018 election.
The most notable is Justice Democrats, a progressive organisation found by The Young Turksâ CEO Cenk Uygur and Secular Talk host Kyle Kulinski, who are running 29 candidates in The House and Senate as of October 2017.

Candidates who have the endorsement and backing of groups such as Our Revolution, Brand New Congress, People For Bernie, Democratic Socialists, Fight For 15 and National Nurses United, raising just over $3M in small dollar campaign donations.
Do these candidates exist? Are Uygur and Kulinski progressive magicians who are just the illusions of George Soros? Or is the media very selective in which groups and candidates they turn their eye of power to?
I venture to guess the latter.

One of those unpersoned candidates is Paula Jean Swearengin, the primary challenger to West Virginiaâs Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin III, who participated in one of the most popular Reddit Ask Me Anythings in the siteâs history, let alone for any Senatorial candidate.
As of August 4th, her page upwards of 161,840 up votes and over 23,558 just on her main Reddit post alone.

Their organisation is already in alliance with Californiaâs Silicon Valley representative Ro Khanna, one of the few progressive candidates who has expressed interest in the challenging of âcorporate democratsâ.
Regarding California Senator Dianne Feinstein decision to run for reelection, Rep. Khanna told Vox that Feinstein is âout of touch with the grassrootsâ on economic and foreign policy.
âAfter 47 years in elected office and 25 years in the Senate, she continues to cling to office as a voice for the status quo. The fact the establishment is rallying around her re-election shows that DC insiders continue to privilege protecting one of their own over the voters concerns. How many time voters have to demand change before we listen?â
Does that appear like Rep. Khanna is giving his California colleague a âpassâ? Or would he be one of the unpersons if not for him already being in office?
The Interceptâs Zaid Jilani highlights another Politico unperson in Birminghamâs mayoral challenger Randall Woodfin.
An early poll from this August found 57% of the cityâs residents said then mayor William Bell was doing an âexcellentâ or âgoodâ job. Only to be upended by the Bernie Sanders-backed Our Revolution campaign which saw Woodfin, running on a populist message, win by a 58% victory.
Does Mr. Debenedetti mention these names? No, but he does take the time to highlight some left wing opposition⌠they just so happen to be sideshow oddities in the vein of Donald J. Trump.

He does take the time to highlight actress Cynthia Nixon, known for her role in Sex and The City, who he suggests may run a âlong-shot challengeâ against incumbent New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo.
Thereâs also mention of former Rhode Island Gov. Lincoln Chafee, the 2016 presidential candidate who got negative 1% during his time in the polls, who may run against first-term Gov. Gina Raimondo, also criticising her from the left.
With Nixon at least her mention is not without merit. Speaking to The Today Show, Nixon has expressed interest in the idea, critiquing Cuomo from the left on his lack of educational funding, but neither have even filled in the paperwork, let alone set their mind to actually running. All the while Debenedetti never mentions groups with millions of dollars who are running.
Itâs the erasure of populist voices. See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil. If you donât cover something, the people will have no idea whether they want it or not. With Hillary Clinton, who Wikileaks show proposed the âpied piper strategyâ of âelevating Trumpâ, they went in the direction of a populist right-wing candidate. All the while media stations like CNN would show his empty podium the same time a populist left candidate like Bernie Sanders would be giving a speech.
By extension, they are erasing you, true liberals and progressives. Itâs about time you make your silenced voice heard.
Bailey T. Steen is a journalist, editor, artist and film critic based in Victoria, Australia. To support this content, and more to come like it, the options include Patreon and Paypal, where I hope to keep this content free.
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