[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"doc-detail-129488-en":3,"doc-seo-129488-105":30,"detail-sidebar-cat-0-en-105":92},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":6},0,"success",{"doc_id":7,"user_id":8,"nickname":9,"user_avatar":10,"doc_module":4,"category_id":11,"category_name":12,"doc_title":13,"doc_description":14,"doc_content":15,"file_id":16,"file_url":17,"file_type":18,"file_size":19,"view_count":20,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":20,"is_downloadable":20,"audit_status":20,"page_count":21,"language":22,"language_code":23,"site_id":24,"html_lang":23,"table_of_contents":25,"faqs":26,"seo_title":27,"seo_description":14,"update_tm":28,"read_time":29},129488,1099523882367,"Hazel","https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/davatar_9964176cb1d06d4a9deccf72a44ae3dc",8,"Research & Report","How the Democrats Screwed Bernie - Tad Devine","The text argues that the Democratic Party mishandled Bernie Sanders’s 2016 presidential primary campaign, repeating costly mistakes and insulating itself from voter concerns. It frames the party’s establishment response as a pattern of obstruction and exclusion toward popular outsider candidates, using mechanisms like control of debates and election dynamics to blunt insurgent momentum. It also connects this failure to subsequent electoral setbacks, presenting a party that struggles to earn confidence or enthusiasm in the face of broader political and social pressures.","Thank you for downloading this Simon & Schuster ebook.  \nGet a FREE ebook when you join our mailing list. Plus, get updates on new releases, deals, recommended reads, and more from Simon & Schuster. Click below to sign up  \nand see terms and conditions.  \nCLICK HERE TO SIGN UP  \nAlready a subscriber? Provide your email again so we can register this ebook and send you more of what you like to read. You will continue to receive exclusive offers in  \nyour inbox.  \n[OceanofPDF.com](OceanofPDF.com)  \n[OceanofPDF.com](OceanofPDF.com)  \nFor my wife, Ellen, and our children, Anna,Jackie, Thomas, and Jacob, and ourgrandchildren, Eli and River. Thankyou foryour love and support.  \n[OceanofPDF.com](OceanofPDF.com)  \nIntroduction  \nNever discuss a losing campaign. Like most political operatives, I learned this lesson early in my career. But sometimes reality demands that you ignore the conventional wisdom. The entrenched leadership of the Democratic Party seems determined to forget the mistakes it made during the primary season of 2016. Those mistakes have been repeated cycle after cycle, with two catastrophic defeats in the recent past and who knows how many more to come in the future. If ever there was a time for me to write a book about Bernie Sanders’s 2016 primary campaign, and how the establishment crushed it, that time is now.  \nTo the extent that any postmortems took place a decade ago, they were immediately eclipsed by Donald Trump’s seismic Electoral College defeat of Hillary Clinton. And we all know what happened next. As I write this, we are in Trump’s second term, which has proven to be even more catastrophic than the Йrst. Yes, President Joe Biden’s reluctance to step aside in a timely manner contributed to this disaster, but that was only one factor of many, all rooted in some fatal and overdetermined hardwiring in the Democratic machine.  \nFaced with an existential threat to our country and a deeply unhappy electorate, the Democrats have Мoundered, managing to make themselves almost as unpopular as a corrupt, reckless, and authoritarian leader. There have been a few hopeful moments—the 8–9 million people who came out for “No Kings”demonstrations in the spring of 2026, for instance—but these occurred in spite of the party rather than because of it. Voters remain unable to feel any real conЙdence in the Democratic Party, much less enthusiasm for its leaders.  \nFor me, the explanation is simple: The lessons that we failed to learn in 2016 —and have refused to learn in the decade since—have left the Democratic Party  \nnot only with stunningly low approval ratings, but with barely a connection to the daily struggles, anxieties, and concerns of voters throughout the nation.  \nWhen I’ve told friends I was writing this book, many asked,“Do we really need more Democratic self-criticism? Is it really necessary to give Republicans more ammunition?” To the latter question, I reply that there’s nothing I can say that Republicans don’t already know—or wouldn’t concoct on their own.  \nTo the Йrst, I say yes. We do need to take a hard look at the Democratic Party. There is no better time than the present to do so. And one would be hardpressed to Йnd another campaign in which so many of its most toxic dynamics converged as they did in 2016.  \nThe way the Democratic establishment reacted to Bernie Sanders is emblematic of the way they continue to react to compelling candidates they consider to be party outsiders, even when they are popular. The same pattern played out with Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and, more recently, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani. Each was greeted with horriЙed pearlclutching, deliberate obstruction, and a clinging to exclusionary and anachronistic rules. This explains, in part, why a party that should have a winning message has lost so much ground in the recent past. We may have been able to console ourselves with the popular vote victories of Al Gore and Hillary Clinton—Pyrrhic though they were—but we ","cbCait2lhTUR46NP","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCait2lhTUR46NP","pdf",3516537,1,222,"English","en",105,"# Introduction\n## The lesson of losing campaigns\n## Post-2016 political setbacks\n## Voter distrust and party disconnect\n## Responding to calls for self-criticism\n## Toxic dynamics in the 2016 campaign\n## Establishment tactics against outsider candidates\n## Bernie Sanders as a populist brand and democratic socialist","[{\"question\":\"What is the main lesson the author says political operatives learn about losing campaigns?