Bye, bye Bernie? We'll see.

This week's news was hardly a shocker: "Bernie Sanders kicks off 2024 Presidential Campaign!"

This was lost in the announcement by Sanders that he is ending his 2020 campaign. But, as usual – like 2016 and long before 2024 – Bernie Sanders is not going to go gently into that good night. Besides repeating his stump speech, he said that he would continue to collect delegates between now and the convention for the purpose of power; to "exert significant influence;" and that he would "work" with Joe Biden. (There was no mention of an endorsement or even "support.") Yep – this was Sanders' signal to his supporters to cast a vote for ANYONE but the Democratic candidate.

Remember 2016? When Sanders harangued Hillary Clinton all the way to the convention despite the forgone conclusion that she would be the nominee weeks and weeks BEFORE the convention? Well, get ready for a repeat performance. That is unless, of course, Sanders decides to jump the Dems boat and run as an Independent, which would have made more sense in the first place given that he has presented himself as an independent for something like 35 of his 40 years in public service. But that probably won't happen and we'll continue to witness this phony insist that he's the one who should be on a national presidential election ballot as a Democrat-Socialist. Democrat-Socialist. Jesus. Think about that. That's a goddam contradiction in terms if there ever was one, anyway; it's like somebody asking you your favorite ice cream and you responding "chocolatevanilla."

Unfortunately, Bernie can't have it both ways. If he wants state institutions to give away their college educations, he's got to go full-blown Socialist. (Free college in a democratic society? That doesn't work.) Of course, the first thing he'd have to do as President/Comrade would be to shred that democracy-driven U.S. Constitution and start over, creating a document that sets the rules Socialist style – when the government runs the show rather than (ideally in a democracy) the people. This would align Sanders with Trump, who also wants to run the show. Of course, this isn't the only thing these two loud-mouthed New Yorkers have in common. Since he ran for President in 2016, Bernie has called for a revolution – a "major change" in the White House, as he said recently. Sound familiar? Right. So much for change.

In truth, Sanders and Trump are very much alike. And by the way, I first made this claim long before Trump was elected in one of the biggest surprises of the last half-century, going back to the fall of 2015 when I compared them BOTH to William Jennings Bryan. Both Trump and Sanders had tapped into a lunatic fringe of society by delivering promises that would never – COULD never – be kept.

At the beginning of March, things looked pretty good for Bernie. But it's different now. And he'll spend the rest of his life trying to figure out just how he didn't get those votes, blaming everyone but himself. (Doesn't THIS sound familiar? An out-of-sorts, self-serving, fantasy-filled New Yorker who refuses to accept blame for any problems that surround him.)

First, Bernie remains perpetually pissed at Big Media and the Democratic Establishment (of which, incidentally, he's been a part of for four decades.) And for weeks now, he's been unhappy with his principal constituency – the youth vote that he has not only coveted, but has been boasting about for five years. They just didn't show up.

Despite all the warning of the problems inherent in a scrambled, elongated process caused by supposedly too many candidates, the Democrats have their nominee. And they could do worse than Joe Biden. Mostly because we now have the contest that Trump has feared most: Joe vs. The Donald. Now if Bernie can just keep from fucking it up for the Democrats. Again.

Admittedly, Bernie didn't screw things up all by himself four years ago – he had a lot of help:
- Those righteous numbskulls who hated Trump but opted to cast a vote for one of the third-party yahoos
- The black vote which didn't show up like it did for Obama in 2008
- Hillary's poor campaign strategy
- The Russian interference
- The Trump Phenomenon

They all combined to put Trump in the White House. And in 2020, there will be no Sanders Phenomenon. The power has been consolidated; the alliances have been formed; and the Democrats now have a consensus candidate, much to the anger of Sanders and his minions.

[Quick side question: If Biden had been the lone moderate, would Bernie still be blaming the establishment? Probably.]

Many have been surprised to see Joe Biden end up as the nominee, claiming he ran a poor campaign. Did he? In truth, he seems to have gotten it just about right. And despite Bernie's claim during their lone solo debate that "I've got your back" should Biden get the nomination, don't count on it. We've already heard that one, Bernie, and we're not gonna buy it this time around.

The struggle continues, indeed.