\",\"answer\":\"The author says the rule is never to discuss a losing campaign, though reality can require ignoring conventional wisdom.\"},{\"question\":\"Why does the author argue the Democratic leadership failed to connect with voters after 2016?\",\"answer\":\"The author attributes it to lessons not learned in 2016 and not taken up over the following decade, leaving the party with low approval and weak ties to voters’ daily struggles and anxieties.\"},{\"question\":\"How does the author describe the establishment’s response when insurgent campaigns gain momentum?\",\"answer\":\"The author argues that when insurgent support becomes real and organic, the establishment tries to undermine it—first by fighting in the debate and marketplace of ideas, and then by using entrenched system advantages such as fundraising and debate scheduling.\"}]","How the Democrats Screwed Bernie - Tad Devine | PDF",1786106203,559,{"code":4,"msg":31,"data":32},"ok",{"site_id":24,"language":23,"slug":33,"title":13,"keywords":34,"description":14,"schema_data":35,"social_meta":87,"head_meta":89,"extra_data":91,"updated_unix":28},"how-the-democrats-screwed-bernie-tad-devine","",{"@graph":36,"@context":86},[37,54,69],{"@type":38,"itemListElement":39},"BreadcrumbList",[40,44,48,51],{"item":41,"name":42,"@type":43,"position":20},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",{"item":45,"name":46,"@type":43,"position":47},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/","Document",2,{"item":49,"name":12,"@type":43,"position":50},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/research-report/",3,{"item":52,"name":13,"@type":43,"position":53},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/how-the-democrats-screwed-bernie-tad-devine/129488/",4,{"url":52,"name":13,"@type":55,"author":56,"headline":13,"publisher":58,"fileFormat":61,"inLanguage":23,"description":14,"dateModified":62,"datePublished":63,"encodingFormat":61,"isAccessibleForFree":64,"interactionStatistic":65},"DigitalDocument",{"name":9,"@type":57},"Person",{"url":41,"name":59,"@type":60},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-08-22","2026-08-07",true,{"@type":66,"interactionType":67,"userInteractionCount":20},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":68},"ViewAction",{"@type":70,"mainEntity":71},"FAQPage",[72,78,82],{"name":73,"@type":74,"acceptedAnswer":75},"What is the main lesson the author says political operatives learn about losing campaigns?","Question",{"text":76,"@type":77},"The author says the rule is never to discuss a losing campaign, though reality can require ignoring conventional wisdom.","Answer",{"name":79,"@type":74,"acceptedAnswer":80},"Why does the author argue the Democratic leadership failed to connect with voters after 2016?",{"text":81,"@type":77},"The author attributes it to lessons not learned in 2016 and not taken up over the following decade, leaving the party with low approval and weak ties to voters’ daily struggles and anxieties.",{"name":83,"@type":74,"acceptedAnswer":84},"How does the author describe the establishment’s response when insurgent campaigns gain momentum?",{"text":85,"@type":77},"The author argues that when insurgent support becomes real and organic, the establishment tries to undermine it—first by fighting in the debate and marketplace of ideas, and then by using entrenched system advantages such as fundraising and debate scheduling.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":52,"og:type":88,"og:title":13,"og:site_name":59,"og:description":14},"article",{"robots":90,"canonical":52},"index,follow",{"doc_id":7,"site_id":24},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":93},[94,98,102,106,111,116,121,124,129,132,136],{"id":20,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":95,"show_sort_weight":96,"slug":97},"Story & Novel",90,"story-novel",{"id":47,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":99,"show_sort_weight":100,"slug":101},"Literature",80,"literature",{"id":53,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":103,"show_sort_weight":104,"slug":105},"Exam",70,"exam",{"id":107,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":108,"show_sort_weight":109,"slug":110},5,"Comic",60,"comic",{"id":112,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":113,"show_sort_weight":114,"slug":115},6,"Technology",50,"technology",{"id":117,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":118,"show_sort_weight":119,"slug":120},7,"Healthcare",40,"healthcare",{"id":11,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":12,"show_sort_weight":122,"slug":123},30,"research-report",{"id":125,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":126,"show_sort_weight":127,"slug":128},9,"Religion & Spirituality",20,"religion-spirituality",{"id":127,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":130,"show_sort_weight":127,"slug":131},"World Cup","world-cup",{"id":133,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":134,"show_sort_weight":133,"slug":135},10,"Lifestyle","lifestyle",{"id":137,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":138,"show_sort_weight":107,"slug":139},19,"General","general"]